Can a 32bit process access more memory on a 64bit windows OS?

Question

From what I understand, a 32bit process can only access 2GB of memory on 32bit windows without the /3GB switch, and that some of that memory is taken up by the OS for its ow

Answer 1

Yes, under the right circumstances, a 32-bit process on Windows can access a full 4GB of memory, rather than the 2Gb it's normally limited to.

For this to work, you need the following:

• The app must be running on a 64-bit OS
• The app must be compiled with the /LARGEADDRESSAWARE flag.
• The app should be tested to make sure it actually works properly in this case. ;) (specifically, code that relies on all pointers pointing to addresses below the 2GB boundary will obviously not work here)