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My current OS is a Kubuntu 12.04, 32 bit version; since my hardware is at 64 bit, and with the next Long Term Support release approaching, I'm considering to upgrade with a 64bit over a 32 bit copy.

I have a setup with the /home directory on a dedicated partition, so I don't need to setup everything again every time I upgrade my system.

I was wondering, if I choose to upgrade to 64bit, will I retain all my custom settings? I will be tempted to answer "yes", since these are high-level software customizations and not low-level settings used to dialogue with hardware, but I'd like to hear it from someone more expert than me.

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Putting /home on its own partition was a good thing. My recommendation is to boot using the 64-bit installer disk. When the installer gets to the part where is asks you about where to put the install, tell it to nuke the / partition and install in that one, but make sure to leave /home alone and mount /home partition on boot. From my experience, all the desktop programs store there settings somewhere in the user directory. Usually a . prefix file or . prefix directory. I do not know of any problems with using a config file from a 32 bit to a 64 bit version of the program. Because I have not mess too much ubuntu, I can not tell you the steps the installer will ask for. And one last thing, don't forget to create a normal user using the same username as before or you won't be able to log into the desktop using the same username as you was using.

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Installing over your existing OS will require some setting up. Having /home on it's own partition just preserves the contents of your home directory. If you've got all your music there but don't install the 64-bit version of SongBird, you still won't be listening to music. Not all settings and configurations are stored in /home. Lots of things are configured in /etc. I deal mostly with Linux server so I'm not so familiar with user-type apps but I'd definitely back up /etc too before you reinstall it.

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