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The little-known winstart.bat batch file

Raymond Chen delves into the arcane history of Windows 95, unearthing the little-known winstart.bat and its specific role in system startup. This technical deep dive satisfies the HN crowd's appetite for nostalgic Windows internals and the intricacies of virtual machine management. It highlights a clever design choice for managing TSRs that optimized memory for different application types.

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Aug 19, 8:00 PM
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The Lowdown

Raymond Chen's post illuminates the obscure winstart.bat file, detailing its function and placement within the Windows 95 (and earlier Windows 3.1) startup sequence. He clarifies its purpose in the context of virtual machine management, differentiating it from the more familiar autoexec.bat.

  • winstart.bat executes within the System Virtual Machine, specifically before the user-mode kernel loads but after the Virtual Machine Manager takes control.
  • This timing means any Terminate-and-Stay-Resident (TSR) programs loaded by winstart.bat are only visible to Windows applications and the System VM.
  • Crucially, when a new MS-DOS command prompt virtual machine is spawned, it does not inherit TSRs loaded by winstart.bat, as it copies the system state from an earlier stage.
  • Its intended use was to install TSRs exclusively for Windows programs, such as network drivers, freeing up conventional memory for MS-DOS applications or accommodating drivers not compatible with multiple virtual machines.
  • Chen also corrects the common misconception that winstart.bat was a Windows 95 innovation, pointing out its documentation and presence in Windows 3.1.