#WINDOWS XP MODE WINDOWS 7 32BIT DRIVER#
Can I use a 32-bit device driver under 64-bit Windows 7?Ī. Your best bet is to do a Web search to see if the manufacturer has published a 64-bit device driver and, barring that, if other users have come up with a solution. Devices that don’t have obvious ties to the datacenter (such as custom input devices, multimedia hardware, and some printers) can be harder to integrate since they were manufactured at a time when 64-bit desktops were a rarity. Some manufacturers - for example, vendors of network interface cards or disk storage controllers - are more up to date than others, thanks in part to the fact that they’ve been supporting 64-bit computing under Windows Server since the 2002-2003 timeframe. However, legacy hardware support is a hit-or-miss proposition.
As with PC support, most peripherals manufactured in the Vista era work with 64-bit Windows 7. If you’re not sure what kind of CPU is in your system, or whether the CPU supports 64-bit operation, you can use the free Intel Processor Identification Utility to find out.Ī. Examples include Intel’s Atom line of low-powered CPUs and early Intel Core CPUs, like the Core Duo (not Core 2 Duo). The exceptions are those that ship with low-end CPUs that don’t support the AMD or Intel 64-bit extensions. after Vista’s debut) are capable of running 64-bit Windows 7. Most PCs manufactured in the past three years (i.e. Is my PC supported under 64-bit Windows 7? A. In speedy Q&A format, here’s just what you need to know.
A few editions of 64-bit Windows 7 provide a Windows XP Mode that solves some backward-compatibility problems, but it isn’t a universal panacea. But if you don’t have sufficient RAM (at least 4GB), or you rely on devices that don’t have supporting 64-bit drivers, or you need to upgrade an existing 32-bit installation, 32-bit Windows 7 might be the better choice. For most would-be Windows 7 users, a 64-bit version of Windows 7 is the right move.