Vista OEM 32 and 64 bit

Hey,

I have 32 bit OEM versions of Vista home premium and business. Do the license keys support 64 bit and if so is it legal for me to procure 64 bit CDs and use the 32 bit license keys?

Thanks

Not with OEM versions.

IIRC the full license supports both versions and you can get a 64bit disk from MS for a small fee.

In Microsoft's view, OEM versions of windows are meant to be installed on a particular set of hardware and then sold to the end user as complete system. Then end user is not expected to change the OS or any major system components after that.

Clearly the hardware either support 64 bit or it does not, and as the end user will never change the Mobo or CPU, that will never change, so there is no need to change from 32 to 64 bit after sale.

When enthusiasts like us, buy an OEM licence and use it with home built hardware, we are working outside Microsoft's intended model. They don't prevent us from doing that (other than via product activation), but they don't make it easy either. If you are an enthusast, you are supposed to buy a boxed retail version of the OS, which does support changing the hardware after install.

The license does work fine regardless of 32-bit or 64-bit. Whether it's valid or not I'm not sure, but MS couldn't care less - you've bought the license - so long as it's used on one motherboard only, they're not bothered.

Last time I checked MS even allowed you to order both 32-bit and 64-bit OEM media off the same key, though that was a year back.

The only licenses I've come across for which this isn't supported are the ones MS sent out to the 1,000 competition winners from Vista release day. They key still works and activates, but they only offer 32-bit replacement media.