How to check if Windows is 32 or 64 bits on Python2.2

Question

In python2.7 it's simple, just import the lib platform. But how can i see if my windows is 32 or 64 bits? I work with a system build in python2.2 and can't find a way of do that :(

Any sugestions?

possible duplicate of [How do I determine if my python shell is executing in 32bit or 64bit mode?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1405913/how-do-i-determine-if-my-python-shell-is-executing-in-32bit-or-64bit-mode) — Martijn Pieters, Jul 31 '12 at 14:36
Just out of curiosity, why are you using Python 2.2? It's more than 10 years old and the new versions are as free as the old ones. — Fred Foo, Jul 31 '12 at 14:38
@MartijnPieters: that checks whether the interpreter was built in 32-bits or 64-bits mode. It doesn't tell you much about the OS. — Fred Foo, Jul 31 '12 at 14:39
:/ Because i work in a company that still use the python2.2 on our major application, i know it's sucks :/. @larsmans — Irish Wolf, Jul 31 '12 at 14:41
@larsmans: you *may* have a 32-bit python interpreter on a 64-bit platform, but you cannot make that work the other way around. Thus, the two usually correlate. — Martijn Pieters, Jul 31 '12 at 14:42
No access to Windows at this time, but have you looked at the [os module](http://docs.python.org/library/os.html) or [sys module](http://docs.python.org/library/sys.html)? Maybe [sys.platform](http://docs.python.org/library/sys.html#sys.platform) or [os.name](http://docs.python.org/library/os.html#os.name)? — GreenMatt, Jul 31 '12 at 14:55
@sshekhar: Note the top of that document you linked to: *New in version 2.3.* — Martijn Pieters, Jul 31 '12 at 15:00

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 31 '12 at 14:56

The platform module source code is informative.

Backported from there to determine the machine architecture on a Windows platform, it would use:

import os

def machine():
    try:
        return os.uname()[-1]
    except AttributeError:
        if "PROCESSOR_ARCHITEW6432" in os.environ:
            return os.environ.get("PROCESSOR_ARCHITEW6432", '')
        else:
            return os.environ.get('PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE', '')

score 0 · Answer 2 · edited Jun 20 '13 at 22:32

0

In Python 2.x you can do this:

import sys
print sys.maxint

And detect if it's 32/64 bit by sys.maxint.

Notice: this method may probably fail if you're running a 32 bit Python on a 64 bit machine.

edited Jun 20 '13 at 22:32

Zero Piraeus

56,143
27
150
160

answered Jul 31 '12 at 14:58

starrify

14,307
5
33
50

Is that not dependent on the build of Python itself and not the OS? – Noctis Skytower Jul 31 '12 at 15:53
@NoctisSkytower Yes indeed. And I myself consider it as a `well, can it be worse?` answer. – starrify Jul 31 '12 at 15:57

How to check if Windows is 32 or 64 bits on Python2.2

2 Answers2