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It appears that specifying the KEY_WOW64_64KEY flag (reference) when accessing a registry key under 32-bit Windows XP has no effect - that is, no error is thrown, and the key is opened as if you hadn't had the flag set.
I know Windows 2000 throws an error when it encounters this flag.
I want to make sure my app is compatible with as many versions of windows (2k and later) as possible.
Is there a Microsoft reference that specifies each version of Windows' behaviour for this flag? In particular, I'd like something that validates my assumption that it has no effect at all on post-2k 32-bit Windows.
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Basically, due to the limit of 32-bit and 64-bit Windows operating systems, you can't run software, applications, and programs on Windows 10/8/7, even Vista, XP that doesn't match its version. In a word, you can't install and run 64-bit software on a 32-bit computer, or vice versa.
KEY_WOW64_64KEY on a 64-bit OS means that the registry access, no matter if it's a 32 or 64 bit process, will access the 64 bit registry view. KEY_WOW64_32KEY on a 64-bit OS means that the registry access, no matter if it's a 32 or 64 bit process, will access the 32 bit registry view.
The Wow6432 registry entry indicates that you're running a 64-bit version of Windows. The OS uses this key to present a separate view of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE for 32-bit applications that run on a 64-bit version of Windows.
According to this Windows page:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/sysinfo/registry-key-security-and-access-rights?redirectedfrom=MSDN
Both
KEY_WOW64_32KEY (0x0200)
KEY_WOW64_64KEY (0x0100)
will be ignored on 32-bit Windows.
And those flags are not supported on Windows 2000.
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