Exceptions
Legacy support for older operating systems and applications is not available in 64-bit Windows. This means that 16-bit applications and DOS applications are not supported and will not run in x64 Editions of Windows. The lone exception to this is certain 16-bit installers used by 32-bit applications for which Windows is able to seamlessly substitute the 32-bit version of the installer.
While DOS applications are not supported, 32-bit and 64-bit console applications are supported.
All kernel mode drivers must be 64-bit. No support is available for 32-bit drivers, and applications that depend on a 32-bit kernel mode driver will not run, even in the WOW64 subsystem. Two notable examples of this are Microsoft Exchange Server and POSIX applications that use the Interix subsystem.
Legacy networking protocols such as NetBEUI, Data Link Control (DLC), and AppleTalk are not supported or available for the x64 Editions of Windows.
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