Editing Windows NT 3.1 (section)

=== System ===
Windows NT 3.1 provides a [[boot manager]] called [[NTLDR]] which is loaded during the startup process of the operating system on x86-based computers. It allows a multiboot setup of multiple instances of Windows NT 3.1, as well as MS-DOS and OS/2 1.x.<ref name="msq106168">{{Cite FTP | title=Microsoft Knowledge Base – Windows NT Multi-Boot Support Limitations | url=ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/MISC1/BUSSYS/WINNT/KB/Q106/1/68.TXT | server=FTP server | url-status=dead | access-date=2012-06-08 }}</ref> NTLDR is not used for the RISC versions because the RISC computers' firmware provides their own boot manager.<ref name="msstartup">{{cite web | title=Windows NT Resource Kit – Chapter 19 – What Happens When You Start Your Computer| url=https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc750074 | access-date= 2012-06-08}}</ref>

Every user has to log on to the computer after Windows NT 3.1 is booted up by pressing the key combination [[Control-Alt-Delete|Ctrl+Alt+Del]] and entering the user name and password. All users have their own [[user account]], and user-specific settings like the [[Program Manager]] groups are stored separately for every user. Users can be assigned specific rights, like the right to change the system time or the right to shut down the computer. To facilitate management of user accounts, it is also possible to group multiple user accounts and assign rights to groups of users.<ref name="ct1993" />

Windows NT 3.1 introduced the new [[NTFS]] file system. This new file system is more robust against hardware failures<ref name="Custer1993"/>{{rp|page=10}} and allows assignment of read and write rights to users or groups on the file system level.<ref name="ct1993" /> NTFS supports long file names<ref name="ct1993" /> and has features to accommodate POSIX applications like [[hard link]]s.<ref name="Custer1993"/>{{rp|page=39}} For compatibility reasons, Windows NT 3.1 also supports [[FAT16]] as well as OS/2's file system [[High Performance File System|HPFS]],<ref name="ct1993" /> but does not support long file names on FAT file system ([[VFAT]]). This was added in Windows NT 3.5.

Designed as a networking operating system, Windows NT 3.1 supports multiple [[network protocol]]s. Besides [[IPX/SPX]] and [[NetBEUI]], the [[TCP/IP]] protocol is supported allowing access to the Internet.<ref name="ct1993" /> Similar to ''Windows for Workgroups'', files and printers can be shared and the access rights and configuration of these resources can be edited over the network. When a network printer is installed, the required drivers are automatically transferred over the network, removing the need to manually install the drivers for every computer.<ref name="ct1993" /> The [[Remote Access Service]] (RAS) allows a client from outside the network to connect to the network using a [[modem]], [[ISDN]] or [[X.25]] and access its resources. While the workstation allows one RAS connection at a time, the server supports 64.<ref name="ct1993" />

Windows NT 3.1 supports the then-new [[Unicode]] standard, a [[character set]] which allows multiple languages to be displayed. This facilitates [[Internationalization and localization|localization]] of the operating system.<ref name="msq99884">{{Cite web |date=November 4, 2003 |title=Unicode and Microsoft Windows NT |url=http://support.microsoft.com/kb/99884/EN-US/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041205100017/http://support.microsoft.com/kb/99884/EN-US/ |archive-date=December 5, 2004 |access-date=May 9, 2019 |website=Microsoft Support}}</ref> All strings, as well as file and folder names, are internally processed in Unicode,<ref name="Custer1993"/>{{rp|page=43}} but the included programs, like the [[File Manager]], are not Unicode aware, so folders containing Unicode characters cannot be accessed.<ref name="msq102384">{{Cite web|url=http://support.microsoft.com/kb/102384/en-us|title=Windows NT File Manager: Services for Macintosh Concerns|date=October 31, 2006|website=Microsoft Support|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130227071307/http://support.microsoft.com/kb/102384/en-us|archive-date=February 27, 2013|access-date=May 9, 2019}}</ref> For demonstration purposes, a [[Unicode typeface]] called ''[[Lucida]] Sans Unicode'' is shipped with Windows NT 3.1<ref name="bigelow">{{cite journal | last1=Bigelow | first1=Charles | last2=Holmes | first2=Kris | title=The design of a Unicode font | journal=Electronic Publishing | volume=6 | issue=3 | date=September 1993 | pages=289–305 | url= http://cajun.cs.nott.ac.uk/wiley/journals/epobetan/pdf/volume6/issue3/bigelow.pdf | format=PDF; 0,5 MB |issn=0894-3982}}</ref> even though it is not installed by default. The previous [[code page]]s are still supported for compatibility purposes.<ref name="msq99884" />

The [[Windows registry]], introduced with Windows 3.1, is a central, hierarchical configuration database<ref name="ct1993" /> designed to allow configuration of computers over the network<ref name="ZacharyShowstopper"/>{{rp|page=251}} and to replace the commonly-used text-based configuration files, like [[INI file]]s, [[AUTOEXEC.BAT]] and [[CONFIG.SYS]].<ref name="Custer1993"/>{{rp|page=327}} Using the undocumented registry editor, the Windows registry can be viewed and edited by the user.<ref name="ct1993" />

The ''Advanced Server'' is designed to manage the workstation computers.<ref  name="ct1993" /> It can function as a [[Domain controller]], where all users and groups as well as their rights are stored. This way, a user can log on from any computer in the network, and users can be managed centrally on the server. Trust relationships can be built to other domains to be able to exchange data cross-domain.<ref name="ct1993" /> Using the [[Replication (computing)|replication]] service, files like logon scripts can be synchronized across all computers on the network. The Advanced Server supports the [[AppleTalk]] protocol to allow connections to Macintosh computers.<ref name="ct1993" /> Hard drives can be combined to [[RAID]]s in Windows NT 3.1 Advanced Server, the supported configurations are RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 5.