Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable to check os version 32bit/64bit

Question

Possible Duplicate:
How to detect Windows 64 bit platform with .net?

Project : C# .5

Description: The code checks whether the underlying machine is 64 bit or 32 bit OS. Return Value: The code always return a null value. WHY ?

  if (8 == IntPtr.Size || (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("PROCESSOR_ARCHITEW6432"))))
            {
                return Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("SysWOW64");
            }
            return Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("system32");

Answer 1

The code returns null because the variable that it is returning isn't set. Better way to check if you're on a 64 bit environment is to call Environment.Is64BitOperatingSystem and Environment.Is64BitProcess

Answer 2

if (Environment.Is64BitOperatingSystem) 
{
    return Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("SysWOW64"); 
}
else
{
    return Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("system32");       
}