Windows NT 3.5 is the second major release of the

Windows NT Windows NT is a Proprietary software, proprietary Graphical user interface, graphical operating system produced by Microsoft as part of its Windows product line, the first version of which, Windows NT 3.1, was released on July 27, 1993. Original ...

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

developed by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

, targeting the data server and personal workstation markets. It was released on September 21, 1994, as the successor to

Windows NT 3.1 Windows NT 3.1 is the first major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft, released on July 27, 1993. It marked the company's entry into the corporate computing environment, designed to support large networks and to be ...

. One of the primary goals during its development was to improve the operating system's performance. As a result, the project was codenamed "Daytona", after the

Daytona International Speedway Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, Daytona Beach, Florida, United States, about north of Orlando, Florida, Orlando. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race ...

Daytona Beach, Florida Daytona Beach is a coastal Resort town, resort city in Volusia County, Florida, United States. Located on the East Coast of the United States, its population was 72,647 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Deltona� ...

. Windows NT 3.5 was succeeded by Windows NT 3.51, released in 1995. Support and updates for Windows NT 3.5 was ended by Microsoft on December 31, 2001.

Features

Windows NT 3.5 comes in two editions: ''NT Workstation'' and ''NT Server''. They respectively replace the ''NT'' and ''NT Advanced Server'' editions of

. The Workstation edition allows only 10 concurrent clients to access the file server and does not support Mac clients. Windows NT 3.5 includes integrated Winsock and

TCP/IP The Internet protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, is a framework for organizing the communication protocols used in the Internet and similar computer networks according to functional criteria. The foundational protocols in the suite are ...

support. (Its predecessor, Windows NT 3.1, only includes an incomplete implementation of TCP/IP based on the

AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...

UNIX System V Unix System V (pronounced: "System Five") is one of the first commercial versions of the Unix operating system. It was originally developed by AT&T and first released in 1983. Four major versions of System V were released, numbered 1, 2, 3, an ...

STREAMS A stream is a continuous body of surface water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to by a variety of local or regional names. Long, large stream ...

" API.) TCP/IP and IPX/SPX stacks in Windows NT 3.5 are rewritten. NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NetBT) support as a compatibility layer for TCP/IP was introduced as also the Microsoft DHCP and WINS clients and DHCP and WINS servers. Windows NT 3.5 can share files via the

File Transfer Protocol The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard communication protocol used for the transfer of computer files from a server to a client on a computer network. FTP is built on a client–server model architecture using separate control and d ...

, and printers through the Line Printer Daemon protocol. It can act as a

Gopher Pocket gophers, commonly referred to simply as gophers, are burrowing rodents of the family Geomyidae. The roughly 41 speciesSearch results for "Geomyidae" on thASM Mammal Diversity Database are all endemic to North and Central America. They ar ...

HTTP HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is an application layer protocol in the Internet protocol suite model for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web, wher ...

, or WAIS server, and includes Remote Access Service for remote dial-up modem access to LAN services using either SLIP or PPP protocols. '' Windows NT 3.5 Resource Kit'' includes the first implementation of Microsoft DNS.DNSSETUP.EXE for Beta DNS Service included in ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/bussys/winnt/winnt-public/reskit/nt35/i386/i386.exe Other new features in Windows NT 3.5 include support for the VFAT file system,

Object Linking and Embedding Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) is a proprietary technology developed by Microsoft that allows embedding and linking to documents and other objects. For developers, it brought OLE Control Extension (OCX), a way to develop and use custom user ...

(OLE) version 2.0 and support for

input/output completion port Input/output completion port (IOCP) is an API for performing multiple simultaneous asynchronous input/output operations in Windows NT versions 3.5 and later, AIX and on Solaris 10 and later. An input/output completion port object is created and ...

s. Microsoft updated the

graphical user interface A graphical user interface, or GUI, is a form of user interface that allows user (computing), users to human–computer interaction, interact with electronic devices through Graphics, graphical icon (computing), icons and visual indicators such ...

to be consistent with that of Windows for Workgroups 3.11. NT 3.5 shows performance improvements over NT 3.1, and requires less memory. Windows NT 3.5 added support for

ATAPI ATAPI (ATA Packet Interface) is a protocol used with the Parallel ATA (IDE) and Serial ATA standards so that a greater variety of devices can be connected to a computer than with the ATA command set alone. It carries SCSI commands and responses ...

CD-ROM. Windows NT 3.5 support for ISA PnP is not enabled by default.

Limitations

A lack of drivers for PCMCIA cards limited NT 3.5's suitability for notebook computers. To install Windows NT 3.5 on a computer that has a sixth-generation or later

x86 x86 (also known as 80x86 or the 8086 family) is a family of complex instruction set computer (CISC) instruction set architectures initially developed by Intel, based on the 8086 microprocessor and its 8-bit-external-bus variant, the 8088. Th ...

processor, one has to modify files on the installation CD-ROM.

Reception

In July 1995, Windows NT 3.5 with Service Pack 3 was rated by the

National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the director of national intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and proces ...

as complying with Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria (TCSEC) C2 criteria.

Support lifecycle

Source code

In May 2020, the full source code for the second release candidate build (build 782.1) of Windows NT 3.5, along with source code for the original

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

, leaked onto the Internet.

References

External links

Guidebook: Windows NT 3.51 Gallery
– A website dedicated to preserving and showcasing Graphical User Interfaces {{Microsoft Windows family 1994 software Products and services discontinued in 2001 3.5 IA-32 operating systems MIPS operating systems Microsoft Windows