We have six computers running Inventor 11, and AutoCad Mechanical & Electrical 2007 with 64 bit processors, and a 32 bit operating system (XP Pro).  Our new upgrade (AutoCad 2008) will not run on these computers.  I have been told that if the 2008 software sees a 64 bit computer it will only run if there is a 64 bit operating system.
 
Our IT department does not want to install the 64 bit operating system claiming "Company Standards", "Compatability Issues", and all the regular stuff.  Even if they agree to install a new OS they are claiming they must transfer everything off the hard drive and do a "Clean Install" of the OS, AutoCad, and all the other software we use taking all day to do one computer.
 
I can't beleive AutoDesk made this change.  
 
Am I the only one with this problem? 
 
Are there any other ways to work around this problem?
 
Thanks for any help.
 
El Gato 

It's a nonsense - almost every CPU in modern PCs is "64-bit" (i.e. has 64-bit extensions) today. The AutoCAD 2008 installer decides only on the OS version (32/64-bit), it doesn't test your CPU.
 
Feel free to install normal 32-bit AutoCAD 2008 in normal Windows XP (or Vista) on your "64-bit" computers. It is working fine.

I'm using 32-bit AutoCAD 2008 an a Pentium 4 PC with EM64T (64-bit) and it installed OK and runs fine.

Thank you for the quick replies.  I will talk to our AutoCad Rep about this again.  He is the one that told me I had to change the OS.  Or maybe I should try to go direct to AutoDesk.
 
Thanks again,
 
El Gato

Is this true for the 2008 AutoCad Mechanical, Electrical, and Inventor?
 
I think one of our users at another location did get the AutoCad 2008 part of his new software to work, but not the AutoCad Electrical itself.
 
Thanks for your time,
 
Bob

Yes, this is true for all Autodesk applications - only the operating system matters (32/64-bit), not the CPU.