Posted by Dell on February 22, 2010 at 11:11:17:
In Reply to: Re: How do I determin whitch dos version my XP is? posted by Valerie on February 20, 2010 at 17:47:39:
What a great answer. Very informative. I have also been curious about running DOS under Windows. Thanks.
: You are correct, 5.1.2600 is the XP version.
: Dos does not exist in XP, Dos-like commands are executed by a 32-bit program named CMD.EXE which runs in a window.
: Below is a quote from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS-DOS
: "The Windows command-line interface
: ==================================
: All versions of Microsoft Windows have had an MS-DOS like command-line interface (CLI). Versions of Windows (up to 3.11) ran as a Graphical User Interface (GUI) running above MS-DOS. Windows 95, 98, and ME had an MS-DOS prompt which ran command.com, with added facilities for such features as long file names.
: The true 32-bit versions of Windows, from Windows NT, are not based on DOS but provide a command-line interface similar to MS-DOS's character-mode interface known as the console. This is provided by a native executable, cmd.exe. Many Windows console applications are incorrectly referred to as DOS applications. However, in reality they are Windows applications, using Windows system calls, using the text console for input and output rather than a graphical interface. Both true MS-DOS programs and Windows console programs can be run from the command line in the same console window.
: 32-bit Windows can run MS-DOS programs through the use of the NTVDM (NT Virtual DOS Machine), and the 16-bit command.com interpreter which is still included to maintain application compatibility with programs that require it.
: All versions of Windows for x64 and ia64 architectures no longer include the NTVDM and can therefore no longer natively run MS-DOS or 16-bit Windows applications. There are alternatives in the form of Virtual machine emulators such as Microsoft's own Virtual PC, as well as VMware, DOSBox, and others."