Windows 3.1x

family of operating systems made by Microsoft

Key facts

Developer: Microsoft
Os family: Microsoft Windows
Source model: Closed source
Released to manufacturing: April 6, 1992 ; 34 years ago ( 1992-04-06 )
Final release: 3.11 / November 8, 1993 ; 32 years ago ( 1993-11-08 )
Kernel type: Monolithic
License: Commercial software
Preceded by: Windows 3.0 (1990)
Succeeded by: Windows 95 (1995) Windows NT 3.1 (1993)
Retail: Unsupported as of December 31, 2001 ( 2001-12-31 )
Windows for workgroups span wfw 3 11 emb: Unsupported as of November 1, 2008 ( 2008-11-01 )

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Article

Windows 3.1 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft, released to manufacturing on April 6, 1992. Unlike its predecessors, which ran as a shell on top of MS-DOS, its 386 Enhanced Mode functioned as a virtual machine monitor virtualizing DOS as a guest . It was the last Windows 16-bit operating system, after which future versions of Windows moved to 32-bit.

Windows 3.1 introduced the TrueType font system as a competitor to Adobe Type Manager. Its multimedia was also expanded, and screensavers were introduced, alongside new software such as Media Player (also known as "Windows Media Player") and Sound Recorder. File Manager and Control Panel received tweaks, while Windows 3.1 also saw the introduction of the Windows Registry and add-ons, and it could utilize more memory than its predecessors.