To check the architecture of a Windows Server 2003 based computer, follow these steps:
Click the Start button.
Click Run.
In the box that appears, type
sysadm.cpland then press the Enter key.On the General tab of the window that appears, you should see Microsoft(R) Windows (R) Server 2003, Enterprise Edition if you are running the 32-bit edition. If you are running the 64-bit edition, you will see Microsoft(R) Windows (R) Server 2003 Enterprise x64 Edition.
You have just identified the architecture of the version of Windows that is installed on your computer. It is important to know whether you are running a 32-bit or 64-bit operating system so that we can install the correct version of TortoiseSVN.
If you have a 32-bit version of Windows, you should install the 32-bit version of TortoiseSVN. If you have a 64-bit version of Windows, you can install both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of TortoiseSVN side-by-side. Doing this will enable TortoiseSVN's features for both 32-bit and 64-bit applications.
Tip
Why is 32-bit called x86?
You may be wondering why 64-bit is called x64
, but 32-bit is called x86. The reason is part of the history of computing. x86 is a CPU instruction set which is used in most modern processors. There are three subsets of the x86 instruction set – x86-16 (16 bit), x86-32 (32-bit), and x86-64 (64-bit). The 32-bit version of the x86 instruction set was first used in the 80386 processor, and quickly became an industry standard.
The term x86 really refers to backwards compatibility with the original 8086 instruction set, but the popularity of the x86-32 subset means that most people use the term x86 to refer to a modern 32-bit processor.