32 Bit or 64 Bit Operating System

How to check if my computer is running a 32 bit or 64 bit operating system?

This can be easily researched through the computer registry. The computer registry holds some keys that provide hints about this. Check the following location to see 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 9 Stepping 12
Platform ID   REG_DWORD    0x00000020(32)

The above x86 and 0x00000020(32) indicate that the operating system version is 32 bit. This can be also checked in the following computer registry:

HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentCongtrolSet\Control\Session Manager\Envirornment

If your computer is running a 32 bit operating system, then you would see

PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE    REG_SZ    x86

in the right pane of the registry editor.

How do I access computer registry?

You can access computer registry by going to the Start menu, then click on Run, type regedit and hit ENTER.

Alternative way

The property value will be something similar to the following:

ACPI\GENUINEINTEL_-_X86_FAMILY_6_MODEL_9\_0

The X86 family notation in the processor properties means implicitely that you are running a 32 bit OS. You can't run a 64 bit OS on a 32 bit processor.

Alternative way II - Script

The above can be also accomplished via running the following script. Save it as a BAT file and just doubleclick it.

@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"
)

pause