Windows 7 64 bit to 32 bit conversion

Question

Hi May be this question does not belong here, but it would be a great help if anyone could help me in this issue. I need to use BeMicro development board but its driver software does not support Windows 7 64 bit. So I have to install windows 7 32 bit. Since my factory default operating system is windows 7 64bit that came with my acer 5741 laptop, can anyone give me some suggestions how to convert this as 32 bit?

Thanks for your time.

Answer 1

I'd recommend using a virtual machine for development, but this is only feasible if
- you can afford an additional Windows 7 32bit license
- the interface to your development board is supported by the virtual machine (USB, serial port, ...)

If it's possible, this approach has a number of advantages:
- you can easily backup your dev environment
- you can use snapshots to freely experiment in your dev environment
- using several VMs, you can also keep multiple versions of your dev environment around

Answer 2

Downgrading your OS seems rather draconian, especially since there are other solutions.

As Frank has suggest virtualisation is the key. Frank correctly points out that you will need an additional licence for the VM if you use a standard VM.

However, if you have Windows 7 Professional or better, you can download the XP Mode add-on (FREE) that will allow you to run your application as if it were on an XP x86 machine. Caveat: there is no definite guarantee that your app will work, but it will cost you nothing to try and seems far better than reinstalling your existing OS.

See: Installing XP Mode on Windows 7