If you bought a Lenovo PC with 32-bit Windows Vista or 7 installed and have been itching to try 64-bit, you can now purchase recovery discs straight from Lenovo in whatever bit-flavor you like.

Expected limitations apply, like not being able to change languages or versions (i.e. Professional vs Ultimate) of your flavor of Windows, and not all versions of all operating systems are available in any given country. Systems with Windows Starter Edition are also not eligible, given there is no 64-bit version of that Windows flavor.

To be clear, this is not a free service. Rather, this is a change to existing policy that previously only allowed you to purchase the exact recovery discs for your system’s preloaded operating system. I want to say these discs ran in the $50 USD range in the U.S., but it’s been a while since I’ve ordered discs. If anyone has ordered discs recently and wants to chime in with the cost in your region, please leave a comment!

Why should I pay for these discs?
Microsoft doesn’t care if you use 32-bit or 64-bit on a given license. Unfortunately the process for properly activating a standalone Windows installation using the OEM license key that came with your PC is arduous, not to mention you then have to come up with the installation media.

For those not inclined to get too dirty into swapping OS’s, ordering the recovery discs saves that hassle and also preserves the Lenovo preload for you. This includes the service partition which holds plenty of nifty pre-boot tools that can enable you to troubleshoot, repair and save files off of a damaged system.

Those lucky enough to have the Windows 7 “Enhanced Experience” preload that has been coming on select Lenovo PCs for the past few months will also appreciate preserving all the extra tweaking that Lenovo put into these systems.

Visit the source link below for all the details on changing up your bits.

Source: [Lenovo Support]