Detect whether current Windows version is 32 bit or 64 bit

Question

Believe it or not  my installer is so old that it doesn t have an option to detect the 64-bit version of Windows   Is there a Windows DLL call or  even better  an environment variable that would give that information for Windows nbsp XP and Windows nbsp Vista   One possible solution  I see that Wikipedia states that the 64-bit version of Windows nbsp XP and Windows nbsp Vista have a unique environment variable   ProgramW6432   so I m guessing that d be empty on 32-bit Windows   This variable points to Program Files directory  which stores all the installed program of Windows and others  The default on English-language systems is C  Program Files  In 64-bit editions of Windows  XP  2003  Vista   there are also  ProgramFiles x86   which defaults to C  Program Files  x86  and  ProgramW6432  which defaults to C  Program Files  The  ProgramFiles  itself depends on whether the process requesting the environment variable is itself 32-bit or 64-bit  this is caused by Windows-on-Windows 64-bit redirection

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Interestingly  if I use   get-wmiobject -class Win32 Environment -filter  Name  PROCESSOR ARCHITECTURE     I get AMD64 in both 32-bit and 64-bit ISE  on Win7 64-bit

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Here is some Delphi code to check whether your program is running on a 64 bit operating system   function Is64BitOS  Boolean    IFNDEF WIN64  type   TIsWow64Process   function Handle THandle  var IsWow64   BOOL    BOOL  stdcall  var   hKernel32   Integer    IsWow64Process   TIsWow64Process    IsWow64   BOOL    ENDIF  begin     IFDEF WIN64         We re a 64-bit application  obviously we re running on 64-bit Windows       Result    True      ELSE       We can check if the operating system is 64-bit by checking whether      we are running under Wow64  we are 32-bit code   We must check if this      function is implemented before we call it  because some older 32-bit       versions of kernel32 dll  eg  Windows 2000  don t know about it       See  IsWow64Process   http   msdn microsoft com en-us library ms684139 aspx   Result    False    hKernel32    LoadLibrary  kernel32 dll      if hKernel32   0 then RaiseLastOSError    try      IsWow64Process    GetProcAddress hkernel32   IsWow64Process        if Assigned IsWow64Process  then begin       if  IsWow64Process GetCurrentProcess  IsWow64   then begin         Result    IsWow64        end       else RaiseLastOSError      end    finally     FreeLibrary hKernel32     end        ENDIf  end

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Here is a simpler method for batch scripts       echo off      goto  PROCESSOR ARCHITECTURE        AMD64     echo AMD64     goto  EOF       x86      echo x86     goto  EOF

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See the batch script listed in How To Check If Computer Is Running A 32 Bit or 64 Bit Operating System  It also includes instructions for checking this from the Registry   You can use the following registry location to check if computer is running 32 or 64 bit of Windows operating system   HKLM HARDWARE DESCRIPTION System CentralProcessor 0   You will see the following registry entries in the right pane   Identifier     REG SZ             x86 Family 6 Model 14 Stepping 12 Platform ID    REG DWORD          0x00000020 32    The above    x86    and    0x00000020 32     indicate that the operating system version is 32 bit

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A lot of answers mention calling IsWoW64Process   or related functions   This is not the correct way   You should use GetNativeSystemInfo   which was designed for this purpose   Here s an example   SYSTEM INFO info  GetNativeSystemInfo  amp info    if  info wProcessorArchitecture    PROCESSOR ARCHITECTURE AMD64         It s a 64-bit OS     Also see  https   msdn microsoft com en-us library windows desktop ms724340 28v vs 85 29 aspx

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I want to add what I use in shell scripts  but can easily be used in any language  here  The reason is  that some of the solutions here don t work an WoW64  some use things not really meant for that  checking if there is a   x86  folder  or don t work in cmd scripts  I feel  this is the  proper  way to do it  and should be safe even in future versions of Windows     echo off  if  i  processor architecture   AMD64 GOTO AMD64  if  i  PROCESSOR ARCHITEW6432   AMD64 GOTO AMD64     rem only defined in WoW64 processes  if  i  processor architecture   x86 GOTO x86  GOTO ERR   AMD64     rem do amd64 stuff  GOTO EXEC   x86     rem do x86 stuff  GOTO EXEC   EXEC     rem do arch independent stuff  GOTO END   ERR     rem I feel there should always be a proper error-path       echo Unsupported architecture      pause   END

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To check for a 64-bit version of Windows in a command box  I use the following template   test bat    echo off if defined ProgramFiles x86         echo yes      echo Some 64-bit work   else        echo no      echo Some 32-bit work     ProgramFiles x86  is an environment variable automatically defined by cmd exe  both 32-bit and 64-bit versions  on Windows 64-bit machines only

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Answer for Newer Versions of Windows  Today  I posted some code on another question and an explanation of how to do this with IsWow64Process2 for Windows 10 version 1511 or later and Windows Server 2016  Additionally  the code determines if the process is 32 or 64 bit and whether the process is running under the WOW64 emulator   One of the main reasons I have posted the answer is because while there were several suggestions to use IsWow64Process2  no code that I saw showed how   Please see the answer here  https   stackoverflow com a 59377888 1691559

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From a batch script    IF PROCESSOR ARCHITECTURE    x86 AND    PROCESSOR ARCHITEW6432 NOT DEFINED THEN       OS is 32bit ELSE       OS is 64bit END IF   Using Windows API    if  GetSystemWow64Directory Directory  MaxDirectory   gt  0         OS is 64bit else       OS is 32bit   Sources    HOWTO  Detect Process Bitness GetSystemWow64Directory function

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Another way created by eGerman  that uses PE numbers of compiled executables  does not rely on registry records or environment variables     echo off  amp setlocal   call  getPETarget   SystemRoot  explorer exe    if    ExitCode   EQU  00008664        echo x64   else       if    ExitCode   EQU  0000014C            echo x32       else           echo undefined           goto  eof    getPETarget FilePath                              Errorlevel      0 Success      1 File Not Found      2 Wrong Magic Number      3 Out Of Scope      4 No PE File                               ExitCode      CPU identifier  setlocal DisableDelayedExpansion set  File   1  set Cmp   temp   random   random  1KB  set Dmp   temp   random   random  dmp   REM write 1024 times  A  into a temporary file if exist   File        gt  Cmp        for  l   i in  1 1 32  do  lt nul set  p   AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA        setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion   else  endlocal  amp cmd  c exit 0  amp exit  b 1   REM generate a HEX dump of the executable file  first 1024 Bytes  set  X 1   gt  Dmp      for  f  skip 1 tokens 1 2 delims       i in   fc  b   File    Cmp   findstr  vbi  FC     do       set  a  Y 0x  i      for  l   k in   X  1  Y   do echo 41     set  a  X Y 2      echo   j       del  Cmp   REM read certain values out of the HEX dump set  err    lt  Dmp      set  p  A     set  p  B     REM magic number has to be  MZ    if   A  B   neq  4D5A   set  err 2   else       REM skip next 58 bytes     for  l   i in  3 1 60  do set  p         REM bytes 61-64 contain the offset to the PE header in little endian order     set  p  C       set  p  D       set  p  E       set  p  F       REM check if the beginning of the PE header is part of the HEX dump     if 0x F  E  D  C  lss 1  set  err 3   else         if 0x F  E  D  C  gtr 1018  set  err 3   else           REM skip the offset to the PE header         for  l   i in  65 1 0x F  E  D  C   do set  p             REM next 4 bytes have to contain the signature of the PE header         set  p  G           set  p  H           set  p  I           set  p  J           REM next 2 bytes contain the CPU identifier in little endian order         set  p  K           set  p  L                       del  Dmp  if defined err  endlocal  amp endlocal  amp cmd  c exit 0  amp exit  b  err    REM was the signature   PE 0 0   of the PE header found if   G  H  I  J     50450000      REM calculate the decimal value of the CPU identifier   set  a  CPUID 0x L  K     else  endlocal  amp endlocal  amp cmd  c exit 0  amp exit  b 4  endlocal  amp endlocal  amp cmd  c exit  CPUID   amp exit  b 0

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I don t know on which Windows version it exists  but on Windows nbsp Vista and later this runs   Function Is64Bit As Boolean     Dim x64 As Boolean   System Environment Is64BitOperatingSystem     If x64 Then        Return true     Else        Return false     End If End Function

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For a VBScript   WMI one-liner that retrieves the actuals bits number  32 or 64  of the OS or the Hardware  take a look at http   csi-windows com toolkit csi-getosbits

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I tested the following batch file on Windows 7 x64 x86 and Windows XP x86 and it s fine  but I haven t tried Windows nbsp XP x64 yet  but this will probably work   If Defined ProgramW6432  Do x64 stuff or end if you are aiming for x86  else  Do x86 stuff or end if you are aiming for x64

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In C    public bool Is64bit         return Marshal SizeOf typeof IntPtr      8      In VB NET   Public Function Is64bit   As Boolean    If Marshal SizeOf GetType IntPtr     8 Then Return True    Return False End Function

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I know this is ancient but  here s what I use to detect Win764  On Error Resume Next  Set objWSHShell   CreateObject  WScript Shell    strWinVer   objWSHShell RegRead  HKEY LOCAL MACHINE SOFTWARE Microsoft Windows NT CurrentVersion BuildLabEx    If len strWinVer   gt  0 Then     arrWinVer   Split strWinVer          strWinVer   arrWinVer 2  End If  Select Case strWinVer Case  x86fre  strWinVer    Win7  Case  amd64fre      strWinVer    Win7 64-bit  Case Else     objWSHShell Popup  OS Not Recognized       WScript Quit End Select

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If you can make API calls  try using GetProcAddress   GetModuleHandle to check for the existence of IsWow64Process which is only present in Windows OS that have 64-bit versions   You could also try the ProgramFiles x86  environment variable used in Vista 2008 for backwards compatibility  but I m not 100  sure about XP-64 or 2003-64   Good luck

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I don t know what language you re using  but  NET has the environment variable PROCESSOR ARCHITEW6432 if the OS is 64-bit   If all you want to know is whether your application is running 32-bit or 64-bit  you can check IntPtr Size  It will be 4 if running in 32-bit mode and 8 if running in 64-bit mode

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The best way is surely just to check whether there are two program files directories   Program Files and  Program Files  x86   The advantage of this method is you can do it when the o s is not running  for instance if the machine has failed to start and you wish to reinstall the operating system

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I tested the solution I suggested in my question   Tested for Windows  Environment Variable  ProgramW6432  If it s non empty then it s 64 bit Windows W

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I use this    echo off if   PROCESSOR ARCHITECTURE     AMD64     echo 64 BIT   else    echo 32 BIT     It works on Windows XP  tested it on Windows XP Professional Both 64 bit and 32 bit

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I used this within a login script to detect 64 bit Windows  if   ProgramW6432        ProgramFiles   goto is64flag

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Using Windows Powershell  if the following expression returns true  then it s a 64 bit OS      Array  Get-WmiObject -Class Win32 Processor   Select-Object AddressWidth   0  AddressWidth -eq 64   This was taken and modified from  http   depsharee blogspot com 2011 06 how-do-detect-operating-system html  Method  3   I ve tested this on Win7 64 bit  in both 32 and 64 bit PowerShell sessions   and XP 32 bit

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Check the Registry for the existence of HKLM SOFTWARE Wow6432Node - If it s there  the system is 64-bit - 32-bit  otherwise

[windows] Detect whether current Windows version is 32 bit or 64 bit

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