Microsoft Windows NT 4.0

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Windows NT 4.0
Logo: Lettering "WindowsNT" (in bold, sans serif), the smaller lettering "Microsoft (R)" above the first four letters; similar design as the logos of Windows 95/98, but without version specification "4.0"
Windows NT Workstation 4.0
developer Microsoft
License (s) Microsoft EULA ( Closed Source )
First publ. July 29, 1996
Current  version 4.00.1381 (Service Pack 6a) (November 23, 1999)
ancestry Windows NT
Architecture (s) x86 , MIPS , Alpha AXP , PowerPC
timeline

Windows NT 3.1
Windows NT 3.5
Windows NT 3.51
Windows NT 4.0
Windows 2000
Windows XP
Windows Server 2003
Windows XP Prof. x64
Windows Vista
Windows Server 2008
Windows 7
Windows Server 2008 R2
Windows 8
Windows Phone 8
Windows RT
Windows Server 2012
Windows 10
Windows 10 Mobile
Windows Server 2016
Windows Server 2019

www.microsoft.com/windows/WinHistoryDesktop.mspx

Windows NT 4.0 , often abbreviated as NT4 , is an operating system from Microsoft and the successor to Windows NT 3.51 . It was published on July 29, 1996 and was initially available in the versions Workstation and Server. This was followed by the Enterprise Edition for large networks, the Terminal Server Edition for use as a terminal server and Embedded for special computers. Microsoft released a total of six service packs to fix program errors . Windows NT 4.0 was the last operating system in the Windows NT series that was available for MIPS , PowerPC and Alpha-AXP processors.

The operation of Windows NT 4.0 has been simplified through the use of the graphical user interface of Windows 95 and the use of wizards for configuration. The operating system was geared towards the growing importance of the Internet ; the workstation version contained Internet Explorer , the server included the Internet Information Server for the first time with a web server directly in the scope of delivery. The integration of the operating system in Unix and Netware networks has also been improved . By relocating the graphics components to the operating system kernel, Windows NT 4.0 was able to achieve a speed increase compared to earlier versions.

Although Windows NT 4.0 was initially considered unreliable and problems with the service packs earned the operating system a bad reputation, the operating system was nevertheless able to expand its market share. Over 25 million Windows NT Workstation 4.0 licenses were sold, and the server was able to expand its market share to over 40 percent. Even after the successor Windows 2000 and its successor Windows Server 2003 were released, numerous computers with Windows NT 4.0 were in operation. However, Microsoft's actual goal of being present with the operating system in the upper segment of the server market could not be achieved.

history

Development of Windows NT 4.0

Windows NT 4.0 was officially announced for the first time in July 1995 as Windows NT 3.6 . One of the biggest planned innovations in the version was the Windows 95 user interface, which was originally intended for the Cairo object-oriented operating system . The operating system should be released in early 1996. In November 1995 Microsoft announced that it would develop the network OLE technology, which was also only planned for Cairo, together with the new operating system. However, it should not be published together with the operating system, but rather later as part of a service pack .

The industry expected three central points from the new operating system: It should be as stable as the previous versions of Windows NT, with the promised network OLE can achieve high performance, but at the same time not consume more than 16 megabytes of RAM. In particular, the network OLE function was the focus of the industry in order to be able to develop applications based on it. Developers who already received the first non-public pre-version of Windows NT 4.0 described the function as too immature. It was also unclear whether this function should already be available in Windows NT 4.0 or, as initially announced, only with a service pack. Microsoft later made it clear that network OLE would be part of the operating system with the second beta test. The first public beta test of Windows NT 4.0 took place at the end of January 1996 ; over 120,000 copies were sent to testers.

The second beta test started in May 1996, and 200,000 testers received a new preliminary version. This also contained the promised network OLE. In the release candidate , Microsoft decided to further restrict Windows NT Workstation 4.0 by only allowing ten different IP addresses to establish a connection within ten minutes. At that time, Netscape Communications in particular was marketing web servers for the workstation version of Windows NT, which should be stopped by this restriction. After massive criticism of this restriction, which made the product unusable on the Internet, Microsoft announced a little later that it would lift the restriction again. On July 29, 1996, Windows NT Workstation 4.0 and Windows NT Server 4.0 were finally released. The operating system consists of 16.5 million lines of code , and by that time $ 400 million has been poured into Windows NT development.

The Mainstream Support for Windows NT 4.0 ended on July 30, 2002 (December 31, 2002 to the server). The extended support was originally supposed to end in 2003, but was extended by a year and finally expired on June 30, 2004 (December 31, 2004 for the server). With Windows NT 4.0 Embedded, the support period was different due to the late release; the mainstream support ended on June 30, 2003, which extended support on July 11 of 2006.

Support of alternative architectures

Over time, Microsoft gradually stopped supporting alternative architectures. What all these architectures had in common was that they lacked software and drivers. All the supported architectures of Windows NT were source code compatible with each other , but since Microsoft did not provide any cross-compilers , developers had to own a PC of a certain architecture in order to be able to port Windows NT applications to it.

First, Microsoft decided in October 1996 to no longer develop the MIPS version of Windows NT. Also NEC as the largest OEM customer of the MIPS version of Windows NT announced to abandon the MIPS platform and to upgrade based on x86 computers. At the beginning of 1996, out of 1.5 million computers using Windows NT, there were only 23,000 MIPS computers, the distribution of which was mainly limited to Japan. At the time of the release of Windows NT 4.0, even if only RISC computers were taken into account, 99% of all copies of the operating system were sold together with Alpha or PowerPC computers; the sales figures for MIPS computers with Windows NT were less than 1 %.

In December 1996, IBM and Motorola stopped shipping PowerPC computers with Windows NT, and in February 1997 Microsoft discontinued the PowerPC version of Windows NT. Officially, the companies justified this step with the low success of the PowerPC platform, but only a few months earlier numerous companies expressed their intention to want to port their Windows NT applications to the PowerPC as well. Rumors quickly spread around this step, for example that Intel is said to have put pressure on Microsoft and that Microsoft then made further support of the PowerPC platform dependent on a multi-million dollar payment.

The version for alpha processors could stay longer on the market because of its widespread use. The biggest advantage over the other architectures was FX! 32 , a program from DEC , the developer of the Alpha processors, with which 32-bit Windows applications could also be run on the Alpha processor by compiling the program when it was first used . Due to the high performance of the Alpha processors, these translated programs showed hardly any loss of speed compared to the x86 version of Windows NT, although they were still inferior to native Alpha applications in terms of performance. DEC was then bought by Compaq . Compaq promised to continue supporting the Alpha processor, but on August 20, 1999, the company unexpectedly announced the development of Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 for the Alpha processor, which is already in the release candidate phase found to be discontinued. Microsoft followed this step immediately. Both companies nevertheless agreed to port at least Service Pack 6 for Windows NT 4.0 to the Alpha processor.

Enterprise Edition

In October 1995 the first details about support for clustering became known. This should support the goal of Windows NT as an operating system for security-critical applications. Two computers should be interconnected in such a way that if one computer fails, the other computer can take over its tasks. In March 1996, selected developers received the first APIs of this technology, which was now known under the code name Wolfpack . With this function, the operating system should be placed in direct competition with mainframes , which usually used the Solaris and OpenVMS operating systems. Two versions were planned; the first version should enable the connection of two computers, a later version should finally offer support for 16 computers.

In December 1996 a previous version of the Wolfpack clustering software was delivered to server manufacturers. In March 1997 it was said that Microsoft encountered problems during development and that the previous version was still immature. This could delay the release of the product until next year. Two months later, the product was announced for the summer. The expectations of the later version, which was originally intended to enable the connection of up to 16 computers, have been significantly reduced; this should now only allow a connection of four computers to a cluster. In September 1997 the product was released as Windows NT Server 4.0 Enterprise Edition .

Terminal Server Edition

On May 12, 1997, Microsoft licensed a multi-user technology from Citrix . This previously occurred in the WinFrame product developed by Citrix , a modified version of Windows NT 3.51 . With the help of this technology, the development of so-called thin clients should be initiated, which only connect to a server and execute all programs on the server. Microsoft and Citrix also decided to jointly develop the resulting product, which was to be marketed as part of Windows NT Server 4.0 and Windows NT Server 5.0, which later became Windows 2000 Server. Microsoft wanted to be able to run applications on a server and control them from any client, including competing with Sun's Java technology .

In June 1997, Microsoft announced this technology under the code name Hydra . On November 17, 1997, about 1,000 testers received a preliminary version of the product. A second previous version followed in March 1998. The product was finally released on June 16, 1998 under the name Windows NT Server 4.0 Terminal Server Edition .

Embedded

With Windows NT 4.0 Embedded , which was announced in November 1998, Microsoft ventured into the market of embedded systems . After a beta test in February 1999, the product was released on August 9, 1999. It was expected that in 2002 15% of all Embedded PCs in the upper price range will use Windows NT 4.0 Embedded, and that this figure will increase to 30% by 2005. Compaq immediately announced that it would equip terminals with Windows NT 4.0 Embedded in the future .

Service packs and updates

A total of six service packs for Windows NT 4.0 have been released. These could be downloaded free of charge from the Internet or ordered on a CD-ROM, which also contained a few other programs. The service packs were cumulative, so only the latest service pack had to be installed to bring the operating system up to date. The service packs could be used for the workstation as well as for the server and the Enterprise Edition. Only the Terminal Server Edition required its own service packs that were not compatible with the other versions of Windows NT 4.0.

In previous versions of Windows NT, service packs were generally used as updates that fixed bugs and added new functionality. In view of the fact that four service packs had already been released for its predecessor Windows NT 3.51 and a fifth was in development, Microsoft designed a new system for Windows NT 4.0. Service packs should only fix errors, new functions should only appear in the form of so-called option packs . Ultimately, however, there was only one option pack for Windows NT 4.0, and the service packs, especially Service Pack 4, contained new functions as before.

Service Packs 1 and 2

Serious bugs in the operating system became known after the release of Windows NT 4.0. Under certain circumstances, data could be damaged during access. As a result, Microsoft released the first service pack on October 12, 1996. This service pack is already integrated on later versions of the CD so that it no longer needs to be installed.

The second service pack followed on December 19, 1996. This fixed over 100 program errors, including a memory leak in the IIS and problems with DHCP . As the first service pack, it offered an uninstallation routine . After the release, complaints increased about systems that stopped working after installing this service pack. Microsoft admitted that the service pack was incompatible with Norton AntiVirus and that there was a problem with the remote access connectivity, but users found numerous other bugs related to Service Pack 2. Microsoft responded by announcing that it will also conduct a beta test for service packs in the future, in which the service pack will be checked for errors by customers. It later emerged that Service Pack 2 contained several bugs that could lead to data corruption, among other things.

Service Pack 3

After the experience with the last service pack, Microsoft tested Service Pack 3, which is currently being developed, in March 1997 together with 300 customers. It was released on May 15, 1997. This service pack contained a complete implementation of DirectX 3.0, including the Direct3D 3D component that was previously missing in Windows NT 4.0.

The security of the operating system also became an increasingly prominent topic in the press. One point of criticism of Windows NT 4.0 was that the Security Accounts Manager (SAM) data , including the users' passwords, is stored in the MD4 algorithm, which was considered insecure. To improve the security of this database, Microsoft introduced the optional SYSKEY.EXE program. This encrypts the SAM with a key that is itself encrypted and can only be decrypted using a password. This password can either be saved on the computer or requested by the user when the computer is started, either by entering it manually or using a floppy disk .

Option pack

At the end of 1997 the first and only Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack appeared to bridge the gap until a successor to Windows NT 4.0 was released. This package required Service Pack 3 to be installed; it updated existing Windows NT 4.0 components and installed additional components. The updated components include Internet Information Server 4.0 and RAS connection management. The new components include the Microsoft Management Console for more efficient computer management, the Microsoft Script Debugger and the Windows Script Host .

The installation of the Option Pack on the Enterprise Edition of Windows NT Server 4.0 is problematic if two computers are connected to a cluster. Some components of the Option Pack do not work within a computer cluster and with certain combinations of Option Pack and Cluster Server, data corruption can occur if a computer fails. In principle, the Option Pack can also be installed on the Terminal Server Edition, but this is not supported by Microsoft, since problems with certain components also occur here.

Service Pack 4

Service Pack 4 followed on October 21, 1998, the version for the Terminal Server Edition was submitted on April 5, 1999. It fixed numerous year 2000 problems and added support for the euro sign . In the case of a previously installed option pack, the service pack also corrected program errors in this package. For the first time, with the Service Pack 4 hard disks larger than 8 GB could be used. Service Pack 4 also contained an updated NTFS driver with which partitions of the successor Windows 2000 can be accessed, at the expense of compatibility with older versions of Windows NT 4.0. However, features that were first introduced in Windows 2000, such as encrypted files, cannot be used in Windows NT 4.0. To improve the security of the authentication between client and server, Service Pack 4 introduced NTLMv 2 authentication, which uses MD5 instead of DES , among other things .

Service Pack 4 was originally intended to be the last service pack for Windows NT 4.0, but when the operating system failed the US government's FIPS 140-1 cryptography test , Microsoft was forced to develop a new service pack in order to avoid the US Losing government as a customer. In addition, reports of problems re-appeared after installing Service Pack 4, similar to what had previously happened with Service Pack 2. However, Microsoft denied rumors that a Service Pack 4a was planned.

Service Packs 5 and 6

Microsoft corrected the problems of the previous service pack with Service Pack 5. This was released on May 2, 1999, the version for the Terminal Server Edition followed on November 19, 1999. In contrast to the previous service packs, Service Pack 5 did not contain any innovations which Microsoft justified with the short time lag to the last service pack.

Service Pack 6, which appeared on October 28, 1999, solved the problems that led to the failure of the cryptography test. Shortly after the release, however, were again problems with users because of the included in the Service Pack 6 TCP - protocol stack was broken; Among other things, this indicated that the connection of the Lotus Notes program , one of the most widespread third-party programs of the time, to the server failed if the user did not have administrator rights. As a result, Microsoft issued a warning against installing Service Pack 6 and a few days later issued a hotfix that fixed this problem for systems on which Service Pack 6 was already installed. Finally, on November 23, 1999, Microsoft released a revised SP6 called Service Pack 6a . This fixed a Y2K bug in the Internet Information Server as well as an error that led to a blue screen when accessing the Macintosh server . In May 2000 the version of Service Pack 6 for the Terminal Server Edition was released.

Subsequent updates

When Windows 2000 was about to be released and there was speculation that Service Pack 6a would be the final service pack, Microsoft posted a statement to the contrary on its website. The release of Service Pack 7 , which should now be the last Service Pack, was originally planned for the end of 2000. Among other things, it should contain an Active Directory client for Windows NT 4.0. However, this date was delayed until the third quarter of 2001, and finally Microsoft decided to stop development in April 2001. The official justification for this step was the lack of need, as the number of problems discovered has decreased significantly since Service Pack 6; in addition, customers are already satisfied with the existing service packs. As a replacement for Service Pack 7, Microsoft published a so-called Security Rollup Package on July 26, 2001 , which required Service Pack 6a and contained all the hotfixes released since this Service Pack . The Active Directory client was offered separately for download. A version of the Security Rollup Package for the Terminal Server Edition followed on April 24, 2002.

description

Versions

Workstation and server

Windows NT Workstation 4.0 and Windows NT Server 4.0, while similar and based on the same code, have some significant differences. The workstation version can only accept ten client connections and supports only two parallel file transfers to prevent use as a server. The memory management behaves differently depending on the variant; While Windows NT Workstation 4.0 saves as much memory as possible in order to enable fast work even with many applications running at the same time, the server is optimized for high network performance and therefore prioritizes file and network access. In addition, only the server version offers the option of interconnecting drives to form RAIDs . Numerous applications, such as Microsoft BackOffice or the Internet Information Server, refuse to install on the workstation version; they can only be installed on the server. The number of processors supported also differs; there are two for the workstation and four for the server.

Enterprise Edition

Windows NT Server 4.0 Enterprise Edition includes two CDs. The first CD contains the operating system itself and Service Pack 3. The second CD contains the Microsoft Transaction Server , Microsoft Message Queue Server , Internet Information Server 3.0 and Microsoft FrontPage 97 and the main focus of the product, the cluster Server . This allows two computers to be connected to form a cluster so that one computer can take over its tasks if the other fails.

The Enterprise Edition of Windows NT Server 4.0 contains some changes compared to the normal version. The biggest change is a mode included in the x86 version that allows more memory to be made available for certain memory-intensive applications. If two gigabytes of the four gigabytes of RAM that Windows NT 4.0 can manage are normally reserved for applications and two gigabytes for the system, this mode increases the available memory for applications to three gigabytes, while the memory reserved for the system is reduced Memory to one gigabyte. However, an application must be designed to be able to manage the additional main memory, and a special flag must also be set that can be changed by the user for each executable file using an application on the CD. The Enterprise Server also supports systems with up to eight processors.

To upgrade the Enterprise Edition, Microsoft bought the software manufacturer Valence Research in August 1998 , which offered a TCP / IP -based clustering solution. In January 1999 the Windows NT Load Balancing Service (WLBS) finally appeared as a free download for the Windows NT Server 4.0 Enterprise Edition. This makes it possible to interconnect up to 32 computers so that they can be reached from outside under a single IP.

Terminal Server Edition

A Windows 3.1 client is connected to the Terminal Server and runs programs under its own user account.

Windows NT Server 4.0 Terminal Server Edition was designed by Microsoft in collaboration with Citrix. The Terminal Server function, the central feature of this product, consists of a modified kernel that enables multiple users to connect to the server at the same time and run programs on the server. The administration of the terminal server is made possible by additional applications. In addition to Windows terminals specifically available for this task, the scope of delivery includes client programs for Windows for Workgroups 3.11 , Windows 95 , Windows NT Workstation 3.51 and 4.0. The MetaFrame product , available separately from Citrix , which among other things offered load balancing and support for non-Windows clients, greatly expanded the functionality of the terminal server. Service Pack 3 is integrated in the operating system, and Internet Explorer 4.0 is included with the operating system.

The newly developed Remote Desktop Protocol is used to establish a connection between client and server . This is based on the ITU standard T.120 , which Microsoft previously used for the NetMeeting conference program . Some changes to the operating system are due to the optimization of the network performance, for example the clock is deactivated by default.

Embedded

Windows NT 4.0 Embedded, which can be configured both as a workstation and as a server, is based on Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 5 and supports special functions in order to meet the special requirements of Embedded PCs. It can be operated both without a monitor and without a hard drive . The operating system can also be used without an input device and can only be operated remotely via the network or the serial connection. The operating system can be tailored to the respective device via the Target Designer and the Component Designer by removing Windows components or integrating third-party programs.

Prices

The different functional scope of the individual versions was reflected in the sales price. Windows NT Workstation 4.0 was $ 319, the server was $ 809, and included five client access licenses . The Enterprise Edition was priced at $ 3,999 and included 25 client access licenses. The Terminal Server was initially available for USD 1,129 and included 10 client access licenses, but for each user who connected to the Terminal Server a license for Windows NT Workstation 4.0 had to be purchased in addition to the client access licenses, which cost USD 269. After massive criticism, Microsoft changed the pricing policy for the Terminal Server; Instead of a full license for Windows NT Workstation 4.0, a separate license only had to be paid for 109 USD per client; for companies that used the terminal server on the Internet, there was also a flat rate for connections for up to 200 users for 9,999 USD made possible. A version of the Terminal Server for five clients that already included all the necessary licenses could be purchased for USD 1,299. Windows NT 4.0 Embedded was not commercially available, but was only sold together with suitable hardware.

languages

Windows NT Workstation 4.0 was translated into 19 languages ​​and the server into 11 languages. In addition to English, both variants were also available in Chinese (simplified & traditional), German, French, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish, the workstation variant was also available in Danish, Finnish, Italian, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Czech and Hungarian.

architecture

General

Comparison of the structure of the Win32 subsystem between earlier versions of Windows NT and Windows NT 4.0

As with all previous versions, Windows NT 4.0 used the same basic architecture of Windows NT . The lowest layer is the hardware abstraction layer, which isolates the kernel from the hardware. The microkernel in the next higher layer only takes on basic functions such as processor synchronization. Further functions of the kernel are implemented in modules above the microkernel. In user mode, subsystems ensure that programs can be executed by providing the necessary programming interfaces. In addition to the Win32 subsystem, which is responsible for 32-bit Windows programs, there are also the POSIX and OS / 2 subsystems with which text-based OS / 2-1.x and POSIX-compatible programs can be executed. MS-DOS and 16-bit Windows programs are executed within a special environment, the Virtual DOS Machine . With x86-compatible processors, the Virtual 8086 mode is used , with RISC processors, however, an emulator is used. In Windows NT 4.0, in contrast to previous versions of Windows NT, the basis of the emulator is no longer an 80286 processor, but an i486 processor. This means that applications that require at least an 80386 can be run for the first time .

However, the way data is displayed on the screen has fundamentally changed. In previous versions of the operating system, graphics functions ran as part of the Win32 subsystem in user mode. However, this meant that when these functions were called, numerous context switches had to be made to switch between user and kernel modes, which adversely affected the performance of the operating system. Therefore, in Windows NT 4.0, the graphics functions such as the window manager or the Graphics Device Interface (GDI) have been moved to the kernel, which noticeably increased the graphics performance of the operating system. Only the console functions and other functions, such as creating processes, remained in user mode. These changes largely offset the additional memory consumption that resulted from the new user interface. As a result, however, it is possible in Windows NT 4.0 that faulty graphics card drivers cause the entire system to crash. This change is a direct result of the changed philosophy in the design of the operating system. Initially all subsystems were equivalent and mutually equivalent, these changes take into account the particular importance of Win32 applications by optimizing the execution speed of these applications.

Numerous new programming interfaces can be used in Windows NT 4.0. The technology that was known as network OLE during the development period is called Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) in the finished version of Windows NT 4.0 . With it it is possible to address OLE objects that are located on another computer in the network or on the Internet via Remote Procedure Call (RPC). Windows NT 4.0 also contains the Telephony API , with which applications can communicate with telephones , modems and fax machines , the Cryptography API , to enable applications to use functions for encryption and decryption as well as digital signatures and certificates , as well as an albeit one Undocumented API with which, for the first time, defragmentation programs for Windows NT 4.0 can be created without having to modify the system itself. Windows NT 4.0 also contains an incomplete implementation of the DirectX graphics library , which lacks the Direct3D 3D component . From a technical point of view, it is a compatibility layer that translates DirectX calls into GDI, sound and Winsock commands, since DirectX under Windows NT 4.0, unlike under Windows 95, does not communicate directly with the hardware or the drivers due to the architecture. Microsoft later submitted the missing Direct3D with Service Pack 3, which updated DirectX.

Terminal Server Edition

In order to support several users logged in at the same time, changes had to be made to the Windows NT 4.0 kernel for the Terminal Server Edition. Since the Win32 subsystem in Windows NT 4.0 is not designed to be executed more than once, in the Terminal Server Edition it is loaded into a so-called session space , a separate memory area that can only be accessed by the respective session. A separate session space with its own instance of the Win32 subsystem is set up for each session . In order to be able to differentiate between the sessions, all objects in the Terminal Server Edition have a session ID that identifies the associated session. GDI commands that are executed within a remote session are forwarded to a virtual graphics card driver, which transfers the data in the network and displays it on the client.

If multiple users are running the same Win32 application, the application will only be loaded into memory once. All sessions are then given a pointer that points to the same memory area. When a session tries to write to the application memory, e.g. B. to save a text in the main memory, the respective memory page is copied and set up so that only the respective session can access it. All other memory pages remain unaffected and continue to point to the shared memory area. This resource sharing is only used for 32-bit applications; 16-bit Windows applications do not benefit from these functions.

The Terminal Server Edition raised the issue of application compatibility because many applications were not designed to be used in a multi-user environment. Some precautions have been taken to integrate applications as well as possible into the terminal server environment. For example, important information is often only written to the registration database for the user who is currently logged in , so that other users cannot use the software. To solve this problem, the operating system can be switched between two modes, the execution mode and the installation mode. In installation mode, information that is written to the Hive is HKEY_CURRENT_USER mirrored in a user-independent location and from there distributed to the respective users if necessary. This means that this information is available to all users. Start menu entries are also adjusted accordingly in installation mode. For some frequently used programs such as Microsoft Office , scripts are included in the scope of delivery to adapt these programs to the multi-user environment. In order to simplify the creation of your own scripts, the Terminal Server Edition is equipped with additional command line programs. These are used, for example, to query entries in the Windows registry or to automatically set access rights to files.

Innovations

Windows NT 4.0 with the web extensions of Internet Explorer 4.0 (including quick launch bar, Explorer with web content bar). In the system partition you can see DOS system files that Windows NT installs for compatibility with older applications.

The biggest innovation compared to its predecessor is the new graphical user interface : Windows NT 4.0 uses the Windows 95 user interface , consisting of the taskbar and Windows Explorer . As a result, Windows NT 4.0 took over some of the functions of Windows 95, such as the briefcase, dial-up networking, AutoPlay or, in the server version, the policy editor, but not the device manager . The operating system contains numerous innovations that were previously only available in the paid Plus! for Windows 95, such as font smoothing or the stretching of background images. As in Windows 95, wizards help you configure the operating system. With the exception of the Terminal Server Edition, the Windows NT 4.0 user interface can be updated with the web extensions contained in Internet Explorer 4 .

Windows NT 4.0 includes a revised task manager . It records the CPU and memory usage of the system. It is also possible to display these values ​​separately for each process . Processes that no longer respond can be terminated from here. The network monitor, which is part of the operating system for the first time with Windows NT Server 4.0, records all network activities, which simplifies monitoring of the network. For the diagnosis of computers, Windows NT 4.0 contains a program similar to the DOS program MSD.EXE , which can also read data from computers in the network. Windows NT 4.0 includes Internet Explorer version 2.0 as a web browser .

The network capabilities of the operating system have been improved by new functionalities. On the one hand, Windows NT 4.0 supports the Domain Name System (DNS) for the first time , which simplifies administration, especially in networks with Unix computers. On the other hand, Windows NT 4.0 contains a new version of the Novell NetWare client, which among other things supports the Novell Directory Services (NDS). The RAS function of the operating system has also been upgraded, firstly through the Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol (PPTP), which enables a secure RAS connection to be established, and through Multilink PPP , with which several connections can be interconnected to increase the data transmission rate . However, Windows NT 4.0 no longer supports the OS / 2 HPFS file system and can no longer access such partitions. With the help of an unofficial workaround, it is possible to restore this functionality.

The server version of Windows NT 4.0 contains the Internet Information Server version 2.0 for the first time , with which a web server or FTP server can be operated without additional programs . The Internet Information Server can also be monitored and configured via the Internet using a browser. Microsoft FrontPage 1.1 is included with the server for creating websites . A variant with limited functionality, which, among other things, lacks FrontPage, is included with the workstation variant under the name Peer Web Services .

System requirements

Unlike previous versions, Windows NT 4.0 can no longer be installed on 80386 processors . The minimum requirements for the workstation version were a 486 processor with 25 MHz, 12 MB RAM (16 MB for RISC computers), 110 MB hard disk space and a CD-ROM drive. The server version required a 486 processor with 33 MHz, 16 MB RAM, 125 MB hard disk space (160 MB for the RISC versions) and a CD-ROM drive. An older version of Windows NT can be upgraded to Windows NT 4.0 , but cannot be upgraded from Windows 95.

For the Enterprise Edition, Microsoft named a Pentium processor with 90 MHz, 64 MB RAM, 500 MB hard disk space and a CD-ROM drive as system requirements. The Enterprise Edition can either be reinstalled or upgraded from an existing installation of Windows NT Server 4.0. Microsoft specified a Pentium processor without specifying a clock rate , 32 MB RAM, 128 MB hard disk space and a TCP / IP network connection as system requirements for the Terminal Server Edition . An update to the Terminal Server Edition is only possible from WinFrame 1.6 or 1.7.

For the first time, Windows NT 4.0 can also be installed without a floppy disk drive, as the Windows NT 4.0 CD uses the El Torito standard for bootable CDs , which was new at the time . There are still three start-up disks available for computers that cannot boot from a CD. According to Microsoft, Windows NT 4.0 supports over 6,000 hardware platforms and contains over 4,000 device drivers . As a result of the architecture changes, graphics card drivers for older versions of Windows NT are not compatible with Windows NT 4.0.

resonance

Innovations and functions

The reactions to Windows NT 4.0 were mixed. On the one hand, the usability of the operating system was rated positively. The move to introduce the new user interface and thus move away from the program manager was unanimously welcomed. On the other hand, Windows NT 4.0 was initially notorious for its unreliability. The operating system contained numerous program errors, some of them serious, which were only fixed after a few service packs. In January 1997, more than four months after publication, 70 to 80 percent of all companies were still using Windows NT 3.51 because they were deterred by the bugs in the new operating system and therefore decided to wait for the successor to be published. Service Pack 2 was so flawed when it was released that the press advised against using this service pack.

Windows NT 4.0 had a hard time keeping up with the times. It supported neither Advanced Power Management (APM) nor Plug and Play , which led to criticism during development. Newer interfaces such as the Universal Serial Bus (USB) or IrDA, which were emerging towards the end of the 1990s, could not be used with Windows NT 4.0. The FAT32 file system introduced with Windows 95 B and Windows 98 could not read Windows NT 4.0, which was a major disadvantage when Windows 9x and Windows NT were operated in parallel . Windows NT 4.0 only supported IDE hard disks larger than 8 GB with Service Pack 4, which could lead to problems when reinstalling.

Although Windows NT Workstation 4.0 and Windows 95 are designed for completely different audiences, they have often been compared with one another. With computers that are powerful enough, Windows NT 4.0 sometimes performed considerably better than Windows 95; even Microsoft itself was surprised by this result. The other strengths of Windows NT 4.0 also came into play on such computers, whereas Windows 95 was the more suitable operating system for computers with little RAM. Due to the lack of Plug & Play support, Windows NT 4.0 was generally less suitable for notebooks than Windows 95.

With the Internet components built into Windows NT Server 4.0, Microsoft recognized the growing importance of this medium in the network market, which was largely rated positively. However, there was no e-mail and Usenet server, as well as security mechanisms such as a personal firewall to protect the server from unauthorized access, for purposes that went beyond the basic requirements . In terms of network operations, Windows NT Server 4.0 was more powerful than its predecessor. The network transfer rate was up to 60 percent higher, the Internet Information Server was 30 percent faster than the previous version. By far the greatest point of criticism was the lack of a directory service , as the previous domain system from Windows NT 4.0 was no longer up to the purposes of large networks.

distribution

Despite all the adversities, the operating system was able to continuously expand its market share, mainly at the expense of its competitor Novell NetWare. It mainly benefited from the large number of Windows applications. While Windows NT still had a share of 9.2% in 1997 compared to all operating systems, this share rose to 11% in the next year and was behind Windows 95 and Windows 98 in third place. According to Microsoft, the company had until November 1997 11 million licenses of the Windows NT Workstation 4.0 operating system were sold; by October 1998 this number had increased to 20 million. In March 1999, the company had sold 28 million licenses. The Windows NT Server 4.0 was able to book 150,000 copies sold within the first month. Looking at the server operating systems alone, Windows NT had a 41% market share by the year 2000.

In the end, Microsoft faced the problem that many users did not migrate to newer Windows operating systems. When Windows Server 2003 was released, Windows NT 4.0 was still in use in numerous companies, which analysts believe would have a negative impact on its sales figures. It was also anticipated that some companies would move to an alternative operating system like Linux rather than a newer version of Windows . In late 2004, when Microsoft ended support for Windows NT 4.0, it is estimated that 20 percent of all servers and 10 percent of all workstations were using Windows NT 4.0.

While NetWare and OS / 2 failed as competitors, Unix remained a strong opponent. Microsoft's goal of making Windows NT attractive for security-critical applications could not be achieved. A survey of 200 companies from the Fortune 500 , a list of the 500 largest companies in the USA, showed that many companies initially used Windows NT, but later switched back to Unix. Above all, the limitation in the number of processors made Windows NT unattractive for powerful computers. Analysts expected that Unix would continue to play a role in the high-end segment and that it would take Microsoft a long time to attack Unix. On May 20, 1997, Microsoft held a demonstration event entitled "Scalability Day". It should prove the scalability of Windows NT and thus the suitability for very demanding tasks. However, the majority of the companies were unimpressed. Windows NT is still a long way from managing around a thousand users and dealing with very large databases. Another point of criticism concerned customer support , which 40 percent of companies rated as inadequate. In this context, the move away from the alpha processor in August 1999 was also criticized. The very high performance of the Alpha processors, which Microsoft itself used as a marketing argument, cannot be replaced by Intel processors, not even by new eight-core systems. Only seven percent of all computers with Windows NT used Alpha processors, but most of these were large servers. With the abandonment of the Alpha processor, Windows NT would lose touch with the enterprise market.

Enterprise Edition

The Enterprise Edition of Windows NT Server 4.0 received average reviews. The clustering function is actually good and works perfectly, but with only two possible computers it falls short of the capabilities of Unix-based products. Due to the lack of load balancing , the server access would have to be manually distributed evenly to both computers by the administrator. Despite these limitations, users of the product were mostly satisfied. The Windows NT Load Balancing Service received positive reviews after its completion, but one point of criticism was the lack of integration with the existing cluster server. While web servers are now more accessible thanks to the new product, the product does not help if, for example, a database server crashes.

The goal of catching up with the Unix-dominated segment with the Enterprise Edition was missed. In a test that compared Windows NT with different Unix variants and also considered the Enterprise Edition, the product performed worst in all categories except for client support. Even during development, critics said that Unix operating systems had been supporting the functions introduced by the Enterprise Edition since 1990.

Terminal Server Edition

The Terminal Server Edition of Windows NT 4.0 was already heavily criticized during the development phase. The product does not follow a clear line, and Microsoft held back with important details about the price until the end. This product should reduce administration and costs for companies, but since a sensible use is only possible with the MetaFrame product from Citrix, which can be purchased separately , the costs of using the Terminal Server would be higher than with a traditional network. The decision to introduce a new, proprietary protocol instead of the already widespread ICA protocol from Citrix, whose data throughput is too low for meaningful use , was also criticized . Regardless of the protocol used, the main problem is that when graphics-intensive applications are used, the network performance drops massively. In addition, according to critics, Microsoft does not support administrators adequately with application compatibility. Although some ready-made scripts already existed, other applications not covered by these scripts would have to write their own scripts, which was considered very cumbersome.

The situation on the hardware market was unfavorable at the time of publication, because thin clients were considered too expensive, and they also offered no added value compared to regular PCs. Users accused Microsoft of hardly marketing the product and disclosing too little information. The use of the terminal server on the Internet, for example to provide applications, would be prevented by Microsoft's license policy, which requires a separate license for each connection. Microsoft reacted to the criticism of the pricing policy and then changed the prices in order to do justice to the special purposes of the terminal server.

Embedded

The reactions to the embedded version of Windows NT 4.0 were mixed. On the one hand, a month after the publication, 12% of all IT managers reported using Windows NT 4.0 Embedded in their operations. On the other hand, Microsoft already has a product in the embedded market with Windows CE , so that the company is only competing with itself. Due to the expected higher price compared to Windows CE, there would be little incentive to prefer Windows NT 4.0 Embedded.

literature

  • David A. Solomon: Inside Windows NT . 2nd Edition. Microsoft Press, Redmond 1998, ISBN 1-57231-677-2 .
  • Ted Harwood: Windows NT Terminal Server and Citrix MetaFrame . New Riders, Indianapolis 1999, ISBN 1-56205-944-0 .

Web links

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  144. ^ John Cox: Thin clients hit web barrier . In: Network World . 15, No. 27, July 6, 1998, pp. 1, 61.
  145. ^ A b Matt Hamblen, David Orenstein: Thin Clients to run NT Embedded 4.0: Users unsure they need the performance . In: Computerworld . 33, No. 40, October 4, 1999, p. 14.

Web links

Versions of Windows


DOS line
16-bit on DOS

1.0 • 2.x

Windows 3.x (16- and 32-bit on DOS)

3.0 • 3.1

Windows 9x (32-bit, MS-DOS integrated)

95 • 98 (SE) • ME

NT line
NT 3.1

NT 3.1 • NT 3.1 Advanced Server

NT 3.5

Workstation • server

NT 3.51

Workstation • server

NT 4.0

Workstation • Server • Terminal Server • Embedded

NT 5.0

Windows 2000 Professional • Windows 2000 Server

NT 5.1

Windows XP • XP 64-Bit Edition for Itanium • Tablet PC Edition • XP Embedded • Windows Embedded 2009 • WinFLP

NT 5.2

Windows Server 2003 • Small Business Server • Compute Cluster Server • Home Server • XP 64-Bit Edition 2003 for Itanium • XP Professional 64-Bit Edition for x86-64

NT 6.0

Windows Vista • Windows Server 2008 • Small Business Server 2008 • Essential Business Server 2008 • HPC Server 2008

NT 6.1

Windows 7 • Windows Embedded 7 • Windows Server 2008 R2 • HPC Server 2008 R2 • Small Business Server 2011 • Home Server 2011 • MultiPoint Server 2010 • MultiPoint Server 2011

NT 6.2

Windows 8 • Windows Phone 8 • Windows RT • Windows Server 2012

NT 6.3

Windows 8.1 • Windows Phone 8.1 • Windows RT 8.1 • Windows Server 2012 R2

NT 10.0

Windows 10 • Windows 10 Mobile • Windows Server 2016 • Windows Server 2019

CE line 

CE • Mobile • Phone 7

This article was added to the list of excellent articles on February 22, 2012 in this version .