I have been using the x64 version of Vista for about six months at work. ObjectDock seems to be able to start any 64-bit program if you bypass some folder redirection features of Windows that were put in for compatibility reasons. ObjectDock would not have this problem if it were simply recompiled as a 64-bit program. There are other ways to programmatically allow a 32-bit application to ignore the foler redirection but apparently the developers chose not to or are simply not aware of the problem.
When a 32-bit program tries to launch a program from the C:\Windows\System32 folder, windows will actually launch the program from the C:\Windows\SysWOW64 folder if there is one in there or fail to launch it if there is not one in it. You will see that many built-in applications such as Notepad and CMD.exe are in both locations with the 64-bit version being in the System32 folder and the 32-bit version being in the SysWOW64 folder. Other programs, such as telnet if installed, are only in one of the folders.
The C:\Program Files folder has the same problem. 32-bit programs are automatically redirected to the C:\Program Files (x86) folder instead.
If you try to make ObjectDock start the 64-bit version of the command prompt by launching it from C:\Windows\System32, Windows will automatically launch the 32-bit version from C:\Windows\SysWOW64. Likewise the 32-bit command prompt will not be able to launch telnet.exe from C:\Windows\System32 because windows will automatically redirect the request to the C:\Windows\SysWOW64 folder. A simple fix would be to copy telnet and any other programs you want to run to a different folder and launch them from there. This is not a very elegant solution.
What I do to get around these problems is to create a symbolic link to the C:\Windows and the C:\Program Files folders. I create a C:\Links folder. Under that I create a Windows and a Program Files symbolik links with the following commands
- mklink /J C:\Links\Windows C:\Windows
- mklink /J "C:\Links\Program Files" "C:\Program Files"
You should now be able to launch the 64-bit version of the command prompt through C:\Links\Windows\System32. Obviously any other 64-bit program stored in this folder such as telnet will also be launchable through this symbolic link.
Programs in the C:\Program Files folder will be launchable through the C:\Links\Program Files folder.
It would be ideal if you could tell Windows to ignore the folder redirection feature for a specific application but I don't know of a way to do this other than providing the support when the application is written.
