13

I need to reinstall Windows on a laptop. I have the product key (its on the laptop), and I know it is Windows 7 Home Premium.

I need a way to determine if 64-bit or 32-bit Windows is installed, so that I can download the correct one from Microsoft. The computer is messed up so I do not have access to Windows to check it with systeminfo.

I took out the hard drive and hooked it to another computer, but when I run systeminfo it just gives information for the host computer, I did not see a way to change this.

Synetech
  • 68,243
  • 36
  • 223
  • 356
Zombo
  • 1
  • 24
  • 120
  • 163
  • 3
    You do understand the product key for Windows 7 Home Premium can be be used to install 32-bit or 64-bit installation. If the HDD is attached to another computer then you can view the contents of the HDD and determine what you had installed per Fran's answer. – Ramhound Jul 02 '12 at 15:24

2 Answers2

31

If you see a folder in the root of that drive named Program Files (x86) then it has 64-bit Windows installed.

Fran
  • 5,313
  • 24
  • 27
9

A slightly more accurate way of detecting 64-bit windows is to look for folder %SystemRoot%\SysWOW64 (commonly Windows\SysWOW64) since it contains the binaries windows uses to launch 32-bit applications it should not be present on 32-bit windows installations. This is a little more accurate than checking for Program Files (x86) because I recall seeing an installation option somewhere in Windows Vista which allows that folder to be renamed, but I've never seen one for SysWOW64.

Bob Davies
  • 206
  • 2
  • 6
  • 1
    -1: It's not officially possible to relocate `Program Files` or `Program Files (x86)` via an unattended setup anymore. It was possible with XP. [Obligatory Old New Thing Reference](http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2011/10/06/10220920.aspx) – afrazier Jul 02 '12 at 21:01
  • 2
    "not officially possible" does that mean "unofficially it's still possible"? – Bob Davies Jul 02 '12 at 21:03
  • 1
    It's not possible with the WAIK. I wouldn't be surprised if someone's come up with a nasty hack that appears to work though. N.B.: I'm not talking about people simply junctioning the folder to another drive, which is *also* unsupported, but actually renaming `Program Files`. – afrazier Jul 02 '12 at 21:07
  • 1
    Good to know thanks. Though I think I'll stick with my option since in my experience it's slightly less fallible than the alternatives. – Bob Davies Jul 02 '12 at 21:09
  • 1
    Why exactly was this voted up so many times? The user was running Windows 7 Home Premium. There is NO WAY he doesn't have Program Files (x86) if a 64-bit version was installed. – Ramhound Jul 05 '12 at 15:19
  • I am so confused because it's an old laptop, I don't have it right in front of me, but I do have the SSD (I upgraded it eons ago). I has BOTH `\Program Files (x86)` AND `\Windows\SysWOW64`, and both folders have lots of stuff in them. – Colin Jan 17 '19 at 07:09