Third major release of Windows NT, released in 1995
Operating system
Windows NT 3.51
|
|
|
Developer
| Microsoft
|
---|
Source model
| Closed source
|
---|
General
availability
| May 30, 1995
; 28 years ago
(
1995-05-30
)
[1]
|
---|
Latest release
| 3.51 (Build 1057: Service Pack 5) / September 19, 1996
; 27 years ago
(
1996-09-19
)
[1]
|
---|
Marketing target
| Business and Server
|
---|
Platforms
| IA-32
,
Alpha
,
MIPS
,
PowerPC
|
---|
Kernel
type
| Hybrid
|
---|
Userland
| Windows API
,
NTVDM
,
OS/2 1.x
,
POSIX.1
|
---|
License
| Commercial
proprietary software
|
---|
Preceded by
| Windows NT 3.5
(1994)
|
---|
Succeeded by
| Windows NT 4.0
(1996)
|
---|
|
|
Server
| Mainstream support ended on September 30, 2000
[2]
Extended support ended on September 30, 2002
[2]
|
---|
Workstation
| Mainstream support ended on December 31, 2000
[2]
Extended support ended on December 31, 2001
[2]
|
---|
|
Windows NT 3.51
is a major release of the
Windows NT
operating system
developed by
Microsoft
and oriented towards businesses. It is the third version of Windows NT and was released on May 30, 1995, eight months following the release of
Windows NT 3.5
. The most significant enhancement offered in this release was that it provides
client/server
support for inter-operating with
Windows 95
, which was released almost three months after NT 3.51.
Windows NT 4.0
became its successor a year later. Mainstream support for Windows NT 3.51 Workstation ended on December 31, 2000,
[2]
and extended support ended on December 31, 2001,
[2]
while Windows NT 3.51 Server mainstream support ended on September 30, 2000,
[2]
followed by extended support on September 30, 2002.
[2]
Both editions were succeeded by
Windows NT 4.0
Workstation and Windows NT 4.0 Server, respectively.
Overview
[
edit
]
The release of Windows NT 3.51 was dubbed "the PowerPC release" at Microsoft. The original intention was to release a PowerPC edition of NT 3.5, but according to Microsoft's David Thompson, "we basically sat around for 9 months fixing bugs while we waited for IBM to finish the Power PC hardware".
[3]
Editions of NT 3.51 were also released for the
x86
,
MIPS
, and
Alpha
architectures.
New features introduced in Windows NT 3.51 include
PCMCIA
support,
NTFS
file compression,
[4]
replaceable
WinLogon
(
GINA
), 3D support in
OpenGL
, persistent IP routes when using TCP/IP, automatic display of textual descriptions when the mouse pointer was placed on toolbar buttons ("tooltips") and support for Windows 95 common controls.
[5]
In view of the significant difference in the kernel base, Windows NT 3.51 is readily able to run a large number of
Win32
applications designed for
Windows 95
. More recent 32-bit applications will not work, as the developers have prevented their application from working with any Windows version earlier than Windows 98, and also because some applications do not work properly with the older Windows NT 3.51 interface.
Despite this, Microsoft in their application releases muddied the issue, releasing
32-bit
versions of
Microsoft Office
right up to
Office 97
(the last version of Microsoft Office supported on NT 3.51), but relying upon
16-bit
versions of
Internet Explorer
technology from versions
3.0
to
5.0
. Web browsers based on and including
Firefox
were operable up to version 2.0.0.22, released in April 2009; they required a few manual file updates to work without compromising browsing security.
[6]
[7]
[8]
Windows NT 3.51 is the last of the series to be compatible with the
Intel 80386
processor.
NewShell
[
edit
]
On May 26, 1995, Microsoft released a test version of a shell refresh, named the
Shell Technology Preview
, and often referred to informally as "NewShell". This was the first incarnation of the modern Windows GUI with the Taskbar and
Start menu
. It was designed to replace the Windows 3.x Program Manager/File Manager based shell with
Windows Explorer
-based
graphical user interface
. The release provided capabilities quite similar to that of the Windows "Chicago" (
codename
for Windows 95) shell during its late beta phases; however, it was intended to be nothing more than a test release.
[9]
There was a second public release of the Shell Technology Preview, called
Shell Technology Preview Update
made available to
MSDN
and
CompuServe
users on August 8, 1995. Both releases held Windows Explorer builds of 3.51.1053.1. The preview program provided early feedback for the
Shell Update Release
, the next major Windows NT version with the new interface built-in, which was released in July 1996 as Windows NT 4.0.
Updates
[
edit
]
Five
Service Packs
were released for NT 3.51, introducing both bug fixes and new features. Service Pack 5, for example, fixed issues related to the
Year 2000 problem
.
Hardware requirements
[
edit
]
Supported EIDE addressing schemes include
logical block addressing
(LBA), ONTrack Disk Manager,
EZDrive
, and extended cylinder-head-sector (ECHS).
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
Adams, Paul (August 4, 2009).
"Windows NT History"
.
Microsoft Build
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
"Microsoft Support Lifecycle for Windows NT 3.51"
. Microsoft
. Retrieved
January 15,
2019
.
- ^
Thurrott, Paul (January 24, 2003).
"Windows Server 2003: The Road To Gold - Part One: The Early Years"
. SuperSite for Windows. Archived from
the original
on June 4, 2010
. Retrieved
September 4,
2009
.
- ^
Daily, Sean (February 20, 2014).
"Optimizing NTFS"
.
Windows NT Magazine
. Retrieved
June 25,
2017
– via
TechNet
.
- ^
"Windows NT 3.51 Product Overview"
.
Support
.
Microsoft
. October 31, 2006. Archived from
the original
on December 25, 2007.
- ^
"System Requirements"
.
Installation Instructions for SeaMonkey 1.1.19
. March 16, 2010
. Retrieved
November 30,
2015
.
- ^
Lineback, Nathan (2010).
"Misc Windows"
.
toastytech.com
. p. 4
. Retrieved
November 30,
2015
.
- ^
Lineback, Nathan.
"Web Browsing fixes for NT 3.51, 95, and NT 4"
.
toastytech.com
. Retrieved
November 30,
2015
.
- ^
Ruley, John D. (September 1995).
"NT Gets the Look But Not the Logo"
.
How-To Columns
. WinMag. Archived from
the original
on March 14, 2006
. Retrieved
September 4,
2009
.
Internet Archive
- ^
"Windows NT 3.5x Setup Troubleshooting Guide"
.
Microsoft Support
. Microsoft. November 1, 2006. Archived from
the original
on February 23, 2007
. Retrieved
September 4,
2009
.
External links
[
edit
]