What Does Visual Studio's 'Prefer 32-bit' Setting Actually Do?

Detailed explanation of Visual Studio’s “Prefer 32-bit” setting

The "Prefer 32-bit" option in Visual Studio is a subtype of the "Any CPU" setting and determines how the compiler chooses the target architecture for compilation.

How does the compiler decide?

Unlike the "x86" setting, which explicitly compiles to 32-bit, the "Prefer 32-bit" option allows the compiler to analyze the code and decide on the most appropriate target architecture.

32-bit preferred

When the "Prefer 32-bit" option is enabled, the compiler follows the following rules:

• On 32-bit Windows systems, the code compiles to 32-bit (x86) machine code.
• On 64-bit Windows systems, the code still compiles to 32-bit machine code.
• On ARM Windows systems, the code compiles to ARM machine code.

Main differences from “x86”

The main difference between "32-bit preferred" and "x86" is that the latter will not run on ARM Windows systems. However, since most Windows systems are x64 or ARM, the "Prefer 32-bit" setting provides the flexibility to run on all supported architectures.

Summary

The "Prefer 32-bit" option in Visual Studio allows the compiler to dynamically select the best target architecture based on the operating system used. By understanding its capabilities, developers can optimize their applications to make them compatible with various Windows systems.

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