Microsoft Begins Phasing Out 32-Bit Support for Windows 10

Uskompuf · May 14, 2020

It seems Microsoft has begun the long process of phasing out 32-bit support for Windows 10 beginning with version 2004, all new OEM Windows 10 systems will be required to use 64-bit builds and Microsoft will no longer release 32-bit builds for OEM distribution. This will not affect those of you running 32-bit versions of Windows 10 who will continue to receive updates and Microsoft plans to continue to sell 32-bit versions of Windows 10 through retail channels for the foreseeable future. This is likely just the first step in what will probably be a multi-year project to gradually phase out 32-bit support as more consumers and businesses switch to 64-bit systems.

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Flyordie · May 14, 2020

This should have been done with Windows 10 on every version from the start imho.

s3thra · May 14, 2020

This has been a very long time coming.

Cranky5150 · May 14, 2020

64 bit has been the way for a LONG while IMO....

R-T-B · May 14, 2020

Unless you really need the legacy 16-bit support only 32-bit has, there is absolute no reason to run it in 2020. It's just odd it even exists still, tbf.

dyonoctis · May 14, 2020

Finally...I just wonder what will happen to all the 32bits games. When mac Os catalina dropped 32bit, a fair amount of games like portal couldn't work anymore.

Flanker · May 14, 2020

dyonoctis said:
Finally...I just wonder what will happen to all the 32bits games. When mac Os catalina dropped 32bit, a fair amount of games like portal couldn't work anymore.

Should be able to work fine. Microsoft also has a bunch of popular software they haven't got around to convert to 64-bit, Visual Studio for example.

newtekie1 · May 14, 2020

dyonoctis said:
Finally...I just wonder what will happen to all the 32bits games. When mac Os catalina dropped 32bit, a fair amount of games like portal couldn't work anymore.

32-Bit programs will run just fine on 64-bit.

Countryside · May 14, 2020

Are there any news on the release date on Windows 10 2004

xvi · May 14, 2020

newtekie1 said:
32-Bit programs will run just fine on 64-bit.

WOW!
It's a bad joke, but I'm not sorry.

InVasMani · May 14, 2020

Damn just when I was really looking forward to 32 bit support for windows 10.

dyonoctis · May 14, 2020

xvi said:
WOW!
It's a bad joke, but I'm not sorry.

So MacOs doesn't have an equivalent to Wow64...That's interesting to know. That might be a sign that the move to ARM is definitely coming for them, since they don't have a "x86 mode" anyway.

cyberloner · May 14, 2020

good bye 32bit

efikkan · May 14, 2020

I think 32-bit Windows versions should have been dropped 10 years ago. Any old 32-bit hardware will not be able to run modern Windows versions very well anyway.

Keep in mind this should not be confused with support for 32-bit applications, which needs to be maintained indefinitely.

TheDeeGee · May 14, 2020

newtekie1 said:
32-Bit programs will run just fine on 64-bit.

And old 16-bit games are on GOG, if not there is always a fan installer.

windwhirl · May 14, 2020

xvi said:
WOW!
It's a bad joke, but I'm not sorry.

Don't worry, it's a perfect pun. I legit laughed out loud

CrAsHnBuRnXp · May 14, 2020

Should have died with win 7. Release of 10 at most. Good riddance.

Chrispy_ · May 14, 2020

I'm disgusted that Microsoft failed to drop 32-bit OS back when Windows 8 launched.

We've had the tools to deal with legacy software via emulation and virual machines for almost as long as 64-bit hardware has been around.

windwhirl · May 14, 2020

Chrispy_ said:
I'm disgusted that Microsoft failed to drop 32-bit OS back when Windows 8 launched.

We've had the tools to deal with legacy software via emulation and virual machines for almost as long as 64-bit hardware has been around.

That... might have depended on your location in the world at the time.

Back in 2012, I remember public schools here were receiving netbooks because of a government program and the specs wouldn't have been able to handle a 64 bit Windows at the time (Atom N455, 1 GB of RAM). Heck, they barely got away with running 32-bit Windows 7 and a few apps...

Chrispy_ · May 14, 2020

windwhirl said:
That... might have depended on your location in the world at the time.

Back in 2012, I remember public schools here were receiving netbooks because of a government program and the specs wouldn't have been able to handle a 64 bit Windows at the time (Atom N455, 1 GB of RAM). Heck, they barely got away with running 32-bit Windows 7 and a few apps...

Those 32-bit Atom chips were terrible. Also, Vista/7/8 were all terrible on 1GB RAM. The problem with those netbooks wasn't that they were 32-bit CPUs, it was that they were so poorly specced that mobile phones of the era were more capable.

The Atom chips of that era were actually leftovers of Intel's failed attempt to get into the smartphone market. Dumping them into the PC market was a terrible mistake that hurt the credibility of Atom (which was already seen as a poor performer before those single-core, super-crippled variants popped up) It wasn't until Bay-Trail (Silvermont architecture, with out-of-order instruction processing and at least 2 cores) started to undo the damage to the Atom name.

Microsoft made a mistake catering to that garbage, and they've failed to correct that mistake despite those awful POS processors being EOL and out-of-support for the last 7 years.

R-T-B · May 15, 2020

TheDeeGee said:
And old 16-bit games are on GOG, if not there is always a fan installer.

Most of the GOG packages use a 32-bit emulator anyways. 16-bit support is not a real issue, unless it's some really obscure business app in which case, update my dudes.

rtwjunkie · May 15, 2020

dyonoctis said:
Finally...I just wonder what will happen to all the 32bits games. When mac Os catalina dropped 32bit, a fair amount of games like portal couldn't work anymore.

They work jist fine on 64 bit systems. Many programs people use are only 32 bit and they work fine as well.

windwhirl · May 15, 2020

IIRC, the only things affected will be 16-bit programs and 32-bit drivers (I think Microsoft forced 64bit-only drivers for 64-bit Windows).

For a sample of something really old that still works on Windows 10 64-bit, I use a government application that was coded in Visual Basic 5.0 and makes use of some of Microsoft's old APIs from Windows 95-era (most of them part of MDAC, like ODBC 3.5 or Jet DAO, but also some ActiveX controls, apparently) and uses some components by then Seagate's Crystal Reports (1997) for creating forms.

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Microsoft Begins Phasing Out 32-Bit Support for Windows 10

Uskompuf

Flyordie

s3thra

Cranky5150

R-T-B

dyonoctis

Flanker

newtekie1

Semi-Retired Folder

Countryside

xvi

InVasMani

dyonoctis

cyberloner

efikkan

TheDeeGee

windwhirl

CrAsHnBuRnXp

Chrispy_

windwhirl

Chrispy_

R-T-B

rtwjunkie

PC Gaming Enthusiast

windwhirl

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