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Kokizzu
Asked: 2012-12-29 04:23:10 +0800 CST

How can I switch a 64-bit installation to a 32-bit one?

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I want to turn my 64-bit installation into a 32-bit one.

So far, I've tried to install a 32-bit kernel using this command:

sudo apt-get install linux-image:i386 linux-image-generic:i386 linux-image-generic-pae:i386 linux-firmware:i386

That command returns the following error:

Package linux-firmware:i386 is a virtual package provided by:
  linux-firmware 1.95 [Not candidate version]
E: Package 'linux-firmware:i386' has no installation candidate

I don't understand this as linux-firmware is available in all architectures, not just i386:

$ apt-cache show linux-firmware | grep Filename
Filename: pool/main/l/linux-firmware/linux-firmware_1.95_all.deb
Filename: pool/main/l/linux-firmware/linux-firmware_1.34.10_all.deb
Filename: pool/main/l/linux-firmware/linux-firmware_1.34.7_all.deb
Filename: pool/main/l/linux-firmware/linux-firmware_1.34.4_all.deb
Filename: pool/main/l/linux-firmware/linux-firmware_1.34_all.deb
12.10

2 Answers

  1. If it is for using 32 bit ELFs, then install multilib support. Or else its easier and less error prone to reinstall ubuntu in 32 bit mode, then installing hundreds of new packages.

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  2. Very similar to How can I switch a 32-bit installation to a 64-bit one? .

    The answer is that multi-arch crossgrading isn't supported yet. So just do a clean install. You can do a clean install that keeps all your files, but it's highly recommended to back up first.

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