MS-DOS 7

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

MS-DOS 7
MS-DOS 8[1]
Support status
Unsupported as of July 11, 2006[2]

MS-DOS 7 is a

RTM reports it as MS-DOS 7.0,[5] and Windows 95 OSR 2.x and Windows 98 report as 7.1.[5] The real-mode MS-DOS 7.x is contained in the IO.SYS file.[6]

Announcement

After the release of MS-DOS 6, Microsoft

PC DOS 7.[7] Continuing what Computerworld called a "vaporware tornado", Microsoft also projected this revised combination of Windows and MS-DOS to require a low-end computer with only 4 MB of RAM.[8] Windows 4.0 was released branded as Windows 95, and Microsoft canceled the standalone version of MS-DOS 7 and instead included it with Windows 95.[9] The proposed multitasking and multithreading technology was canceled from MS-DOS 7.0.[citation needed
]

New features

MS-DOS 7.0 adds support for

DOS kernel are loaded high automatically), and using environment variables
directly in the DOS command.

MS-DOS 7.1 adds

FAT32 support[11] for larger than 2GB and up to 2TB per volume,[12] and MS-DOS 7.0 and earlier versions of MS-DOS only support FAT12 and FAT16.[13] Logical block addressing (LBA) is supported in MS-DOS 7 for accessing larger hard disks, unlike earlier versions which only supported cylinder-head-sector (CHS)-based addressing. Unlike MS-DOS 7.0, MS-DOS 7.1 recognizes a hard disk beyond the first 8.4GB.[14] Year 2000 support was added to DIR command
via the new /4 option.

MS-DOS 7.x adds support for running the graphical interface of Windows 9x,[10] which cannot be run on older MS-DOS releases. Even though VER command usually shows the Windows version, the MS-DOS version is also officially mentioned in other places. For example, Windows 95 OSR2 or Windows 98's VMM32.VXD file (renamed to VMM32.EXE) cannot be run directly on an earlier version of MS-DOS, or it will prompt the user to upgrade MS-DOS to version 7.1 or higher. In the case of Windows 95 RTM, the version number 7.0 is displayed in place of 7.1.

Overview

According to Caldera which sold DR-DOS, Windows 95 is not one integrated software product, but rather a combination of two products, MS-DOS 7.0 and Windows 4.0, packaged together to look as a single product. Though MS-DOS 7.0 and Windows 4.0 could be readily segregated and marketed as different products, Microsoft stopped marketing Windows and MS-DOS separately with the release of Windows 95.[15]

A major difference from earlier versions of

Windows 3.1x and Windows 9x. Windows 95 is on MS-DOS 7.0, and Windows 95 OSR2 and Windows 98 are on MS-DOS 7.1.[18] By default, MS-DOS 7.0 is installed with Windows 95 to the C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND subdirectory, and is loaded prior to the loading of the GUI system. More importantly, the DOS system, which handles files and disk partitioning, manages the disk storage system.[10] Moreover, while IO.SYS is the kernel file of MS-DOS 7, JO.SYS is an alternate filename for IO.SYS that is used for "specific purposes" in MS-DOS 7. JO.SYS supports booting from a CD-ROM drive or a hard disk.[14]

Reception

At Microsoft's 1994 preannouncement, the stripped down Windows 4.0 with MS-DOS 7 was expected to be "at the expense of Windows NT" as the biggest competitor of the much more featureful and resource-consuming Windows NT.[8]

See also

References

  1. .
  2. ^ "Obsolete Products Life-Cycle Policy". Support. Microsoft. July 30, 2009. Archived from the original on July 6, 2006. Retrieved April 6, 2010.
  3. ^ Information about MS-DOS 7.0
  4. ^ "Name That DOS". DOS World. Vol. 25. 1996 [1996-01]. p. 4. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
  5. ^ .
  6. .
  7. ^ Dvorak, John C. (September 13, 1994). "DOS is Alive, and, Well..." PCMag. Ziff Davis, Inc. p. 93. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  8. ^ a b Lindquist, Christopher (April 9, 1993). "Windows success could limit NT". Computerworld. IDG Enterprise. p. 2. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  9. ^ Kirshna's Computers and Languages. Krishna Prakashan. p. 109.
  10. ^ a b c Malicious Mobile Code: Virus Protection for Windows. O'Reilly Media. 2001. p. 76.
  11. .
  12. .
  13. .
  14. ^ a b "MS DOS Operating System". Academia. Retrieved November 8, 2023.
  15. ^ Antitrust Law Journal, Volume 68. Resource Systems Institute, East West Center. p. 1044.
  16. ^ MsDos 7.0 from Windows 95/98
  17. ^ "What was the role of MS-DOS in Windows 95?". The Old New Thing. December 24, 2007. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
  18. ^ The Complete Guide to Windows Server 2008. Pearson Education. 2008. p. 30.

Further reading