Microsoft Office 2010 64-bit vs. 32-bit

Fellow MVP, Rolly Perreaux, pointed out on his blog:

How many of you went to your Microsoft TechNet Subscriber account to get the latest and greatest Office Professional Plus 2010 OR Project 2010 OR Visio 2010 today?  I’m sure quite a lot, if not all of you did.

Now many of you immediately went and downloaded the 64 bit version? After all, your computer’s operating system is probably Windows 7 64 bit right?

Did you get a chance to read the View Details, before clicking the Download link?

Instructions and Resources

Important: Microsoft strongly recommends the use of 32-bit (x86) versions of Office 2010, Project 2010, and Visio 2010 applications as the default option for all platforms.

Learn more about the deployment considerations for x64 and x86 at: 64-bit editions of Office 2010 (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee681792(office.14).aspx).

Sometimes there is a perfectly valid reason for installing the 64-bit application. Perhaps if you have monster-sized Excel spreadsheets or Project schedules (they do exist). But really think it through...

You cannot install the x64 version if you have any 32-bit Office applications, such as Sharepoint Designer, Microsoft Frontpage or previous versions of Visio. The x64 version is also incompatible with most or all Office Add-ins (primarily a concern with Outlook).

Either way, know that you have to uninstall any beta versions of Office 2010 before you can install RTM.

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Windows Server 2008 Upgrade Complete

In a previous post I mentioned that I was going to upgrade my network to Windows Server 2008. Well, I've completed the upgrade and it ROCKS!

I now have a single W2K8 Enterprise server running Hyper-V RC0. This server hosts two guests, one x86 domain controller and one x64 Exchange 2007 server running ForeFront Security for Exchange Server. The host server is running this blog as well as Exchange 2007 Edge services. The performance is outstanding! Much better than my old x64 Windows 2003 host running VMware.

The Exchange Team posted a great article, Speeding up installation of Exchange Server 2007 SP1 Prerequisites on Windows Server 2008. It offers XML files that configure the Windows Server 2008 prerequisites for Exchange 2007 SP1. While it wasn't that difficult to install everything manually, it would have saved some time for me if I had this before my upgrade.

Last night I completed the upgrade and decommissioned the old W2K3 DC, Exchange and Edge servers.

Please let me know if you have any issues with the blog. The migration went very smooth and I don't anticipate any problems.

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EXPTA Server Upgrade

I ordered a new server this weekend to replace my existing Windows Server 2003 infrastructure. This new server will run the same roles as my existing server, but will have twice as much RAM and will be "green." It will utilize the new AMD Athlon X2 BE-2400 Brisbane 2.3GHz 45W Dual-Core CPU, less cooling (due to the low wattage CPU), and a smaller power supply. Should be fun. I haven't built my own hardware since the 90's. :)

I'll be building it with x64 Windows Server 2008 Enterprise edition and utilize Hyper-V for my virtual DC and Exchange 2007 servers, instead of VMware. The host server will function as my Exchange 2007 Edge server and host the www.expta.com blog on IIS 7.

The plan is to bring up the the new W2K8 server, build new virtual DC and Exchange servers, move the mailboxes to the new Exchange server, install the Exchange Edge role, and move the blog to the new server. Once I know everything is working properly I'll decommission the old Windows 2003 and Exchange 2007 servers.

Hopefully, there will be very little downtime. I only expect brief outages as I update my router configuration. As usual I'll post my experiences with the upgrade, as will as any troubleshooting tips and gotchas I discover along the way.

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Installing or switching ASP.NET versions on x64 platforms

When installing SQL 2005 on an x64 server, I came across the following warning:

32-bit ASP.Net is Registered. Required 64-bit ASP.Net to install Microsoft Reporting Services 2005(64-bit).

This article explains how to install and enable the correct version of ASP.NET for x64 platforms to fix this error.

After you install the ASP.NET redistributable packages, you can switch between the different versions of ASP.NET. To do this, follow these steps for each ASP.NET version:

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ASP.NET 1.1, 32-bit version
To run the 32-bit version of ASP.NET 1.1, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
2. Type the following command to enable the 32-bit mode:

cscript %SYSTEMDRIVE%\inetpub\adminscripts\adsutil.vbs SET W3SVC/AppPools/Enable32bitAppOnWin64 1

3. Type the following command to install the version of ASP.NET 1.1 and to install the script maps at the IIS root and under:

%SYSTEMROOT%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v1.1.4322\aspnet_regiis.exe -i

4. Make sure that the status of ASP.NET version 1.1.4322 is set to Allowed in the Web service extension list in Internet Information Services Manager.

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ASP.NET 2.0, 32-bit version
To run the 32-bit version of ASP.NET 2.0, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
2. Type the following command to enable the 32-bit mode:

cscript %SYSTEMDRIVE%\inetpub\adminscripts\adsutil.vbs SET W3SVC/AppPools/Enable32bitAppOnWin64 1

3. Type the following command to install the version of ASP.NET 2.0 (32-bit) and to install the script maps at the IIS root and under:

%SYSTEMROOT%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\aspnet_regiis.exe -i

4. Make sure that the status of ASP.NET version 2.0.50727 (32-bit) is set to Allowed in the Web service extension list in Internet Information Services Manager.

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ASP.NET 2.0, 64-bit version
To run the 64-bit version of ASP.NET 2.0, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type cmd, and then click OK.
2. Type the following command to disable the 32-bit mode:

cscript %SYSTEMDRIVE%\inetpub\adminscripts\adsutil.vbs SET W3SVC/AppPools/Enable32bitAppOnWin64 0

3. Type the following command to install the version of ASP.NET 2.0 and to install the script maps at the IIS root and under:

%SYSTEMROOT%\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v2.0.50727\aspnet_regiis.exe -i

4. Make sure that the status of ASP.NET version 2.0.50727 is set to Allowed in the Web service extension list in Internet Information Services Manager.

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ASP.NET on Windows Server 2008
The bits for the correct platform of ASP.NET on Windows Server 2008 are included in the OS cache. To install ASP.NET on Windows Server 2008 (x86 or x64) follow these steps:

1. Run Server Manager
2. Select Roles and click Add Roles
3. Select Web Server (IIS). Click Add Required Features if prompted
4. Select ASP.NET in Role Services and run through the rest of the wizard to complete the installation

If the Web Server (IIS) role has already been installed on your server, do the following to add ASP.NET:

1. Run Server Manager
2. Expand Roles and select Web Server (IIS)
3. Click Add Role Services in the right-hand pane
4. Add the ASP.NET role service and run through the wizard to complete the installation

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VMware Processor Check for 64-Bit Compatibility

VMware has created a standalone processor check utility which you can use without VMware Workstation to determine whether your CPU is supported for virtual machines with 64-bit guest operating systems.

This utility is a handy way to check a system before you buy it. Download it onto a USB key and run it on the prospective computer to see if it will run 64 bit guests.

It's important to note that you do NOT have to run a 64 bit host OS to run 64 bit guests in VMware 6. For me, this is really handy since none of my wireless USB Ethernet adapters have 64 bit drivers. I can use x86 XP as my host OS to access my wireless network while still running 64 bit guests like Windows Server 2008. Sweet!

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