The 64-0bit versions of Windows Vista are a tad tricky to handle. This because the technology is still new, the 32-bit is still dominant at this stage, and because the market, from both the developers and consumers points of view is still immature. It is not uncommon that users of 64-bit configurations run into various troubles generated by the lack of support or compatibility. However, 64-bit is the future. Much in the same manner as the transition from 16-bit to 32-bit technology, we are not in the transition period that has 64-bit as the destination.

64-bit technology is not limited by the 32-bit memory addressing system. And, as such, users will be able to address a consistent amount of RAM over the 3.something delivered by 32-bit. As a matter of fact, Windows Vista Business, Enterprise and Ultimate will support no less than 128 GB of RAM.

Well, as Windows Vista has experienced some issues since the commercial launch on January 30, 2007, it is best to follow a "healthy" course of action when installing one of the 64-bit editions of the operating system on your machine.

First off, make sure that your platform is actually 64-bit. A x64 edition of Windows Vista will only install on a 64-bit system, but don't go ahead with the installation just yet. In fact, search for and download the latest edition of BIOS and update the motherboard.

Following this, identify and download the 64-bit versions of drivers for all the hardware components in your system: chipset, graphics card, serial ATA (SATA) / RAID, sound card, printer drivers and so on and so forth. Do not install these, you will be able to do so after deploying Windows Vista.

After this extensive preparation, go ahead, take you brand new 64-bit edition of Windows Vista and install it on your machine. Follow the process and all should work just fine. After the first boot, begin to deploy the drivers. Next, install Windows Updated and 64-bit codecs and then all your programs. Here you don't have to pay attention to the 32-bit vs. 64-bit because, applications will generally work either way.