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Why did Windows 95 setup use three operating systems?

(devblogs.microsoft.com)
304 points mooreds | 5 comments | 17 Nov 24 19:54 UTC | HN request time: 0.367s | source
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jmclnx ◴[17 Nov 24 20:19 UTC] No.42166830[source]▶
I never thought of Windows 3.1 as an OS. The other 2 was MS-DOS and Windows 95.
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rusk ◴[17 Nov 24 21:05 UTC] No.42167247[source]▶
Agree, the terminology in those days was “shell”.

Though Windows 95 was arguably similar running atop “DOS 7” it actually imposes its own 32-bit environment with its own “protected mode” drivers once booted. Dropping to DOS reverted to “real mode”.

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tliltocatl ◴[17 Nov 24 21:13 UTC] No.42167329[source]▶
So did the lastest Win3.1 for workgroups, just MS spared all the fanfare for Win95. Not sure if the 3.1 version in the installers does.
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rusk ◴[17 Nov 24 21:15 UTC] No.42167345[source]▶
Windows 3.1 was just a graphical shell. All the drivers and stuff were still managed by DOS. You still needed to configure your system with config.sys

EDIT it’s coming back to me. Windows 3.1 did have a a subsystem for running 32 bit apps called Win32 I think that’s what you mean. This was very much in the application space though.

It still used cooperative multitasking and Win 95 introduced preemptive.

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1. nkrisc ◴[17 Nov 24 21:42 UTC] No.42167566[source]▶
I was only 5 or 6 maybe when I used Windows 3.1 so I may be misremembering, but didn’t it have an X on the desktop to close the GUI and return to the DOS prompt?
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2. mixmastamyk ◴[17 Nov 24 22:32 UTC] No.42167963[source]▶
My memory is that closing Program Manager exited windows.
3. rusk ◴[18 Nov 24 00:09 UTC] No.42168499[source]▶
There was a way to “drop to DOS” alright, which is what you would have had to do for games and the like. Can’t remember the exact mechanism but it could have been the x on the “program manager” window.

The raise Windows you’d type “win” and if you wanted to “boot to windows” you would call “win” from your autoexec.bat

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4. nkrisc ◴[18 Nov 24 02:47 UTC] No.42169299[source]▶
That sounds about right. My dad had commands written on sticky notes on the monitor for me.

As a recall I had to in order to play Commander Keen.

5. LocalH ◴[18 Nov 24 11:26 UTC] No.42171477[source]▶
Windows 3.1 didn't have any "X" buttons. It had the system menu (the one shaped like a spacebar, since the hotkey was Alt-Space). If you quit Program Manager, it would end the Windows session (since Program Manager was your shell). If you had a replacement shell (as some did back then, Norton Desktop etc), then quitting that would exit Windows and return to a pure DOS prompt.