To reduce compatibility issue and prevent a 32-bit program from accidentally accessing data from 64-bit application, WOW64 subsystem isolates 32-bit binaries from 64-bit binaries by redirecting registry calls and some file system calls.
64-bit or 圆4 version of Windows operating system such as Windows Server 2003, Windows XP Professional 圆4 Edition, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 uses the Microsoft Windows-32-on-Windows-64 (WOW64) subsystem layer to run 32-bit programs, binaries or drivers without modifications, change or transition to 64-bit based binaries, as the 64-bit OS is optimized to run native 64-bit programs and does not provide support for 16-bit binaries or 32-bit drivers.
