Since I’ve written about how much faster 32-bit Internet Explorer (IE) 9 is than 64-bit IE 9, and all other browsers, on Windows 7, I’ve been buried by people running 64-bit Windows, and one poor soul who was still running 64-bit Vista, wanting to know how to install 32-bit IE 9 on their 64-bit Windows 7 systems. It’s actually both quite easy and a bit confusing, so here’s how to do it and a little of the back story.
First, as many of you have discovered, if you try to download and install 32-bit IE 9 on a 64-bit Windows PC, you’ll get the error message: “This version of setup doesn’t support your Windows system type (32-bit/64-bit).” It’s right. You can’t.
Instead what you need to do is to download the 64-bit version of IE 9. Yes, I know, it’s the version you don’t want if you want great Web browser performance, just stick with me. After you’ve done this, if you look at your All Programs menu, you’ll see, right under Internet Explorer (64-bit), “Internet Explorer,” that’s the 32-bit version.
That’s right, when you install the 64-bit version, just like a Cracker-Jack prize, you get the real prize–32-bit IE 9–at the bottom of the box.