Microsoft KB Archive/105992

= Windows NT Subsystems and Associated Files =

Article ID: 105992

Article Last Modified on 10/31/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows NT Advanced Server 3.1
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 3.1
 * Microsoft Windows NT Advanced Server 3.1

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This article was previously published under Q105992



SUMMARY
The following information describes the files associated with each subsystem in Windows NT and the files associated with the virtual MS-DOS machine (VDM) and the Windows on Windows (WOW) environment.

WIN32 Subsystem
CSRSS.EXE   - Main component of Win32 subsystem. KERNEL32.DLL - * GDI32.DLL   - * USER32.DLL  - *

* These files are 32-bit equivalents of the similarly-named Windows files.

POSIX Subsystem
PSXSS.EXE   - Main component of POSIX subsystem. PSXDLL.DLL  - Handles communication between applications and PSXSS.EXE. POSIX.EXE   - Handles communications between POSIX and the Windows NT               executive.

OS/2 Subsystem
OS2SS.EXE   - Main component of OS/2 subsystem. OS2DLL.DLL  - Handles communication between OS/2 application and subsystem. OS2.EXE     - Passes name and command line parameters to OS2SVR.EXE. OS2SRV.EXE  - Component that starts the application for the subsystem.

MS-DOS Virtual DOS Machine (VDM)
NTIO.SYS    - The equivalent of IO.SYS on MS-DOS machines. NTDOS.SYS   - The equivalent of MSDOS.SYS. NTVDM.EXE   - Win32 Application. NTVDM.DLL   - Win32 Application. REDIR.EXE   - Virtual Device Driver (VDD) redirector for the VDM.

Window on Windows (WOW)
WOWEXEC.EXE - Handles the loading of 16-bit Windows-based applications. WOW32.DLL   - Dynamic Link Library of the WOW application environment. NTVDM.EXE   - VDM Component. NTVDM.DLL   - VDM Component. NTIO.SYS    - VDM Component. REDIR.EXE   - VDM Component. VDMREDIR.DLL - Redirector for WOW environment. KRNL386.EXE - Used by WOW on x86 based systems. KRNL286.EXE - Used by WOW on non x86 based systems. GDI.EXE     - Modified version of Windows 3.10 GDI.EXE. USER.EXE    - Modified version of Windows 3.10 USER.EXE.

Additional query words: prodnt

Keywords: kbother KB105992

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