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Win 7 Ultimate and Pro will run 32 bit software in XP?

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Perryg114

Senior member
I was wondering if Win 7 pro and/ultimate will provide support for 32 bit software. I am having problems with 32 bit software not running in Win 7 home premium 64 bit. Do the Ultimate and pro versions have some sort of compatibility mode for 32 bit software or do I need to run a 32 bit version of Win 7?

Perry
 
You could try compatibility mode but it's not the greatest... With pro and ultimate you also have the option of XP Mode which is essentially an XP VM that you have to download from MS's website. It works for running those few programs that just plain refuse to run in win7 but it is noticeably slower than normal.
 
Well will compatibility mode emulate a 32 bit OS in a 64bit OS? Same question for XP mode? Is the XP mode by default 32 bit or will the XP mode be 64 bit also and thus prone to more of these 32 vs 64 bit issues?

Perry
 
Perryg114 said:
Well will compatibility mode emulate a 32 bit OS in a 64bit OS? Same question for XP mode? Is the XP mode by default 32 bit or will the XP mode be 64 bit also and thus prone to more of these 32 vs 64 bit issues?

Perry
Click to expand...

Well first, the 64bit OS has no problems running 32bit programs. In fact, most applications available for windows 7 are 32bit. The issue arrises when old programs do thing that aren't supported by the updated API. Starting with vista, the kernel underwent a fairly dramatic change (No doubt you would have problems running this program in a 32bit OS as well.)

Compatibility mode attempts to more fully implement the old API, it usually isn't very successful. XP mode is, as was said, and XP VM. That means, it is like having windows XP run under Win7 at the same time (It would be 32bit xp)
 
You'd have to tell us more about the software in question, but the odds are that if Compatibility Mode doesn't do the trick, then running it under the XP Mode virtual machine would.
 
Cogman said:
Well first, the 64bit OS has no problems running 32bit programs. In fact, most applications available for windows 7 are 32bit. The issue arrises when old programs do thing that aren't supported by the updated API. Starting with vista, the kernel underwent a fairly dramatic change (No doubt you would have problems running this program in a 32bit OS as well.)

Compatibility mode attempts to more fully implement the old API, it usually isn't very successful. XP mode is, as was said, and XP VM. That means, it is like having windows XP run under Win7 at the same time (It would be 32bit xp)
Click to expand...
Pretty much this, but remember you will take a performance hit in XP mode
 
Some old 32 bit software is not going to run right in Windows 7 64 bit. Usually this is old software that is not going to get updated. Might be the time to upgrade your application software to compatible versions. Seriously, you can't expect new operating systems to be compatible with old software, which was quite possibly buggy in the older operating systems.
 
or run a full xp virtual machine inside of win7. i do it because some of the software i have will not run on win7 64bit no matter what mode, it does however work fine w/ vmware+xp32bit full install in win7.
 
In my experience, XP mode is barely passable. It's only advantage is that you don't have to have a separate XP license. Granted I haven't tried it since RC, so maybe it has improved.

VirtualBox is a little better (concerning performance), and VMWare Player is much better. Unfortunately Player doesn't do snapshots, but I run daily incremental backups on my Win7 drive anyway. I only use it for a couple of old games so I don't feel like shelling out the bucks for Workstation.
 
XP Mode is, IMO, vastly more usable if you use VMWare player and convert it to the VMware format. Runs much faster and actually supports some limited 3d acceleration.

Vmware player is completely free, too.
 
The software I am using is software to run a high speed camera. I think it is just a visual basic code. They have about three versions but none of them are 64 bit compatible requardless of the OS. I am trying to find a work around till they fix the problem. I am using a Dell Studio 17 laptop which I am not very impressed with it. It seems stupid to put a glossy screen and only two USB ports on a $1000 laptop.

Perry
 
Let me ask a question here. When did the processors become 64bit capable? I am thinking it was at least 5 years ago? Maybe the Atom is 32 bit still but maybe it is even 64 bit capable.

Perry
 
I do believe the Atoms are 32-bit. The Athlon 64 (the first x86-64 processor, not IA-64) was released in 2003
 
Perryg114 said:
Let me ask a question here. When did the processors become 64bit capable? I am thinking it was at least 5 years ago? Maybe the Atom is 32 bit still but maybe it is even 64 bit capable.

Perry
Click to expand...

Well, The first 64bit processor originated around the 1970s.
The first x86 capable 64bit processor was AMD's Opteron in 2003.

Atom has both 64 and 32 bit processors. (the desktop versions of atom are typically 64 bit.)
 
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