Jump to content

Microsoft 32-bit file access

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by CmdrObot (talk | contribs) at 20:07, 13 June 2006 (sp: preferrably→preferably). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

32-bit File Access was a higher performance, protected mode file management introduced in Windows for Workgroups 3.11.

32-bit File Access bypassed MS-DOS and directly accessed the disk, either via the BIOS or (preferably) 32-bit Disk Access (Windows-native protected mode disk drivers). This feature was a backport from the then-unreleased Windows 95, as suggested by Microsoft's advertisements for Windows for Workgroups 3.11 ("the 32-bit file system from our Chicago project"), .

32-bit File Access and the introduction of Long File Names in Windows 95 reduced DOS to the role of a boot loader for Windows.

32-bit File Access was implemented using the VFAT, VCACHE and IFSMgr VxD drivers.

See also: 32-bit Disk Access