How to Check if Windows® is 32 Bits or 64 Bits

We all know that computers are digital devices which work on binary logic. In digital systems, information is represented as zero and one where zero means no signal and one means the presence of a signal. All the processing of the computer data is done by the processor and the number of calculations which a processor can accomplish defines the computer speed. A processor which can handle 2 bits of data at a time will be faster than the one which can handle just 1 bit. Similarly a 64 bit processor is faster than a 32 bit system because it can handle double the size of data and instructions in one single cycle. You must have heard about 32 bit or 64 bit processors but in fact the working of these processors would work upon the type of the Windows operating system. If you have 64-bit Windows, it will work the best with a 64 bit processor. You can have a 32-bit operating system installed on a 64 processor but not vice-versa. This happens because a 64-bit processor can easily downgrade its processing power and cope up with a 32-bit instruction which it receives from the operating system, but a 32-bit processor cannot upgrade itself to execute a 64-bit instruction given by a 64-bit operating system.

Keeping the above mentioned intricacies in mind one should always be aware of the hardware and the software so that it becomes easy to upgrade the same in future. For example what would be need of buying a 64-bit operating system if your computer’s hardware cannot support it? Further in this post I will mention the steps to find if your Windows version is a 32-bit one or a 64-bit one. Given below are the steps to find the same:

Step 1: Click on the ‘Start’ menu and then click on ‘Run’. If the ‘Run’ option is not available in the ‘Start’ menu, press the Windows key along with the ‘R’ key to get to the ‘Run’ box.

Step 2: In the ‘Run’ box type ‘MSINFO32.EXE’ and press ‘Enter’. This will open the ‘System Information’ window which has two panes. In the right pane you will find a tree view.

Step 3: Click on the first option which is called ‘System Summary’.

Step 4: By clicking on ‘System Summary’, the right side pane will display the summary. Here read the value of System Type. If system type is X64 then you have a 64-bit edition of Windows, and if the system type is X86 then you have the basic 32-bit edition of Windows on your computer.