Home Forums dumb question on windows 7 32 & 64 bit

is there any problem running both 64 bit and 32 bit versions of windows on your network? Any software problems that might show up from accessing software on the 64 bit system from the 32?

I have 32bit Win XP, 32 & 64bit Win 7 and 64bit Windows Server 2008 on a workgroup network without problems. My 32bit Win XP computers can access AC from the 64bit server without problems.

My only problem with 64bit versions on Windows was finding drivers for some of the older peripherals, like scanners & printers.

thanks john. oh, what about the reverse? ac running on a win 7 32 bit but the laptop running 64 bit?

oh, lol, please don't even ask.

You can totally mix and match 32-bit and 64-bit Windows machines on your network. As John said, the only issue you may have is drivers for older equipment such as scanners and printers.

JamesNT

I did this once before I had a Win server. Worked fine.

Wayne,

It doesn't matter at all whether you have 32 bit or 64 bit on a network. This has to do with the hardware in each machine, and it's capabilities.

The data that a machine puts out for other machines to see will be the same whether that machine is 32 or 64 bits. Basically, a 64-bit machine can use larger amounts of memory, so can run more programs at once or can handle massive amounts of data at once.

There's a lot more that I don't know, but this is the basics.

In short, no worries.

I notice that Amazing Charts is a 32bit program, even on the 64bit Windows machines. Any of you techies out there, what advantages/disadvantages? Should we add "64bit AC" to the "new features" poll?

Here are the rules.

1. 64-bit hardware can run both 64-bit and 32-bit operating systems but not 16-bit operating systems.
---While the hardware can certainly hold more than 4G of RAM, the 32-bit OS can only address up to 4GB unless you use Physical Address Extension (PAE). PAE is a feature of Windows Server 2003 ENTERPRISE Edition - you cannot get PAE with Standard. Even with PAE, you are limited to 4GB of address space of which 2GB is reserved for Windows and the remaining 2GB is for user programs. What this means is you can run programs that take more memory, but not run more programs.

2. 64-bit Windows can run both 64-bit software and 32-bit software BUT NOT 16-BIT software.
---This is why Windows XP 64-bit Edition could run MS Office even though it was 32-bit. Although Amazing Charts is 32-bit, the only real thing Jon and Co. had to do to get Amazing Charts to run on 64-bit Windows was to make sure they had no 16-bit code in their software - and probably throw out the last vestiges of VB 6.0. Notice that when installing 32-bit software on 64-bit Windows the program gets installed to c:\program files (x86)\program name instead of just program files. Windows does this automagically.

The major advantage, as others have said, with 64-bit is not only being able to use more RAM (which you could do with PAE), but also have more address space which means more running more programs and less swapping out to the swap file. With 64-bit, programs are no longer limited to a mere 2GB of address space (remember, the other 2GB was reserved for Windows) and can ask for as much RAM as they want - assuming you didn't skimp out when buying your computer.

Memory intense apps such as SQL Server benefit greatly from 64-bit. This means SQL Server Express 2005, which comes with Amazing Charts, can count on having the full 1GB of memory it can address available and not swapped out to the page file because of competition from other programs which means better performance.

JamesNT

Thanks James. I never really got into the pc details before...didnt really need to.

What's truly amazing is how the PC vendors insist on selling poorly spec'd systems and telling you what a great deal it is...even selling 4G ram with 32-bit win 7. But hey, you get "a free memory upgrade to 4G!!!"

You can actually switch between the 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Windows 7. The license is tied to the computer and edition not the architecture. E.g. Win 7 Pro x64 vs Win 7 Pro x86.(Assuming you have the 64 bit disc of course or you can order these from the OEM Dell, Lenovo, etc.)