Share via

How to find out if Windows is 32-bit or 64-bit WITHOUT Booting up PC

Anonymous
2019-03-02T13:19:33+00:00

Hello all recently I had a friend who has possibliy had his hard drive in his ASUS Q304U Notebook die. I am going to try to reinstal Windows if possibly it is an OS issue before we change HDD and then on a new hard drive for him if it is completly dead. However, I'm unsure if he had Windows 32-bit or Windows 64-bit. I'm unable to boot the system at all due to possible hard drive failure as it takes forever to load and once it does it gives a black screen with a mouse cursor. So looking in the system information in settings is an impossiblility. So I have a two part question.

  1. How do I find out the bit size without booting the computer?
  2. If he has 32-bit would installing 64-bit harm the motherboard in anyway?---> I already have a copy of 64-bit from replacing my personal HDD.

Much thanks guys!

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Windows update

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
  1. DaveM121 868.4K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2019-03-02T13:27:23+00:00

    Hi Nasiecoon

    That ASUS Q304U has a dual core Intel Core:tm: i5 7200U which has a 64bit instruction set.

    So, you should install the 64bit version of Windows on the hard drive . . .

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments

3 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2019-03-02T19:23:02+00:00
    1. You can't. You can determine whether the motherboard/CPU are 32-bit or 64-bit (contact the computer's manufacturer and ask, or look on their web site), but you can't tell what's installed on it. If it a 64-bit machine, either 64-bit Windows or 32-bit Windows could be installed on it.
    2. What Windows is currently installed is irrelevant. The only issue is whether the motherboard and CPU are 32-bit or 64-bit. However there's no way you will damage *anything* by trying to install 64-bit Windows on a 32-bit machine: the installation will just fail. You can install either 32-bit Windows or 64-bit Windows on a 64-bit machine, but you can only install 32-bit Windows on a 32-bit machine.

    6 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Martmcd 19,965 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2019-03-02T13:28:35+00:00

    Hi Nasiecoon

    1. can you navigate the hard disk? is there a program files and program files (x86) folder? - if you have both it will be 64 bit.
    2. 64 bit will not harm the motherboard, if the equipment is not 64bit compatible you will experience problems installing and running.

    if all the equipment is 64 bit compatible and you 4gb or more RAM then 64 bit would be preferable.

    3 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2019-03-02T13:59:21+00:00

    The PC is unable to load at all so looking at system info from within it is impossible. The screen is completly black and does not give even the log in screen.

    0 comments