Win32 64 bit windows

Learn more. Asked 8 years, 6 months ago. Active 4 months ago. Viewed 23k times. Improve this question. Amitav Amitav 1 1 gold badge 1 1 silver badge 7 7 bronze badges. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. For Visual Studio perhaps other VS versions also : The non-underscore WIN32 is not well documented and appears to have no bearing on 32 vs 64 machine type.

Improve this answer. Do you have any evidence to support the following: For example, defining WIN32 e. Feedback will be sent to Microsoft: By pressing the submit button, your feedback will be used to improve Microsoft products and services.

Privacy policy. WOW64 is the x86 emulator that allows bit Windows-based applications to run seamlessly on bit Windows. This allows for bit x86 Windows applications to run seamlessly in bit x64 Windows, as well as for bit x86 and bit ARM Windows applications to run seamlessly in bit ARM64 Windows.

WOW64 is provided with the operating system and does not have to be explicitly enabled. Microsoft has released bit versions of the Windows operating system. Developers can ensure that their existing bit applications run well under bit Windows or take advantage of the benefits of bit Windows by migrating their applications. A bit operating system supports far more physical memory than a bit operating system.

Upgrading from the bit version to the bit version of Windows requires that you reformat your hard disk, install the bit version of Windows, and then reinstall everything else that you had on your device. Open About settings. At the right, under Device specifications, see System type. Select the Start button , right-click Computer , and then select Properties.

To install a bit version of Windows, you need a CPU that's capable of running a bit version of Windows. The benefits of using a bit operating system are most apparent when you have a large amount of random access memory RAM installed on your computer, typically 4 GB of RAM or more. In such cases, because a bit operating system can handle large amounts of memory more efficiently than a bit operating system, a bit system can be more responsive when running several programs at the same time and switching between them frequently.

To run a bit version of Windows, your computer must have a bit-capable processor. To find out if your processor is bit-capable, do the following. Select the Start button , and then select Control Panel.