Why %processor_architecture% always returns x86 in

Question

I am trying to retrieve the environment variable to detect whether the system is 32 or 64 bit. But on 64 bit server the environment variable %processor_architecture% is returning x86 instead of AMD64.

Does anyone has any clue about this?

Answer 1

MOST RELIABLE SOLUTION:

Method 1:
(Two step Validation with PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE and PROCESSOR_ARCHITEW6432)

set Arch=x64
if "%PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE%" == "x86" ( 
    if not defined PROCESSOR_ARCHITEW6432 set Arch=x86
) 


if %Arch% == "x64"  (
    msg * "yessss"
) else  (
    msg * "noooo"
)

Method 2:

reg Query "HKLM\Hardware\Description\System\CentralProcessor\0" | find /i "x32" > NUL && set OS=32BIT || set OS=64BIT

if %OS%==32BIT echo "YESSS"
if %OS%==64BIT echo "NOOO"

source: https://superuser.com/a/293143/249349

Answer 2

You may be getting the wrong environment variable. If your application is a 32-bit application running on a 64-bit OS the process version of this environment variable will return x86. If you want to find the architecture of the machine, you can grab it from the following registry entry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment\PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE

Or if you're using .NET, then you can use this call to get it:

string arch = System.Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE", 
    EnvironmentVariableTarget.Machine);

From the command line you can try this:

reg query "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment" /v PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE

There is even a more simple solution using cmd:

ECHO %PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE%

Answer 3

You can also get this from an environment variable, PROCESSOR_ARCHITEW6432. See this article for more info.