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?

Answer 1

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

Answer 2

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.

Answer 3

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

Answer 4

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).

Answer 5

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.

Answer 6

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
}