32 bit or 64 bit

A little confused as to what I should do. I am running xp Pro 32 bit but I
have Athlon 64 dual core processor. If I upgrade to 64 bit will my old
applications still work or am I better off staying with 32 bit?

On Fri, 9 Feb 2007 14:36:00 -0800, Derrell Gore <Derrell
Gore@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>A little confused as to what I should do. I am running xp Pro 32 bit but I
>have Athlon 64 dual core processor. If I upgrade to 64 bit will my old
>applications still work or am I better off staying with 32 bit?

Most people are probably better off with 32 bit. There just isn't that
much 64 bit software out there... yet. The other issue is vendors
likely will work on 64 bit drivers after 32 bit.

So I am right in saying that 32-bit software will not run on 64-bit version?

"Adam Albright" wrote:

> On Fri, 9 Feb 2007 14:36:00 -0800, Derrell Gore <Derrell
> Gore@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> >A little confused as to what I should do. I am running xp Pro 32 bit but I
> >have Athlon 64 dual core processor. If I upgrade to 64 bit will my old
> >applications still work or am I better off staying with 32 bit?
>
> Most people are probably better off with 32 bit. There just isn't that
> much 64 bit software out there... yet. The other issue is vendors
> likely will work on 64 bit drivers after 32 bit.
>
>
>

Most 32 bit software will work on a 64 bit operating system. Device drivers
for x64 must be signed drivers. Any 32 bit software that uses a 16 bit
installer will not install. There is no support at all for 16 bit in x64.

All x64 versions of Vista can only be clean installed. There is no direct
upgrade from 32 bit to 64 bit.

--
Jane, not plain 64 bit enabled :-)
Batteries not included. Braincell on vacation ;-)
"Derrell Gore" <DerrellGore@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:CBB9B11E-E600-4CA4-B357-317ECE4A61FC@microsoft.com...
> So I am right in saying that 32-bit software will not run on 64-bit
> version?
>
> "Adam Albright" wrote:
>
>> On Fri, 9 Feb 2007 14:36:00 -0800, Derrell Gore <Derrell
>> Gore@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>>
>> >A little confused as to what I should do. I am running xp Pro 32 bit
>> >but I
>> >have Athlon 64 dual core processor. If I upgrade to 64 bit will my old
>> >applications still work or am I better off staying with 32 bit?
>>
>> Most people are probably better off with 32 bit. There just isn't that
>> much 64 bit software out there... yet. The other issue is vendors
>> likely will work on 64 bit drivers after 32 bit.
>>
>>
>>

I think that you are not right in saying that "32-bit software will not
run on 64-bit version", but, at the same time, I don't think that you
can do an upgrade from the 32-bit version to the 64-bit version. You
can, I think, do a clean install, but that will mean reinstalling all of
the software, one product at a time.


Derrell Gore wrote:
> So I am right in saying that 32-bit software will not run on 64-bit version?
>
> "Adam Albright" wrote:
>
>> On Fri, 9 Feb 2007 14:36:00 -0800, Derrell Gore <Derrell
>> Gore@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>>
>>> A little confused as to what I should do. I am running xp Pro 32 bit but I
>>> have Athlon 64 dual core processor. If I upgrade to 64 bit will my old
>>> applications still work or am I better off staying with 32 bit?
>> Most people are probably better off with 32 bit. There just isn't that
>> much 64 bit software out there... yet. The other issue is vendors
>> likely will work on 64 bit drivers after 32 bit.
>>
>>
>>

Does both versions come on the install version of Vista?

"Barry Watzman" wrote:

> I think that you are not right in saying that "32-bit software will not
> run on 64-bit version", but, at the same time, I don't think that you
> can do an upgrade from the 32-bit version to the 64-bit version. You
> can, I think, do a clean install, but that will mean reinstalling all of
> the software, one product at a time.
>
>
> Derrell Gore wrote:
> > So I am right in saying that 32-bit software will not run on 64-bit version?
> >
> > "Adam Albright" wrote:
> >
> >> On Fri, 9 Feb 2007 14:36:00 -0800, Derrell Gore <Derrell
> >> Gore@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>> A little confused as to what I should do. I am running xp Pro 32 bit but I
> >>> have Athlon 64 dual core processor. If I upgrade to 64 bit will my old
> >>> applications still work or am I better off staying with 32 bit?
> >> Most people are probably better off with 32 bit. There just isn't that
> >> much 64 bit software out there... yet. The other issue is vendors
> >> likely will work on 64 bit drivers after 32 bit.
> >>
> >>
> >>
>

Thats not what I think he said. I understand his statement and I agree that
all 32 bit software applications will run on the 64Bit OS. However hardware
drivers for any insalled or connected hardware will require 64 bit drivers.

"Barry Watzman" <WatzmanNOSPAM@neo.rr.com> wrote in message
news:%234bwN8KTHHA.496@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>I think that you are not right in saying that "32-bit software will not run
>on 64-bit version", but, at the same time, I don't think that you can do an
>upgrade from the 32-bit version to the 64-bit version. You can, I think,
>do a clean install, but that will mean reinstalling all of the software,
>one product at a time.
>
>
> Derrell Gore wrote:
>> So I am right in saying that 32-bit software will not run on 64-bit
>> version?
>>
>> "Adam Albright" wrote:
>>
>>> On Fri, 9 Feb 2007 14:36:00 -0800, Derrell Gore <Derrell
>>> Gore@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> A little confused as to what I should do. I am running xp Pro 32 bit
>>>> but I have Athlon 64 dual core processor. If I upgrade to 64 bit will
>>>> my old applications still work or am I better off staying with 32 bit?
>>> Most people are probably better off with 32 bit. There just isn't that
>>> much 64 bit software out there... yet. The other issue is vendors
>>> likely will work on 64 bit drivers after 32 bit.
>>>
>>>

Unless you have 64bit mission critical applications or you need to be able
to access more than 4gb RAM, stay with 32bit Vista..


"Derrell Gore" <Derrell Gore@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:3EFAF2B4-9F3D-48E6-A739-9C4EF90FB861@microsoft.com...
>A little confused as to what I should do. I am running xp Pro 32 bit but I
> have Athlon 64 dual core processor. If I upgrade to 64 bit will my old
> applications still work or am I better off staying with 32 bit?

"Mike Hall - MS MVP Windows Shell/User" <mikehall@mvps.org> wrote in message
news:Oi2gWbQTHHA.1000@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> Unless you have 64bit mission critical applications or you need to be able
> to access more than 4gb RAM, stay with 32bit Vista..


I've already got Vista Ultimate 64bit OEM... is there a way to install in as
32bit?

Unless you know that you can't get 64bit drivers yet for some items on your
system I would go ahead and install the 64bit version so that the OS gets
the performace benefit of using 64 bit registers and 64bit instructions even
you do not yet have 64bit versions of your applications at least when they
are released you will be all set.

"Ted Dawson" <nobody@home.now> wrote in message
news:%23w5FmKTTHHA.2124@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>
> "Mike Hall - MS MVP Windows Shell/User" <mikehall@mvps.org> wrote in
> message news:Oi2gWbQTHHA.1000@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>> Unless you have 64bit mission critical applications or you need to be
>> able to access more than 4gb RAM, stay with 32bit Vista..
>
>
> I've already got Vista Ultimate 64bit OEM... is there a way to install in
> as 32bit?