Something weird when you create registry in Vista X64 SP1?!

[Brandon Live Veteran]

Umm, that's where 32-bit apps write to the registry. It has nothing to do with Vista or SP1 - that's how it works on all 64-bit versions of Windows.

A 64-bit application will write into the "regular" registry path. For your uses it shouldn't matter - Windows should launch applications in either "run" key.

[Elagizy]

Thanks Brandon, I made several tests between VB.Net and Inno Setup in creating registry, both create it in the same location. I was afraid that Inno Setup creates the registry into the old location but it seems that Vista can handle it correctly.

But it still bit strange that the code is creating the registry in different location, what if I want to create it programmatically in the old location?

[Brandon Live Veteran]

First, you should probably read up on WOW64 registry redirection.

Second, remember that 32-bit apps very, very rarely need to access the 64-bit sections of the registry. x64 versions of Windows are designed to support 32-bit applications without modification, and that's why the registry redirection/reflection mechanisms exist. For the most part, you should just let it do its thing.

Now to answer your question, there are two options:

1) Write a 64-bit application. They always write directly to the registry without any WOW64 redirection.

2) Write a "WOW64-aware" 32-bit application by passing the appropriate flag to the registry APIs.

To achieve number 1: If you're writing a .NET 2.0 (or later) application that doesn't rely on integration with any 32-bit applications or components, then you can simply change the target machine type to "Both" or "Any" in Visual Studio, and the application will automatically be compiled as 64-bit code when running on a 64-bit machine.

[Elagizy]

Many Thanks for your help :), I tried the 2nd options and it works. However as I said I haven't trouble with creating registry in the 64-bit path but it's good to know new stuff.

BTW, I use Framework 2.0 but I can't choose "both" because there is some problems arise with Microsoft Jet Engine 4.0 (used to connect to MSAccess DB) when I select X64 or both, it only works with X86.

[+Fahim S. MVC]

Many Thanks for your help :), I tried the 2nd options and it works. However as I said I haven't trouble with creating registry in the 64-bit path but it's good to know new stuff.

BTW, I use Framework 2.0 but I can't choose "both" because there is some problems arise with Microsoft Jet Engine 4.0 (used to connect to MSAccess DB) when I select X64 or both, it only works with X86.

That's because there is no Jet engine for x64...

[Elagizy]

That's because there is no Jet engine for x64...

Is there equivalent for x64?