How to Find Whether Windows DVD is for 32-bit or 64-bit Edition

Back in the old days when we had to buy the physical CD/DVD for the Windows operating system, it was  much easier to tell if the Windows DVD belongs to the 32-bit edition or the 64-edition without having to install it first. You could just look at the DVD label or the DVD case and know everything about it. But now almost everyone is downloading the new versions of Windows DVD from the Microsoft’s servers, it has become very difficult to find out whether the ISO image or the DVD created from it will install the 32-bit or the 64-bit edition of Windows. But here is a simple and easy way for you find exactly that out:

  1. Install 7-Zip archiving tool in Windows.
  2. If you have  Windows DVD, insert it in your DVD disk drive and wait for it to be identified by Windows. If you have an ISO image, then right-click on it and select Mount. Mounting feature is available in Windows 8.x and 10 only, so if you have an earlier version, do not worry and move on to next step.
  3. Open the DVD drive, then open the sources folder, locate the boot.wim file, right-click on it and select 7-ZipOpen archive. In case of the ISO image, if you could not mount the ISO image, you can right-click on the ISO image itself and select 7-ZipOpen archive and then open the sources\boot.wim file inside it.Find Windows DVD is 32-bit or 64-bit
  4. Inside the boot.wim file, you would see the file [1].xml. Extract [1].xml file to your hard disk.Find Windows DVD is 32-bit or 64-bit
  5. Download Ana.zip, extract Ana.exe from it and place both Ana.exe and [1].xml in the same folder. Then double-click on Ana.exe . If the entries in the program display (x86), then it is a 32-bit version of the Windows. If the entries display (x64), then it is a 64-bit version of the Windows.Find Windows DVD is 32-bit or 64-bit

So if you are confused whether the ISO image you downloaded from Microsoft’s servers is for 32-bit or 64-bit version, you now know how to find this information out without actually having to run the setup.