Is my Windows 10 a 32 or 64 bit system?
There are many reasons we want to know if the Windows installation is a 32 or 64 bit version. For instance, when we are installing device drivers, we have to choose the correct one. Chances are that we don’t remember what version we installed. So, where can we look this up?
We can find out if we have a 32 or 64 bit Windows by:
• Looking at the System Information dialog
• Commands from the command prompt
“wmic os get osarchitecture”
“set pro”• Looking at the file system with the Explorer
Do you have the folder “Program Files (x86)”?
Looking at the System Information dialog
The system information dialog gives us a lot of information about our Windows installation. For instance, the name of the machine, the version of the Windows (home, pro and so on) or how much ram you have in your machine. And of course, if it is a 32 or 64 bit system.
Right click the windows icon , or press Windows + X, and select System.
Commands from the command prompt
If you prefer using the keyboard and writing commands, there is a way for that too. There are two commands that gives us the information we want.
The first command shows the version directly.
The second command doesn’t show the bit version directly. Instead, we have to interpret the folders that the file system contains. If we see the folder named “(x86)”, we know that it is a 64 bit Windows, because it does not exist in a 32 bit system.
Which leads us to the next method…
Looking at the file system with the Explorer
Open the file explorer and click on the C drive. Just like the command in the previous section, if we see the folder named “(x86)”, we know that it is a 64 bit Windows, because it does not exist in a 32 bit system.
Older versions of Windows
Here is a link to Microsoft, describing how to find out on older systems.