64-bit architecture not recognized

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  1. tridentone
    Posts : 10
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       New #11

    NavyLCDR said:
    What is possible is that you don't understand what happened. It is impossible to upgrade to a different architecture. PERIOD.
    I like to think that I know a little bit about how my computer works. Can you explain why this is impossible? I know for a fact that I was running a 64-bit OS. I upgraded to Windows 10, and I now have a 32-bit OS.

    Edit: I have two other machines that I successfully upgraded to Windows 10 64-bit without any issues, so I don't believe this is user error.
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  3. bobkn
    Posts : 4,453
    Win 11 Pro 22000.708
       New #12

    tridentone said:
    I like to think that I know a little bit about how my computer works. Can you explain why this is impossible? I know for a fact that I was running a 64-bit OS. I upgraded to Windows 10, and I now have a 32-bit OS.

    Edit: I have two other machines that I successfully upgraded to Windows 10 64-bit without any issues, so I don't believe this is user error.
    To do an upgrade, you run the installer from the old OS. That's not possible if the installer is for a different architecture than the old OS. For the installation to be an upgrade, it must be run from within the old OS.

    To install a different bitness, you'd have to boot from an installation medium (DVD, thumb drive), and run from that. You don't get an upgrade that way. I'm not sure that anything from the old OS could be carried over.

    If you had a 64 bit OS and installed a 32 bit one, it was not installed as an upgrade.

    To repeat: the free Win 10 upgrade won't activate unless it as run as an upgrade one time. After that, you can clean install, including switching architectures.
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  4. tridentone
    Posts : 10
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       New #13

    bobkn said:
    The "bitness" of the MCT must match that of the OS it is run under. It has nothing to do with the bitness of the Win 10 upgrade that you download.

    You have 3 choices of bitness for the download: 32 bit, 64 bit, or a single download that contains both. If you download the 64 bit version (only), there's no way that you can get a 32 bit installation.

    If you want the free upgrade to activate, you have to install it as an upgrade over a qualifying OS (7 or 8.x). You can subsequently do a clean install, and it will activate on the same hardware. (The hardware hash that identifies the machine resides on Microsoft's activation servers.)

    It's not possible that what you posted is exactly you did.

    You could get the correct ISO from another source:

    Tech Bench

    Let me repeat: you have to install the free Win 10 upgrade over a qualifying OS to get it to activate.

    I hope that you can find a way to re-install 8.1 so that you can do that. Too bad that you didn't image the 8.1 installation before proceeding with the OS upgrade.

    Good luck
    The clean install with the 64-bit ISO from your link worked perfectly. I have no clue what led to this problem, but I'm glad it's fixed. Thanks!
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  6. NavyLCDR
    Posts : 18,432
    Windows 11 Pro
       New #14

    tridentone said:
    The clean install with the 64-bit ISO from your link worked perfectly. I have no clue what led to this problem, but I'm glad it's fixed. Thanks!
    And is it activated?
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  7. tridentone
    Posts : 10
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       New #15

    NavyLCDR said:
    And is it activated?
    Negative. However, the old 32-bit installation on my other SSD is activated. Can I use that key?
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  8. NavyLCDR
    Posts : 18,432
    Windows 11 Pro
       New #16

    tridentone said:
    Negative. However, the old 32-bit installation on my other SSD is activated. Can I use that key?
    Nope. It's just a generic product key that is a result of the activation - not what causes the activation.
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  9. tridentone
    Posts : 10
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       New #17

    NavyLCDR said:
    Nope. It's just a generic product key that is a result of the activation - not what causes the activation.
    Isn't the activation hardware-based? Is there anything I can do to activate without buying a new key?
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  10. NavyLCDR
    Posts : 18,432
    Windows 11 Pro
       New #18

    tridentone said:
    Isn't the activation hardware-based? Is there anything I can do to activate without buying a new key?
    Yep. Go back to Windows 8.1 64bit and do a proper upgrade. Everything you have posted so far has indicated there has never been a proper in place Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 upgrade completed. The first clue was going from Windows 8.1 64bit to Windows 10 32bit.
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  12. tridentone
    Posts : 10
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       New #19

    NavyLCDR said:
    Yep. Go back to Windows 8.1 64bit and do a proper upgrade. Everything you have posted so far has indicated there has never been a proper in place Windows 8.1 to Windows 10 upgrade completed. The first clue was going from Windows 8.1 64bit to Windows 10 32bit.
    I am getting Error Code 0x80070570 when I try to re-install 8.1 and I'm out of time for now. What are the ramifications of utilizing a non-activated device? I probably won't be able to make another attempt at this for a week or so.
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  13. bobkn
    Posts : 4,453
    Win 11 Pro 22000.708
       New #20

    tridentone said:
    I am getting Error Code 0x80070570 when I try to re-install 8.1 and I'm out of time for now. What are the ramifications of utilizing a non-activated device? I probably won't be able to make another attempt at this for a week or so.
    Mainly you won't be able to "personalize" Windows 10. (Apparently, though, if you are logging in using a Microsoft account, and there are activated Win 10 machines on the same account, some of the customizations will be applied to the non-activated machine.)

    Updates (at least the security related ones) will still be applied.
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