How to install a new version of Windows

Hey there. I’m currently running a 32-bit version of Windows 7 and I'm trying to move up to 64-bit Windows 8.1. I have an original copy on a bootable USB. However, whenever I try to boot from the drive on my PC, I hit a wall. It throws a "Windows ran into a problem and needs to restart" error—or something along those lines—and then just reboots immediately. It doesn't even get close to finishing the loading process before the crash happens. I’ve already tried booting in Safe Mode, but no luck there either. I'm fairly certain the USB isn't the culprit since it works perfectly fine on my laptop, which is a 64-bit machine. Any ideas? 🙂.

Is booting working correctly on the USB?

I used Rufus to create the bootable drive. It seems fine so far since the laptop is running without any hiccups. I'm updating Windows now to see if that clears up the issue. If things go sideways again, I'll just try booting from this drive.

I guess you should check if you actually set the PC to boot from the USB drive in the BIOS and saved those settings.

Exactly. About six months ago, I messed around with Linux for a bit and everything ran smoothly enough.

So, how do you have your Windows setup—is it an ISO file or are you using a CD? If you're working with an ISO file, did you set up the Rufus program just like it shows in the picture—specifically by choosing "create a bootable disk using ISO image"?

Yeah, I am. It’s the same old story. The ISO is selected, the ISO is ready. And just to be clear, this works fine on my laptop. I get through the installation, it asks for my preferences, everything looks normal. But the second I try it on my desktop, I see that Windows 8.1 logo and then—boom—everything hits a wall. :/

Don't have an optical drive? If that's the case, the only advice I can really give you is to go ahead and install it via DVD instead.

I have one.🙂 I'll try running an update first before attempting another boot. If that fails, I'll burn it to a disc. I'll let you know how it goes (once I track down a DVD drive :P).

I've tried everything... and I'm still getting the same result on the dual boot 😢😢. Now I'm going to try running the 64-bit version of macOS.. :/

Could you let me know exactly what it says? Like, what specific error message or pop-up are you seeing?

This.. I saw someone online mention it might be an overheating issue or something along those lines.. My CPU temperature is sitting at about 45 C.
E: Same deal as this.

I'm looking over the specs for my motherboard right now... And I have to ask, what does this even mean first? supports macOS 8?
E: Alright, I'll give that a shot. :P

Finally. I actually pulled it off after that BIOS upgrade... honestly, I was about two minutes away from throwing the whole machine out the window. 🙂🙂 Thanks, everyone.