Cannot power on Red Hat in VMware

I have a Red Hat system that I was recovering from backup into our VMware environment, but couldnt get it to power on properly. I tried everything I could to get it working, but as soon as I turned it on, GRUB would load and display
Booting the kernel
then the system would power off. I went as far as building out a new Red Hat system and mounting the volumes to ensure that the data was still there and accessible.

About ready to give up and build a new system to copy the data onto, I realized the Red Hat installation has an upgrade option. I inserted the DVD and began the upgrade process when it prompts me if I want to change from 64bit to 32bit linux. Crap – that means I need a different DVD.

A few minutes later I have downloaded the new DVD and began booting from it when it unexpectedly powered off. I restarted the VM and noticed it got as far as Booting the kernel, and powered off. Why now? This is the same error as I had with booting the OS, but now on the DVD. Is the DVD bad? What else is in common?

I then realized the CPU type on the VM was 32bit, and I was attempting to boot a 64bit OS. I swapped the configuration around and successfully booted the DVD. I then realized this may be the entire problem I was having, and rebooted directly to the hard drive – everything works.

Symptom: Virtualized Red Hat system powers off after displaying Booting the kernel
Resolution: Ensure the processor type is 64bit