Why does Win 7 X64 not play nice with Vista Drivers

[severedsolo]

just a little oddity i have noticed, basically i have 2 pc's one has X86 win 7 on it the other has X64 when installing a "Vista" device that comes with both 32bit and 64 bit drivers, the X86 version simply lies to the device and tells it that its vista to make the drivers work but X64 doesnt you have to do it manually, so what is so different about them that the X64 version cant pretend its Vista? and to make matters worse, iv found that if you forget to manually select compatibility mode with X64 the first time it then fails on all subsequent attempts until you clear the registry entries from the failed install out

 

[Brink]

Hello Severedsolo,

Have you already checked at the device manufacturer's website to see if they may have Windows 7 drivers available for download for that model number?

Sometimes Vista drivers will work just fine in Windows 7, while other times you will need to use compatibiliy mode on the Vista drivers for them to work properly if able.

 

[severedsolo]

hi brink, well actually its a mobile phone, and the nice people at vodafone (who make the phone) basically told me i was on my own as they dont support windows 7, got it working on 32 bit straight away it was just like "ah yeah vista drivers there we go" but the 64 bit one wasnt recognised as being "vista" and tried to install XP drivers which of course failed, then after i figured out what was going on i tried compatibility mode to see if that would fix it, and had sucess (of a sort) in that it was now trying to install X64 drivers, but it was still failing, in desperation i did a system restore to before the initial installation and suddenly everything worked perfectly, but this isnt the only device i have had this problem on, my belkin network adapter did exactly the same thing, realised it needed vista drivers for 32 bit and tried to put XP drivers on 64 bit, i was just curious why the 64 bit version doesnt "lie" to the device like 32 bit seems to

 

[Brink]

I'm not sure of the technical reasons why. I know that Microsoft seemed to have made some changes in the 64-bit Windows 7 vs 64-bit Vista, so whatever those changes are, are most likely the reason why.