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Hey all,
Im putting together a 64 bit machine for my friend. I want to know, will all 32 bit progs run on it? Especially since I will be installing 32 bit WinXP Pro SP2 till I get a copy of the 64 bit edition. Will I have any probs?
thanks
GoldEagle :lol: :mrgreen: :)

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by belama

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Short answer for : yes, an AMD64 CPU will run a 32‑bit Windows XP Pro SP2 installation and 32‑bit applications will run normally. As pointed out, this is commonly done. The important caveats are about drivers, memory limits and future support.

AMD64 (x86‑64) is fully backward compatible with IA‑32, so the CPU will execute a 32‑bit OS natively. However, device drivers must match the OS bitness: 32‑bit Windows needs 32‑bit drivers. If a motherboard or peripheral only has 64‑bit drivers available, that device won’t work under 32‑bit XP. Also remember a 32‑bit OS can only address about 3.2–4.0 GB of RAM in practice; to use more memory you need a 64‑bit OS.

Practical preinstall checklist:

  • Confirm 32‑bit XP drivers exist for the chipset, video, LAN, audio and storage controller.
  • If the board’s SATA controller defaults to AHCI/RAID, switch to IDE/compatibility mode or have the XP mass‑storage driver ready (slipstream or F6) so setup sees the disk.
  • Download the NIC driver and place it on removable media so you can get online after the first boot.
  • If you plan to later move to a 64‑bit OS, check vendor support for 64‑bit drivers then.

A few extra notes: 32‑bit apps compiled as 32‑bit will run fine, but 64‑bit‑only binaries will not. Running XP today carries significant security risk because Microsoft ended support years ago; avoid exposing an XP machine directly to the internet without mitigations.

Member Avatar for belama

Sure it will work. Everybody does it.

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