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ME wasn't between the least. It was DOS based. There is no inbetween. It's either IO.SYS or NTOSKRNL.EXE. It made using the real mode MS DOS even worse by shipp

by chx 8y ago

ME wasn't between the least. It was DOS based. There is no inbetween. It's either IO.SYS or NTOSKRNL.EXE. It made using the real mode MS DOS even worse by shipping a special MS DOS which skipped CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT, hidden the files and removed DOS from the boot menu. To fix this, check http://retrosystemsrevival.blogspot.com/2018/06/dos-for-windows-me.html http://retrosystemsrevival.blogspot.com/2018/06/dos-for-wind... this -- quite new blog post, just last month, for something this old.

bitcrazed 8y ago
Actually, no - Windows ME did not depend on MS-DOS. For all the bad rap it got (some of which was deserved), ME bypassed real-mode MS-DOS (and its config files) at bootup, and loaded its own protected-mode drivers, etc. in IO.SYS. It also loaded the main registry hive only once, and parallelized PnP resolution, significantly improving boot-up time. It also incorporated Windows 2000's networking stack, and added support for UPnP. In many ways, ME was a stepping stone, getting some users on less-capable hardware onto Windows 2000 class OS features, without requiring a complete hardware upgrade.
- chx 8y ago
  Erm, nope. IFSMGR.VXD depends on IFSHLP.SYS still. Everyone's favorite error message: the Microsoft Installable File System Manager cannot find the helper driver. Please ensure that IFSHLP.SYS has been installed. This means Windows ME needs a real mode DOS helper for certain file system operations. I can't remember whether the INT 21h function 55h (Create PSP) was still called as frequently as in earlier Windows and handled in DOS but I betcha.
  - bitcrazed 8y ago
    IFSHLP.SYS was originally created during the implementation of OS/2 1.2, and later released in Windows 3.11 running on 32-bit 386 Enhanced Mode. Its job was to provide 32-bit file access (bypassing 16-bit DOS file IO mechanisms), and ensuring nothing else on the system could intercept INT 21h calls. ME didn't depend on MS-DOS (though it did provide support for running MS-DOS apps).

by chx 8y ago

bitcrazed 8y ago

Actually, no - Windows ME did not depend on MS-DOS. For all the bad rap it got (some of which was deserved), ME bypassed real-mode MS-DOS (and its config files) at bootup, and loaded its own protected-mode drivers, etc. in IO.SYS. It also loaded the main registry hive only once, and parallelized PnP resolution, significantly improving boot-up time. It also incorporated Windows 2000's networking stack, and added support for UPnP. In many ways, ME was a stepping stone, getting some users on less-capable hardware onto Windows 2000 class OS features, without requiring a complete hardware upgrade.

chx 8y ago
Erm, nope. IFSMGR.VXD depends on IFSHLP.SYS still. Everyone's favorite error message: the Microsoft Installable File System Manager cannot find the helper driver. Please ensure that IFSHLP.SYS has been installed. This means Windows ME needs a real mode DOS helper for certain file system operations. I can't remember whether the INT 21h function 55h (Create PSP) was still called as frequently as in earlier Windows and handled in DOS but I betcha.
- bitcrazed 8y ago
  IFSHLP.SYS was originally created during the implementation of OS/2 1.2, and later released in Windows 3.11 running on 32-bit 386 Enhanced Mode. Its job was to provide 32-bit file access (bypassing 16-bit DOS file IO mechanisms), and ensuring nothing else on the system could intercept INT 21h calls. ME didn't depend on MS-DOS (though it did provide support for running MS-DOS apps).