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:1.10 - Compaq OEM
• MS-DOS:1.11 - Compaq OEM
• MS-DOS:1.12 - Compaq OEM
• MS-DOS:1.13 - Texas Instruments OEM
• MS-DOS:1.14 - Unknown OEM
• MS-DOS:1.19 - Zenith OEM
• MS-DOS:1.20 - Zenith OEM
• MS-DOS:1.24 - Unknown 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".

Multi-tasking MS-DOS 4.0

• MS-DOS:4.00 - A rare OEM version, capable of multi-tasking. Only released by some European OEMs, a working copy can be found online.

MS-DOS 4.x

• MS-DOS:4.00 - An extremely rare version which was quickly replaced by 4.01 due to a severe bug. So far no copy is available online.
• 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 version

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, leaked and also 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:5.00.490 - Beta, leaked
• 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, incomplete leak
• 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, leaked and also 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 - 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 - Beta, Chinese Simplified leaked
• MS-DOS:6.21 - Retail
• MS-DOS:6.22 - Retail

MS-DOS 7.x

• MS-DOS:7.00 - Only released as part of Windows 95 RTM and OSR1
• MS-DOS:7.10 - Only released as part of Windows 95 OSR2, OSR2.5, Windows 98 and 98SE

MS-DOS 8.x

• MS-DOS:8.00 - Only released as part of Windows Me