Vista 64bit old applications

[StratDoc]

I am in the process of building a new rig. In the past I have always left my old HD installed and slowly reinstalled games, etc. to a new HD OS install. With this new build I am considering running Vista 64 bit but am wondering if I will need to reinstall all of my gaming applications or will I still be able to run them from my old HD that ran XP professional 32 bit.

Thanks

 

[gamerk316]

Odds are, the games will need to be re-installed.

Vista 64 does a really good job of emulating the 32-bit architecture, most games that are 32-bit will run OK. Note however, 16-bit games will not run under Vista, period, so some really old games will not run.

 

[notherdude]

I'm not sure what you are after here exactly. When I reinstall Windows, even just reinstalling XP, I always reinstall games because of the registry entries required. But I can usually use my saved games. By 'gaming applications' do you mean the games themselves or something else?

I think you will find that moving to Vista 64 will be just like any other reinstall in this regard. If the game won't or errors after clicking the .exe you might have to right click it and choose XP mode. And as the previos poster pointed out you can't run 16 bit (98 era and before) games on 64 bit (unless you simply install something like Dos Box.)