Will Microsoft software for windows XP 32 bit run under Windows XP 64 bit ?

[Linh]

Will Microsoft software for Windows XP 32 bit run under Windows XP 64 bit ?

Example: Windows Office XP, Access 2000
Example of non-Microsoft 32 bit: Norton Ghost, Nero

[Allan]

Yes

[Linh]

Thank you Allan for your reply.

[Allan]

You're welcome.

[BC_Programmer]

Will Microsoft software for Windows XP 32 bit run under Windows XP 64 bit ?

Example: Windows Office XP, Access 2000
Example of non-Microsoft 32 bit: Norton Ghost, Nero

It depends on the edition of 64-bit XP. There are two versions.

"Windows XP 64-Bit Edition" Which runs using IA-64 (Itanium). This cannot run AMD64 programs (which are what you typically find as "64-bit" today). 32-bit x86 programs run in a special emulation environment, which makes them run significantly slower. Driver programs and low-level 32-bit applications might not run properly. Ghost and Nero, for example, might not run.

"Windows XP x64 Edition"

This is the one you are after. Everything- with the exception of driver software- will likely work just fine on x64. There are of course caveats, since some programs make assumptions and won't work properly on x64 as a result, but you can usually find patches for applications that have issues.

[Allan]

Yes, there are exceptions - that's true. I never ran into any on my systems though.