Can WinXP Pro 64 run all 32bit apps?

I've already looked for an answer to this Q and got mixed results.... so please don't respond unless you have first hand experience.

Thanks,
Wolf
 
I just bought a used laptop to have as needed out in my shop. It's a Dell Precision M6400 17" with a 2.8ghz CPU and 8G of Ram..... it came with Windows 10 (1803) installed.

It took me only a few days to confirm Win 10 is more MS-Bugware which may one day be a nice OS..... but not today!

So now I'm back to my original plan of installing XP on the machine, but to utilize all that Ram more efficiently I thought I should go with the 64 bit version. And so, I would like to know b4 I go farther, can XP64 run all the 32bit apps I've been saving up and using over the past 16 years.

If so, then of course I'll probably have a lot more Q's :b

This is the machine I bought:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Preci...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

Thanks,
Wolf
 
Come to think on it more, maybe I'm wrong headed on this?

Is it the 64 bit architecture which can utilize more Ram, or is it just any flavor of XP Professional?

So my best Q is probably which version of WindowsXP would best use 8g of installed Ram.

Thanks,
Wolf
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the replies, and the confirmation.... I had already been to this exact Dell page and already D/L the Sata drivers to start with as I know my slipstream disk will need those as a bare minimum to proceed with the install.

I like seeing the auto-detect feature also on that page, but I'm sure all these drivers will eventually become unavailable. I should prolly D/L everything in sight and stuff them in my vault.

Never installed or used XP 64bit either, so this will be a learning XPerience. And if the "patch" refers to the Physical Address Extension switch folks have put in Boot.ini, I have not messed with that either.

Getting back to the drivers, is there any harm in having unneeded drivers on a slipstream install disk? It would probably take me a while to research what all exactly this machine needs, so can I just trust the XP Pro install to detect and install what's required, AND NOT install problem drivers? I'm guessing I should not put any drivers on the disk that the install doesn't need.

Thanks,
Wolf
 
the dell AutoDetect does not work unless you have dell system connect installed and it is pretty hard to get installed after the fact if you do not have it already installed or on a genuine oem resources install cd. :)

=============

If you install a driver that is not for your system, it can lock up and give you a blue screen 7B for hardware issue. :)
 
That's nice to know..... sounds like fun.

Perhaps I will just D/L whatever is listed after I input the machine service tag for now.

Thanks,
Wolf
 
As to the thread title, No, not all

XP64 runs some, some it does not.

I only know through trial and error which do & which do not.

Mostly I have found 64 bit versions of what I wanted, but nowadays theres a lot less still available for 64. For a few years now I have been burning to cd-dvd good stuff now no longer available.

-c-
 
Hmmm.... that does throw a small wrench in my plans!

On the other hand, it was very thoughtful of you to stash all those apps for me..... :b
 
ImWolf, inputting the service tag may work, but lately it seems that you have to just go with the generic brand, for example dimension 3000, and pick out the ones that are for your system, if you look in the c: drive or in a Dell folder, there should be a drivers folder, and you can get the R numbers for your drivers, but if not then you can do the following:


How To Find Drivers For An Unrecognized Device

1. Open Device Manager (Control Panel>System>Hardware>Device Manager)
2. The hardware whose drivers are missing will appear as Unknown device, so it's easier to locate the device.
3. Right click on the unknown device and click on Properties.
4. Under the Properties window click on Details tab and select Device Instance Id from the drop down box.
5. You should see a code similar to this

PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27DC&SUBSYS_30868086
&REV_01\4&1E46F438&0&40F0

6. The portion of the code highlighted in RED is the Vendor ID and the portion highlighted in GREEN is the Device ID. In this example:

Vendor ID = 8086
Device ID = 27DC

7. Once you have obtained both the IDs, proceed to

https://www.pcilookup.com/

There you can either search for the vendor from the vendor ID or directly get information about the device along with the vendor name by searching with the device ID.
 
What you're describing so far as looking in Device Mgr. Elizabeth is all good for resolving driver issues AFTER an OS has been installed. And I may be wrong, but looking into a Dell or Drivers directory for existing drivers will probably give me only information on installed drivers specific to Windows 10. These may not work at all for a different OS.

I need to figure out which the bare minimum of required drivers are specific to this machine which need to be pre-loaded into memory so that an install of any OS can proceed, and put those few drivers on the slipstream disk. The Dell Support page is not crystal clear on this, and even suspect from what I'm seeing so far.

For example, when I input Windows XP, 64 Bit for the Precision M6400 a list of 94 drivers comes up. This includes 3 Chipset drivers, but none of the descriptions are an exact 100% positive match for this machine. Same goes with other multiple choice drivers listed.

If I then add the Service Tag Number and refresh the search, only 7 drivers are listed. None of those are Chipset or Sata. How does Dell expect us to install WinXP on a Sata drive w/o Sata drivers? I know the XP setup files don't include any.

I have more reading to do....

Thanks,
Wolf
 
you might have to get the sata drivers from the chipset manufacturer's website and not dell. :)

edit: you might be able to detect drivers, since yours is a more advanced pc and then ask for xp drivers.
 
I've done this twice b4 on older machines with MSI and Asus motherboards, and in both cases I simply made sure to have the correct Sata drivers so XP could use the HDD. I think I'll try the same thing with this laptop and see what happens. :b
 
nLite isn't loading for some reason..... not even starting. Ran fine a few months ago......

I have versions 1.4.9.0 & 1.4.9.3

Any of you have this issue where it suddenly doesn't come to life?

Tried reboot.... re-install.... install older version..... nada.

:*(
 
Had already D/L a fresh copy of the latest release (for XP) and installed that..... no luck.

I have a sneaking hunch this is a .Net Framework issue... I'll let ya know.
 
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