How To 

How to check if Windows 10 is 32 or 64-bit

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Windows 10 comes in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavors. If you bought your computer with Windows already installed, how can you tell which you have? Here is how to check if Windows 10 is 32 or 64-bit.

There are quite a few benefits of using a 64-bit OS if your hardware is capable of running it. You can use much more RAM as 32-bit is limited to 4GB while 64-bit only has a theoretical limit. 64-bit addressing is also more efficient, meaning Windows can do more with less. It can work faster, utilize RAM much more efficiently, allocate more resources per process and benefit from the latest hardware advances.

Check if Windows 10 is 32 or 64-bit
It only takes a few clicks to check if Windows 10 is 32 or 64-bit.

1. Navigate to Control Panel, System and Security and System.
2. Check System type in the main pane, it will say either 32-bit or 64-bit.

That is the only way I know of checking for this.

If you find your Windows 10 install is 32-bit but you have a 64-bit capable system, there is no way to change between the two. You will need to perform a clean install of Windows 10 and make sure to select the 64-bit option during the process. You will need to use the Windows 10 media creation tool to create a 64-bit installer and go from there to make it happen.

I cover performing a clean install of Windows 10 here.
How to clean install Windows 10 directly without having to upgrade first