How do I tell whether my IE is 64-bit? (For that matter, Java too?)

Question

Millions of questions already on the web about how to tell whether the OS is 64-bit, but not whether IE and/or Java runtime is 64-bit.

Some background: I installed 64-bit Win 7, and IE installed automatically with it from CD; I didn't download IE.

I did download Java runtime. Mouseover tips in Control Panel!Programs shows it as: "Java 32-bit Java(TM) Control Panel"

Then I went to http://java.com/en/download/manual.jsp and that page says...

We have detected you may be viewing this page in a 32-bit browser. If you use 32-bit and 64-bit browsers interchangeably, you will need to install both 32-bit and 64-bit Java in order to have the Java plug-in for both browsers.

But I cannot tell in the aftermath whether my Java is 64-bit. Evidently the "Java(TM) Control Panel" is, but I don't know if that's the same as the runtime. (I'm afraid to ask on the offical Java forums, because they're such a-holes.)

Also, how do I issue a command to the OS to tell whether this IE is 64-bit?

Answer 1

Normally, you run IE 32 bit.
However, on 64-bit versions of Windows, there is a separate link in the Start Menu to Internet Explorer (64 bit). There's no real reason to use it, though.

In Help, About, the 64-bit version of IE will say 64-bit Edition (just after the full version string).

The 32-bit and 64-bit versions of IE have separate addons lists (because 32-bit addons cannot be loaded in 64-bit IE, and vice-versa), so you should make sure that Java appears on both lists.

In general, you can tell whether a process is 32-bit or 64-bit by right-clicking the application in Task Manager and clicking Go To Process. 32-bit processes will end with *32.

Answer 2

For Java, from a command line:

java -version

will indicate whether it's 64-bit or not.

Output from the console on my Ubuntu box:

java version "1.6.0_12-ea"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.6.0_12-ea-b03)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 11.2-b01, mixed mode)

IE will indicate 64-bit versions in the About dialog, I believe.

Answer 3

Rob Heiser suggested checking out your java version by using 'java -version'.

That will identify the Java version that will be commonly found and used. Doing dev work, you can often have more than one version installed (I currently have 2 JREs - 6 and 7 - and may soon have 8).

http://www.coderanch.com/t/453224/java/java/java-version-work-setting-path

java -version will look for java.exe in the System32 directory in Windows. That's where a JRE will install it.

I'm assuming that IE either simply looks for java and that automatically starts checking in System32 or it'll use the path and hit whichever java.exe comes first in your path (if you tamper with the path to point to another JRE).

Also from what SLaks said, I would disagree with one thing. There is likely slightly better performance out of 64-it IE in 64-bit environments. So there is some reason for using it.