Can I run 64 bit dlls on a 32 bit machine?

Question

I have recently converted My visual studio solution to 64 bit from 32 bit. But, I have 1 machine which is running Windows Server 2003 (32 bit).Can I deploy and run these newly built 64 bit dlls on this 32 bit machine?

Answer 1

Basically, the answer is no.

If the underlying hardware is 32-bit, then it definitely won't support 64-bit instructions.

If the hardware is 64-bit (and the OS is just 32-bit), it's possible in theory, but would require the kernel to not only setup a 64-bit code segment, but to also setup 64-bit paging (I think). Since I doubt the 32-bit Windows kernel supports either of these, then it's not possible.

Answer 2

Yes you can using third party software like http://www.vmware.com/products/ BUT don't expect much from the performance!