Windows NT

Windows NT is a special kind of computer system made by Microsoft. It was first introduced in 1993 with a version called Windows NT 3.1. At first, it was made for businesses and offices, but later it became available for everyday users with the release of Windows XP in 2001. Even today, the technology from Windows NT is still used in new versions of Windows, up to Windows Server 2025, which was announced in 2024.

The name "Windows NT" stands for the new and improved technology it brought to Windows. It got rid of older limits that made earlier Windows versions slower. Even though the name Windows NT was last used in 1996, every new Windows version since then has been built using this same technology.

Windows NT has many extra features that make it powerful. It can handle many users at once, support several processors working together, and use more memory than older versions. It can also work with different types of computer processors, not just the common ones. As technology grew, new versions of Windows NT could use even more memory and better processing power.

Product line

Windows NT is a family of operating systems made by Microsoft, similar to how Windows itself is a family. The first version, called Windows NT 3.1, was made for workstation and server computers. It was aimed at businesses and worked alongside consumer versions of Windows that were based on MS-DOS, like Windows 1.0 through Windows 3.1x. Later, in 1996, Windows NT 4.0 came out with a new design from Windows 95.

Over time, Microsoft brought the Windows NT technology into the main Windows line for everyday personal computers and stopped using the Windows 9x family. Starting with Windows 2000, the "NT" name was taken off the product title, but it still exists in parts of the system.

Installing

Windows NT can be installed using a tool called Windows Setup. Starting with Windows Vista, this process uses something called the Windows Preinstallation Environment, which is a simple version of Windows NT designed to help set up the operating system.

From Windows Vista onward, the files needed to install Windows are stored in a special format called the Windows Imaging Format. There is also a tool named Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) that lets people install Windows using commands instead of a graphical interface.

Naming

Some people think the name "WNT" was a fun idea related to another system called VMS. Others believe it came from the processor it was meant to run on, called N10 or "N-Ten". In 1991, Bill Gates said that "Windows NT" stood for "New Technology". By 1998, he said the letters didn’t really mean anything special anymore.

Even though "NT" was a trademark from another company, Microsoft still used it and later said their products were "Built on NT Technology".

Major features

Windows NT was designed to work well with different types of computer hardware and software. It could run on many different processor types, starting with IA-32, MIPS, and DEC Alpha, and later adding support for PowerPC, Itanium, x86-64, and ARM. This flexibility allowed the same basic software to work on many machines.

Windows NT included strong security features, letting users set detailed permissions for files and system parts. It also supported important networking standards like LAN Manager and TCP/IP. One key feature was its use of 32-bit memory addressing, which helped programs run more efficiently. Windows NT could also manage many programs at once, interrupting them as needed to keep things running smoothly. It introduced its own way to handle device drivers, which changed with newer versions of Windows. The file system NTFS was also a big part of Windows NT, offering better security and reliability.

Development

Microsoft started working on a special kind of computer system called Windows NT in October 1988. They wanted it to work well with other systems and support many processors at once. Originally, it was going to be called OS/2 3.0, a version made together with IBM. But later, Microsoft changed its plans and decided to focus more on their own Windows style instead.

Microsoft brought in experts, including Dave Cutler, to help build Windows NT. They used ideas from earlier systems Cutler worked on. Even though Windows NT was different, it shared many similarities with these older systems. Over time, Windows NT grew to become very important, especially for business use, even though it started in a different way than planned.

Architecture

Main article: Architecture of Windows NT

Windows NT is designed with a layered structure that includes two main parts: user mode and kernel mode. In user mode, programs and services have limited access to the computer's resources. In kernel mode, the system has full access to the hardware and resources.

The process of starting up Windows NT involves special tools that prepare the computer for use. Before Vista, this used NTLDR, while Vista and later versions use the Windows Boot Manager. These tools help load the essential parts of the system into memory, allowing the computer to run and display its graphical interface once a user logs in.

Windows NT is mainly built using the programming languages C and C++, with only a small part written in assembly language. This helps make the system efficient and adaptable.

Releases

See also: List of Microsoft Windows versions

The following are the releases of Windows based on the Windows NT technology.

Windows NT 3.1 to 3.51 used the Program Manager and File Manager from the Windows 3.1 series. Starting with Windows NT 4.0, these were replaced with Windows Explorer, which included a taskbar and Start menu. These features first appeared in Windows 95.

The first version was called 3.1 to match the 16-bit Windows of that time and to make it seem more reliable. The version numbers are still used inside the system, but they are not shown in marketing anymore. Microsoft kept the main version number at 6 for releases after Vista, then changed it to 10 with Windows 10. The build number is a special code used by Microsoft’s developers.

Supported platforms

Windows NT was designed to work on many different types of computers. At first, it ran on Intel x86 chips and other special systems made inside Microsoft, like the Intel i860 and MIPS R3000. Later, it was released for Intel x86 computers, DEC Alpha machines, and MIPS processors. Over time, it also supported PowerPC, though not for all popular computers.

As technology advanced, Windows NT began supporting 64-bit processors. Early plans included Itanium and DEC Alpha, but Microsoft later focused on x64, which is used in most modern Windows versions. Windows 10 was the first to fully support ARM64 chips from Qualcomm, offering a complete version of Windows for these devices.

Hardware requirements

To run the professional workstation version of Windows NT, you need certain hardware. Until version 6.0 (Vista), the required hardware didn’t change much. But Vista needed at least 15 GB of free space on the disk, which was ten times more than before. The 2021 version, 10.0 (11), works best on computers made in 2018 or later.