Determines whether the specified process is running under WOW64.

Syntax

BOOL WINAPI IsWow64Process(
  __in   HANDLE hProcess,
  __out  PBOOL Wow64Process
);

Parameters

hProcess [in]

A handle to the process. The handle must have the PROCESS_QUERY_INFORMATION or PROCESS_QUERY_LIMITED_INFORMATION access right. For more information, see Process Security and Access Rights.

Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP:  The handle must have the PROCESS_QUERY_INFORMATION access right.

Wow64Process [out]

A pointer to a value that is set to TRUE if the process is running under WOW64. Otherwise, the value is set to FALSE.

Return Value

If the function succeeds, the return value is a nonzero value.

If the function fails, the return value is zero. To get extended error information, call GetLastError.

Remarks

If the application is a 64-bit application running under 64-bit Windows, the Wow64Process parameter is set to FALSE.

To compile an application that uses this function, define _WIN32_WINNT as 0x0501 or later. For more information, see Using the SDK Headers.

Examples [C++]

For compatibility with operating systems that do not support this function, call GetProcAddress to detect whether IsWow64Process is implemented in Kernel32.dll. If GetProcAddress succeeds, it is safe to call this function. Otherwise, WOW64 is not present. Note that this technique is not a reliable way to detect whether the operating system is a 64-bit version of Windows because the Kernel32.dll in current versions of 32-bit Windows also contains this function.

 #include <windows.h>
#include <stdio.h>

typedef BOOL (WINAPI *LPFN_ISWOW64PROCESS) (HANDLE, PBOOL);

LPFN_ISWOW64PROCESS fnIsWow64Process;

BOOL IsWow64()
{
    BOOL bIsWow64 = FALSE;

    fnIsWow64Process = (LPFN_ISWOW64PROCESS)GetProcAddress(
        GetModuleHandle(TEXT("kernel32")),"IsWow64Process");
  
    if (NULL != fnIsWow64Process)
    {
        if (!fnIsWow64Process(GetCurrentProcess(),&bIsWow64))
        {
            // handle error
        }
    }
    return bIsWow64;
}

void main()
{
    if(IsWow64())
        printf("Running on WOW64\n");
    else printf("Running on 32-bit Windows\n");
}

Requirements

See Also

GetNativeSystemInfo
IsWow64Message
WOW64

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Build date: 8/7/2008