110-464: Windows Driver Frameworks ( WDF , formerly Windows Driver Foundation ), is a set of Microsoft tools and libraries that aid in the creation of device drivers for Windows 2000 and later versions of Windows. It complements Windows Driver Model , abstracting away much of the boilerplate complexity in writing Windows drivers. WDF consists of Kernel-Mode Driver Framework (KMDF) and User-Mode Driver Framework (UMDF). These individual frameworks provide
220-497: A Safe removal applet for removable storage devices. Windows 2000 SP4 added native USB 2.0 support, Wireless Zero Configuration support and SSE3 support. Windows 2000 is also the first Windows version to support hibernation at the operating system level (OS-controlled ACPI S4 sleep state) unlike Windows 98 which required special drivers from the hardware manufacturer or driver developer. A new capability designed to protect critical system files called Windows File Protection
330-452: A Windows Interface Source Environment partner. Microsoft issued the following statement: "Microsoft source code is both copyrighted and protected as a trade secret. As such, it is illegal to post it, make it available to others, download it or use it." Despite the warnings, the archive containing the leaked code spread widely on the file-sharing networks. On February 16, 2004, an exploit "allegedly discovered by an individual studying
440-522: A basic driver. Part of the key to achieving conceptual scalability is that KMDF and UMDF use an "opt-in" model. This model allows the developer to extend and override the default behavior of a canonical "good driver". In contrast, Windows Driver Model depends on the driver writer to implement all aspects of the driver's behavior. There are three types of WDF drivers: WDF also includes a set of static verification tools for use by driver writers. These tools examine driver code for common errors and/or simulate
550-399: A cache stored in a separate "DLLCACHE" directory, or from the original install media. Microsoft recognized that a serious error (a Blue Screen of Death or stop error) could cause problems for servers that needed to be constantly running and so provided a system setting that would allow the server to automatically reboot when a stop error occurred. Also included is an option to dump any of
660-472: A computer running Windows XP from across a network or the Internet and access their applications, files, printers, and devices or request help. Improvements were also made to IntelliMirror features such as Offline Files , roaming user profiles , and folder redirection . To enable running software that targets or locks out specific versions of Windows, "Compatibility mode" was added. It allows pretending
770-586: A different market, they share a core set of features, including many system utilities such as the Microsoft Management Console and standard system administration applications. Microsoft marketed Windows 2000 as the most secure Windows version ever at the time; however, it became the target of a number of high-profile virus attacks such as Code Red and Nimda . For ten years after its release, it continued to receive patches for security vulnerabilities nearly every month until reaching
880-497: A file to be transparently referred from one file or directory location to another. Windows 2000 also introduces a Distributed Link Tracking service to ensure file shortcuts remain working even if the target is moved or renamed. The target object's unique identifier is stored in the shortcut file on NTFS 3.0 and Windows can use the Distributed Link Tracking service for tracking the targets of shortcuts, so that
990-470: A file with a bulk symmetric key (also known as the File Encryption Key, or FEK), which is used because it takes less time to encrypt and decrypt large amounts of data than if an asymmetric key cipher were used. The symmetric key used to encrypt the file is then encrypted with a public key associated with the user who encrypted the file, and this encrypted data is stored in the header of
1100-498: A general overview of the system's security status, including the state of the firewall and automatic updates. Third-party firewall and antivirus software can also be monitored from Security Center. In August 2006, Microsoft released updated installation media for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 SP2 (SP2b), in order to incorporate a patch requiring ActiveX controls in Internet Explorer to be manually activated before
1210-406: A greater number of logical processors : 32-bit editions support up to 32 logical processors, and 64-bit editions support up to 64 logical processors. Several Windows XP components are upgradable to the latest versions, which include new versions introduced in later versions of Windows, and other major Microsoft applications are available. These latest versions for Windows XP include: Support for
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#17327806070231320-500: A more intuitive user interface, improved hardware support, and expanded multimedia capabilities. Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 were succeeded by Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 , released in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Mainstream support for Windows XP ended on April 14, 2009, and extended support ended on April 8, 2014. Windows Embedded POSReady 2009 , based on Windows XP Professional, received security updates until April 2019. The final security update for Service Pack 3
1430-733: A new 'mini' boot screen, and removed the 'dark space' theme in the logo. The Windows NT 5.0 betas had very long startup and shutdown sounds, though these were changed in the early Windows 2000 beta, but during Beta 3, a new piano -made startup and shutdown sounds were made, composed by Steven Ray Allen. It was featured in the final version as well as in Windows Me . The new login prompt from the final version made its first appearance in Beta 3 build 1946 (the first build of Beta 3). The new, updated icons (for My Computer , Recycle Bin etc.) first appeared in Beta 3 build 1964. The Windows 2000 boot screen in
1540-506: A new object-oriented programming model for Windows driver development. The primary goals of WDF is conceptual scalability and reduced duplication, enabling developers to apply the same concepts across different driver types and reducing the code overhead required for drivers. This differs markedly from the Windows Driver Model (WDM) which requires driver developers to be fully familiar with many complex technical details to write
1650-542: A new product codenamed "Whistler", named after Whistler, British Columbia , as many Microsoft employees skied at the Whistler-Blackcomb ski resort. The goal of Whistler was to unify both the consumer and business-oriented Windows lines under a single, Windows NT platform. Thurrott stated that Neptune had become "a black hole when all the features that were cut from Windows Me were simply re-tagged as Neptune features. And since Neptune and Odyssey would be based on
1760-421: A performance diagnostic console, which displays graphs of system performance and configures data logs and alerts. It also contains a service configuration console, which allows users to view all installed services and to stop and start them, as well as configure what those services should do when the computer starts. CHKDSK has significant performance improvements. Windows 2000 comes with two utilities to edit
1870-588: A previewer can be enabled in previous versions of Windows with the Windows Desktop Update installed through the use of folder customization templates. The default file tooltip displays file title, author, subject and comments; this metadata may be read from a special NTFS stream, if the file is on an NTFS volume, or from an OLE structured storage stream, if the file is a structured storage document. All Microsoft Office documents since Office 4.0 make use of structured storage , so their metadata
1980-453: A selected earlier version of Windows to software, starting at Windows 95. This feature was first introduced in Windows 2000 Service Pack 2, released five months before the release of Windows XP, and was backported from prerelease Windows XP builds. Unlike with Windows XP, however, it was hidden from the operating system as it was not enabled by default and had to be manually activated through
2090-691: A simple command-line interface , used to check and repair the hard drive(s), repair boot information (including NTLDR ), replace corrupted system files with fresh copies from the CD, or enable/disable services and drivers for the next boot. The console can be accessed in either of the two ways: Windows 2000 introduced Windows Script Host 2.0 which included an expanded object model and support for logon and logoff scripts. The Windows 2000 Server family consists of Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 2000 Small Business Server, and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server. All editions of Windows 2000 Server have
2200-433: A single application into one taskbar button, with a popup menu listing the individual windows. The notification area also hides "inactive" icons by default. A "common tasks" list was added, and Windows Explorer 's sidebar was updated to use a new task-based design with lists of common actions; the tasks displayed are contextually relevant to the type of content in a folder (e.g. a folder with music displays offers to play all
2310-422: A special variant of Home Edition intended for low-cost PCs. The OS is primarily aimed at first-time computer owners, containing heavy localization (including wallpapers and screen savers incorporating images of local landmarks), and a "My Support" area which contains video tutorials on basic computing tasks. It also removes certain "complex" features, and does not allow users to run more than three applications at
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#17327806070232420-580: A time. After a pilot program in India and Thailand, Starter was released in other emerging markets throughout 2005. In 2006, Microsoft also unveiled the FlexGo initiative, which would also target emerging markets with subsidized PCs on a pre-paid, subscription basis. As a result of unfair competition lawsuits in Europe and South Korea, which both alleged that Microsoft had improperly leveraged its status in
2530-499: A user may interact with them. This was done so that the browser would not violate a patent owned by Eolas . Microsoft has since licensed the patent, and released a patch reverting the change in April 2008. In September 2007, another minor revision known as SP2c was released for XP Professional, extending the number of available product keys for the operating system to "support the continued availability of Windows XP Professional through
2640-400: Is a cumulative update package that is a superset of all updates, and even service packs, that have been released before it. Three service packs have been released for Windows XP. Service Pack 3 is slightly different, in that it needs at least Service Pack 1 to have been installed, in order to update a live OS. However, Service Pack 3 can still be embedded into a Windows installation disc ; SP1
2750-533: Is a major release of Microsoft 's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct successor to Windows 2000 for high-end and business users and Windows Me for home users. Development of Windows XP began in the late 1990s under the codename " Neptune ", built on the Windows NT kernel and explicitly intended for mainstream consumer use. An updated version of Windows 2000
2860-548: Is a photo of a landscape in the Napa Valley outside Napa, California , with rolling green hills and a blue sky with stratocumulus and cirrus clouds. The Start menu received its first major overhaul in XP, switching to a two-column layout with the ability to list, pin, and display frequently used applications, recently opened documents, and the traditional cascading "All Programs" menu. The taskbar can now group windows opened by
2970-817: Is a user who is authorized by a public key recovery certificate to decrypt files belonging to other users using a special private key . By default, local administrators are recovery agents however they can be customized using Group Policy . Windows 2000 introduced the Logical Disk Manager and the diskpart command line tool for dynamic storage . All versions of Windows 2000 support three types of dynamic disk volumes (along with basic disks): simple volumes , spanned volumes and striped volumes : In addition to these disk volumes, Windows 2000 Server, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, and Windows 2000 Datacenter Server support mirrored volumes and striped volumes with parity : With Windows 2000, Microsoft introduced
3080-564: Is displayable in the Windows 2000 Explorer default tooltip . File shortcuts can also store comments which are displayed as a tooltip when the mouse hovers over the shortcut. The shell introduces extensibility support through metadata handlers, icon overlay handlers and column handlers in Explorer Details view . The right pane of Windows 2000 Explorer, which usually just lists files and folders, can also be customized. For example,
3190-456: Is explicitly intended for consumer use and disables or removes certain advanced and enterprise-oriented features present on Professional , such as the ability to join a Windows domain , Internet Information Services , and Multilingual User Interface . Windows 98 or Me can be upgraded to either edition, but Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000 can only be upgraded to Professional . Windows' software license agreement for pre-loaded licenses allows
3300-581: Is integrated into Windows 2000 Explorer, unlike the separate search dialog found in all previous Explorer versions. The Indexing Service has also been integrated into the operating system and the search pane built into Explorer allows searching files indexed by its database. Microsoft released the version 3.0 of NTFS (sometimes incorrectly called "NTFS 5" in relation to the kernel version number) as part of Windows 2000; this introduced disk quotas (provided by QuotaAdvisor), file-system-level encryption , sparse files and reparse points . Sparse files allow for
3410-555: Is not reported as a prerequisite for doing so. The boot screens for all editions of Windows XP have been unified by Service Pack 2 for Windows XP with a new one that no longer displays the SKU, with the boot screen for Home Edition using a blue progress bar instead of green. The copyright years on the boot screen were also removed. Service Pack 1 (SP1) for Windows XP was released on September 9, 2002. It contained over 300 minor, post-RTM bug fixes, along with all security patches released since
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3520-497: Is removed (which supposedly limits the damage done by zombie machines ) and the Windows Messenger service (which had been abused to cause pop-up advertisements to be displayed as system messages without a web browser or any additional software) became disabled by default. Additionally, security-related improvements were made to e-mail and web browsing. Service Pack 2 also added Security Center , an interface that provides
3630-595: Is the first Windows NT release to include Active Desktop , first introduced as a part of Internet Explorer 4.0 (specifically Windows Desktop Update ), and only pre-installed in Windows 98 by that time. It allowed users to customize the way folders look and behave by using HTML templates, having the file extension HTT . This feature was abused by computer viruses that employed malicious scripts, Java applets, or ActiveX controls in folder template files as their infection vector. Two such viruses are VBS/Roor-C and VBS.Redlof.a. The "Web-style" folders view, with
3740-547: Is the first system to integrate these two programs into a single utility, adopting the REGEDIT behavior with the additional NT features. The System File Checker (SFC) also comes with Windows 2000. It is a command line utility that scans system files and verifies whether they were signed by Microsoft and works in conjunction with the Windows File Protection mechanism. It can also repopulate and repair all
3850-746: The DirectX API , commonly used by game developers on Windows 98 . The last version of DirectX that was released for Windows 2000 was DirectX 9.0c (Shader Model 3.0), which shipped with Windows XP Service Pack 2. Microsoft published quarterly updates to DirectX 9.0c through the February 2010 release after which support was dropped in the June 2010 SDK. These updates contain bug fixes to the core runtime and some additional libraries such as D3DX , XAudio 2 , XInput and Managed DirectX components. The majority of games written for versions of DirectX 9.0c (up to
3960-800: The Microsoft Management Console (MMC), UDF support, the Encrypting File System (EFS), Logical Disk Manager , Image Color Management 2.0, support for PostScript 3 -based printers, OpenType (.OTF) and Type 1 PostScript (.PFB) font support (including a new font— Palatino Linotype —to showcase some OpenType features ), the Data protection API (DPAPI), an LDAP / Active Directory -enabled Address Book , usability enhancements and multi-language and locale support. Windows 2000 also introduced USB device class drivers for USB printers, Mass storage class devices , and improved FireWire SBP-2 support for printers and scanners, along with
4070-709: The Original Xbox and the Xbox 360 use a modified version of Windows 2000 as their system software . Windows 2000, originally named Windows NT 5.0, is a continuation of the Microsoft Windows NT family of operating systems, replacing Windows NT 4.0 . Chairman and CEO Bill Gates was originally "pretty confident" Windows NT 5.0 would ship in the first half of 1998, revealing that the first set of beta builds had been shipped in early 1997; these builds were identical to Windows NT 4.0. The first official beta
4180-889: The Register Server utility. It was also only available to administrator users. Windows XP has this feature activated out of the box and also grants it to regular users. Some of the programs and features that were part of the previous versions of Windows did not make it to Windows XP. Various MS-DOS commands available in its Windows 9x predecessor were removed, as were the POSIX and OS/2 subsystems. In networking, NetBEUI , NWLink and NetDDE were deprecated and not installed by default. Plug-and-play–incompatible communication devices (like modems and network interface cards ) were no longer supported. Service Pack 2 and Service Pack 3 also removed features from Windows XP, including support for TCP half-open connections and
4290-663: The Security Support Provider Interface , improvements to WPA2 security, and an updated version of the Microsoft Enhanced Cryptographic Provider Module that is FIPS 140-2 certified. In incorporating all previously released updates not included in SP2, Service Pack 3 included many other key features. Windows Imaging Component allowed camera vendors to integrate their own proprietary image codecs with
4400-552: The Windows Security Center , Bluetooth support , Data Execution Prevention , Windows Firewall , and support for SDHC cards that are larger than 4 GB and smaller than 32 GB. Windows XP uses prefetching to improve startup and application launch times. It also became possible to revert the installation of an updated device driver , should the updated driver produce undesirable results. A copy protection system known as Windows Product Activation
4510-427: The Windows registry , REGEDIT.EXE and REGEDT32.EXE . REGEDIT has been directly ported from Windows 98 , and therefore does not support editing registry permissions. REGEDT32 has the older multiple document interface (MDI) and can edit registry permissions in the same manner that Windows NT's REGEDT32 program could. REGEDIT has a left-side tree view of the Windows registry , lists all loaded hives and represents
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4620-510: The DFS root, the user is really looking at a DFS link and the DFS server transparently redirects them to the correct file server and share. A DFS root can only exist on a Windows 2000 version that is part of the server family, and only one DFS root can exist on that server. There can be two ways of implementing a DFS namespace on Windows 2000: either through a standalone DFS root or a domain-based DFS root. Standalone DFS allows for only DFS roots on
4730-674: The February 2010 release) can therefore run on Windows 2000. Windows 2000 included the same games as Windows NT 4.0 did: FreeCell , Minesweeper , Pinball , and Solitaire . Windows 2000 introduced the Microsoft Management Console (MMC), which is used to create, save, and open administrative tools. Each of these is called a console , and most allow an administrator to administer other Windows 2000 computers from one centralised computer. Each console can contain one or many specific administrative tools, called snap-ins . These can be either standalone (with one function), or an extension (adding functions to an existing snap-in). In order to provide
4840-704: The OEM channel and then were superseded by the final versions of Server 2003. Windows 2000 introduced many of the new features of Windows 98 and 98 SE into the NT line, such as the Windows Desktop Update , Internet Explorer 5 ( Internet Explorer 6 , which followed in 2001, is also available for Windows 2000), Outlook Express , NetMeeting , FAT32 support, SSE and SSE2 support, Windows Driver Model , Internet Connection Sharing , Windows Media Player 6.4, WebDAV support etc. Certain new features are common across all editions of Windows 2000, among them NTFS 3.0,
4950-550: The PC market to favor its own bundled software, Microsoft was ordered to release special editions of XP in these markets that excluded certain applications. In March 2004, after the European Commission fined Microsoft €497 million (US$ 603 million), Microsoft was ordered to release "N" editions of XP that excluded Windows Media Player, encouraging users to pick and download their own media player software. As it
5060-638: The Taskbar is no longer included because of antitrust violation concerns. Unofficial SP3 ZIP download packages were released on a now-defunct website called The Hotfix from 2005 to 2007. The owner of the website, Ethan C. Allen, was a former Microsoft employee in Software Quality Assurance and would comb through the Microsoft Knowledge Base articles daily and download new hotfixes Microsoft would put online within
5170-829: The Windows 9x accessibility features for people with visual and auditory impairments and other disabilities into the NT-line of operating systems. These included: Additionally, Windows 2000 introduced the following new accessibility features: Windows 2000 introduced the Multilingual User Interface (MUI). Besides English , Windows 2000 incorporates support for Arabic , Armenian , Baltic , Central European, Cyrillic , Georgian , Greek , Hebrew , Indic , Japanese , Korean , simplified Chinese , Thai , traditional Chinese , Turkic , Vietnamese and Western European languages. It also has support for many different locales. Windows 2000 included version 7.0 of
5280-425: The Windows equivalent of a log file , a system information utility, a backup utility , Task Scheduler and management consoles to view open shared folders and shared folder sessions, configure and manage COM+ applications, configure Group Policy , manage all the local users and user groups, and a device manager . It contains Disk Management and Removable Storage snap-ins, a disk defragmenter as well as
5390-540: The ability to control what snap-ins can be seen in a console, the MMC allows consoles to be created in author mode or user mode . Author mode allows snap-ins to be added, new windows to be created, all portions of the console tree to be displayed and consoles to be saved. User mode allows consoles to be distributed with restrictions applied. User mode consoles can grant full access to the user for any change, or they can grant limited access, preventing users from adding snapins to
5500-957: The ability to launch multiple programs without closing the menu by holding down the SHIFT key. A Re-sort button forces the entire Start Menu to be sorted by name. The Taskbar introduces support for balloon notifications which can also be used by application developers. Windows 2000 Explorer introduces customizable Windows Explorer toolbars, auto-complete in Windows Explorer address bar and Run box, advanced file type association features, displaying comments in shortcuts as tooltips, extensible columns in Details view (IColumnProvider interface), icon overlays, integrated search pane in Windows Explorer, sort by name function for menus, and Places bar in common dialogs for Open and Save . Windows Explorer has been enhanced in several ways in Windows 2000. It
5610-574: The address bar on the taskbar. Windows XP was released in two major editions on launch: Home Edition and Professional Edition . Both editions were made available at retail as pre-loaded software on new computers and as boxed copies. Boxed copies were sold as "Upgrade" or "Full" licenses; the "Upgrade" versions were slightly cheaper, but require an existing version of Windows to install. The "Full" version can be installed on systems without an operating system or existing version of Windows. The two editions of XP were aimed at different markets: Home Edition
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#17327806070235720-424: The appearance of the operating system. The number of effects enabled are determined by the operating system based on the computer's processing power, and can be enabled or disabled on a case-by-case basis. XP also added ClearType , a new subpixel rendering system designed to improve the appearance of fonts on liquid-crystal displays . A new set of system icons was also introduced. The default wallpaper, Bliss ,
5830-503: The articles. The articles would have a "kbwinxppresp3fix" and/or "kbwinxpsp3fix" tag, thus allowing Allen to easily find and determine which fixes were planned for the official SP3 release to come. Microsoft publicly stated at the time that the SP3 pack was unofficial and advised users to not install it. Allen also released a Vista SP1 package in 2007, for which Allen received a cease-and-desist email from Microsoft. Windows XP Service Pack 3
5940-570: The code of a driver in order to identify problems that are both difficult to detect and difficult to test for. Bold " Yes " means introduced with this version of Windows. Windows 2000 Windows 2000 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft and oriented towards businesses. It is the direct successor to Windows NT 4.0 , and was released to manufacturing on December 15, 1999, officially released to retail on February 17, 2000 for all versions, and on September 26, 2000 for Windows 2000 Datacenter Server. It
6050-729: The console though they can view multiple windows in a console. Alternatively users can be granted limited access, preventing them from adding to the console and stopping them from viewing multiple windows in a single console. The main tools that come with Windows 2000 can be found in the Computer Management console (in Administrative Tools in the Control Panel). This contains the Event Viewer —a means of viewing system or application-related events and
6160-509: The contents of the system folders aren't displayed by default, instead showing in the right pane a warning to the user that modifying the contents of the system folders could harm their computer. It's possible to define additional Explorer panes by using DIV elements in folder template files. This degree of customizability is new to Windows 2000; neither Windows 98 nor the Desktop Update could provide it. The new DHTML-based search pane
6270-425: The decision was due to apparent market demand for low-end computers with Windows. Variants of Windows XP for embedded systems have different support policies: Windows XP Embedded SP3 and Windows Embedded for Point of Service SP3 were supported until January and April 2016, respectively. Windows Embedded Standard 2009 , which was succeeded by Windows Embedded Standard 7 , and Windows Embedded POSReady 2009 , which
6380-485: The efficient storage of data sets that are very large yet contain many areas that only have zeros. Reparse points allow the object manager to reset a file namespace lookup and let file system drivers implement changed functionality in a transparent manner. Reparse points are used to implement volume mount points , junctions , Hierarchical Storage Management , Native Structured Storage and Single Instance Storage . Volume mount points and directory junctions allow for
6490-404: The encrypted file. To decrypt the file, the file system uses the private key of the user to decrypt the symmetric key stored in the file header. It then uses the symmetric key to decrypt the file. Because this is done at the file system level, it is transparent to the user. For a user losing access to their key, support for recovery agents that can decrypt files is built into EFS. A Recovery Agent
6600-418: The end of support on July 13, 2010, the same day that support ended for Windows XP SP2 . Windows 2000 and Windows 2000 Server were succeeded by Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 , released in 2001 and 2003, respectively. Although unreleased, it was developed on Alpha in alpha, beta, and release candidate versions. Its successor, Windows XP , only supports x86 , x64 and Itanium processors. Both
6710-626: The files in the Dllcache folder. The Recovery Console is run from outside the installed copy of Windows to perform maintenance tasks that can neither be run from within it nor feasibly be run from another computer or copy of Windows 2000. It is usually used to recover the system from problems that cause booting to fail, which would render other tools useless, like Safe Mode or Last Known Good Configuration, or chkdsk . It includes commands like fixmbr , which are not present in MS-DOS. It has
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#17327806070236820-474: The files in the folder, or burn them to a CD). Fast user switching allows additional users to log into a Windows XP machine without existing users having to close their programs and log out. Although only one user at the time can use the console (i.e., monitor, keyboard, and mouse), previous users can resume their session once they regain control of the console. Service Pack 2 and Service Pack 3 also introduced new features to Windows XP post-release, including
6930-655: The final version first appeared in Beta 3 build 1983. Windows 2000 did not have an actual codename because, according to Dave Thompson of Windows NT team, " Jim Allchin didn't like codenames". , although Windows 2000 Service Pack 1 was codenamed "Asteroid". During development, builds for the Alpha architecture were compiled, but the project was abandoned in the final stages of development (between RC1 and RC2 ) after Compaq announced they had dropped support for Windows NT on Alpha. From here, Microsoft issued three release candidates between July and November 1999, and finally released
7040-418: The first 64 KB of memory to disk (the smallest amount of memory that is useful for debugging purposes, also known as a minidump), a dump of only the kernel's memory, or a dump of the entire contents of memory to disk, as well as write that this event happened to the Windows 2000 event log . In order to improve performance on servers running Windows 2000, Microsoft gave administrators the choice of optimizing
7150-473: The first officially released 64-bit version of Windows was Windows XP 64-Bit Edition , released alongside the 32-bit editions of Windows XP on October 25, 2001, followed by the server versions Windows Datacenter Server Limited Edition and later Windows Advanced Server Limited Edition , which were based on the pre-release Windows Server 2003 (then known as Windows .NET Server ) codebase. These editions were released in 2002, were shortly available through
7260-616: The first public beta build of Whistler, build 2296, on October 31, 2000. Subsequent builds gradually introduced features that users of the release version of Windows XP would recognize, such as Internet Explorer 6.0 , the Microsoft Product Activation system, and the Bliss desktop background. Whistler was officially unveiled during a media event on February 5, 2001, under the name Windows XP, where XP stands for "eXPerience". In June 2001, Microsoft indicated that it
7370-490: The following services and features built in: The Server editions include more features and components, including the Microsoft Distributed File System (DFS), Active Directory support and fault-tolerant storage. The Distributed File System (DFS) allows shares in multiple different locations to be logically grouped under one folder, or DFS root . When users try to access a network share off
7480-826: The hardware to check for changes. If significant hardware changes are detected, the activation is voided, and Windows must be re-activated. Windows XP was originally bundled with Internet Explorer 6 , Outlook Express 6, Windows Messenger , and MSN Explorer . New networking features were also added, including Internet Connection Firewall, Internet Connection Sharing integration with UPnP, NAT traversal APIs, Quality of Service features, IPv6 and Teredo tunneling, Background Intelligent Transfer Service , extended fax features, network bridging, peer to peer networking, support for most DSL modems, IEEE 802.11 ( Wi-Fi ) connections with auto configuration and roaming, TAPI 3.1 , and networking over FireWire. Remote Assistance and Remote Desktop were also added, which allow users to connect to
7590-402: The introduction of Active Directory , which in the years following became a widely used directory service in business environments. Four editions of Windows 2000 have been released: Professional , Server , Advanced Server , and Datacenter Server ; the latter was both released to manufacturing and launched months after the other editions. While each edition of Windows 2000 is targeted at
7700-465: The kernel PnP Manager along with the Power Manager are two significant subsystems added in Windows 2000. Windows 2000 introduced version 3 print drivers (user mode printer drivers) based on Unidrv , which made it easier for printer manufacturers to write device drivers for printers. Generic support for 5-button mice is also included as standard and installing IntelliPoint allows reassigning
7810-458: The leaked source code" for certain versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer was reported. On April 15, 2015, GitHub took down a repository containing a copy of the Windows NT 4.0 source code that originated from the leak. Microsoft planned to release in 2000 a version of Windows 2000, specially codenamed "Janus", which would run on 64-bit Intel Itanium microprocessors . However,
7920-524: The left Explorer pane displaying details for the object currently selected, is turned on by default in Windows 2000. For certain file types, such as pictures and media files, the preview is also displayed in the left pane. Until the dedicated interactive preview pane appeared in Windows Vista , Windows 2000 had been the only Windows release to feature an interactive media player as the previewer for sound and video files, enabled by default. However, such
8030-635: The local computer, and thus does not use Active Directory. Domain-based DFS roots exist within Active Directory and can have their information distributed to other domain controllers within the domain – this provides fault tolerance to DFS. DFS roots that exist on a domain must be hosted on a domain controller or on a domain member server. The file and root information is replicated via the Microsoft File Replication Service (FRS). Windows XP Windows XP
8140-461: The main Windows XP exited mainstream support and entered the extended support phase; Microsoft continued to provide security updates every month for Windows XP, however, free technical support, warranty claims, and design changes were no longer being offered. Extended support for the main version ended on April 8, 2014, over 12 years after the release of Windows XP; normally Microsoft products have
8250-589: The operating system components of Windows XP Media Center Edition (MCE) and Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, and security updates for .NET Framework version 1.0, which is included in these editions. However, it does not include update rollups for the Windows Media Center application in Windows XP MCE 2005. SP3 also omits security updates for Windows Media Player 10, although the player is included in Windows XP MCE 2005. The Address Bar DeskBand on
8360-502: The operating system on June 30, 2008, 17 months after the release of Windows Vista. However, an exception was announced on April 3, 2008, for OEMs producing what it defined as "ultra low-cost personal computers", particularly netbooks , until one year after the availability of Windows 7 on October 22, 2009. Analysts felt that the move was primarily intended to compete against Linux -based netbooks, although Microsoft's Kevin Hutz stated that
8470-432: The operating system to partners on December 12, 1999, followed by manufacturing three days later on December 15. The public could buy the full version of Windows 2000 on February 17, 2000. Three days before this event, which Microsoft advertised as "a standard in reliability," a leaked memo from Microsoft reported on by Mary Jo Foley revealed that Windows 2000 had "over 63,000 potential known defects." After Foley's article
8580-511: The operating system's features, such as thumbnails and slideshows. In enterprise features, Remote Desktop Protocol 6.1 included support for ClearType and 32-bit color depth over RDP, while improvements made to Windows Management Instrumentation in Windows Vista to reduce the possibility of corruption of the WMI repository were backported to XP SP3. In addition, SP3 contains updates to
8690-738: The operating system's memory and processor usage patterns for background services or for applications. Windows 2000 also introduced core system administration and management features, such as the Windows Installer , Windows Management Instrumentation and Event Tracing for Windows (ETW) into the operating system. The most notable improvement from Windows NT 4.0 is the addition of Plug and Play with full ACPI and Windows Driver Model support. Similar to Windows 9x , Windows 2000 supports automatic recognition of installed hardware, hardware resource allocation, loading of appropriate drivers, PnP APIs and device notification events. The addition of
8800-404: The original release of Windows XP (without a service pack) ended on August 30, 2005. Both Windows XP Service Pack 1 and 1a were retired on October 10, 2006, and both Windows 2000 and Windows XP SP2 reached their end of support on July 13, 2010, about 24 months after the launch of Windows XP Service Pack 3. The company stopped general licensing of Windows XP to OEMs and terminated retail sales of
8910-658: The original release of XP. SP1 also added USB 2.0 support, the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine , .NET Framework support, and support for technologies used by the then-upcoming Media Center and Tablet PC editions of XP. The most significant change on SP1 was the addition of Set Program Access and Defaults , a settings page which allows programs to be set as default for certain types of activities (such as media players or web browsers) and for access to bundled, Microsoft programs (such as Internet Explorer or Windows Media Player) to be disabled. This feature
9020-485: The programmable buttons. Windows 98 lacked generic support. Driver Verifier was introduced to stress test and catch device driver bugs. Windows 2000 introduces layered windows that allow for transparency, translucency and various transition effects like shadows, gradient fills and alpha-blended GUI elements to top-level windows. Menus support a new Fade transition effect. The Start menu in Windows 2000 introduces personalized menus , expandable special folders and
9130-414: The release "our tests show the successor to Windows NT 4.0 is everything we hoped it would be. Of course, it isn't perfect either." Wired News later described the results of the February launch as "lackluster." Novell criticized Microsoft's Active Directory , the new directory service architecture, as less scalable or reliable than its own Novell Directory Services (NDS) alternative. Windows 2000
9240-543: The release of Windows 7. Service Pack 3 was not available for Windows XP x64 Edition, which was based on the Windows Server 2003 kernel and, as a result, used its service packs rather than the ones for the other editions. It began being automatically pushed out to Automatic Updates users on July 10, 2008. A feature set overview which detailed new features available separately as stand-alone updates to Windows XP, as well as backported features from Windows Vista,
9350-469: The same code-base anyway, it made sense to combine them into a single project". At PDC on July 13, 2000, Microsoft announced that Whistler would be released during the second half of 2001, and also unveiled the first preview build, 2250, which featured an early implementation of Windows XP's visual styles system and interface changes to Windows Explorer and the Control Panel. Microsoft released
9460-474: The same day, Microsoft also announced the final retail pricing of XP's two main editions, "Home" (as a replacement for Windows Me for home computing) and "Professional" (as a replacement for Windows 2000 for high-end users). While retaining some similarities to previous versions, Windows XP's interface was overhauled with a new visual appearance, with an increased use of alpha compositing effects, drop shadows , and " visual styles ", which completely changed
9570-475: The scheduled system builder channel end-of-life (EOL) date of January 31, 2009." Windows XP Service Pack 2 was later included in Windows Embedded for Point of Service and Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs . The third and final Service Pack, SP3, was released through different channels between April 21 and June 10, 2008, about a year after the release of Windows Vista , and about a year before
9680-522: The service pack's security improvements (codenamed "Springboard", as these features were intended to underpin additional changes in Longhorn ) included a major revision to the included firewall (renamed Windows Firewall, and now enabled by default), and an update to Data Execution Prevention , which gained hardware support in the NX bit that can stop some forms of buffer overflow attacks. Raw socket support
9790-611: The shortcut file may be silently updated if the target moves, even to another hard drive. The Encrypting File System (EFS) introduced strong file system -level encryption to Windows. It allows any folder or drive on an NTFS volume to be encrypted transparently by the user. EFS works together with the EFS service, Microsoft's CryptoAPI and the EFS File System Runtime Library (FSRTL). To date, its encryption has not been compromised. EFS works by encrypting
9900-481: The software to be "returned" to the OEM for a refund if the user does not wish to use it. Despite the refusal of some manufacturers to honor the entitlement, it has been enforced by courts in some countries. Two specialized variants of XP were introduced in 2002 for certain types of hardware, exclusively through OEM channels as pre-loaded software. Windows XP Media Center Edition was initially designed for high-end home theater PCs with TV tuners (marketed under
10010-548: The term "Media Center PC"), offering expanded multimedia functionality, an electronic program guide , and digital video recorder (DVR) support through the Windows Media Center application. Microsoft also unveiled Windows XP Tablet PC Edition , which contains additional pen input features, and is optimized for mobile devices meeting its Tablet PC specifications. Two different 64-bit editions of XP were made available. The first, Windows XP 64-Bit Edition ,
10120-420: The three components of a value (its name, type, and data) as separate columns of a table. REGEDT32 has a left-side tree view, but each hive has its own window, so the tree displays only keys and it represents values as a list of strings. REGEDIT supports right-clicking of entries in a tree view to adjust properties and other settings. REGEDT32 requires all actions to be performed from the top menu bar . Windows XP
10230-474: Was released to manufacturing (RTM). During a ceremonial media event at Microsoft Redmond Campus , copies of the RTM build were given to representatives of several major PC manufacturers in briefcases, who then flew off on decorated helicopters. While PC manufacturers would be able to release devices running XP beginning on September 24, 2001, XP was expected to reach general retail availability on October 25, 2001. On
10340-494: Was Microsoft's primary business-oriented operating system until the introduction of Windows XP Professional in 2001. Windows 2000 introduces NTFS 3.0, Encrypting File System , and basic and dynamic disk storage. Support for people with disabilities is improved over Windows NT 4.0 with a number of new assistive technologies , and Microsoft increased support for different languages and locale information. The Windows 2000 Server family has additional features, most notably
10450-463: Was added to comply with the settlement of United States v. Microsoft Corp. , which required Microsoft to offer the ability for OEMs to bundle third-party competitors to software it bundles with Windows (such as Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player ), and give them the same level of prominence as those normally bundled with the OS. On February 3, 2003, Microsoft released Service Pack 1a (SP1a). It
10560-709: Was also initially planned for the business market. However, in January 2000, both projects were scrapped in favor of a single OS codenamed "Whistler", which would serve as a single platform for both consumer and business markets. As a result, Windows XP is the first consumer edition of Windows not based on the Windows 95 kernel or MS-DOS . Windows XP removed support for PC-98 , i486 , and SGI Visual Workstation 320 and 540, and will only run on 32-bit x86 CPUs and devices that use BIOS firmware. Upon its release, Windows XP received critical acclaim, noting increased performance and stability (especially compared to Windows Me),
10670-559: Was focused on two individual products: " Odyssey ", which was reportedly intended to succeed the future Windows 2000 and " Neptune ", which was reportedly a consumer-oriented operating system using the Windows NT architecture, succeeding the MS-DOS -based Windows 98 . However, the projects proved to be too ambitious . In January 2000, shortly prior to the official release of Windows 2000, technology writer Paul Thurrott reported that Microsoft had shelved both Neptune and Odyssey in favor of
10780-490: Was initially planned to replace both Windows 98 and Windows NT 4.0 . However, this would be changed later, as an updated version of Windows 98 called Windows 98 Second Edition was released in 1999. On or shortly before February 12, 2004, "portions of the Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows NT 4.0 source code were illegally made available on the Internet." The source of the leak was later traced to Mainsoft ,
10890-477: Was intended for IA-64 ( Itanium ) systems; as IA-64 usage declined on workstations in favor of AMD 's x86-64 architecture, the Itanium edition was discontinued in January 2005. A new 64-bit edition supporting the x86-64 architecture, called Windows XP Professional x64 Edition , was released in April 2005. Microsoft also targeted emerging markets with the 2004 introduction of Windows XP Starter Edition ,
11000-430: Was introduced with Windows XP and its server counterpart, Windows Server 2003 . All non-enterprise (Volume Licensing) Windows licenses must be tied to a unique ID generated using information from the computer hardware , transmitted either via the internet or a telephone hotline. If Windows is not activated within 30 days of installation, the OS will cease to function until it is activated. Windows also periodically verifies
11110-497: Was introduced. This protects critical Windows system files by preventing programs other than Microsoft's operating system update mechanisms such as the Package Installer , Windows Installer and other update components from modifying them. The System File Checker utility provides users the ability to perform a manual scan of the integrity of all protected system files, and optionally repair them, either by restoring from
11220-734: Was later included in Windows Embedded Standard 2009 and Windows Embedded POSReady 2009 . System requirements for Windows XP are as follows: The maximum amount of RAM that Windows XP can support varies depending on the product edition and the processor architecture. All 32-bit editions of XP support up to 4 GB, except the Windows XP Starter edition, which supports up to 512 MB of RAM. The 64-bit editions support up to 128 GB. Windows XP Professional supports up to two physical processors; Windows XP Home Edition supports only one. However, XP supports
11330-505: Was planning to spend at least US$ 1 billion on marketing and promoting Windows XP, in conjunction with Intel and other PC makers. The theme of the campaign, "Yes You Can", was designed to emphasize the platform's overall capabilities. Microsoft had originally planned to use the slogan "Prepare to Fly", but it was replaced because of sensitivity issues in the wake of the September 11 attacks . On August 24, 2001, Windows XP build 2600
11440-584: Was posted by Microsoft. A total of 1,174 fixes are included in SP3. Service Pack 3 could be installed on systems with Internet Explorer up to and including version 8; Internet Explorer 7 was not included as part of SP3. It also did not include Internet Explorer 8 , but instead was included in Windows 7 , which was released one year after XP SP3. Service Pack 3 included security enhancements over and above those of SP2, including APIs allowing developers to enable Data Execution Prevention for their code, independent of system-wide compatibility enforcement settings,
11550-467: Was published, she claimed that Microsoft blacklisted her for a considerable time. However, Abraham Silberschatz et al. claim in their computer science textbook that "Windows 2000 was the most reliable, stable operating system Microsoft had ever shipped to that point. Much of this reliability came from maturity in the source code, extensive stress testing of the system, and automatic detection of many serious errors in drivers." InformationWeek summarized
11660-577: Was released in September 1997, followed by Beta 2 in August 1998. On October 27, 1998, Microsoft announced that the name of the final version of the operating system would be Windows 2000, a name which referred to its projected release date. Windows 2000 Beta 3 was released in May 1999. Windows NT 5.0 Beta 1 was similar to Windows NT 4.0, including a very similarly themed logo. Windows NT 5.0 Beta 2 introduced
11770-401: Was released on May 14, 2019. Unofficial methods were made available to apply the updates to other editions of Windows XP. Microsoft has discouraged this practice, citing compatibility issues. As of 2024 , globally, under 0.6% of Windows PCs and 0.1% of all devices across all platforms continued to run Windows XP. In the late 1990s, initial development of what would become Windows XP
11880-1021: Was sold at the same price as the edition with Windows Media Player included, certain OEMs (such as Dell , who offered it for a short period, along with Hewlett-Packard , Lenovo and Fujitsu Siemens ) chose not to offer it. Consumer interest was minuscule, with roughly 1,500 units shipped to OEMs , and no reported sales to consumers. In December 2005, the Korean Fair Trade Commission ordered Microsoft to make available editions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 that do not contain Windows Media Player or Windows Messenger. The "K" and "KN" editions of Windows XP were released in August 2006, and are only available in English and Korean, and also contain links to third-party instant messenger and media player software. A service pack
11990-413: Was succeeded by Windows Embedded POSReady 7 , were supported until January and April 2019, respectively. These updates, while intended for the embedded editions, could also be downloaded on standard Windows XP with a registry hack, which enabled unofficial patches until April 2019. However, Microsoft advised Windows XP users against installing these fixes, citing compatibility issues. On April 14, 2009,
12100-588: Was the same as SP1, except the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine was excluded. Service Pack 2 (SP2) for Windows XP Home edition and Professional edition was released on August 25, 2004. Headline features included WPA encryption compatibility for Wi-Fi and usability improvements to the Wi-Fi networking user interface, partial Bluetooth support, and various improvements to security systems. Headed by former computer hacker Window Snyder ,
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