Detect whether Office is 32bit or 64bit via the registry

Question

Now that Office also comes in a 64bit install, where in the registry do you find out if the version of Office installed is 32bit or 64bit?

Lair

Answer 1

From TechNet article on 64-bit editions of Office 2010:

If you have installed Office 2010 including Microsoft Outlook 2010, Outlook sets a registry key named Bitness of type REG_SZ on the computer on which it is installed. The Bitness registry key indicates whether the Outlook 2010 installation is 32-bit or 64-bit. This may be useful to administrators who are interested in auditing computers to determine the installed versions of Office 2010 in their organization.

• Registry path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook
• if you have installed Office 2013 then use this Registry path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Office\15.0\Outlook
• Registry key: Bitness
• Value: either x86 or x64

and elsewhere in the same article:

Starting with Office 2010, Outlook is available as a 32-bit application and a 64-bit application. The version (bitness) of Outlook that you choose depends on the edition of the Windows operating system (32-bit or 64-bit) and the edition of Office 2010 (32- or 64-bit) that is installed on the computer, if Office is already installed on that computer.

Factors that determine the feasibility of installing a 32-bit or a 64-bit version of Outlook include the following:

• You can install 32-bit Office 2010 and 32-bit Microsoft Outlook 2010 on a supported 32-bit or 64-bit edition of the Windows operating system. You can install the 64-bit version of Office 2010 and 64-bit Outlook 2010 only on a supported 64-bit operating system.
• The default installation of Office 2010 on a 64-bit edition of the Windows operating system is 32-bit Office 2010.
• The bitness of an installed version of Outlook is always the same as the bitness of Office 2010, if Office is installed on the same computer. That is, a 32-bit version of Outlook 2010 cannot be installed on the same computer on which 64-bit versions of other Office 2010 applications are already installed, such as 64-bit Microsoft Word 2010 or 64-bit Microsoft Excel 2010. Similarly, a 64-bit version of Outlook 2010 cannot be installed on the same computer on which 32-bit versions of other Office applications are already installed.

Martinelli

In my test environment this Bitness registry key is not present if the installation was done from a standalone Excel x64 install media (i.e. EXCEL 2010 standalone). Presumably if the installation package has Outlook available the Bitness field is put in, but if Outlook is not even an option you cannot depend on this key. – Tarrel

Add 16.0 in the path for Office 2016. – Colquitt

Doesn't seem to work for 2016. When Office 32-bit is installed on a 64-bit machine the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Bitness key doesn't exist. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\Bitness does, though. – Alcala

For the benefit of the next poor bloke who comes behind me, Bitness is not a separate key, but a Value under the main Outlook key. – Mephitis

Just a note, For click to run instances, you can locate bit version at "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration\platform" where the value will be x86 or x64 – Manzoni

Answer 2

I've tested Otaku's answer and it appears that the Outlook bitness value is set even when Outlook is not installed, even though the article referenced does not clearly indicate that this would be the case.

Diactinic

Great work. It's work noting that on a 64-bit machine, the bitness values exists both in: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook which means you don't have to worry about Wow64Redirection from a 32-bit installer project – Akkerman

When Office 2010 is installed without Outlook... From my tests, on a Win7 64bit box, Bitness is there. On a WinXP 32bit box, Bitness is not there. – Amimia

I've checked my registry settings, and I do not have bitness or any Outlook-related information. I have Office 2010 64-bit installed, but I do not have Outlook installed. – Inextricable

On my machine with minimal Office 2010 setup (just Excel and VBA, no Outlook), the Bitness value is only to be found under the Wow6432Node key. – Penn

Just a warning: I've seen two customer machines so far with Outlook 2013, but the 2010 bitness key was still set under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook. Maybe it was left over after upgrade or uninstall. That can cause issues if you use it without checking the 15.0 bitness keys, as well. – Fant

Another warning: Sometimes the Wow6432Node Bitness key is missing for 64-bit Outlook 2013 (15.0), per @JohnSibly's comment. It's apparently an Office bug. This seems to always be the case for the 64-bit 365 edition of Office, and I just saw it once for 64-bit non-365. – Fant

As mentioned in a previous comment - does not work for Office 2016 - this key is not set in the registry. – Actinon

Answer 3

To add to vtrz's answer, here's a function I wrote for Inno Setup:

const
  { Constants for GetBinaryType return values. }
  SCS_32BIT_BINARY = 0;
  SCS_64BIT_BINARY = 6;
  { There are other values that GetBinaryType can return, but we're }
  { not interested in them. }

{ Declare Win32 function  }
function GetBinaryType(lpApplicationName: AnsiString; var lpBinaryType: Integer): Boolean;
external '[email protected] stdcall';

function Is64BitExcelFromRegisteredExe(): Boolean;
var
  excelPath: String;
  binaryType: Integer;
begin
  Result := False; { Default value - assume 32-bit unless proven otherwise. }
  { RegQueryStringValue second param is '' to get the (default) value for the key }
  { with no sub-key name, as described at }
  { http://stackoverflow.com/questions/913938/ }
  if IsWin64() and RegQueryStringValue(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE,
      'SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\excel.exe',
      '', excelPath) then begin
    { We've got the path to Excel. }
    try
      if GetBinaryType(excelPath, binaryType) then begin
        Result := (binaryType = SCS_64BIT_BINARY);
      end;
    except
      { Ignore - better just to assume it's 32-bit than to let the installation }
      { fail.  This could fail because the GetBinaryType function is not }
      { available.  I understand it's only available in Windows 2000 }
      { Professional onwards. }
    end;
  end;
end;

Medeah

+1 Though you should use Unicode version GetBinaryTypeW, see also my answer to Getting the version and platform of Office application from Windows Registry. – Alacrity

Answer 4

Regret to say, but Both Otacku's and @clatonh's methods aren't working for me - neither have Outlook Bitness nor {90140000-0011-0000-1000-0000000FF1CE} in registry (for 64-bit Office without Outlook installed).

The only way I have found, though, not via the registry, is to check bitness for one of the Office executables with the use of the Windows API function GetBinaryType (since Windows 2000 Professional).

For example, you can check the bitness of Winword.exe, which path is stored under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\Winword.exe.

Here is the MFC code fragment:

CRegKey rk;
if (ERROR_SUCCESS == rk.Open(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, 
  "SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\App Paths\\Winword.exe", 
  KEY_READ)) {
    CString strWinwordPath;
    DWORD dwSize = MAX_PATH;
    if (ERROR_SUCCESS == rk.QueryStringValue(strWinwordPath, 
        strWinwordPath.GetBuffer(MAX_PATH), &dwSize)) {
            strWinwordPath.ReleaseBuffer();
            DWORD dwBinaryType;
            if (::GetBinaryType(strWinwordPath, &dwBinaryType)) {
                if (SCS_64BIT_BINARY == dwBinaryType) {
                    // Detected 64-bit Office 
                } else {
                    // Detected 32-bit Office 
                }
            } else {
                // Failed
            }
        } else {
            // Failed
        }
    } else {
    // Failed
}

Extemporize

Yep this is what I started doing eventually. A shame as it's generally not cool as a custom...custom action in a windows installer package. Version checking should just be a regpath search.. IIRC things got even weirder with the Office365 installers...hacks upon hacks upon hacks going on there. – Maurya

Answer 5

I found the way for checking office bitness .

We can check office 365 and 2016 bitness using this registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration

Platform x86 for 32 bit.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration

Platform x64 for 64 bit.

Please check...

Academic

Please don't provide duplicate answer. – Humbug

Answer 6

Attention: querying the bitness of the Outlook Application does NOT reliably work if called in .NET environment.

Here, we use GetBinaryType() in a DLL that can be called by any application:

• If the host application is 64 bit C/C++, GetBinaryType() returns SCS_32BIT_BINARY.
• If the host application is 64 bit .NET (we tested "AnyCPU" on a 64 bit system), GetBinaryType() returns SCS_64BIT_BINARY.

With exactly the same DLL code and exactly the same Outlook binary path ("c:/Program Files (x86)/...") on the same computer.

Meaning that you might need to test the binary file yourself using "IMAGE_NT_HEADERS.FileHeader.Machine" entry.

God, I hate the incorrect return values of some Windows APIs (see also GetVersion() lie).

Groan

Are you sure you aren't falling into WOW64 Registry virtualization due to an incorrect entry in the app manifest? – Tia

`GetBinaryType()' and registry virtualization? I would not expect it to change anything, especially if the path is given exactly, anyway there's no EXE in the other bitness in the system, so it must be some kind of magic (nice word for these dirty tricks of Windows), but not registry magic. – Groan

i use c# to call kernel32.dll GetBinaryType(). my test shows that x86 build can detect the binary bitness correctly, but x64 build cannot. – Bratwurst

Answer 7

You can search the registry for {90140000-0011-0000-0000-0000000FF1CE}. If the bold numbers start with 0 its x86, 1 is x64

For me it was in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Registration{90140000-0057-0000-0000-0000000FF1CE}

Source

Incoercible

From user @Randolf in a separate answer below: "this is the path of the registry on my PC: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Registration{90140000-002A-0000-1000-0000000FF1CE} and it's definitely a 32-bit-installation on a 64-bit OS." – Plague

Answer 8

I found this approach:

If HKLM\Software\WOW6432Node exists then Windows is 64-bit.

If HKLM\Software\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Office exists, then Office is 32-bit.

If HKLM\Software\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Office does not exist, but HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Office does exist, then Office is 64-bit.

If HKLM\Software\WOW6432Node does not exist, then Windows and Office are 32-bit.

Source: Technet Forums

Inextricable

Note: I ran into case on a 32 bit machine where wow6432node existed - the Outlook add-ins key was the only one under though. – Maurya

I ran into case on a 64 bit machine with x64 Outlook version but HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Office exists. Visibly, some addins write their keys in both nodes. – Prickly

I don't think this counts as a general rule, I have no HKLM\Software\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Office , but my Outlook is 32-bit, I see it clearly in Task Manager (OUTLOOK.EXE*32). – Vallombrosa

Answer 9

Here's what I was able to use in a VBscript to detect Office 64bit Outlook:

Dim WshShell, blnOffice64, strOutlookPath
Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
blnOffice64=False
strOutlookPath=WshShell.RegRead("HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\outlook.exe\Path")
If WshShell.ExpandEnvironmentStrings("%PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE%") = "AMD64" And _
    not instr(strOutlookPath, "x86") > 0 then 
  blnOffice64=True
  wscript.echo "Office 64"
End If

Accountant

At least for Office 2016, this wouldn't work - the registry key value for 32-bit install is eg `C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16`. – Rori

Answer 10

This InnoSetup code is working for me under Win 10x64 and Office 2016 x86 (using 'HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration' and key 'Platform')

[Code]
const
  RegOffice='SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration';
  RegOfficeKey='Platform';

/// <summary>
/// Get current HKLM version
/// </summary>
function GetHKLM: Integer;
begin
  if IsWin64 then
    Result := HKLM64
  else
    Result := HKLM32;
end;

/// <summary>
/// Check is Microsoft Office is installed or not
/// </summary>
function IsOfficeInstalled (): Boolean;
var
  platform: string;
begin
  RegQueryStringValue(GetHKLM(), RegOffice, RegOfficeKey, platform);
  if platform = 'x86' then begin
   SuppressibleMsgBox('Microsoft Office found (x86 version)' , mbConfirmation, MB_YESNO or MB_DEFBUTTON1, IDYES);
    Result := True;
  end else if platform = 'x64' then begin
    SuppressibleMsgBox('Microsoft Office found (x64 version)', mbConfirmation, MB_YESNO or MB_DEFBUTTON1, IDYES);
    Result := True;
  end else begin
    SuppressibleMsgBox('Microsoft Office NOT found' + platform + '.', mbConfirmation, MB_YESNO or MB_DEFBUTTON1, IDYES);
    Result := False;
  end;
end;

Insincerity

Answer 11

Not via the registry but via commandline tools:

https://mcmap.net/q/353906/-determine-version-of-microsoft-office-with-java

C:\Users\me>assoc .msg

.msg=Outlook.File.msg.15

C:\Users\me>ftype Outlook.File.msg.15

Outlook.File.msg.15="C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Office\Root\Office16\OUTLOOK.EXE" /f "%1"

Carpospore

The default path can be changed at setup. You can have office 32 or 64 bits under windows 7, 8, 10 64 bits version. According to the documentation, you can't have a side-by-side installation of 32 and 64 bits on the same machine. Also note that other applications may have the .msg association – Rugged

Answer 12

EDIT : Solution without touching RegistryKeys - im Sorry Op.

I found out that there is a solution in C# - the original can be found here : https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/webdav_101/2016/07/26/sample-detecting-installed-outlook-and-its-bitness/

I modified it a bit for my needs.

just pass the correct outlookPath to GetOutlookBitness()

  public enum BinaryType : uint

    {
        SCS_32BIT_BINARY = 0, // A 32-bit Windows-based application
        SCS_64BIT_BINARY = 6, // A 64-bit Windows-based application.
        SCS_DOS_BINARY = 1, // An MS-DOS – based application
        SCS_OS216_BINARY = 5, // A 16-bit OS/2-based application
        SCS_PIF_BINARY = 3, // A PIF file that executes an MS-DOS – based application
        SCS_POSIX_BINARY = 4, // A POSIX – based application
        SCS_WOW_BINARY = 2 // A 16-bit Windows-based application
    }



    [DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
    static extern bool GetBinaryType(string lpApplicationName, out BinaryType lpBinaryType);




    public int GetOutlookBitness(string FilePath)
    {
        int bitness = 0;

        if (File.Exists(FilePath))
        {
            BinaryType type;
            GetBinaryType(FilePath, out type);


            switch (type)
            {
                case BinaryType.SCS_32BIT_BINARY:
                    bitness = 32;
                    break;
                case BinaryType.SCS_64BIT_BINARY:
                    bitness = 64;
                    break;
            }
        }

        return bitness;



    }

Tarnish

and yes , i saw the OP asked for registry - this is just for people like me who need the Bitness no matter how. – Tarnish

Doesn't return the correct result for me. Told me 64 when I have 32 Excel – Veratridine

Answer 13

I don't have a key called bitness in either of these folders. I do have a key called "default" in both of these folders and the value is "unset" My computer came with office 2010 starter (I assume 64 bit). I removed it and tried to do a full install of 32 bit office. I keep getting the following message. the file is incompatible, check to see whether you need x86 or x64 version of the program.

any advice for me?

Allenaallenby

Answer 14

@clatonh: this is the path of the registry on my PC: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Registration{90140000-002A-0000-1000-0000000FF1CE} and it's definitely a 32-bit-installation on a 64-bit OS.

Trinitrophenol

Are you sure? My 32-bit Office 2007 on my 64bit Windows 7, the key is located at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Registration\{90120000-0030-0000-0000-0000000FF1CE} – Extractive

I suspect that you're using a 32-bit application to view the key, since 32-bit apps will be put under file redirection and registry redirection – Forethought

Answer 15

I've previously blindly followed the answer based on the MSDN docs. Today, this turned out to be less than required. On a machine with Office Home and Student installed, which doesn't include Outlook, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook was present, but HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Outlook was not. I've now changed my code to first look for the "plain" non-Wow6432Node version. If that's present, it'll be used. If not, it will continue by looking at the Wow6432Node version. This is being checked in an Inno Setup-based installer - I don't know which APIs Inno Setup uses. If your app doesn't access the registry in the same way, you might see different results.

Thromboplastic

Answer 16

Search the registry for the install path of the office component you are interested in, e.g. for Excel 2010 look in SOFTWARE(Wow6432Node)\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Excel\InstallRoot. It will only be either in the 32-bit registry or the 64-bit registry not both.

Latashalatashia

Answer 17

I wrote this for Outlook at first. Modified it a little for Word, but it will not work on a standalone install because that key does not show the bitness, only Outlook does.

Also, I wrote it to only support current versions of Office, =>2010

I stripped all the setup and post processing...

:checkarch
    IF NOT "%PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE%"=="x86" SET InstallArch=64bit
    IF "%PROCESSOR_ARCHITEW6432%"=="AMD64" SET InstallArch=64bit
    IF "%InstallArch%"=="64bit" SET Wow6432Node=\Wow6432Node
GOTO :beginscript

:beginscript
SET _cmdDetectedOfficeVersion=reg query "HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Word.Application\CurVer"
@FOR /F "tokens=* USEBACKQ" %%F IN (`!_cmdDetectedOfficeVersion! 2^>NUL `) DO (
SET _intDetectedOfficeVersion=%%F
)
set _intDetectedOfficeVersion=%_intDetectedOfficeVersion:~-2%


:switchCase
:: Call and mask out invalid call targets
    goto :case!_intDetectedOfficeVersion! 2>nul || (
:: Default case
    ECHO Not installed/Supported
    )
  goto :case-install

:case14
    Set _strOutlookVer= Word 2010 (!_intDetectedOfficeVersion!)
    CALL :GetBitness !_intDetectedOfficeVersion!
    GOTO :case-install  
:case15
    Set _strOutlookVer= Word 2013 (!_intDetectedOfficeVersion!)
    CALL :GetBitness !_intDetectedOfficeVersion!
    GOTO :case-install
:case16
    Set _strOutlookVer= Word 2016 (!_intDetectedOfficeVersion!)
    CALL :GetBitness !_intDetectedOfficeVersion!
    goto :case-install
:case-install
    CALL :output_text !_strOutlookVer! !_strBitness! is installed
GOTO :endscript


:GetBitness
FOR /F "tokens=3*" %%a in ('reg query "HKLM\Software%Wow6432Node%\Microsoft\Office\%1.0\Outlook" /v Bitness 2^>NUL') DO Set _strBitness=%%a
GOTO :EOF

Kermit

Answer 18

In my tests many of the approaches described here fail, I think because they rely on entries in the Windows registry that turn out to be not reliably present, depending on Office version, how it was installed etc. So a different approach is to not use the registry at all (Ok, so strictly that makes it not an answer to the question as posed), but instead write a script that:

1. Instantiates Excel
2. Adds a workbook to that Excel instance
3. Adds a VBA module to that workbook
4. Injects a small VBA function that returns the bitness of Office
5. Calls that function
6. Cleans up

Here's that approach implemented in VBScript:

Function OfficeBitness()

    Dim VBACode, Excel, Wb, Module, Result

    VBACode = "Function Is64bit() As Boolean" & vbCrLf & _
              "#If Win64 Then" & vbCrLf & _
              "    Is64bit = True" & vbCrLf & _
              "#End If" & vbCrLf & _
              "End Function"

    On Error Resume Next
    Set Excel = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
    Excel.Visible = False
    Set Wb = Excel.Workbooks.Add
    Set Module = Wb.VBProject.VBComponents.Add(1)
    Module.CodeModule.AddFromString VBACode
    Result = Excel.Run("Is64bit")
    Set Module = Nothing
    Wb.Saved = True
    Wb.Close False
    Excel.Quit
    Set Excel = Nothing
    On Error GoTo 0
    If IsEmpty(Result) Then
        OfficeBitness = 0 'Alternatively raise an error here?
    ElseIf Result = True Then
        OfficeBitness = 64
    Else
        OfficeBitness = 32
    End If

End Function

PS. This approach runs more slowly than others here (about 2 seconds on my PC) but it might turn out to be more reliable across different installations and Office versions.

After some months, I've realised there may be a simpler approach, though still one that instantiates an Excel instance. The VBScript is:

Function OfficeBitness()
    Dim Excel
    Set Excel = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
    Excel.Visible = False
    If InStr(Excel.OperatingSystem,"64") > 0 Then
        OfficeBitness = 64
    Else
        OfficeBitness = 32
    End if
    Excel.Quit
    Set Excel = Nothing
End Function

This relies on the fact that Application.OperatingSystem, when called from 32-bit Excel on 64-bit Windows returns Windows (32-bit) NT 10.00 or at least it does on my PC. But that's not mentioned in the docs.

Ruse

Answer 19

I have win 7 64 bit + Excel 2010 32 bit. The registry is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\14.0\Registration{90140000-002A-0000-1000-0000000FF1CE}

So this can tell bitness of OS, not bitness of Office

Mariettamariette

Answer 20

This Wikipedia article states:

On 64-bit versions of Windows, there are two folders for application files; the "Program Files" folder contains 64-bit programs, and the "Program Files (x86)" folder contains 32-bit programs.

So if the program is installed under C:\Program Files it is a 64-bit version. If it is installed under C:\Program Files (x86) it is a 32-bit installation.

Bultman

I advise against this, because Microsoft seems to have not followed this guideline recently. If user has installed Office 32-bit on 64-bit machine through Office 365, a 32-bit winword.exe is installed to 'program files' instead of 'program files (x86)'. For example, go install Office 2013 32-bit via Office 365 portal. You will get winword.exe path of: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office 15\root\office15 on a 64-bit machine – Maurya

Another reason this may not be working is that the user can change the installation folder to basically anything. – Bratwurst

I got the same thing as @Maurya mentioned – Cumulus

Answer 21

I've found a secure and reliable way in my InnoSetup-based script to understand whether a particular application is 32-bit or 64-bit (in my case I needed to test Excel), by using a Win32 API function. This function is called GetBinaryType(), it comes from `kernel32' (despite the name it comes in 32 and 64 bit flavor) and looks directly at the exe's header.

Began

Answer 22

Another way to detect the bitness of Office is to find out the typelib.

For example, to detect Outlook's bitness, write a .JS file as following:

function detectVersion()
    var outlooktlib = "TypeLib\\{00062FFF-0000-0000-C000-000000000046}";
    var HKCR = 0x80000000;

    var loc = new ActiveXObject("WbemScripting.SWbemLocator");
    var svc = loc.ConnectServer(null,"root\\default");
    var reg = svc.Get("StdRegProv");

    var method = reg.Methods_.Item("EnumKey");
    var inparam = method.InParameters.SpawnInstance_();
    inparam.hDefKey = HKCR;
    inparam.sSubKeyName = outlooktlib;
    var outparam = reg.ExecMethod_(method.Name,inparam);
    tlibver = outparam.sNames.toArray()[0];

    method = reg.Methods_.Item("GetStringValue");
    inparam = method.InParameters.SpawnInstance_();
    inparam.hDefKey = HKCR;
    inparam.sSubKeyName = outlooktlib + "\\" + tlibver + "\\0\\win32";
    inparam.sValueName = "";
    outparam = reg.ExecMethod_(method.Name,inparam);
    if(outparam.sValue) return "32 bit";

    method = reg.Methods_.Item("GetStringValue");
    inparam = method.InParameters.SpawnInstance_();
    inparam.hDefKey = HKCR;
    inparam.sSubKeyName = outlooktlib + "\\" + tlibver + "\\0\\win64";
    inparam.sValueName = "";
    outparam = reg.ExecMethod_(method.Name,inparam);
    if(outparam.sValue) return "64 bit";

    return "Not installed or unrecognizable";
}

You could find out other Office component's typelib id, and replace the first line of the function for it. Here is a brief list of interesting IDs:

{4AFFC9A0-5F99-101B-AF4E-00AA003F0F07} - Access
{00020905-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} - Word
{00020813-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} - Excel
{91493440-5A91-11CF-8700-00AA0060263B} - Powerpoint
{0002123C-0000-0000-C000-000000000046} - Publisher
{0EA692EE-BB50-4E3C-AEF0-356D91732725} - OneNote 2010+
{F2A7EE29-8BF6-4A6D-83F1-098E366C709C} - OneNote 2007

All above lib id were found through the Windows SDK tool OLE-COM Object Viewer, you could find out more lib id's by using it.

The benefit of this approach is that it works for all versions of office, and provides control on every single component in you interest. Furthermore, those keys are in the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT and deeply integrated into the system, so it is highly unlikely they were not accessible even in a sandbox environment.

Urbanity

This doesn't work for me. I certainly have an Office 2010 64-bit installation however none of the typelib keys you mention above contain a 'win64' keypath; they all have the win32 path. Am I misunderstanding your solution? – Maurya

Answer 23

Outlook Bitness registry key does not exist on my machine.

One way to determine Outlook Bitness is by examining Outlook.exe, itself and determine if it is 32bit or 64bit.

Specifically, you can check the [IMAGE_FILE_HEADER.Machine][1] type and this will return a value indicating processor type.

For an excellent background of this discussion, on reading the PE Header of a file read this (outdated link), which states;

The IMAGE_NT_HEADERS structure is the primary location where specifics of the PE file are stored. Its offset is given by the e_lfanew field in the IMAGE_DOS_HEADER at the beginning of the file. There are actually two versions of the IMAGE_NT_HEADER structure, one for 32-bit executables and the other for 64-bit versions. The differences are so minor that I'll consider them to be the same for the purposes of this discussion. The only correct, Microsoft-approved way of differentiating between the two formats is via the value of the Magic field in the IMAGE_OPTIONAL_HEADER (described shortly).

An IMAGE_NT_HEADER is comprised of three fields:

typedef struct _IMAGE_NT_HEADERS { DWORD Signature; IMAGE_FILE_HEADER FileHeader; IMAGE_OPTIONAL_HEADER32 OptionalHeader; } IMAGE_NT_HEADERS32, *PIMAGE_NT_HEADERS32;

and you can get the c# code here.

The Magic field is at the start of the IMAGE_OPTIONAL_HEADER structure, 2 bytes at offset 24 from the start of the _IMAGE_NT_HEADERS. It has values of 0x10B for 32-bit and 0x20B for 64-bit.

Ricciardi

Looks like this adds to the conversation, but isn't a stand-alone answer. Could this be an edit to improve upon an existing answer, or perhaps expanded to a complete answer to the original question because it is a different approach? – Crispi

msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms809762.aspx PE Head new link – Ricciardi

Answer 24

You do not need to script it. Look at this page that I stumbled across:

https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/43499ae0-bcb5-4527-8edb-f5a955987b56/how-to-detect-whether-installed-ms-office-2010-is-32-or-64-bit?forum=worddev

To summarize:

The fourth field in the productcode indicates the bitness of the product.

{BRMMmmmm-PPPP-LLLL-p000-D000000FF1CE} p000

0 for x86, 1 for x64 0-1 (This also holds true for MSOffice 2013)

Earsplitting

Before answering, you should check if your answer is already given. It is. – Johnsten

Answer 25

Best easy way: Put the ABOUT Icon on your Office 2016 Application. Example Excel

1) Open Excel -> File -> Options -> Customize Ribbon

2) You 'll see 2 panes. Choose Commands From & Customize The Ribbon

3) From Choose Command, Select All Commands

4) From the resulting List Highlight About (Excel)

5) From the Customize The Ribbon Pain, Highlight Any Item (ex. View) where you want to put the About icon

6) Click New group at the bottom

7) Click the add button located between the two pane. DONE

Now when you click the View Tab in excel and click about you'll see 32 bit or 64 bit

Volcanism

Answer 26

I've found a much easier way. Using Powershell, we can hook Excel as a COM object.

$user = $env:UserName
$msoExcel = New-Object -ComObject Excel.Application  
$msoExcel | Select-Object -Property OperatingSystem | Out-File "\\SERVER\Path\To\Dump\msoVersion-$user.txt"
exit

When requesting the OperatingSystem this way, we get strange results, have a look here. PC3 is mine.

I hope this works for you guys. Sorry for the lack of code; my scripts are mostly functional.

Edit: Don't forget to add the code to close Excel after you're done retrieving the data.
After testing this code yesterday I had tons of Excel opening and crashing all of a sudden..
This will make sure you'll keep users and admins happy (:

[System.Runtime.Interopservices.Marshal]::ReleaseComObject($msoExcel)
Remove-Variable msoExcel

Silken

The 32 or 64 bits is refering to the office / excel application and not the operating system. Office installs by default as 32 bits under Windows 64 bits, using WoW. – Rugged

Answer 27

If one wants to know only what bit number an installed version of Office 2010 is, then in any application of Office 2010, just click on File, then on Help. Information about version number will be listed, and next to that, in parentheses, will be either (32-bit) or (64-bit).

Jaela

Yes but this is all about getting an installer to figure out what is on the user's computer. Installers can not click on the Help menu. – Risk

Answer 28

Open Outlook 2013 > File > Office account > About Outlook > click large "? About Outlook" button > read popup description

Diacritic