Subject: 64 Bit Windows OS Installations and Compatibility Issues 
With the release of Windows 7 Operating system last week in both 32 and 64 bit flavors, the percentage of machines that come pre-installed with 64 bit versions of the operating system installed is increasing. Unfortunately, many of current applications out there are built on 32 bit compiled components that can run into compatibility problems when running under a 64 bit OS. If you research some of these issues on tech support groups, you will find many unresolved issues concerning the compatibility of 32 bit and 64 applications. Where many users and applications fail is when an application may have integrated components from mulitple vendors and if any one of those components have not been compiled for 64 bits, the entire application will fail. Many database and business applications have been developed over years with components that may not have been recompiled for the for 64 bits. As a case in point, Microsoft has decided NOT to build a 64 bit version of their Access ODBC Database driver so running the default IIS webserver in 64 bits will be imcompatible with the current 32 bit ODBC Access driver. As a workaround, one can easily run IIS in a 32 bit mode to be compatible with this previous driver and this documented below. Web+Center has been tested to run on Windows 7 and connect to a 32 bit Access Database driver using the methods listed below. Just for clarity Web+Center itself is primarily written in Microsoft’s ASP language which is interpreted at run time by the IIS Web server. We provide the source code so it the application will run at 64 bits if running the default IIS 64 bit configuration. Web+Center requires database drivers provided by Microsoft for its ODBC Access or SQL*Server/Express and those drivers must match 64/32 bit model of IIS you are running. Simple Solution After extensive research, it turns out there is one simple solution to this problem. One can easily run IIS in 32 bit mode rather than 64 bit by simply changing the default application pool to "enable 32 bit" applications. Thanks to an article by Amy Blankenship on 64 bit Windows, IIS and Access, this simple solution basically runs IIS in 32 bit and then allows integrated 32 bit applications and drivers such as the Access ODBC 32 bit driver to run. This will make all of the applications of the default website run in this 32 bit mode. To change IIS to run in 32 bit mode,
Configure 32 Bit ODBC Drivers
The 32 bit version of the ODBC database sources still exists on the 64 bit
machine, but you must run it separately using the START... RUN command with the file path:
Running Web+Center in 64 bits IIS and 64 bit databases Windows 2008 64 bit running SQL 2005/2008 64 bit versions has been successfully installed by several customers. The best instalation guide to use for this type of installation is our Vista Installation Guide since it has all of the IIS 7.0 installation details that are significantly different from Server 2003 IIS 6.0 instructions and the SQL Server installation steps as well. The one additional step that must be taken if you are going to install on a 64 bit platform is to install and register the 64 bit version (rather the default 32 bit version) of our 3rd party ASP mailer. You can download the 64 bit version of our integrated ASP Mailer component and instructions on how to install it from a FAQ Article found on our support site.
You need to take extra care in the way that you register the DLL's
using the right version of regsvr32.exe. The 32-bit DLL must be
registered with the 32-bit version of regsvr32 (%windir%\syswow64),
while the 64-bit version must be registered with the 64-bit version
(%windir%\sytem32).
Conclusions:
Thank you again for selecting Web+Center for your Help Desk and we look forward to
hearing feedback from you about issues surrounding the 32 bit and 64 operating and
application migrataions.
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