As the title suggest, I accidentally installed 64-bit Ubuntu 13.04 in a 32-bit processor, and it is working fine for now (actually I feel my PC became more responsive). Will there be any problem in the near future though? I think my Motherboard is a 64-bit but I'm not certain, but my processor is a 32-bit. Further, I did lscpu and I got this:
Architecture: x86_64 CPU op-mode(s): 32-bit, 64-bit Byte Order: Little Endian CPU(s): 1 On-line CPU(s) list: 0 Thread(s) per core: 1 Core(s) per socket: 1 Socket(s): 1 NUMA node(s): 1 Vendor ID: GenuineIntel CPU family: 15 Model: 4 Stepping: 9 CPU MHz: 2659.023 BogoMIPS: 5318.04 L1d cache: 16K L2 cache: 1024K NUMA node0 CPU(s): 0 4 Answers
If you installed a 64-bit OS your CPU is necessarily 64-bit capable. In a 32-bit only processor the 64-bit installer not even starts.
In lscpu output CPU op-mode(s):32-bit, 64-bit means your CPU is both 32-bit and 64-bit capable. Architecture: x86_64 is the current kernel architecture (64-bit).
You can also check 64-bit support running:
grep " lm " /proc/cpuinfo If it outputs nothing you have a 32-bit CPU. If it outputs something like flags : blah blah lm blah blah blah your CPU supports Long Mode (AKA 64-bit).
3From your output it is clear that you have a 64bit CPU. The line CPU op-mode(s):32-bit, 64-bit means that you have a 64bit CPU.
Therefore there is no problem using a 64bit OS.
1Looks like you experienced the same surprise I did a few years ago.
I accidentally put a 64-bit Ubuntu CD in my laptop and installed it, and a bit later I realised "Wait a moment.... I thought my laptop was a 32-bit system?"
If the 64-bit version works on your system, then that means your system is actually a 64-bit system, rather than a 32-bit one as you used to think ;)
Your processor is actually 64-bit processor as this line states:
Architecture: x86_64
If it has been 32-bit, you couldn't have installed a 64-bit OS in the first place. Don't worry, your PC will work just fine.
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