Best Practices for WOW64
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The PC industry is gradually transitioning from an installed base of primarily 32-bit systems to one of primarily 64-bit systems. In the interim, many application developers will continue to build 32-bit versions of their applications or will provide both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. To ease the effort that is involved in porting applications and to help encourage adoption of 64-bit computing, Microsoft provides Windows 32-bit On Windows 64-bit (WOW64), an emulation layer that enables 32 bit Windows-based applications to run seamlessly on 64-bit Windows. This paper defines best practices for building applications that run on WOW64.
This information applies to 64-bit editions of the following operating systems:
Windows 7
Windows Server 2008 R2
Windows Server 2008
Windows Vista
Windows Server 2003
Windows XP
What's New:
| • | Added information about Sysnative path forms, references to files and variables, DLL binding, and sample code. |
Included in this paper:
| • | Limitations of WOW64 |
| • | Registry Redirection and Registry Reflection |
| • | File System Redirection |
| • | Application Installation and Startup |
| • | Kernel-Mode Drivers |
| • | Best Practices |
