I'm going to upgrade my current computer from Windows 10 32 bit to Windows 10 64 bit and am hoping to get some helpful tips on how to best handle the upgrade. Specifically:

• Do I need to (or is it best to) uninstall the 32 bit version of Sonar Platinum and the associated products that come with it but are from other companies - Melodyne for instance.
• Am I going to run into problems with re-registering the various programs even though it is the very same computer with just a change in the OS? If yes, what are those problems and how can I deal with them?
• Are there any 32 bit plug-ins (that are part of Sonar Platinum) that don't have an equivalent 64 bit plug-in? This is important because I'm going to have bounce any of those tracks to another track to preserve the effects under Sonar 64 bit. I took a quick look at the online documentation and couldn't find anything about this but have a faint recollection of this being the case from my earlier reading of parts of the manual.

Any advice that anyone has will be very much appreciated!

I'm not sure about Win 10, but all other Windows OS' require a complete "clean" (reformat hard drive) reinstall to go from 32 bit to 64 bit.  I suspect Win 10 is the same way. 
https://www.tenforums.com...ows-32-bit-64-bit.html

You're right and thanks, fireberd. It definitely will require a clean install. The reason I ask about uninstalling is that I'm concerned that if I don't, there will be problems re-registering the program (and related programs such as Melodyne, Addictive Drums) when I reinstall Sonar. Conversely, it is the same computer hardware and maybe leaving things as they are will not cause a problem and maybe even be beneficial (although I doubt that). I have a suspicion I'm going to run into problems either way and would like to hear from anyone that has gone down this road for any tips on how to best handle the upgrade to Win10 64 bit.

You will be essentially installing Win 10x64 as a new installation, nothing useful will likely remain.
There is a very good chance that you will need to re-authorize at least some of your third party plugins, depending on how they are protected. Although Windows itself will allow you to reactivate the same version on the same computer, because it checks a hardware hash against an online database, many plugins put code on the hard drive for this, and that will probably be lost. So before you install Win10x64 you should deactivate plugins where there are limited installations and this is an option.
 
As a general rule, a 64 bit plugin will be considered as a completely different plugin from its 32 bit version, so projects that load and work with a 32 bit plugin will need that 32 bit version installed to function. You can install and run both the 32 bit version of SONAR and the 64 bit version at the same time on a Win10x64 machine, so your old projects should still work in the SONAR 32 bit version under the 64 bit OS. You should not depend on 32 bit plugs working bridged to SONAR X64, but you might get lucky. The 64 bit plugs will not work in the 32 bit SONAR.

Thank you, slartabartfast,
 
You've answered one of my biggest concerns and that is whether or not I should uninstall/deactivate the software from third parties before installing Win10 x64. It appears the answer is a strong yes.
 
The way you worded your reply I got the strong impression that 64 bit Sonar can't load 32 bit plug-ins and that the 64 bit equivalents are not considered 'the same' plug-in by Sonar. The implication being that my current Sonar projects will all probably have to be run under the 32 bit version of Sonar if they use any plug-ins at all. I'm hoping that isn't true. Some of my work uses only the basic stuff that's available in ProChannel. Those are plug-ins. Are you saying I won't be able to load a project created in the 32 bit version of Sonar using Pro Channel tools and expect them to work in 64 bit Sonar? That seems kinda outrageous.

Kamm Schreiner
T Are you saying I won't be able to load a project created in the 32 bit version of Sonar using Pro Channel tools and expect them to work in 64 bit Sonar? That seems kinda outrageous.

It does, and I am afraid I cannot tell you from my own experience, or the documentation whether that is the case. Someone will possibly stumble on this thread in this forum who has done what you propose eventually. But if you want an answer to the specific question of whether a given 32 bit plugin will work seamlessly in a project saved in SONAR x32 when it is opened in SONAR x 64 you should ask that question in the SONAR forum, where there is a lot more traffic and a focus on how the software works.

Sonar can generally open a project created in any other version minus any features not available in that version.

If you record a project in Sonar Platinum when playing it in Sonar X2 only Sonar X2 features will be available.

Don't forget that in Win x64, you can run both Sonar 32 and 64 side by side. Many of us have done this when we first migrated to using 64 bit as we had the failsafe for running our project in 32 bit if necessary for plugin compatibility.

Projects are not effected by a host being 32 or 64 bit.

Here is a short version of what happened when I installed Windows 64 bit and then installed Sonar Platinum 64 bit. I'll post a more detailed version later.
 
In general all the songs that I created in the 32 bit version of Sonar Platinum opened and played fine in Sonar Platinum 64 bit. There are a few exceptions where I was using some plug-ins from a previous version of Sonar (X3 Producer) like Strum Acoustic and one other that escapes me at the moment. There were a few other glitches too and I'll describe them in a future post.
 
Overall, though, a better experience than I expected.
 
Kamm