Editing Windows NT 4.0 (section)

==Comparison with Windows 95==
Windows NT 4.0, like previous versions of Windows NT before it and versions after it, is a fully 32-bit OS, while Windows 95 is a 16/32-bit hybrid OS.

While providing much greater stability than Windows 95, Windows NT 4.0 was less flexible from a desktop perspective. Much of the stability was gained through the use of protected memory and the [[hardware abstraction layer]]. Direct hardware access was disallowed and "misbehaving" programs were terminated without needing the computer to be restarted. The trade-off was that NT required much more memory (32 MB for normal desktop use, 128 MB or more for heavy 3D applications) in comparison to consumer targeted products such as Windows 95.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://docs.rinet.ru/Registratura/htm/ch14.htm|title=Troubleshooting and Configuring the Windows NT/95 Registry: Windows 95 and Plug and Play|publisher=Macmillan Computer Publishing|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080424044257/http://docs.rinet.ru/Registratura/htm/ch14.htm|archive-date=April 24, 2008|access-date=September 4, 2009}}</ref>

While nearly all programs written for Windows 95 run on Windows NT, many 3D games would not, partly because of limited DirectX support for Windows NT 4.0. Third-party device drivers were an alternative to access the hardware directly, but poorly written drivers became a frequent source of [[Stop error|system crashes]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.itprotoday.com/compute-engines/windows-nt-40-good-bad-and-ugly|title=Windows NT 4.0: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly|date=September 30, 1996|website=IT Pro|language=en|access-date=September 17, 2019|archive-date=November 14, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211114060206/https://www.itprotoday.com/compute-engines/windows-nt-40-good-bad-and-ugly|url-status=live}}</ref>

In spite of shipping a year later than Windows 95, by default there is no [[Legacy Plug and Play]] support and no [[Device Manager]] on Windows NT 4.0, which greatly simplifies installation of hardware devices (although limited support could be installed later). However, [[EISA bus|EISA]] bus and [[PCI bus|PCI]] bus is supported by Windows NT 4.0.<ref>http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pdf/microsoft/windows_NT_4.0/69727-0796_Microsoft_Windows_NT_Version_4.0_Hardware_Compatibility_List_199607.pdf</ref> Many basic DOS programs would run; however, graphical DOS programs would not run because of the way they accessed graphics hardware. Although Windows NT 4.0 introduced an [[application programming interface]] (API) for defragmentation,<ref name="NTDefrag"/> there was no built-in defragmentation utility, unlike Windows 95. Also, Windows NT 4.0 lacked [[USB]] support, a preliminary version of which would be added to OEM editions of Windows 95 in OSR 2.1.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.itprotoday.com/compute-engines/does-windows-nt2000-support-usb|title=Does Windows NT/2000 support USB?|date=January 8, 2000|website=IT Pro|language=en|access-date=September 17, 2019|archive-date=April 18, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220418053017/https://www.itprotoday.com/compute-engines/does-windows-nt2000-support-usb|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-utilities-that-nt-4-0-forgot-disk-defragmenter/|title=The utilities that NT 4.0 forgot: Disk Defragmenter|last=Perlow|first=Jason|date=February 22, 2001|website=ZDNet|language=en|access-date=September 17, 2019|archive-date=April 18, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220418053015/https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-utilities-that-nt-4-0-forgot-disk-defragmenter/|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Accelerated Graphics Port|AGP]] support can be added with SP3 or later. Large disk (> 8 GB) support can be added with SP4 or later. [[FAT32]] is not officially supported by Windows NT 4.0.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/04/windows_format_fat32/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220108155932/https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/04/windows_format_fat32/ | archive-date=2022-01-08 | title=Explained: The thinking behind the 32GB Windows Format limit on FAT32 | date=2021-01-04 | author=Richard Speed | publisher=[[The Register]] | quote=...Windows NT 4.0 did not actually natively support FAT32, and a third-party driver by Winternals was required to provide FAT32 support on NT 4... | access-date=2023-12-09 | url-status=live}}</ref>

The difference between the NT family and 9x family would remain until the release of [[Windows XP]] in 2001. At that time, the APIs — such as OpenGL and DirectX — had matured sufficiently to be more efficient to write for common PC hardware, and the hardware itself had become powerful enough to handle the API processing overhead.

The maximum amount of supported physical [[random-access memory]] (RAM) in Windows NT 4.0 is 4&nbsp;GB,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/hardware/design/dn613959(v=vs.85)|title=Memory Support and Windows Operating Systems|date=June 1, 2017|work=Microsoft Docs|publisher=[[Microsoft]]|access-date=May 17, 2019|archive-date=April 23, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220423022708/https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/windows/hardware/design/dn613959%28v=vs.85%29|url-status=live}}</ref> which is the maximum possible for a 32-bit operating system that does not support PAE.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.microsoft.com/products/ProdRef/458_faq.htm |title=Windows NT 4.0 FAQ |date=December 28, 1999 |work=Microsoft Docs |publisher=[[Microsoft]] |access-date=February 14, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19990508232309/http://www.microsoft.com/products/ProdRef/458_faq.htm |archive-date=8 May 1999 |url-status=dead}}</ref> By comparison, Windows 95 fails to boot on computers with more than approximately 480&nbsp;MB of memory.<ref>{{cite web|title=Windows 95 doesn't boot with more than 1GB of RAM|url=https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20030814-00/?p=42903|work=The Old New Thing|publisher=[[Microsoft]]|author-link=Raymond Chen (Microsoft)|last=Chen|first=Raymond|date=August 14, 2003|access-date=March 24, 2019|archive-date=March 30, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330072140/https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20030814-00/?p=42903|url-status=live}}</ref>

Like previous versions of NT, version 4.0 can run on multiple processor architectures. Windows 95, however, can only run on x86.