MS-DOS

Logo of MS-DOS

MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System) is an operating system for x86 based personal computers. It was based on QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System), also known as 86-DOS, which was made by Tim Paterson and purchased by Microsoft. It was the most commonly used member of the DOS family of operating systems, and was the main operating system for personal computers during the 1980s and 1990s. It was preceded by M-DOS (also called MIDAS), designed and copyrighted by Microsoft in 1979. MS-DOS was written for the Intel 8086 family of microprocessors, particularly the IBM PC and compatibles. An MSX port was also made, called MSX-DOS.

It was gradually replaced on consumer desktop computers by operating systems offering a graphical user interface (GUI), in particular by various generations of the Microsoft Windows operating system. It is still used by a tiny market niche where legacy DOS applications are still required, but no modern version is available.

Microsoft and IBM both had their own versions of MS-DOS. There are not many differences between the two versions before the split up, when IBM started developing PC-DOS independently of Microsoft. IBM distributed their version of MS-DOS first as IBM DOS (prior to version 5.0), and later on as IBM PC-DOS.

Known versions

MS-DOS 1.x

• MS-DOS:1.12 - Compaq OEM
• MS-DOS:1.13 - Texas Instruments OEM
• MS-DOS:1.19 - Zenith OEM
• MS-DOS:1.20 - Zenith OEM
• MS-DOS:1.25 - Corona, Zenith and Sanyo OEM

MS-DOS 2.x

• MS-DOS:2.00 - Olivetti and NCR OEM
• MS-DOS:2.01 - OEM
• MS-DOS:2.02 - Compaq OEM
• MS-DOS:2.05 - DEC OEM
• MS-DOS:2.11 - AT&T, BULL, TeleVideo, Olivetti, Toshiba, Apricot, NEC, NCR, Tandy and ITT OEM
• MS-DOS:2.11D - Ericsson OEM
• MS-DOS:2.12B - Compaq OEM
• MS-DOS:2.13 - Zenith OEM
• MS-DOS:2.21 - Zenith OEM
• MS-DOS:2.25 - Same as 2.11, but has better support for Japanese and Korean character sets. Released in October 1985, as stated in a Croatian computer magazine "Moj Mikro".

MS-DOS 3.x

• MS-DOS:3.00 - Apricot and Compaq OEM
• MS-DOS:3.06 - Apricot OEM
• MS-DOS:3.10 - Seiko Epson, Phoenix, Tandon, Apricot, Sperry, Fujitsu, Olivetti, Compaq and Multitech OEM
• MS-DOS:3.10C - RM Nimbus and Ericsson OEM
• MS-DOS:3.10L24 - Japanese, for Fujitsu FM-Towns
• MS-DOS:3.20 - HP, Amstrad, Apricot, AT&T, Tandy and Seiko Epson OEM
• MS-DOS:3.20E - BULL OEM
• MS-DOS:3.21 - Hyosung, KayPro, Zenith, Goupil, and Compaq OEM
• MS-DOS:3.30 - Amstrad, HP, Dell, NEC, Tulip, AT&T, Tandy, Olivetti, Tandon, Seiko Epson and Toshiba OEM
• MS-DOS:3.30+ - Zenith OEM
• MS-DOS:3.30A - DTK OEM, also retail (?)
• MS-DOS:3.30B - for NEC PC-98
• MS-DOS:3.30C - for NEC PC-98
• MS-DOS:3.30D - for NEC PC-98
• MS-DOS:3.30T - Tandy OEM
• MS-DOS:3.31 - Compaq and Olivetti OEM
• MS-DOS:3.31D - Compaq OEM
• MS-DOS:3.4 - Mentioned in the September 1988 issue of Serbian computer magazine "Svet Kompjutera".

MS-DOS 4.x

• MS-DOS:4.00 - Quickly replaced by 4.01 due to a severe bug, extremely rare
• MS-DOS:4.01 - Olivetti, Amstrad, Nokia, Tulip, HP, Toshiba, Zenith and VEGAS OEM
• MS-DOS:4.01A - Nokia OEM
• MS-DOS:4.02 - Mentioned in PX05132
• MS-DOS:4.10.20 - International Computer Ltd. OEM

MS-DOS 5.x

• MS-DOS 5.00.070 - Beta, existance suggested by ROM-DOS 5.00.070 mentioned in PX05132
• MS-DOS:5.00.112 - Beta, mentioned in PX05132
• MS-DOS:5.00.224 - Beta, mentioned in PX05132
• MS-DOS:5.00.225 - Beta, mentioned in PX05132
• MS-DOS:5.00.226 - Beta, mentioned in PX05132
• MS-DOS:5.00.227 - Beta, mentioned in PX05132
• MS-DOS:5.00.333 - Beta, mentioned in PX06476
• MS-DOS:5.00.409c - Beta, leaked
• MS-DOS:5.00.432 - Beta, leaked and also mentioned in PX05243
• MS-DOS:5.00.460 - Beta, mentioned in PX08857
• MS-DOS:5.00.480 - Beta, mentioned in PX05243
• MS-DOS:5.00.481 - Beta, mentioned in PX03447
• MS-DOS:5.00.500 - Beta, mentioned in PX05243
• MS-DOS:5.00.1180 - Unknown stage, mentioned in PX07621
• MS-DOS:5.00 RC1 - Release Candidate 1, mentioned in PX05243
• MS-DOS:5.00 RC3A - Release Candidate 3A (currently incomplete), leaked
• MS-DOS:5.00 RC10 - Release Candidate 10, leaked
• MS-DOS:5.00 - HP, Dell, Compaq, Tandy and PC Kenitec OEM
• MS-DOS:5.00a - Toshiba OEM
• MS-DOS:5.00A - for NEC PC-98
• MS-DOS:5.00A-H - for NEC PC-98

MS-DOS 6.x

• MS-DOS:6.00.0015 - Beta, mentioned in February 1993 issue of Serbian computer magazine "Svet Kompjutera"
• MS-DOS:6.00.0204 - Beta, references found in leaked MS-DOS 6.0 source code
• MS-DOS:6.00.0305 - Beta, mentioned in February 1993 issue of Serbian computer magazine "Svet Kompjutera"
• MS-DOS:6.00 RC1 - Release Candidate 1
• MS-DOS:6.00 RC4 - Release Candidate 4
• MS-DOS:6.00 - HP, Packard Bell, Fujitsu and NEC OEM
• MS-DOS:6.20.3002 - Beta, leaked
• MS-DOS:6.20 - Retail
• MS-DOS:6.20L10 - Japanese, for Fujitsu FM-Towns
• MS-DOS:6.20-V - Japanese MS-DOS 6.20
• MS-DOS:6.21 - Retail
• MS-DOS:6.22 - Retail

MS-DOS 7.x

• MS-DOS:7.00 B1 - Beta 1
• MS-DOS:7.10 - Retail

MS-DOS 8.x

• MS-DOS:8.00 Only used in Windows ME, and can be found in Windows operating systems after it