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do 64 bit systems support 32 bit functionality?

S

SuPrEIVIE

Platinum Member
this is most likely a novice question but im not too knowldgeable about the 64 bit environment, i can conclude it will be path of choice for high end use like gaming but i was wondering if it is possible of utilizing 32 bit applications and games in 64 bit? otherwise dual booting would be required for both environements then and i hope thats not the case

thanks in advance
 
Yes, all x64 CPUs support 32-bit instructions. All 64-bit OSes to date support 32-bit emulation to my knowledge. Windows (XP64, Vista64) and Linux certainly do.
 
XP64 and Vista 64 support 32-bit applications. 32bit drivers will not work in a 64bit OS, certain services do not work either, such the reason some antivirus / firewall applications run into problems in a 64bit environment.

Any program that even contains some 16-bit code will not work.
 
Like others have said, it'll be a pain in the ass. In Windows, I'm not sure of the extent of the problems, or if it's even possible to hack away at it to get it to work. But in linux, there are ways to "sorta" make them work.
 
Like others have said, it'll be a pain in the ass. In Windows, I'm not sure of the extent of the problems, or if it's even possible to hack away at it to get it to work. But in linux, there are ways to "sorta" make them work.
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Works fine here.
 
If they didn't, there would be few, if any, applications available for 64-bit systems. 🙂
 
Originally posted by: Aikouka
Originally posted by: Nothinman
All 64-bit OSes to date support 32-bit emulation to my knowledge.
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It's not emulation, the binaries are supported natively by both the host OS and the hardware.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_on_Windows

In Windows, it's considered emulated as it has to run through an extra software layer called Windows on Windows.
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Interesting, but "The x64 versions of Windows no longer include the 16-bit WoW subsystem" WHY THE HELL NOT! This means theres a good chance that C&C 95/RA1/Starcraft and a horde of other old but fun games will not work anymore. Hell they crash regularly as it is in 32 bit XP (With the first decade DVD anyways, normal versions run fine) so theyve got no chance in hell of running on vista 🙁 This makes me a sad panda.
 
I've found 64bit to be a PITA, so unless you need it for performance reasons, i'd recommend not going to it (at least in XP, not sure about Vista). In XP64, its hard to find drivers (yet alone ones that are supported), and many things dont work, HP print drivers, scanning drivers, 16 bit installers. IIS works a little differently and requires special downloads for different things. Not sure why theres an IE64 bit, but google toolbar wouldnt work with it. I can go on and on.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_on_Windows

In Windows, it's considered emulated as it has to run through an extra software layer called Windows on Windows.
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Nowhere in that article is the term emulation used. 32-bit processes might get a slightly different environment via WoW so that they can find 32-bit libraries and such but there's no emulation going on.

Interesting, but "The x64 versions of Windows no longer include the 16-bit WoW subsystem" WHY THE HELL NOT!
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Probably the only reason it still exists in 32-bit Windows is because it works and there's no real reason to remove it but porting it to the 64-bit system would probably be a PITA.

Hell they crash regularly as it is in 32 bit XP (With the first decade DVD anyways, normal versions run fine) so theyve got no chance in hell of running on vista This makes me a sad panda.
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I guess you can't really complain too much then since MS just removed something that barely worked anyway. And you could always try running them on Win9X in VMware or Parallels, both are working on improving video performance and allowing hardware acceleration in guests so even if they don't run well now the next releases might get them to perform well enough to be playable.
 
Originally posted by: Nothinman
Nowhere in that article is the term emulation used. 32-bit processes might get a slightly different environment via WoW so that they can find 32-bit libraries and such but there's no emulation going on.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WOW64
For example, the version of 64-bit Windows developed for the Intel Itanium 2 processor uses Wow64win.dll to set up the emulation of x86 instructions within the Itanium 2's unique instruction set.
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WHY THE HELL NOT! This means theres a good chance that C&C 95/RA1/Starcraft and a horde of other old but fun games will not work anymore. Hell they crash regularly as it is in 32 bit XP (With the first decade DVD anyways, normal versions run fine) so theyve got no chance in hell of running on vista This makes me a sad panda.
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FYI Starcraft works fine in Vista x64,I have it installed and played it for awhile.
 
Originally posted by: Nothinman
That's different because IA64 requires emulation to run 32-bit x86 code while AMD64 doesn't.
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*Sigh* the original quote mentioned "all" 64-bit OS's and you flat-out denied it. You can't ignore Itanium, which works under 64-bit OS's and requires 32-bit software emulation (note that it didn't always require software emulation 😛).

If you're talking about x86-64, then basically what windows does is flags the processor to process 32-bit code and any other windows functionality that must change. Itanium is different as it's not an x86 processor.
 
Originally posted by: Mem
WHY THE HELL NOT! This means theres a good chance that C&C 95/RA1/Starcraft and a horde of other old but fun games will not work anymore. Hell they crash regularly as it is in 32 bit XP (With the first decade DVD anyways, normal versions run fine) so theyve got no chance in hell of running on vista This makes me a sad panda.
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FYI Starcraft works fine in Vista x64,I have it installed and played it for awhile.
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Awsome, even if it didnt work blizzard would fix it. Shame i cant say the same about the c&c series, given EA's track record with support.
 
*Sigh* the original quote mentioned "all" 64-bit OS's and you flat-out denied it.
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No, I just didn't feel like writing a paragraph about how Alpha can run 32-bit code but Sparc64 can't, etc because I knew that's not that the OP was talking about.
 
Nothinman's right. I used the term emulation fairly loosely. The x64 CPUs can directly execute 32-bit code because they have 32-bit instructions.
 
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