Friday, October 12, 2007

Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

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For the 64-bit Windows XP for Itanium systems, see Windows XP 64-bit Edition.
Windows XP Professional
x64 Edition
Windows XP logo
Website: Windows XP Professional x64 Edition
Company/
developer:		 Microsoft
OS family: Windows NT
Source model: Shared source
Latest stable release: 5.2.3790 / April 25, 2005
Kernel type: Hybrid kernel
Default user interface: Graphical User Interface
License: Microsoft EULA
Working state: Current

Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition released on April 25, 2005 by Microsoft is a variation of the Windows XP operating system for x86-64 personal computers.

Windows XP Professional x64 Edition is based upon Windows Server 2003 SP1 (build 5.2.3790.1830), as that was the latest version of Microsoft Windows during the operating system's development, but takes Windows XP as its name. It is designed to use the expanded 64-bit memory address space provided by the x86-64 architecture.

The primary benefit of moving to 64-bit is the increase in the maximum allocatable system memory (RAM). Windows XP 32-bit is limited to a total of 4 GB, which is, by default, equally divided between Kernel and application usage. Using the /3GB switch in the boot.ini file forces Windows to limit the kernel to the upper 1GB and provides up to 3GB for applications. Windows XP x64 can support much more memory; although the theoretical memory limit a 64-bit computer can address is about 16 exabytes (16 billion gigabytes), Windows XP x64 is currently limited to 128 GB of physical memory and 16 TB of virtual memory. Microsoft claims this limit will be increased as hardware capabilities improve. In practice, most motherboards compatible with 64-bit processors do not support anywhere close to the maximum limit, and often retain the 4 GB limit, though motherboards capable of 8GB are becoming more common.

Windows XP Professional x64 Edition is not to be confused with Windows XP 64-bit Edition, as the latter was designed for Intel Itanium processors. [1][2], although they both are commonly referred to as '64-bit Windows' by Microsoft due to their similarities from developer's point of view.

Both Windows 2003 x64 and XP x64 use identical kernels and codebase. This is evident when the System Information tool reports the current OS as Windows Server 2003 x64 and not Windows XP.

Contents

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[edit] Compatibility with 32-bit applications

Windows XP Professional x64 Edition uses a technology named WOW64, which permits the execution of 32-bit x86 applications. It was first employed in Windows XP 64-bit Edition (for the Itanium), but then reused for the “x64 Editions” of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.

Since the X86-64 architecture includes hardware-level support for 32-bit instructions, WOW64 simply switches the process between 32- and 64-bit modes. As a result, X86-64 architecture microprocessors suffer no performance loss when executing 32-bit Windows applications. On the Itanium architecture, WOW64 was required to translate 32-bit x86 instructions into their 64-bit Itanium equivalents—which in some cases were implemented in quite different ways—so that the processor could execute them. All 32-bit processes are shown with *32 in the task manager, while 64-bit processes have no extra text present.

Although 32-bit applications can be run transparently, the mixing of the two types of code within the same process is not allowed. A 64-bit application cannot link against a 32-bit library (DLL) and similarly a 32-bit application cannot link against a 64-bit library. This may lead to the need for library developers to provide both 32- and 64-bit binary versions of their libraries. Windows XP x64 Edition includes both 32- and 64-bit versions of Internet Explorer, in order to allow for the possibility that some third-party browser plugins or ActiveX controls may not yet be available in 64-bit versions.

Older 32-bit drivers and services are not supported by 64-bit Windows, but video and audio codecs such as XviD or OggDS (which are in fact 32-bit DLLs), are supported as long as the media player that uses them is 32-bit as well.

The modding website xtremesystems.org users have compiled (and continuously update) a thread on their forums verifying games / applications that run on x64 here

[edit] Compatibility with other applications

Unlike prior versions of the Windows NT line, 64-bit Windows versions do not include NTVDM so there is no support for the execution of MS-DOS, POSIX, OS/2 1.x and 16-bit Windows applications, although there are 3rd-party software emulators such as DOSBox that can be used to run DOS programs.

Another solution is to use virtualization software such as VMware Workstation or VirtualPC to run other versions of Windows or MS-DOS. DOSBox will also allow 16-bit Windows applications to run by running Windows 3.1 on the emulator.[3]

[edit] Known issues

There are some common issues with Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.

  • Driver compatibility - some hardware companies haven't written 64-bit Windows drivers for their products.
  • Many 32-bit Windows Explorer extensions fail to work with 64-bit Windows Explorer (due to the fact that 32-bit programs cannot interface with 64-bit in-proc DLLs and vice-versa). An example of this is the inability to install the context-menu options for applications such as zip utilities.
  • Most 16-bit applications are not supported (32-bit software with 16-bit installers based on ACME Setup versions 2.6, 3.0, 3.01, and 3.1 and InstallShield versions 5.x will run correctly)
  • No native support for Type 1 fonts.
  • Windows Media Player 11 for this version of windows unusually runs as a 32-bit application. The only use for the specific release of Windows Media Player 11 is that the other applications such as Media Sharing do in fact, run 64-bit. Mini player mode on the taskbar is not available.
  • ID3 tag information from music files are not viewable in the Windows Explorer.

[edit] Advantages

  • Can address more than 4GB memory, most new motherboards support 8GB now
  • Is immune to 32-bit viruses as most windows files are 64-bit
  • Uses the Windows Server 2003 Kernel, currently the most stable Windows platform available
  • Faster encoding of audio/video when using 64-bit compiled programs
  • Has access to the extra registers of the x86-64 architecture
  • Faster loading in 64-bit compiled games

[edit] Miscellaneous

During the initial development phases (2003–2004), Windows XP Professional x64 Edition was named Windows XP 64-bit Edition for x86 Extended systems and later, Windows XP 64-bit Edition for Extended systems, as opposed to 64-bit Edition for Itanium systems.

Because of their lineage to Windows Server 2003, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition (along with Windows XP 64-bit Edition Version 2003) are the only versions of Windows XP to ship with IIS 6.0 (all other versions of XP have IIS 5.1).

[edit] Trial Software

For some time now, Microsoft has warranted a fully functional free trial download of this operating system found here. On the web page, Microsoft lists the trial as one that can be evaluated "for 120 days". In order to qualify for the trial, one must register a valid email address and go through an "order" process. An email is sent by Microsoft that includes the link to the download (of the trial ISO), as well as the temporary product key, and lists the trial software as being an evaluation for 120 days.

[edit] Service Pack 1

The RTM installation of Windows XP Professional x64 Edition is in fact labelled as Service Pack 1 in system properties. This update was made available for Windows Server 2003 but was already included in public versions of XP x64 Edition upon release.

[edit] Service Pack 2

Service Pack 2 (SP2) was released on the 12th of March 2007. This service pack is not equivalent to Service Pack 2 for 32-bit versions of Windows XP. In fact, due to the earlier release date of the 32-bit version, many of the key features introduced by Service Pack 2 for 32-bit (x86) editions of Windows XP were already present at RTM in this 64-bit (x86-64) counterpart.

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ [2]

[edit] External links

[edit] Articles/Reviews

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_XP_Professional_x64_Edition"
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