Talk:WoW64

Hey, this is a great page. Thanks to everyone who worked on it. Samrolken 03:24, 23 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Capitalization
Microsoft's documentation says WOW64, not WoW64. It's their product; shouldn't we use their terminology? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Harryjohnston (talk • contribs) 20:54, 10 January 2017 (UTC)

I agree. WOW64 is how the directory is designated in my system. An online search for WoW64 brings up a file called WoW64.exe and the distinction is unclear from search results and this article. ---Dagme (talk) 05:05, 27 September 2019 (UTC)

Title
WOW64 or WoW64? The latter is used in the definition, while the former is used everywhere else in the article. &mdash; Paul G 09:54, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Agreed
I think that the title should read "WoW64" instead of "WOW64" &mdash; Refresh100 (talk) 17:55, 14 May 2009 (UTC)

SPAM?
The link to "http://www.wow64.com/" adds nothing of value to this article. It is simply an advertisement for GoDaddy... and should be removed. 32.164.95.206 (talk) 13:49, 15 August 2011 (UTC)

That's called domain parking. The link is dead then? 12.117.176.190 (talk) 21:40, 1 November 2012 (UTC)

Sysnative?
The reference to the sysnative directory (in the "Registry and file system" section)seems inacurate for Windows 7 64-bit which does not seem to have such a directory. Can anybody shed any light on this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Philu (talk • contribs) 00:12, 20 June 2012 (UTC)


 * Excerpted from File System Redirector:


 * 32-bit applications can access the native system directory by substituting %windir%\Sysnative for %windir%\System32. WOW64 recognizes Sysnative as a special alias used to indicate that the file system should not redirect the access. This mechanism is flexible and easy to use, therefore, it is the recommended mechanism to bypass file system redirection. Note that 64-bit applications cannot use the Sysnative alias as it is a virtual directory not a real one.


 * Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP: The Sysnative alias was added starting with Windows Vista.


 * Hope that helps! AfflictedHorror (talk) 17:06, 14 June 2013 (UTC)

Reasons for no Win16 support in WoW64
Win16 programs run in 16 bit Protected Mode, which is still supported by AMD64 CPUs running in "Compatibility mode". Not supported is the "Virtual 8086 mode" that was used on Win32 to run DOS/Real Mode programs. So, technically, Win16 support would have been possible in WoW64. --RokerHRO (talk) 11:35, 12 February 2016 (UTC)

If I may add, the following sentence is highly confusing:

quote

>>> 16-bit applications cannot be directly run under x64 editions of Windows, because the CPU does not support VM86 mode when running in x64.<<

There are two kinds of "16-bit applications" that 32-bit (x86-32) Windows can run: MS-DOS 16-bit apps (which need VM86) and Win16 applications which don't. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.163.131.163 (talk) 17:12, 17 January 2024 (UTC)

"Dynamic-link libraries: Clarification needed"
Please follow the provided link. Any needed clarification will be found at Dynamic-link library. Tonymec (talk) 14:29, 30 April 2017 (UTC)

incorrect statement
quote

>>> 32-bit applications that include only 32-bit kernel-mode device drivers, or that plug into the process space of components that are implemented purely as 64-bit processes (e.g. Windows Explorer) cannot be executed on a 64-bit platform.<<

specifically the part >>>or that plug into the process space of components that are implemented purely as 64-bit processes<<< is wrong. sure, programs that are not specifically designed to handle that situation will malfunction, but as proved by the EasyHook project ( https://easyhook.github.io/ ), it's *possible* to hook into 64bit processes from 32bit processes... but it took significant extra effort and wasn't easy, programs not specifically designed for it won't be able to, ... but *IS* possible, the EasyHook library supports doing it. 85.165.255.152 (talk) 22:33, 20 March 2019 (UTC)