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XP Pro 64-Bit Compatibility Issues

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by kendbeeman 1 view

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Built me a nice machine. Was really proud of myself as this is the first time. Well, I wanted to be able to use 4G of memory with my new MB and CPU (Quad). XP Pro will not recognize 4G of memory. I like XP Pro and am very comfortable with it since that's what we used at work (just retired). I haven't heard a lot of good things about Vista so I thought XP Pro 64-bit was my best option. Loaded the OS and everything was great.............until I tried to install Norton 2008 Internet Security. Will not install. There is a 64 folder on the install disk. Finally found out that it's for VISTA 64!!! Norton didn't make it compatible with XP Pro 64. So then I tried loading all of my other apps but much to my demise they wouldn't install either. So now I am stuck running to PCs. One that has all of my software (my old PC) and my new PC which is fast but is limited in what I can do.

Now to my questions.........

I am unprotected on my 64-bit machine because I don't have any compatible virus protection/internet protection software. Is there any out there? My Googling hasn't been very productive and I have been really busy lately to even try.

I thought I could run 32 bit apps in "32 bit mode". But that doesn't seem possible if I can't even install the ##%&@!!+**&!!! software!!

My printer is not 64-bit compatible. Can you believe that. So weh They couldn't make the 64-bit OS backwards compatible with printers (and perhaps other hardware)? I have Googled for printers with 64-bit compatibility and came up empty. So evidently I don't know the correct search term(s).

Any advice would be appreciated!

6 replies

by oh smeg

XP Pro 64 isn't able to use Quad Core CPU's to 100% capacity either it will only recognize 2 of the cores. If you want to make use of the Quad Cores you need to use Vista or one of the Linux Distro's. :D

The biggest bugbear with 64 Bit OS's well Windows ones at the moment is the inability of the Hardware makers to supply 64 Bit Drivers for their hardware so quite a lot of it isn't 64 Bit compatible the same goes for for Vista 64 as well.

If you want to use one of the Linux's that come in 64 Bit type they will work quite well for you or you'll need to use Vista to make full use of the hardware.

Col

by kendbeeman

Thanks. I have never used Linux. Though years ago I did do some Unix SA work. I am sure things have changed a lot since then.

Can Windows' apps be installed in a Linux environment?

Just a thought.....I have VMWare but never installed it on either machine. Can VMWare be installed on XP 64 and then load XP 32 under VMWare?

by oh smeg

Not something that I have even considered mainly because it hasn't been an issue yet.

Several of the Linux Distro's are fairly well accepted things like Ubuntu

http://tinyurl.com/2cm3o5

and Simply Mepis are popular and have 64 Bit versions

http://tinyurl.com/68yahe

As for running Windows applications in them I'm not sure as the Windows Emulators that I have used are not 64 Bit applications but I don't see any reason why you can not install one of the 64 Bit Linux's and then load a Virtual Machine application like VM Ware to run Windows from.

That way you would get full use of your 64 Bit CPU and all 4 Cores while retaining the Windows Platform on a secure base, well more secure than Windows at least.

I hope that is of some help to you

Col

by nepenthe0

Microsoft has posted [i]Knowledge Base[/i] bulletins:

http://tinyurl.com/59q2b3
http://tinyurl.com/2ec53v
http://tinyurl.com/58faxz

TechRepublic has a link to a 64-bit printer driver:

http://tinyurl.com/695nqj

Hope this helps. Your post is an important cautionary message. Parallel processing has awesome potential, but the software is complex and expensive to develop. It will be awhile before this becomes mainstream for average users.

Rick/Portland, OR

by kendbeeman

I would have thought that by now 64bit apps and drivers would have been more mainstream. XP 64 has been around for at least 3 years and Vista has been around for close to 2 or better.

But what's the issue with writing 64 bit apps for Vista but not XP? Hell, the business world has basically said, through their pocket books, that Vista is not on their agenda.

Symantec creating a product that will run on Vista but not XP is beyond my comprehension!!!

Thanks for replying. At this point I don't know what I am going to do.........

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