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| Version of theWindows NT operating system | |
 | |
 Screenshot of Windows NT 4.0, showing theStart menu andWindows Explorer | |
| Developer | Microsoft |
|---|---|
| Source model | Closed source |
| Released to manufacturing | July 31, 1996; 28 years ago (1996-07-31)[1] |
| General availability | August 24, 1996; 28 years ago (1996-08-24) (Workstation) September 1996; 28 years ago (1996-09) (Server)[2] |
| Latest release | 4.0 SP6a with Post SP6a Security Rollup (Build 1381) / July 26, 2001; 23 years ago (2001-07-26)[3] |
| Marketing target | Business and Server |
| Platforms | IA-32,Alpha,MIPS,PowerPC |
| Kernel type | Hybrid |
| Userland | Windows API,NTVDM,OS/2 1.x,POSIX.1,SFU (SP3+) |
| License | Commercialproprietary software |
| Preceded by | Windows NT 3.51 (1995) |
| Succeeded by | Windows 2000 (1999) |
| Official website | web |
| Support status | |
| Embedded | Mainstream support ended on June 30, 2003[4] Extended support ended on July 11, 2006[4] |
| Server | Mainstream support ended on December 31, 2002[5] Extended support ended on December 31, 2004[5] |
| Workstation | Mainstream support ended on June 30, 2002[6] Extended support ended on June 30, 2004[6] |
| Extended Security Updates (ESU) Support | All editions were eligible for a paid Extended Security Updates (ESU) program. It allowed users to purchase security updates on a pay-per-incident plan. Security updates were available until December 31, 2006[7] |
Windows NT 4.0 is a major release of theWindows NToperating system developed byMicrosoft, targeting the data server and personal workstation markets.[8] It is the direct successor toWindows NT 3.51, and wasreleased to manufacturing on July 31, 1996,[1] and then to retail in August 24, 1996, with the Server versions released to retail in September 1996.[2]
Its most prominent user-facing change was the adoption ofWindows 95'suser interface, introducing features such as theStart menu andtaskbar to the Windows NT product line. It also includes various performance and stability improvements to system-level components, as well as new components such as acryptography API,DCOM,TAPI 2.0, and theTask Manager, and limited support forDirectX. Over its support lifecycle, NT 4.0 received various updates andservice packs offering patches, enhancements to its hardware support, and other new components. Two new editions of NT 4.0 were released post-launch, including a modular variant forembedded systems, and theTerminal Server edition. NT 4.0 was the last version of Windows NT to supportRISC processors.
Most editions of NT 4.0 were succeeded byWindows 2000 on December 15, 1999. Mainstream support for Windows NT 4.0 Workstation ended on June 30, 2002, following by extended support ending on June 30, 2004. Windows NT 4.0 Server mainstream support ended on December 31, 2002, with extended support ending on December 31, 2004. Windows NT 4.0 Embedded would be succeeded byWindows XP Embedded; mainstream support ended on June 30, 2003, followed by extended support on July 11, 2006.[9][10][11]
The successor toWindows NT 3.51, Windows NT 4.0 introduced the user interface ofWindows 95 to the Windows NT family, including theWindows shell,File Explorer (known as Windows NT Explorer at the time), and the use of "My" nomenclature for shell folders (e.g.My Computer). It also includes most components introduced withWindows 95. Internally, Windows NT 4.0 was known as the Shell Update Release (SUR).[12] While many administrative tools, notablyUser Manager for Domains,Server Manager andDomain Name Service Manager still used the old graphical user interfaces, theStart menu in Windows NT 4.0 separated the per-user shortcuts and folders from the shared shortcuts and folders by a separator line.[13] Windows NT 4.0 includes some enhancements fromMicrosoft Plus! for Windows 95 such as theSpace Cadet pinball table,font smoothing, showing window contents while dragging,high-color icons and stretching the wallpaper to fit the screen. Windows NT 4.0 Resource Kit included the Desktop Themes utility.[14]
Windows NT 4.0 is the last major release of Microsoft Windows to support theAlpha,MIPS orPowerPC CPU architectures as Windows 2000 runs solely on IA-32 only. It remained in use by businesses for a number of years, despite Microsoft's many efforts to get customers to upgrade to Windows 2000 and newer versions. It was also the last release in the Windows NT family to be branded asWindows NT although Windows 2000 carried the designation "Built on NT Technology".[15]
Although the chief enhancement has been the addition of the Windows 95 shell, there are several major performance, scalability and feature improvements to the corearchitecture,kernel,USER32,COM andMSRPC.[12][16] Windows NT 4.0 also introduced the concept ofsystem policies[17] and theSystem Policy Editor.
Other important features were:
The server editions of Windows NT 4.0 includeInternet Information Services 2.0,Microsoft FrontPage 1.1,NetShow Services,Remote Access Service (which includes aPPTP server for VPN functionality) and Multi-Protocol Routing service. There are new administrativewizards and a lite version of theNetwork Monitor utility shipped withSystem Management Server. The Enterprise edition introducedMicrosoft Cluster Server.
One significant difference from previous versions of Windows NT is that theGraphics Device Interface (GDI) is moved into kernel mode[21] rather than being in user mode in the CSRSS process. This eliminated a process-to-process context switch in calling GDI functions, resulting in a significant performance improvement over Windows NT 3.51, particularly in the graphical user interface. This, however, also mandated that graphics and printer drivers had to run in kernel mode as well,[22] resulting in potential stability issues.
Windows NT 4.0 was the first release of Microsoft Windows to includeDirectX as standard—version 2 shipped with the initial release of Windows NT 4.0, and version 3 was included with the release of Service Pack 3 in mid-1997. However advanced hardware accelerated Direct3D and DirectSound multimedia features were never available on Windows NT 4.0. Later versions of DirectX were not released for Windows NT 4.0. However,OpenGL was supported; it was used byQuake 3[23] andUnreal Tournament.[24]
In early releases of 4.0, numerous stability issues did occur as graphics and printer vendors had to change their drivers to be compatible with the kernel mode interfaces exported by GDI. The change to move the GDI to run in the same process context as its caller was prompted by complaints from NT Workstation users about real-time graphics performance, but this change put a considerable onus on hardware manufacturers to update device drivers.[25]
Windows NT 4.0 also included a newWindows Task Manager utility. Previous versions of Windows NT included the Task List utility, but it only shows applications currently on the desktop. To monitor CPU and memory usage, users were forced to usePerformance Monitor. The task manager offers a more convenient way of getting a snapshot of all the processes running on the system at any given time.[26]
Windows NT 4.0 upgradedNTVDM's x86 emulation in theRISC versions from286 to486.[27]Sysprep was introduced as a deployment tool with Windows NT 4.0.
x86 versions of Windows NT 4.0 require theBIOS firmware.RISC versions of Windows NT 4.0 require theARC firmware.
| Category | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Intel 486 at33MHz | Pentium orPentium Pro |
| Memory | 16MB | 32MB or higher |
| Video card | VGA | SVGA |
| Hard disk drive standard | IDE,EIDE,SCSI orESDI | IDE,EIDE,SCSI orESDI |
| Freehard disk drive space | 128MB | 256MB or higher |
| Installation media | CD-ROM drive | CD-ROM drive |
Windows NT 4.0, like previous versions of Windows NT before it and versions after it, is a fully 32-bit OS, while Windows 95 is a 16/32-bit hybrid OS.
While providing much greater stability than Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0 was less flexible from a desktop perspective. Much of the stability was gained through the use of protected memory and thehardware abstraction layer. Direct hardware access was disallowed and "misbehaving" programs were terminated without needing the computer to be restarted. The trade-off was that NT required much more memory (32 MB for normal desktop use, 128 MB or more for heavy 3D applications) in comparison to consumer targeted products such as Windows 95.[28]
While nearly all programs written for Windows 95 run on Windows NT, many 3D games would not, partly because of limited DirectX support for Windows NT 4.0. Third-party device drivers were an alternative to access the hardware directly, but poorly written drivers became a frequent source ofsystem crashes.[29]
In spite of shipping a year later than Windows 95, by default there is noLegacy Plug and Play support and noDevice Manager on Windows NT 4.0, which greatly simplifies installation of hardware devices (although limited support could be installed later). However,EISA bus andPCI bus is supported by Windows NT 4.0.[30] Many basic DOS programs would run; however, graphical DOS programs would not run because of the way they accessed graphics hardware. Although Windows NT 4.0 introduced anapplication programming interface (API) for defragmentation,[20] there was no built-in defragmentation utility, unlike Windows 95. Also, Windows NT 4.0 lackedUSB support, a preliminary version of which would be added to OEM editions of Windows 95 in OSR 2.1.[31][32]AGP support can be added with SP3 or later. Large disk (> 8 GB) support can be added with SP4 or later.FAT32 is not officially supported by Windows NT 4.0.[33]
The difference between the NT family and 9x family would remain until the release ofWindows XP in 2001. At that time, the APIs — such as OpenGL and DirectX — had matured sufficiently to be more efficient to write for common PC hardware, and the hardware itself had become powerful enough to handle the API processing overhead.
The maximum amount of supported physicalrandom-access memory (RAM) in Windows NT 4.0 is 4 GB,[34] which is the maximum possible for a 32-bit operating system that does not support PAE.[35] By comparison, Windows 95 fails to boot on computers with more than approximately 480 MB of memory.[36]
Like previous versions of NT, version 4.0 can run on multiple processor architectures. Windows 95, however, can only run on x86.
Windows NT 4.0 Server was included in versions 4.0 and 4.5 ofBackOffice Small Business Server suite.
The last version ofMicrosoft Office to be compatible with Windows NT 4.0 isOffice XP. Similarly,Windows Media Player 7.0 (which was released in June 2000) andDirectX 3.0a (which was released in December 1996) are the last versions of Windows Media Player and DirectX available for Windows NT 4.0, respectively. The last versions of.NET Framework andWindows Installer available for Windows NT 4.0 are.NET Framework 1.1 (released in April 2003) and Windows Installer 2.0 (released in September 2001), respectively. The last version ofInternet Explorer supported on Windows NT 4.0 isInternet Explorer 6 with SP1, which was released on September 9, 2002.
Windows NT 4.0 was succeeded byWindows 2000, which also included theWindows Desktop Update andInternet Explorer 5 by default. It also could be directly upgraded toWindows XP Professional onIA-32-based systems only.[42]
An independent project named Windows Update Restored aims to restore theWindows Update websites for older versions of Windows, including Windows NT 4.0.[43][44]
| Service pack | Release date |
|---|---|
| Service Pack 1 (SP1) | October 16, 1996 |
| Service Pack 2 (SP2) | December 14, 1996 |
| Service Pack 3 (SP3) | May 15, 1997 |
| Service Pack 4 (SP4) | October 25, 1998 |
| Service Pack 5 (SP5) | May 4, 1999 |
| Service Pack 6 (SP6) | October 27, 1999 |
| Service Pack 6a (SP6a) | November 22, 1999 |
| Post SP6a Security Rollup | July 26, 2001 |
Windows NT 4.0 received six service packs during its lifecycle, as well as numerous service rollup packages and option packs. Only the first service pack was made available for the MIPS architecture, Service Pack 2 was the final release for the PowerPC architecture, and Service Pack 6 was the final release for the Alpha architecture. Service Pack 6a (SP6a) is the last released service pack for Windows NT 4.0. Service Pack 7 was planned at one stage in early 2001, but this became thePost SP6a Security Rollup and not a full service pack, released on July 26, 2001, 16 months following the release of Windows 2000 and nearly three months prior to the release of Windows XP.[45]
In addition to bug fixes, the service packs also added a multitude of new features such asUltra DMA mode for disk drives along with bus mastering, newer versions ofInternet Information Services (IIS), user accounts and user profile improvements, smart card support, improved symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) scalability, clustering capabilities,MMX /3DNow! /SSE /SSE2 support,AGP support,COM support improvements, Event Log service,MS-CHAPv2 andNTLMv2,SMB packet signing,Syskey,boot improvements,WINS improvements,Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS),PPTP, DCOM/HTTP tunneling improvements, IGMPv2,WMI,Active Accessibility andNTFS 3.0 support among others.[46]
In 1997, Microsoft released an optional update known as the "Option Pack" to add new technologies slated to be included in Windows 2000; it included IIS 4.0 withActive Server Pages (ASP),FrontPage Server Extensions, Certificate Server,MTS,MSMQ,CDONTS,Internet Authentication Service (IAS),Indexing Service,Microsoft Management Console 1.0,Microsoft Site Server,Microsoft Transaction Server, andSMTP andNNTP services.[47] Several features such asDistributed File System andWindows NT Load Balancing Service (WLBS) were delivered as addons for Windows NT Server 4.0. TheRouting and Remote Access Service was also a downloadable feature which replaced Windows NT 4.0's separate RAS and Multi-Protocol Routing services.
Internet Explorer 4 optionally includes the "Windows Desktop Update", which integrates Internet Explorer withWindows Explorer and adds additional features to the Windows NT shell such asActive Desktop.
Microsoft released five revisions of the Windows NT 4.0 Workstation and ServerResource Kit (original release plus four supplements) which contained a large number of tools and utilities, such as desktops.exe which allowed the user to have multiple desktops, as well as third-party software.
Microsoft stopped providing security updates for Windows NT 4.0 Workstation on June 30, 2004, Windows NT 4.0 Server on December 31, 2004, and Windows NT 4.0 Embedded on July 11, 2006, due to major security flaws includingMicrosoft Security Bulletin MS03-010, which according to Microsoft could not be patched without significant changes to the core operating system. According to the security bulletin, "Due to the fundamental differences between Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 and its successors, it is infeasible to rebuild the software for Windows NT 4.0 to eliminate the vulnerability. To do so would require re-architecting a very significant amount of the Windows NT 4.0 operating system, and there would be no assurance that applications designed to run on Windows NT 4.0 would continue to operate on the patched system."
Between June 2003 and June 2007, 127 security flaws were identified and patched in Windows 2000 Server, many of which may also affect Windows NT 4.0 Server; however, Microsoft does not test security bulletins against unsupported software.
...Windows NT 4.0 did not actually natively support FAT32, and a third-party driver by Winternals was required to provide FAT32 support on NT 4...
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