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32-bit optional in Windows Server 2008 R2

  • Articolo

You may not but have have been waiting for a looong time for this to be happening. We finally ship an operating system where the support of 32-bit applications has become optional. All 64-bit baby! I’ve been blogging about 64-bit Windows for some time. Less frequent in recent times, more frequent in the past.

With Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core we will ship the first operating system with optional 32-bit support. You will have to explicitly enable 32-bit application support. WoW64, the 32-bit app support layer, is not installed by default. This reduces the attach surface, helps saving memory and makes the whole OS, when running native 64-bit apps only, leaner.

The only person impacted by this change is most likely the system administrator.

If admins run 32-bit code on Server Core they’ll  receive an error message that the application cannot be executed due to lack of 32-bit application support.

32-bit support is an optional component and can be installed by running the following command from the command line:

start /w ocsetup ServerCore-WOW64

Resources:

Server Core
Server Core blog
ocsetup on Server

Comments

  • Anonymous
    February 09, 2009
    Doesn't it also reduce the attack surface?

  • Anonymous
    February 10, 2009
    Yes. Not having to care about some 32-bit specific issues, it helps reducing the attack surface too.

  • Anonymous
    February 10, 2009
    You may not but have have been waiting for a looong time for this to be happening. We finally ship an

  • Anonymous
    February 15, 2009
    The same day the Windows 7 beta was released, the Windows Server 2008 R2 beta went public as well , and

  • Anonymous
    February 18, 2009
    The same day the Windows 7 beta was released, the Windows Server 2008 R2 beta went public as well , and

  • Anonymous
    June 22, 2009
    This past couple of week I’ve been contacted by a couple of developers concerned with Microsoft’s decision to stop supporting the Visual Basic 6.0 IDE, but to continue support for the Visual Basic runtime and some support libraries in Windows 7 and 2008.

  • Anonymous
    September 30, 2010
    You meant to say "attack surface", not "attach surface."

  • Anonymous
    January 10, 2011
    The comment has been removed

  • Anonymous
    May 24, 2011
    Yep, I get that issue. Usual MS-type solution: "Do this to fix your problem" "I tried and it doesn't work" <silence>

  • Anonymous
    March 14, 2013
    that command is only available on server 2008 r2. sounds like your running it not as admin or on a non server 2008 r2 x64