The 32-bit TestStand Deployment Utility creates only 32-bit deployments and installers, and the 64-bit deployment utility creates only 64-bit deployments and installers. You cannot use the 64-bit installer on 32-bit operating systems.

NI recommends creating a separate deployable image for the 32-bit version of a test system and the 64-bit version of a test system. The deployment specification files (.tsd) the deployment utility creates are bitness independent except for installation destination issues. Therefore, you can create a single .tsd and use it to deploy a test system using the 32-bit deployment utility and the 64-bit deployment utility.

There are some cases in which you want to create a system that has 32-bit files and 64-bit files, such as when you create a custom sequence editor or create a library for a third party to reuse. If you want to create a deployment that contains 32-bit versions of files and 64-bit versions of files, you must add all the files in the test system to the workspace. If the deployment contains VIs, you must enable the Include without Processing Item or Dependencies option on the Distributed Files tab of the deployment utility for all the VIs to prevent the deployment utility from automatically compiling the VIs with the active version of LabVIEW.

When you deploy VIs, you must use a version of LabVIEW that matches the bitness of the deployment utility because the utility creates a LabVIEW distribution and automatically removes the source-only flag from the VIs.

You can use the $(Platform) path macro to specify paths in sequence files, and the deployment utility uses the search directories for the current bitness of the utility to locate files. When the deployment utility processes sequence files and creates the distribution image, the bitness specific directory replaces the path macro in the sequence files.

You must use the 32-bit TestStand Deployment Utility to create a patch for a 32-bit full deployment, and you must use the 64-bit TestStand Deployment Utility to create a patch for a 64-bit full deployment. Create a new full deployment to update a 32-bit test system to a 64-bit test system.