View source for Win32s

'''Win32s''' is an installable add-on for [[Windows 3.x|Windows 3.1x]], which enables 16-bit Windows to run some 32-bit executables. While it includes portions of the Win32 API, they're very minimalistic and insufficient for most 32-bit applications to run properly. For a 32-bit program to run properly under Win32s, it mustn't use more than 16MB of memory or any extended features introduced with later versions of 32-bit Windows. Some 32-bit programs, released at that time, kept backwards compatibility with Windows 3.1x by depending on them when running on 16-bit Windows. One such program was the NCSA Mosaic 2.0 web browser. Some programs included a version of Win32s in the installer, while others required the user to install the extension separately.

Also included is the famous card game '''Freecell''', which was made to demonstrate a 32-bit app running on 16-bit Windows. The game later became a part of [[Windows 95]].

Win32s never saw widespread usage mainly due to the following two reasons: 1) it's capabilities were very limited compared to the full Win32 API, so most of the time it was easier to make a separate 16-bit version of the program; 2) By the time of release of Windows NT and 95, 16-bit Windows was already outdated.

== Known versions ==
The list below includes the "short" version number, the full version number with build number, the distribution formats known to exist and some additional details where available.

*'''Oct. 1992 Beta''' (floppy and CD) - the earliest known version, has no actual version number
*'''1.0''' ('''1.0.61 Beta''' - floppy and CD) - included in Win32 SDK Beta from March 1993 (build 404)
*'''1.1''' ('''1.1.88''' - Developer, MSVC32s and floppy)
*'''1.1a''' ('''1.1.89''' - floppy)
*'''1.15''' ('''1.15.103''' - Developer and floppy) - also included in Windows Chicago Beta 1 SDK
*'''1.15a''' ('''1.15.111''' - floppy)
*'''1.20''' ('''1.20.123''' - Developer, floppy, CD and OLE2)
*'''1.20''' ('''1.20.127''' - floppy)
*'''1.25''' ('''1.25.139''') - included in Windows 95 Beta 2 SDK
*'''1.25''' ('''1.25.141''' - floppy, CD and OLE2)
*'''1.25a''' ('''1.25.142''' - floppy, CD and OLE2)
*'''1.30''' ('''1.30.140 Beta''' - floppy) - included in Windows 95 Beta 2 SDK
*'''1.30''' ('''1.30.152 Beta''' - floppy)
*'''1.30''' ('''1.30.152''' - floppy)
*'''1.30''' ('''1.30.159''' - floppy)
*'''1.30a''' ('''1.30.166''' - Developer, floppy, CD and OLE2)
*'''1.30c''' ('''1.30.172''' - Developer, floppy and CD) - the last version, released in 1996

[[Category:Microsoft Windows]]
[[Category:Windows 3.x]]