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I currently have a 32-bit Windows 7 installation, and want to do a clean reinstall to 64-bit Windows 7.

If I back up my 32-bit drivers/download the original OEM 32-bit drivers for my new 64-bit installation, will they work? Some? Hit or miss?

Windows 7, Dell Studio 1735 - 64-bit capable.

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3 Answers 3

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Windows 7 is pretty good when it comes to picking up new drivers. It would probably work, but I would suggest not to bother with backing them up. Windows picks most of them up upon boot and via Windows update, and you don't want to be stuck with 32-bit drivers on a 64-bit OS which could be hindering your performance. Certain ones (i.e. video card) I would recommend grabbing the latest manually, as the Windows update website doesn't seem to contain the latest revisions all the time.

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  • would the internet drivers work, or how would I get the drivers to work for that w/o backup?
    – studiohack
    Jan 2, 2011 at 2:07
  • Windows 7 picks up most new hardware on boot. This is what I've experienced at least. At work I have made a generic Windows 7 ghost image on a desktop and applied it to a bunch of laptops and workstations without issues.
    – user1931
    Jan 2, 2011 at 2:12
  • 32-bit drivers will flatly not work on a 64-bit Windows install.
    – Jamie Hanrahan
    Feb 22, 2015 at 5:21
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Before you do the clean install, go to Dell website and download drivers for 64bit and save them on a different partition or USB drive. In particular, pickup the chipset and ethernet drivers.

Those backup drivers program never seems to save all the misc application that goes along with the driver. You can still use it, but I won't solely depend on it.

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Seems like no one ever said this, so I thought I would:

No, 32-bit drivers do not work on 64-bit Windows.

WOW64 is only for applications. Drivers must be compiled for the system on which they will be run.

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