A bit confused on upgrading to windows 7

[TOASTBOMB]

Hello,

I'm currently running a 32bit version of windows xp and want to upgrade to a 64bit version of windows 7 (yes I'm sure my computer can handle a 64bit os) through the student discount program , but I'm fuzz about a few things. I know that going from a 32bit os to a 64bit os that I will need to do a clean install but I would be buying it through a download so would I be installing windows 7 off a usb drive? Or have to burn it onto a disk? And since it says upgrade would that mean that it can only upgrade with a previous version of windows installed that is compatible with the new one? Also without buying the backup disk would I be able to get this download again if I wanted to do a clean install to speed up my computer?

So would I be able to buy the "Download (64-bit)" and be able to successfully upgrade? (Don't care about losing information, this is a freshly formatted version of xp anyways)

Iink (Student discount program): http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/mss ... micsavings

[liljim]

humm this can get tricky.

This greatly depends on the format of the download. If at all possible, i would suggest it gets burnt to a disk but i have no idea what you would be downloading. I couldnt find any info that pointed to what the filetype is. Concerning the install though, a "clean install" can be done with an upgrade disk and thats the route you need to take. The difference in using an upgrade disk is it will ask for verification that you have a xp disk and key. I dont know how many times you would be able to download this either, that will be strictly up to microsoft but seeing that they offer a back up disk suggest theres a limit and some people end up wishing they had bought the disk lol.