Windows XP Professional 64-bit version
Windows XP Professional 64-bit version
XP64 isn’t a strong choice for an operating system. It belonged to Microsoft’s initial line of X64-based systems, but it’s not truly the same as standard XP. The platform was developed using the X64 architecture from Server 2003. It struggles with X64 programs and has compatibility problems with some older x86 applications. WOW64 wasn’t fully released until Vista. I recall, even during its peak, most tech publications advised against using it, which seemed amusing given that the Athlon 64 was just emerging and had already dominated the CPU market. The R2 update addressed many issues by shifting from Server 03 to Server 03 releases instead of XP Service Packs, but some problems persist. It’s also worth noting that not every XP32 driver functions well on XP64, though this is less of a concern in virtual environments. Personally, the ISO I own behaves like XP but performs poorly and can’t support all features of XP32.
I used XP64 as the primary operating system for several years before Windows 7 was released. I didn’t encounter any major problems with software compatibility, aside from a few very old and rarely used peripherals that lacked 64-bit drivers—meaning they wouldn’t have worked on Vista either.