Upgrade Windows 10 32-bit to 64-bit

Hello. I am running the latest Parallels Desktop for Mac. My original Parallel's installation created a 32-bit Windows 7 system, and so I have now upgraded to 32-bit Windows 10. I have backed-up all my Windows data and would now like to upgrade to Windows 10 64-bit. I have downloaded the 64-bit Windows 10 upgrader (as a .iso file) and searched this forum, but am unable to determine how to go about upgrading. I have tried the following:
- Set Parallel's tools to boot from external DVD drive (containing the .iso), and then external USB flash drive (containing the .iso and a mounted version of the .iso). Unfortunately, Parallel's will not boot from either source.
- Boot as normal from my 32-bit Windows 10 hard drive, then mount my DVD and flash drive via Windows Explorer, then double-click 'Setup' from the mounted .iso. Unfortunately, I receive an error that "This app can't run on your PC." I assume it can't run because it is attempting to run a 64-bit upgrader app on my 32-bit system.
- I have read Parallel's article #8638 ("How do I connect an CD/DVD ISO Image to a virtual machine") but again, simply connecting the DVD drive leaves me at attempting to run the 'Setup' app (which will not run).
- I have read a forum post entitled "clean install w10 education is that totally even mac ?" but this relies on mounting the same .iso.

Per other internet articles I've read, it should be possible to somehow boot from the .iso I created, which should then allow updating (overwriting) my 32-bit system with the new 64-bit system, but I can't figure out the proper steps to make this happen. Any help on this will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

Hi Michael, it is not possible to upgrade a 32 bit Windows 10 OS to 64 bit architecture.

 

Hello Dhruba: Yes, you are right it is not possible to upgrade Windows 10 32-bit to 64-bit. To be more precise, what I want to do is overwrite the 32-bit installation of Windows with a NEW 64-bit Windows 10 (so technically it is not an upgrade). Per this article: http://www.howtogeek.com/228042/how-to-switch-from-32-bit-windows-10-to-64-bit-windows-10/
it is possible to backup the data from the old 32-bit Windows, then install a fresh, new 64-bit Windows 10. After this, I would use my backup data (from the 32-bit version) to re-install documents and software to the new 64-bit Windows 10. So what I would like to know is how to mount the .iso (64-bit Windows 10 upgrader) so that I can boot into the .iso and from there install Windows 10 64-bit. Thanks again.

 

Hi Michael, you can mount the .iso image file by:
Open virtual machine configure > Hardware > CD/DVD > Click on source > Choose an image file.
You will have to change the Boot order, in order to make it boot from the CD/DVD.

 

i was able to do an 'in place' upgrade from 32 bit to 64 bit win 10 pro - it wasn't free but i bought pcmover from laplink - WARNING - their support sucks

 

Are there any tips or tricks you would recommend for doing as you did? I need to do precisely this in place upgrade. I have about a 80-90GB VM on my Macbook Pro SSD. About 150GB free space is on the SSD. Which version of the PCMover product did you purchase?