Windows NT

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Family of Microsoft operating systems

Windows NT is a family of operating systems produced by Microsoft, the first version of which was released in July 1993. It is a processor-independent, multiprocessing, and multi-user operating system. The first version of Windows NT was Windows NT 3.1, which was intended to complement consumer versions of Windows that were based on MS-DOS (including Windows 1.0, Windows 2.0, Windows 3.0, and Windows 3.1x).

History

Windows NT was designed to be a powerful, high-level language-based, processor-independent, multiprocessing, and multi-user operating system with features comparable to UNIX. It was intended to complement the consumer versions of Windows that were based on MS-DOS. The main architect of Windows NT was David N. Cutler, one of the chief architects of VMS at Digital Equipment Corporation.

Architecture

Windows NT's architecture is divided into two layers: the user mode and the kernel mode. The user mode is where applications and subsystems run, while the kernel mode is where the core operating system functions are executed. The kernel mode includes the Executive, which provides various services such as process management, memory management, and I/O management.

User Mode

User mode in Windows NT consists of the Environment Subsystems and the Integral Subsystems. The environment subsystems provide support for different types of applications, such as Win32, POSIX, and OS/2. The integral subsystems include the Security Subsystem and the Object Manager.

Kernel Mode

Kernel mode in Windows NT includes the Kernel, the Executive, and the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL). The kernel is responsible for low-level tasks such as thread scheduling and interrupt handling. The executive provides higher-level services such as process and memory management. The HAL abstracts the hardware details from the rest of the operating system, allowing Windows NT to run on different hardware platforms.

Features

Windows NT introduced several key features that were not available in the consumer versions of Windows at the time. These features include:

• Preemptive multitasking
• Security model based on Access Control Lists (ACLs)
• NTFS (New Technology File System)
• Unicode support
• Symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) support

Versions

The Windows NT family includes several versions, each with its own set of features and improvements. Some of the notable versions include:

• Windows NT 3.1
• Windows NT 3.5
• Windows NT 3.51
• Windows NT 4.0
• Windows 2000
• Windows XP
• Windows Server 2003
• Windows Vista
• Windows Server 2008
• Windows 7
• Windows Server 2008 R2
• Windows 8
• Windows Server 2012
• Windows 8.1
• Windows Server 2012 R2
• Windows 10
• Windows Server 2016
• Windows Server 2019
• Windows 11
• Windows Server 2022

See also

• Microsoft Windows
• Windows 9x
• Windows CE
• Windows Embedded
• Windows Mobile
• Windows Phone
• Windows Server
• Windows Subsystem for Linux

References

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