Upgrading XP Pro 32 Bit to XP Pro 64 Bit?

[pjamme]

I need to upgrade several HP xw4400, xw4600 and one xw9400 workstations from XP Pro 32 Bit to the 64 Bit version. Most of them came with Vista Business downgradeable to XP Pro. We never used vista. Drafsmen are running into problems with an App and I believe the 64 Bit version with more RAM is the answer, since we aren't allowed to use Windows 7 yet.

I received 64Bit media from HP (Gratis) and formatted and installed it on one of the xw4600s. Everything seems fine but it never asked for a product key and when I went to Windows Update it said I had to register.
HP warned me that I may have to purchase an upgrade from Microsoft, not a problem, however I cannot seem to find where to do so.
In addition when I went to www.microsoft.com/genuine and clicked on "Validate windows, it said validation incomplete and it listed all the versions it currently supports, Windows XP Professional was there, but not Windows XP professional 64 Bit??
I have about five of these I would like to upgrade for starters, so need to know how to do this first one.

Any ideas?

 

[Tedster]

XP 64 bit should work provided the drivers and software are available for your system.
you would need to do a fresh and clean install.

 

[pjamme]

Genuine Windows?

Tedster,
It does work fine, my concern is about the product key, I do see one in Belarc Advisor. But both windows update and the website mentioned earlier cannot validate it??

No problem at all with drivers since HP also sent a "HP Restore Plus! HP Workstations" DVD with the 64 bit media.

Computer has been running great for three or four days so far.
I just don't want to give it back to the user prematurely.

 

[Tedster]

you may have to call microsoft to get a new key,. Be prepared to speak hindi.

I called them and was connected to a very RUDE call center in india 3 times when I was having installation issues. The personnel there kept reading from a script, wouldn't help me with my problem, and kept talking to me like I was a *****. I am an advanced computer! Finally I figured out my issue myself!

More than likely the key is registered for a 32bit version. You will have to call them to reset.

 

[pjamme]

Thanks Tedster,
I did find two phone numbers that I will try next week.
800-642-7676 & 866-613-0270, which would be your preference?

 

[pjamme]

Well I finally got to the bottom of what goes on here. I called MS and they said since it was OEM, I needed to call HP support. After many calls and transfers it boils down to this:
The workstations were bought as Vista with XP Downgradable. Therefore the OEM Product key supplied by the Restore Plus disk will work on all my workstations since it is a lesser OS than Vista. To clarify, I thought I needed a separate 64bit media kits for each workstation, but soon found out they all have the same OEM and product key.