9 ms·

How to Install Windows NT 4 Server on Proxmox

165 points by thepipetogrep 1y ago

orionblastar 1y ago
The link for your ISO of the VGA driver https://blog.pipetogrep.org/downloads/win_nt_proxmox/vbempk.iso https://blog.pipetogrep.org/downloads/win_nt_proxmox/vbempk.... doesn't work. Did you delete it or move it?
- out-of-ideas 1y ago
  im guessing its an iso made of the contents from the zip linked as the source of that, at https://navozhdeniye.narod.ru/vbemp.htm#2 https://navozhdeniye.narod.ru/vbemp.htm#2 ; you want the 2nd column down ( ensure the url file name matches the filename, except iso is a zip => vbempk.zip )
  - orionblastar 1y ago
    The download link for that website goes to here: https://navozhdeniye.narod.ru/donate.htm https://navozhdeniye.narod.ru/donate.htm Do I have to donate to get the driver?
    - Lammy 1y ago
      That's the first table row, the 2019 version. Click the link in the second table row to get the 2015 version without donation.
    - binarycrusader 1y ago
      archive.org to the rescue https://archive.org/details/VBEMPNT https://archive.org/details/VBEMPNT
      - out-of-ideas 1y ago
        can confirm the iso has the vbempk folder - i can also confirm that the two are not the same (aka the source vbempk.zip and the archive-org's iso's vbempk folder) - i can easily see why text files might have improved wording, cannot know why the sys files are different it'll be in a vm, but i'd still be careful with either choices
    - thepipetogrep 1y ago
      The previous version of the driver from 2015 is still freely available. I got lost there for a bit too.
- thepipetogrep 1y ago
  I have fixed it. Thank you for pointing that out.
jacob019 1y ago
Just got to say that I love the BBS style blog and retro fonts.
- LeoPanthera 1y ago
  The Ultimate Oldschool PC Font Pack: https://int10h.org/oldschool-pc-fonts/ https://int10h.org/oldschool-pc-fonts/
  - bitwize 1y ago
    The font shown on this site is VT323, a TrueType/OpenType version of the DEC VT320 terminal font. It doesn't come from the PC font pack.
- HeckFeck 1y ago
  Same. Reminds me of following tutorials on oldos.org back in the day.
- thepipetogrep 1y ago
  You can thank BSSG for that. It came with that theme. https://bssg.dragas.net/ https://bssg.dragas.net/
LeoPanthera 1y ago
Is there anything you can do with NT4 Server that you can't do with 2000 Server? (Other than run it on Alpha, MIPS or PowerPC.)
- reconnecting 1y ago
  NT 4 feels way stable comparing with 2000. Despite my own experience with Windows ends with XP, NT 4 was always my favourite version.
  - simondotau 1y ago
    The main reason for preferring a newer version of Windows has generally been hardware compatibility. But when virtualising (or emulating), this is far less important as compatibility is usually scaffolded by emulated hardware and/or backported drivers. When your requirements call for an old version of Windows, generally you have a specific piece of software you want to run, so start by choosing the version most widely used at the time, which sometimes isn't the latest version. And you should always experiment, because there are thousands of things which contribute to stability. Newer (or older) version of Windows could be better or worse, depending on your specific case. Regardless which version you pick, treat them as a security risk and (if you're in a serious production environment) avoid giving them unrestricted access to your local network or unrestricted access to the wider internet.
    - reconnecting 1y ago
      NT 4.0 was way different from XP or 2000, and it wasn't just a matter of hardware support. It wasn't as "Plug and Play" as XP, but somehow it worked much more stably. I think back to the days when we had an NT server that ran for years without a reboot, and that's not something you could expect from XP or 2000. Actually, if I ever decide to dive into old Windows, NT 4.0 will be the only version I have personal sentiments for.
      - com2kid 1y ago
        2000 was rock solid stable once it was up and running. It took a lot of one off patches to get my k7 system to that point, but iirc I never had the os crash.
jetbalsa 1y ago
Nice, I've had to do this to get NT4 for Open Stack, QEMU has better support for some of the older hardware required. I've also gotten DOS 6.22 and Networking turned on
reconnecting 1y ago
Was the choice of Windows NT 4 Server over the Workstation version intentional? I can't recall the specifics, but I remember the Workstation version being way more lightweight and easier to setup.
- chungy 1y ago
  They're basically the same, with a different performance profile default and server software. Almost surely the whole article applies identically to Workstation
  - reconnecting 1y ago
    Quoted in PC WeekOnline ("Microsoft: 'significant differences' between NTS, NTW", Norvin Leach, September 10): Roberts acknowledged that NTS and NTW are included in the same binary file. It was easier to build and test them that way, he said. The setting in the Registry, he said, triggers 48 changes to the kernel. These changes cascade down to 700 additional settings in software outside the kernel.
    - Kwpolska 1y ago
      Would be nice to link to the source, which contains more details: https://landley.net/history/mirror/ms/differences_nt.html https://landley.net/history/mirror/ms/differences_nt.html
      - 1oooqooq 1y ago
        > easily saturate a T-1 connection (1.55M bps) to the Internet -- after which the performance differences become meaningless. reading this part reminded me of all the plans I'd hear for "the day everyone will have a T1 on their homes"... sigh. and all we got was Facebook.
        mdaniel 1y ago
        I don't believe the lack of high speed connectivity is strictly technical, as community fiber initiatives have shown, but rather monopolies seek to outlaw self-sufficiency
racingmars 1y ago
Now all we need is for Apache Guacamole to add support into its RDP client for whatever old version of RDP NT 4 Terminal Server uses. Access all those old NT 4 applications through my web browser!
- jeroenhd 1y ago
  With the power of modern CPUs and web browsers, you don't need virtual machines, just use https://www.boxedwine.org/ https://www.boxedwine.org/ or https://bellard.org/jslinux/vm.html?url=win2k.cfg&mem=192&graphic=1&w=1024&h=768 https://bellard.org/jslinux/vm.html?url=win2k.cfg&mem=192&gr... to run the applications inside of your browser! The QEMU image discussed in this article will probably boot fine on JSLinux
CursedSilicon 1y ago
My only "critique" of the article is the lack of SMP (multi-core) enablement NT 4 did support rudimentary multi-processor (Symmetric Multi-Processor) systems back in the day. But it seems to lack the `HLT` instruction in the SMP enabled HAL This means an NT 4 VM will always operate at 100% CPU usage even if it's simply idling. Back in the 2000's when folks were slowly migrating NT 4 workloads to VMware, enterprising users took it upon themselves to patch the NT4 SMP HAL to fix this. But in my own testing that doesn't seem to work and results in a blue screen of death on boot. There's probably a way to do it under QEMU/Proxmox. But I haven't dug deep enough to figure it out myself
- Lammy 1y ago
  > There's probably a way to do it under QEMU/Proxmox. But I haven't dug deep enough to figure it out myself Maybe one of the same utilities commonly used to work around this same issue on Windows 95? Amn Refrigerator (formerly AmnHLT) — not relevant for NT because it uses a VxD driver, but it's my favorite for Windows 95 so I'm linking it here for completeness: https://web.archive.org/web/20010331184312/http://www.amn.ru/refrigerator.html https://web.archive.org/web/20010331184312/http://www.amn.ru... KCPUCooler: https://web.archive.org/web/20010607173439/http://www.kt2k.com/go.php?s=14 https://web.archive.org/web/20010607173439/http://www.kt2k.c... CpuIdle: https://web.archive.org/web/20030925110541/http://www.cpuidle.de/ https://web.archive.org/web/20030925110541/http://www.cpuidl... Waterfall and/or Rain from Leading Wintech (can't find the original URL): https://vetusware.com/manufacturer/Leading%20Wintech/?author=1419 https://vetusware.com/manufacturer/Leading%20Wintech/?author... VCool or CPUCooL might be the ones to try because they're the only ones that seem to explicitly mention supporting NT: “VCool now utilizes its own driver on NT, W2K, XP: vcool.sys” https://web.archive.org/web/20041205132318/http://vcool.occludo.net/VCool.html https://web.archive.org/web/20041205132318/http://vcool.occl... “CPU Cooling under Windows 95 / 98 / NT / 2000 (Watch Wintop !)” https://web.archive.org/web/20041211214000/http://www.cpufsb.de/CPUCOOL.HTM https://web.archive.org/web/20041211214000/http://www.cpufsb...
  - anonymars 1y ago
    Which, by the way, for background of why this issue exists (Old New Thing of course): https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20030828-00/?p=42753 https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20030828-00/?p=42... If anyone can find the archive link to the original, I believe there was discussion in the comments about "why not exclude it for specific hardware only" and the risk of false negatives was deemed too high
Lammy 1y ago
> Disk size: 4GB. I could not get it to format a boot drive larger than this. > Bus/Device: SCSI. IMPORTANT: Do NOT use IDE. It will be slow noticeably slower and for some reason leads to file system corruption on NT4 guests despite changing the caching options. IMO what you really want is Alter's Universal ATA Driver (UniATA): http://alter.org.ua/soft/win/uni_ata/ http://alter.org.ua/soft/win/uni_ata/ Here's some relevant Knowledge Base for you: Q98080: 1024 Cylinder Limit, How Windows NT Gets Drive Geometry https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/45884 https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/45884 Q100525: Definition of System and Boot Partition https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/47139 https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/47139 Q114841: Windows NT Boot Process and Hard Disk Constraints https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/52494 https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/52494 Q119497: Boot Partition Created During Setup Limited to 4 Gigabytes https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/46361 https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/46361 Q127851: Problems Accessing FAT16 Drives Larger Than 2 GB https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/106328 https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/106328 Q138364: Windows NT Partitioning Rules During Setup https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/52635 https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/52635 Q154052: Explanation of X86 Boot Drive Limitations https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/48096 https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/48096 Q161563: How Windows NT Handles Drive Translation https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/48808 https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/48808 Q197295: WinNT Does Not Boot to Partition That Starts More Than 4 GB Into Disk https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/69226 https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/69226 Q197667: Installing Windows NT on a Large IDE Hard Disk https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/69256 https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/69256 Q224526: Windows NT 4.0 Supports Maximum of 7.8-GB System Partition https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/70367 https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/70367
InsideOutSanta 1y ago
I couldn't find a way to contact the author, but in case he's reading this or anyone knows his contact information: I'd like to subscribe to your blog, but your RSS feed is currently broken.
- st_goliath 1y ago
  > I couldn't find a way to contact the author If you remove the "blog." subdomain and go to https://pipetogrep.org/ https://pipetogrep.org/ you are greeted by a typical "about me" page. It includes a link back to the blog, as well as a mailto link, and links to GitHub and LinkedIn profiles.
  - genewitch 1y ago
    What are you, some kind of hacker wizard
    - Scharkenberg 1y ago
      This is Wizard News after all.
  - stavros 1y ago
    I want to subscribe to your comments but your RSS feed is currently broken.
    - thepipetogrep 1y ago
      Noted and thanks. I will try to get it fixed.
    - mdaniel 1y ago
      I'm guessing you were being funny but https://hnrss.org/replies?id=44086171 https://hnrss.org/replies?id=44086171
      - stavros 1y ago
mr_tox 1y ago
I love the BBS style blog and all the other retro stuff :)
Kwpolska 1y ago
> Add a bigger disk. Share some files to your old Windows machines. Learn how old Active Directory worked. Set up Exchange and get some mail going. Active Directory was in Windows 2000, NT4 has a different domain technology. If you want to play with old Windows Server stuff, Windows 2000 would be a better, more coherent option, compatible with more modern software.
- anthk 1y ago
  This. It woudn't be too difficult to even port Supermium to Windows 2000 given it has an XP release.
  - LeFantome 1y ago
    You would have to backport a few APIs. From memory, GetAddrInfoW is one of them.
- EvanAnderson 1y ago
  Total agreement. I ran a lot of Exchange 4.0 thru 5.5 on NT 4.0 and Exchange 2000 on Windows 2000 and 2003 back in the day. I can't say I miss any of that software (except, maybe, some faint happy remembrance of Windows Server 2003). Windows 2000 and newer are infinitely more useful and less quirky the prior NT versions (coherent OS servicing strategy, fewer reboots after settings changes, plug 'n play support). I suppose there's an argument to be made for trying that stuff out to see why the newer stuff is better. In a homelab, though, you're never going to get to the scale to see why NT 4.0 domains were a pain point. Likewise, you probably won't be max'ing out an Exchange EDB size, or feeling the I/O pain that came w/ trying to sling content from a 50GB Exchange Information Store thru a 32-bit OS. There definitely is an "ah, ha!" moment to be had looking first at the NT 4.0 Domain system, then at an Exchange Directory Service, and thinking "What if my Windows Domain could be like this?" (This was the genesis of Active Directory.)
- thepipetogrep 1y ago
  Ah, good to know. Thank guess it would be better to say “Learn how NT domain controllers work.” Thanks for the correction.
lakomen 1y ago
[dead]
simonjgreen 1y ago
Wow that NT era weave logo triggered a lot of memories. In particular Windows Back Office (which later became SBS). Many evenings spent fixing SMS, Mail, and ISA. There is a lot to be said for on prem that the cloud era marketing departments have erased. I seriously miss the on prem first mindset. It’s not clear at all to me if there is a universal best/winner now.For example: I regularly hit issues with Entra where there are feature gaps vs AD such as MemberOf. But as a counter, I have no love lost for roaming profiles. You could probably debate it for weeks.
curtisszmania 1y ago
[dead]
ComputerGuru 1y ago
> Windows NT 4 doesn't virtualise well Citation needed? I remember running into no issues with VMware Workstation when I was preserving historical content from legacy OSes well over a decade ago.
- WarOnPrivacy 1y ago
  >> Windows NT 4 doesn't virtualise well > Citation needed? https://kagi.com/search?q=Windows+NT+4+doesn%27t+virtualise+well&r=us&sh=aB8LpyKIWp3rUb6iRAegSA https://kagi.com/search?q=Windows+NT+4+doesn%27t+virtualise+...
  - ComputerGuru 1y ago
    Those are all issues actively virtualizing (i.e. taking a physical machine installation virtual), not installing NT 4 clean in a virtual env.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
WarOnPrivacy 1y ago
NT4 can do USB! tl;dr: https://nt4ref.zcm.com.au/usb.htm https://nt4ref.zcm.com.au/usb.htm I learned this last Thur. A pharma client had an NT4 box with a fried PS2 port. I got onboard USB operational using the above resource and they can mouse again. MS chose to omit USB from NT4 and the OS EOL'd that way. A 3rd party corp wrote a USB driver stack for NT, 20+yr ago. A civic minded someone put up the above linked site to make it usable.
watersb 1y ago
FWIW, I wrote a book about Windows NT Server 4. Internet Archive has a copy you can read online: https://archive.org/details/windowsntserver400cowa/page/n9/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/windowsntserver400cowa/page/n9/m... I'm not sure how it holds up. This was the very last generation of big tech books about Windows Server that were not aligned with a test curriculum. I honestly don't know if that's a good thing; the standardized tests at least made sure (I hope) that the information was accurate and that the important topics were covered. Whereas I started with a blank sheet of paper. Wrote whatever I could figure out and get working. Very much pre-Active Directory; in my day job at the time we ran a Banyan Vines network, because the directory is the primary service. I'm proud of the chapter on Macintosh clients, as it was a good piece of tech at the time and no one else talked about it much.
minhoryang 1y ago
I am looking for a provider who can offer yearly reports on installing legacy operating systems on modern or widely adopted hypervisors. For example, just last week I requested the installation of Windows 2000 on Proxmox. I am fully aware of the differences and challenges involved in working with Windows NT4 versus Windows 2000.

165 points by thepipetogrep 1y ago

The link for your ISO of the VGA driver https://blog.pipetogrep.org/downloads/win_nt_proxmox/vbempk.iso https://blog.pipetogrep.org/downloads/win_nt_proxmox/vbempk.... doesn't work. Did you delete it or move it?

out-of-ideas 1y ago
im guessing its an iso made of the contents from the zip linked as the source of that, at https://navozhdeniye.narod.ru/vbemp.htm#2 https://navozhdeniye.narod.ru/vbemp.htm#2 ; you want the 2nd column down ( ensure the url file name matches the filename, except iso is a zip => vbempk.zip )
- orionblastar 1y ago
  The download link for that website goes to here: https://navozhdeniye.narod.ru/donate.htm https://navozhdeniye.narod.ru/donate.htm Do I have to donate to get the driver?
  - Lammy 1y ago
    That's the first table row, the 2019 version. Click the link in the second table row to get the 2015 version without donation.
  - binarycrusader 1y ago
    archive.org to the rescue https://archive.org/details/VBEMPNT https://archive.org/details/VBEMPNT
    - out-of-ideas 1y ago
      can confirm the iso has the vbempk folder - i can also confirm that the two are not the same (aka the source vbempk.zip and the archive-org's iso's vbempk folder) - i can easily see why text files might have improved wording, cannot know why the sys files are different it'll be in a vm, but i'd still be careful with either choices
  - thepipetogrep 1y ago
    The previous version of the driver from 2015 is still freely available. I got lost there for a bit too.
thepipetogrep 1y ago
I have fixed it. Thank you for pointing that out.

jacob019 1y ago

Just got to say that I love the BBS style blog and retro fonts.

LeoPanthera 1y ago
The Ultimate Oldschool PC Font Pack: https://int10h.org/oldschool-pc-fonts/ https://int10h.org/oldschool-pc-fonts/
- bitwize 1y ago
  The font shown on this site is VT323, a TrueType/OpenType version of the DEC VT320 terminal font. It doesn't come from the PC font pack.
HeckFeck 1y ago
Same. Reminds me of following tutorials on oldos.org back in the day.
thepipetogrep 1y ago
You can thank BSSG for that. It came with that theme. https://bssg.dragas.net/ https://bssg.dragas.net/

LeoPanthera 1y ago

Is there anything you can do with NT4 Server that you can't do with 2000 Server? (Other than run it on Alpha, MIPS or PowerPC.)

reconnecting 1y ago
NT 4 feels way stable comparing with 2000. Despite my own experience with Windows ends with XP, NT 4 was always my favourite version.
- simondotau 1y ago
  The main reason for preferring a newer version of Windows has generally been hardware compatibility. But when virtualising (or emulating), this is far less important as compatibility is usually scaffolded by emulated hardware and/or backported drivers. When your requirements call for an old version of Windows, generally you have a specific piece of software you want to run, so start by choosing the version most widely used at the time, which sometimes isn't the latest version. And you should always experiment, because there are thousands of things which contribute to stability. Newer (or older) version of Windows could be better or worse, depending on your specific case. Regardless which version you pick, treat them as a security risk and (if you're in a serious production environment) avoid giving them unrestricted access to your local network or unrestricted access to the wider internet.
  - reconnecting 1y ago
    NT 4.0 was way different from XP or 2000, and it wasn't just a matter of hardware support. It wasn't as "Plug and Play" as XP, but somehow it worked much more stably. I think back to the days when we had an NT server that ran for years without a reboot, and that's not something you could expect from XP or 2000. Actually, if I ever decide to dive into old Windows, NT 4.0 will be the only version I have personal sentiments for.
    - com2kid 1y ago
      2000 was rock solid stable once it was up and running. It took a lot of one off patches to get my k7 system to that point, but iirc I never had the os crash.

jetbalsa 1y ago

Nice, I've had to do this to get NT4 for Open Stack, QEMU has better support for some of the older hardware required. I've also gotten DOS 6.22 and Networking turned on

reconnecting 1y ago

Was the choice of Windows NT 4 Server over the Workstation version intentional? I can't recall the specifics, but I remember the Workstation version being way more lightweight and easier to setup.

chungy 1y ago
They're basically the same, with a different performance profile default and server software. Almost surely the whole article applies identically to Workstation
- reconnecting 1y ago
  Quoted in PC WeekOnline ("Microsoft: 'significant differences' between NTS, NTW", Norvin Leach, September 10): Roberts acknowledged that NTS and NTW are included in the same binary file. It was easier to build and test them that way, he said. The setting in the Registry, he said, triggers 48 changes to the kernel. These changes cascade down to 700 additional settings in software outside the kernel.
  - Kwpolska 1y ago
    Would be nice to link to the source, which contains more details: https://landley.net/history/mirror/ms/differences_nt.html https://landley.net/history/mirror/ms/differences_nt.html
    - 1oooqooq 1y ago
      > easily saturate a T-1 connection (1.55M bps) to the Internet -- after which the performance differences become meaningless. reading this part reminded me of all the plans I'd hear for "the day everyone will have a T1 on their homes"... sigh. and all we got was Facebook.
      - mdaniel 1y ago
        I don't believe the lack of high speed connectivity is strictly technical, as community fiber initiatives have shown, but rather monopolies seek to outlaw self-sufficiency

racingmars 1y ago

Now all we need is for Apache Guacamole to add support into its RDP client for whatever old version of RDP NT 4 Terminal Server uses. Access all those old NT 4 applications through my web browser!

jeroenhd 1y ago
With the power of modern CPUs and web browsers, you don't need virtual machines, just use https://www.boxedwine.org/ https://www.boxedwine.org/ or https://bellard.org/jslinux/vm.html?url=win2k.cfg&mem=192&graphic=1&w=1024&h=768 https://bellard.org/jslinux/vm.html?url=win2k.cfg&mem=192&gr... to run the applications inside of your browser! The QEMU image discussed in this article will probably boot fine on JSLinux

CursedSilicon 1y ago

My only "critique" of the article is the lack of SMP (multi-core) enablement NT 4 did support rudimentary multi-processor (Symmetric Multi-Processor) systems back in the day. But it seems to lack the `HLT` instruction in the SMP enabled HAL This means an NT 4 VM will always operate at 100% CPU usage even if it's simply idling. Back in the 2000's when folks were slowly migrating NT 4 workloads to VMware, enterprising users took it upon themselves to patch the NT4 SMP HAL to fix this. But in my own testing that doesn't seem to work and results in a blue screen of death on boot. There's probably a way to do it under QEMU/Proxmox. But I haven't dug deep enough to figure it out myself

Lammy 1y ago
> There's probably a way to do it under QEMU/Proxmox. But I haven't dug deep enough to figure it out myself Maybe one of the same utilities commonly used to work around this same issue on Windows 95? Amn Refrigerator (formerly AmnHLT) — not relevant for NT because it uses a VxD driver, but it's my favorite for Windows 95 so I'm linking it here for completeness: https://web.archive.org/web/20010331184312/http://www.amn.ru/refrigerator.html https://web.archive.org/web/20010331184312/http://www.amn.ru... KCPUCooler: https://web.archive.org/web/20010607173439/http://www.kt2k.com/go.php?s=14 https://web.archive.org/web/20010607173439/http://www.kt2k.c... CpuIdle: https://web.archive.org/web/20030925110541/http://www.cpuidle.de/ https://web.archive.org/web/20030925110541/http://www.cpuidl... Waterfall and/or Rain from Leading Wintech (can't find the original URL): https://vetusware.com/manufacturer/Leading%20Wintech/?author=1419 https://vetusware.com/manufacturer/Leading%20Wintech/?author... VCool or CPUCooL might be the ones to try because they're the only ones that seem to explicitly mention supporting NT: “VCool now utilizes its own driver on NT, W2K, XP: vcool.sys” https://web.archive.org/web/20041205132318/http://vcool.occludo.net/VCool.html https://web.archive.org/web/20041205132318/http://vcool.occl... “CPU Cooling under Windows 95 / 98 / NT / 2000 (Watch Wintop !)” https://web.archive.org/web/20041211214000/http://www.cpufsb.de/CPUCOOL.HTM https://web.archive.org/web/20041211214000/http://www.cpufsb...
- anonymars 1y ago
  Which, by the way, for background of why this issue exists (Old New Thing of course): https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20030828-00/?p=42753 https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20030828-00/?p=42... If anyone can find the archive link to the original, I believe there was discussion in the comments about "why not exclude it for specific hardware only" and the risk of false negatives was deemed too high

Lammy 1y ago

> Disk size: 4GB. I could not get it to format a boot drive larger than this. > Bus/Device: SCSI. IMPORTANT: Do NOT use IDE. It will be slow noticeably slower and for some reason leads to file system corruption on NT4 guests despite changing the caching options. IMO what you really want is Alter's Universal ATA Driver (UniATA): http://alter.org.ua/soft/win/uni_ata/ http://alter.org.ua/soft/win/uni_ata/ Here's some relevant Knowledge Base for you: Q98080: 1024 Cylinder Limit, How Windows NT Gets Drive Geometry https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/45884 https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/45884 Q100525: Definition of System and Boot Partition https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/47139 https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/47139 Q114841: Windows NT Boot Process and Hard Disk Constraints https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/52494 https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/52494 Q119497: Boot Partition Created During Setup Limited to 4 Gigabytes https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/46361 https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/46361 Q127851: Problems Accessing FAT16 Drives Larger Than 2 GB https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/106328 https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/106328 Q138364: Windows NT Partitioning Rules During Setup https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/52635 https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/52635 Q154052: Explanation of X86 Boot Drive Limitations https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/48096 https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/48096 Q161563: How Windows NT Handles Drive Translation https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/48808 https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/48808 Q197295: WinNT Does Not Boot to Partition That Starts More Than 4 GB Into Disk https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/69226 https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/69226 Q197667: Installing Windows NT on a Large IDE Hard Disk https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/69256 https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/69256 Q224526: Windows NT 4.0 Supports Maximum of 7.8-GB System Partition https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/70367 https://helparchive.huntertur.net/document/70367

InsideOutSanta 1y ago

I couldn't find a way to contact the author, but in case he's reading this or anyone knows his contact information: I'd like to subscribe to your blog, but your RSS feed is currently broken.

st_goliath 1y ago
> I couldn't find a way to contact the author If you remove the "blog." subdomain and go to https://pipetogrep.org/ https://pipetogrep.org/ you are greeted by a typical "about me" page. It includes a link back to the blog, as well as a mailto link, and links to GitHub and LinkedIn profiles.
- genewitch 1y ago
  What are you, some kind of hacker wizard
  - Scharkenberg 1y ago
    This is Wizard News after all.
- stavros 1y ago
  I want to subscribe to your comments but your RSS feed is currently broken.
  - thepipetogrep 1y ago
    Noted and thanks. I will try to get it fixed.
  - mdaniel 1y ago
    I'm guessing you were being funny but https://hnrss.org/replies?id=44086171 https://hnrss.org/replies?id=44086171
    - stavros 1y ago

mr_tox 1y ago

I love the BBS style blog and all the other retro stuff :)

Kwpolska 1y ago

> Add a bigger disk. Share some files to your old Windows machines. Learn how old Active Directory worked. Set up Exchange and get some mail going. Active Directory was in Windows 2000, NT4 has a different domain technology. If you want to play with old Windows Server stuff, Windows 2000 would be a better, more coherent option, compatible with more modern software.

anthk 1y ago
This. It woudn't be too difficult to even port Supermium to Windows 2000 given it has an XP release.
- LeFantome 1y ago
  You would have to backport a few APIs. From memory, GetAddrInfoW is one of them.
EvanAnderson 1y ago
Total agreement. I ran a lot of Exchange 4.0 thru 5.5 on NT 4.0 and Exchange 2000 on Windows 2000 and 2003 back in the day. I can't say I miss any of that software (except, maybe, some faint happy remembrance of Windows Server 2003). Windows 2000 and newer are infinitely more useful and less quirky the prior NT versions (coherent OS servicing strategy, fewer reboots after settings changes, plug 'n play support). I suppose there's an argument to be made for trying that stuff out to see why the newer stuff is better. In a homelab, though, you're never going to get to the scale to see why NT 4.0 domains were a pain point. Likewise, you probably won't be max'ing out an Exchange EDB size, or feeling the I/O pain that came w/ trying to sling content from a 50GB Exchange Information Store thru a 32-bit OS. There definitely is an "ah, ha!" moment to be had looking first at the NT 4.0 Domain system, then at an Exchange Directory Service, and thinking "What if my Windows Domain could be like this?" (This was the genesis of Active Directory.)
thepipetogrep 1y ago
Ah, good to know. Thank guess it would be better to say “Learn how NT domain controllers work.” Thanks for the correction.

lakomen 1y ago

[dead]

simonjgreen 1y ago

Wow that NT era weave logo triggered a lot of memories. In particular Windows Back Office (which later became SBS). Many evenings spent fixing SMS, Mail, and ISA. There is a lot to be said for on prem that the cloud era marketing departments have erased. I seriously miss the on prem first mindset. It’s not clear at all to me if there is a universal best/winner now.For example: I regularly hit issues with Entra where there are feature gaps vs AD such as MemberOf. But as a counter, I have no love lost for roaming profiles. You could probably debate it for weeks.

curtisszmania 1y ago

[dead]

ComputerGuru 1y ago

> Windows NT 4 doesn't virtualise well Citation needed? I remember running into no issues with VMware Workstation when I was preserving historical content from legacy OSes well over a decade ago.

WarOnPrivacy 1y ago
>> Windows NT 4 doesn't virtualise well > Citation needed? https://kagi.com/search?q=Windows+NT+4+doesn%27t+virtualise+well&r=us&sh=aB8LpyKIWp3rUb6iRAegSA https://kagi.com/search?q=Windows+NT+4+doesn%27t+virtualise+...
- ComputerGuru 1y ago
  Those are all issues actively virtualizing (i.e. taking a physical machine installation virtual), not installing NT 4 clean in a virtual env.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]

WarOnPrivacy 1y ago

NT4 can do USB! tl;dr: https://nt4ref.zcm.com.au/usb.htm https://nt4ref.zcm.com.au/usb.htm I learned this last Thur. A pharma client had an NT4 box with a fried PS2 port. I got onboard USB operational using the above resource and they can mouse again. MS chose to omit USB from NT4 and the OS EOL'd that way. A 3rd party corp wrote a USB driver stack for NT, 20+yr ago. A civic minded someone put up the above linked site to make it usable.

watersb 1y ago

FWIW, I wrote a book about Windows NT Server 4. Internet Archive has a copy you can read online: https://archive.org/details/windowsntserver400cowa/page/n9/mode/1up https://archive.org/details/windowsntserver400cowa/page/n9/m... I'm not sure how it holds up. This was the very last generation of big tech books about Windows Server that were not aligned with a test curriculum. I honestly don't know if that's a good thing; the standardized tests at least made sure (I hope) that the information was accurate and that the important topics were covered. Whereas I started with a blank sheet of paper. Wrote whatever I could figure out and get working. Very much pre-Active Directory; in my day job at the time we ran a Banyan Vines network, because the directory is the primary service. I'm proud of the chapter on Macintosh clients, as it was a good piece of tech at the time and no one else talked about it much.

minhoryang 1y ago

I am looking for a provider who can offer yearly reports on installing legacy operating systems on modern or widely adopted hypervisors. For example, just last week I requested the installation of Windows 2000 on Proxmox. I am fully aware of the differences and challenges involved in working with Windows NT4 versus Windows 2000.