Author Topic: Running a 32 bit program on a 64 bit OS  (Read 1426 times)

Offline chaser

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Running a 32 bit program on a 64 bit OS
« on: April 22, 2012, 12:03:33 AM »
Hey guys I need a little help here. I've searched the webs and can't find the answer so hopefully someone here knows.

I bought Microsoft streets and trips to aid in navigation while storm chasing. I bought the version with the GPS so I can see my location. The GPS will also work with my radar program to show my location on radar. However, to get the GPS to work with the radar program, I have to use Xport to get the rogram to detect the GPS input. Unfortunately Xport only works with 32 bit Windows and I have 64 bit Windows 7. Does anyone know how to run this 32 bit program on a 64 bit computer? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Offline Bizman

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Re: Running a 32 bit program on a 64 bit OS
« Reply #1 on: April 22, 2012, 02:41:10 AM »
The first thing to try would be running it in Compatibility Mode. It may require even the Xport installer to be run in that mode. If the installing runs normally but you just can't run Xport then it'd be time to right-click either the icon or the .exe itself and do some trial-and-error.

Way back when XP was quite new, there was a popular rally game series named after the late Colin McRae. The first game doesn't officially run in XP and most gaming sites claim the same. I had no problems... It won't run if started from the CD. So I installed it normally, located the game.exe file, made it run in win98 compatibility mode and sent an icon to the desktop. Starting the game from the icon and waiting until the program asks for the disk bypasses the incompatible autostart menu on the CD.

Some versions of Windows7 also have a built-in option to run XP in a virtual circuit.

And a third option is to create a dual booting system with a 32 bit version of Windows.
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Offline MrRiplEy[H]

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Offline W7LPNRICK

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Re: Running a 32 bit program on a 64 bit OS
« Reply #3 on: April 22, 2012, 11:30:39 PM »
I have run lots of 32 bit programs on my Win 7 ^$ Bit PC. There is a file which says Sys32 in my programs. As long as it's compatible, it should work.  :salute
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Offline MrRiplEy[H]

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Re: Running a 32 bit program on a 64 bit OS
« Reply #4 on: April 23, 2012, 12:05:26 AM »
I have run lots of 32 bit programs on my Win 7 ^$ Bit PC. There is a file which says Sys32 in my programs. As long as it's compatible, it should work.  :salute


Except that xport states win7 32-bit only in its documentation. Most likely it has something to do with forced driver signing in x64 versions which means they can't hook to the port driver in it. Another spot where security measures bite people in the butt.
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