Is running 32-bit MATLAB on a 64-bit platform supported?

Solution:

** For Windows: **
This is a supported configuration as-of R2010b. In R2010a and earlier, this configuration is not supported, but is expected to generally work.

There are a handful of known issues with running 32-bit R2010b on 64-bit Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. They are as follows:

• MATLAB Distributed Compute Server may fail when both 32-bit MATLAB and 64-bit MATLAB are installed on the same computer.
• Real-Time Windows Target will not run.
• Data Acquisition Toolbox cannot connect to parallel ports.
• Embedded IDE Link and Target Support Package may fail to start Code Composer Studio.

Note that platform cross-compilation (for example, attempting to use 64-bit MATLAB to create a 32-bit MEX file) is not supported.

R2010a and earlier releases have more significant limitations, mostly in the area of invoking external C compilers and other third party applications.

** For Linux Users: **
MathWorks does not support running 32-bit MATLAB binaries on 64-bit Linux.


** For Mac Users: **
Mac users do not have the same kind of exposure to these concerns and can generally ignore this topic. This is because OS X 10.5 and 10.6 do not have any user-visible distinction between 32-bit and 64-“bit-ness” in the OS (that is, there is a single OS image that supports both 32-bit and 64-bit execution). Further, beginning with R2010b, a 32-bit version of MATLAB is no longer produced for the Mac.