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How To Check If Computer Is Running A 32 Bit or 64 Bit Operating System.

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Author:

Nirmal Sharma MVP

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SUMMARY

The following knowledgebase explains the methods you can use to check if Operating System is running 32 bit or 64 Bit Version.

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MORE INFORMATION

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.
 
You can also a simple batch file to check the setting on remote computer:
 
*** Start ***
 
@echo off
 
Set RegQry=HKLM\Hardware\Description\System\CentralProcessor\0
 
REG.exe Query %RegQry% > checkOS.txt
 
Find /i "x86" < CheckOS.txt > StringCheck.txt
 
If %ERRORLEVEL% == 0 (
    Echo "This is 32 Bit Operating system"
) ELSE (
    Echo "This is 64 Bit Operating System"
)
 
*** End ***
 
You can use PSEXEC (a tool from Sysinternals) to run this script remotely redirect the output in a Text file.
 
To query registry entry on a remote computer you can use the following statement with Reg.exe:
 
Reg.exe Query > checkOS.txt
 
Please note that you can use the below registry entry to identify the processor architecture:
 
HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentCongtrolSet\Control\Session Manager\Envirornment.
 
You can see the below registry entry in the right pane of the registry editor:
 
PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE   REG_SZ         x86
 

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Keywords: KB556009, kbhowto, kbpubtypecca, kbpubmvp

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Article Info
Article ID : 556009
Revision : 6
Created on : 8/20/2020
Published on : 8/20/2020
Exists online : False
Views : 461