SCCM Boot images x86 vs x64

[Adminoob]

I have several computers that have XP Pro 32bit on them, but the machine architecture is actually x64; I have successfully captured wim images from these machines using either x64 or x86 boot images, should I ALWAYS use x64 boot images to capture on X64 arch. (even when the OS I'm capturing is 32bit?)

[Lucid]

It depends. Everyone's environment is different. For us, we use the 32-bit boot image 99% of the time since all our 64-bit hardware can support a 32-bit OS. There's a case every once in awhile where a machine doesn't like our 32-bit boot image and I've got to slap in our 64-bit boot image. But since that's faster than spending a day troubleshooting things to see why it's happening, we just go with the flow...

[CorradoGuy]

The general rule of thumb is to use the boot image that matches the operating system you are trying to deploy. Your boot image should only contain the drivers for the machine to boot which would be the LAN driver and the AHCI/SATA drivers. The SCCM drivers on your boot image should match the OS you are installing, if you are installing any 32 bit operating system you should be using Windows 7 32 bit drivers and if you are installing a 64 bit OS then you should be installing a 64 bit Windows 7 drivers. These are only used to get the machine to boot into SCCM and once you are in SCCM then you will load the OS specific drivers (such as Windows XP, Vista, or 7) in your Task Sequence and you are good to go.