[SOLVED] Upgrading laptop to Win 10 64 bit, still need to run 32 bit programs.

[db61102]

I have an ancient Lenovo Thinkpad L512 that I want to upgrade from Windows 10 32 bit to 64 bit, but still want to be able to easily run 32 bit programs. It is an Intel Core i3 M370 @ 2.40 GHz, with 4GB RAM. The computer just keeps chugging along, and is plenty fast for my needs, which is general business use.

So I assume I need to do a fresh install of Windows 10 64 bit and all my programs. I will be upgrading to a larger SSD at the same time.

What will be involved with running 32 bit programs on this system? I don't need them very often, but when I need Adobe CS2, for instance, I need it, and easily.

Thanks for any help or suggestions.

David

 

[MadsModsat]

Other than potential Windows 10 compatibility issues with the programs you intend to use, there shouldn't be any other steps involved in running 32 bit programs on Win 10 64 bit, other than launching the program as you have been doing until now.

You should also make sure you can find the needed drivers for your current sytem for Windows 10. Although Win 10 has a lot of built-in drivers, there may be some other ones needed for components in your specific laptop model. Not neccesarily, but worth checking in advance though.

 

[db61102]

All the programs I'm currently using work fine with Win 10 32 bit. The reason I originally opted for 32 bit vs. 64 bit on the original Win 7 on the computer was because the older programs wouldn't run on 64 bit, so I understood at the time.

Has that changed with Win 10? I won't have to do any re-booting, or running a special program or patch or anything, to run 32 bit programs on Win 10 64 bit?

 

[USAFRet]

All the programs I'm currently using work fine with Win 10 32 bit. The reason I originally opted for 32 bit vs. 64 bit on the original Win 7 on the computer was because the older programs wouldn't run on 64 bit, so I understood at the time.

Has that changed with Win 10? I won't have to do any re-booting, or running a special program or patch or anything, to run 32 bit programs on Win 10 64 bit?

If you needed the 32bit to run "older programs", those would have been 16bit applications. Win 10 64bit won't change that.

32bit OS can run 32bit and 16bit applications.
64bit OS can run 64bit and 32bit applications, no problem.

 

[MadsModsat]

It's true that there are some problems with certain prgrams. Windows is capable of running 32bit and 64bit programs alongside eachother, and most people use 32bit and 64 bit daily, probably without even considering the difference.

But there are exceptions for older software, and to be honest I don't dare to guarantee you would have any success now, if you have run into problems earlier.
There are a lot of people on here that would know much better than I do, so you wait for a more knowledgable person to come along.

There are options to run programs in compatibility mode in Win 10, like there was in Windows 7 for instance. But I don't believe they would be useful in your case

 

[db61102]

Maybe I'm thinking about when I had Win 7. I'm going to try running CS2 on 64 bit Win 10 and hope it works.

Thanks for the answers. Any additional suggestions are welcome.