There is a lot of truth in that.
For many reasons 32 bit software cannot run in the native 64 bit environment. Windows creates an elaborate and carefully crafted artificial environment for them to run in. They see a near complete set of 32 bit DLL's, a somewhat different file system and view of the registry, a 32 bit CPU, a different view of memory, and much more. For the majority of 32 bit software it just works.
Just a side note:
The same thing applies to the filesystem. If you enable "show hidden and system files", you'll notice that there are folders like
C:\Documents and Settings
C:\Users\<your username>\Application data...
These are not even real folders, and you cannot open them due to restrictions. These are hard links and are there for compatibility. If an old program (from the XP era) is designed to write settings in:
C:\Documents and Settings\<your username>\Local Settings\Application Data\<my program>
will be redirected to
C:\Users\<your username>\AppData\Local\<my program>
and so on...
I have made corrections to my original posts and I want to thank everyone that has responded to this thread. I have been using Windows since Windows 1 and I have learned a great deal from the various posts. It just baffles me that I had not learned about this information before yesterday.
Michael T
It is also worth noting that HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software isn't the only key effected. There are many other subkeys of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE and HKEY_CURRENT_USER effected and within the effected keys there are exceptions. I only understand the general principles. The details get very complicated. The registry, particularly for 64 bit operating systems, is a lot more complicated than might seem apparent. Fortunately even most software developers don't need to know the details. They are documented on MSDN for those who really need to know.
Regedit, both the 32 and 64 bit versions, simply shows the registry as they see it. Registry reflection occurs at the level of the system functions that applications use.
I see the 64-bit version in C:\Windows not C:\Windows\System32 as the OP observes on his system. Here's confirmation:
I, too, learned something from this. Interesting that the 32- and 64-bit versions differ only slightly in size.
--Ed--
[PS Added 10 minutes later.] I found a program named exe64bitdetector.exe that can identify programs as 32- and 64-bit at the command line. Interestingly, it shows both versions of regedit.exe as 32-bit. One is indisputably a different size from the other, so they are different versions. According to this MS Docs article though, "The default 64-bit version of Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) that is included with 64-bit versions of Windows displays both 64-bit keys and 32-bit keys." It, too, reports that the 32-bit version is in the SysWoW subfolder. So I'm inclined to believe the tool is wrong (though it identifies explorer.exe correctly as 64-bit) for some odd reason, for this particular case. Strange!
Last edited by EdTittel; 27 Jul 2018 at 16:36.
No problems here @tracit99. I cheerfully confess I flew past the strikeout text in post#6. Sorry about that. Nice to know we're all on the same page. Now, if I could only figure out why the tool reports the C:\Windows\regedit.exe as 32-bit when MS clearly states it's 64-bit, I'd have all my oddments evened, so to speak. Thanks!
--Ed--
@EdTittel
I think I have an explanation for the behavior of exe64bitdetector. The issue is that the program is itself 32 bit and thus subject to file system redirection. A 32 bit process can temporarily disable file system redirection for it's own purposes but it appears exe64bit detector isn't doing this. The result is that when the program is pointed at c:\windows32 it is actually seeing c:\windows\SysWOW64 which contains 32 bit files. Every file I checked in c:\windows\system32 tested as 32 bit. Testing c:\windows\system32\regedit.exe should be an error but in fact tested as 32 bit.
As for c:\windows\regedit.exe. This file tests as 32 bit when in fact it is 64 bit. But if I copy it elsewhere it tests as 64 bit. Other files in c:\windows test as 64 bit as expected. There appears to be some special handling for Regedit.exe
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