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The place where I work at currently runs a 32-bit SQL Server 2005 installation on its server which we work with. In addition, the systems we are developing on have not yet been tested for 64 bit ODBC compatibility.

I also do independent projects from home which will require me to install 64-bit SQL Server instances on my laptop. I'm a little worried about the combinations so I need to know if it'll work.

I'll be installing SQL Server 2005 developer edition (32-bit) to my laptop. I expect this will work fine along with the installation of the service packs.

I'll then be installing SQL Server 2008 developer edition (64-bit) on to the same laptop.

Are there any gotchas that I need to look out for or prevent from happening?

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Your client side 32bit ODBC can connect fine to both 32bit and 64bit instances. The only issue would be if you have 32bit code (XP DLLs or esoteric 32bit linked server drivers) that loads into the SQL Server process, which is very unlikely to be the case. So it should be perfectly fine to continue to develop your 32bit app against a 64bit server.

But ultimately the answer is yes, you can mix and match any version and architecture side-by-side, as long as they are installed as different (named) instances. Problems usually arise if you deploy side-by-side the tools (Management Studio, Profiler etc), but that does not seem to be your case.

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  • Well I will be using the management studios for both. When I used the 32 bit installations of both side by side I didn't have a problem. It was just matter of which one to log into. I'm not so sure hwo it will be with the 32 bit and 64 bit.
    – kiriappeee
    Nov 24, 2011 at 6:32

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