Hey everyone! My company still supports some applications that run on 32-bit Windows, but we can't get help from our clients when we need to test specific features. I'm trying to figure out the best way to have some Windows environments for testing. I'm focusing on C programming for Windows 64-bit initially, but I'm also interested in whether there's a way to run 32-bit Windows on EC2 while using a 64-bit instance. Any advice on how to proceed?
5 Answers
Just wondering, why not use an old local machine for this? Is there a specific need for cloud computing with such legacy technology? Sometimes, keeping an old machine around can save you a lot of hassle.
Just to clarify, Windows does run 32-bit applications natively on 64-bit versions. Have you tried that on your EC2 instance? It might work without needing a 32-bit setup after all.
It's important to note that Microsoft no longer provides 32-bit versions of Windows in the cloud. It's best to develop and test against supported 64-bit versions, which can still run your 32-bit applications.
Have you tried something like BrowserStack? It could be a good alternative to test 32-bit applications without needing to set up a whole EC2 instance.
Unfortunately, there are no officially supported 32-bit Windows versions on AWS anymore, so you'll face some challenges here. If you're running 32-bit applications, you might have to look into nested virtualization, which requires a metal type EC2 instance. Essentially, you would install a hypervisor like QEMU on a Linux instance and set up a 32-bit virtual machine from there. Just a heads-up, this could get pricey at around $4 per hour or more! Alternatively, if your application can run on 64-bit, you may not need to worry about 32-bit support at all.
I get that, but isn’t there still some requirement for actual 32-bit Windows for compatibility testing? It's tricky for legacy apps.
That’s a fair point! But I like how flexible cloud resources are for on-demand testing.