WIN.COM

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WIN.COM
Developer(s) Microsoft Corporation
Operating system DOS, Microsoft Windows (Windows 1.0 - Windows Me)
Platform x86
Type Operating System Loader
License Proprietary
Website {{#property:P856}}

WIN.COM is the executable file used to load versions of Windows that run from DOS. In Windows 3.1 and its predecessors, it is executed either manually from the DOS prompt or as a line in AUTOEXEC.BAT. In Windows 95 and onward it is automatically invoked by IO.SYS after AUTOEXEC.BAT is processed. The file is present in the SYSTEM32 directory of some NT-based versions of Windows (such as XP and Vista) for backwards compatibility purposes. It is no longer used in Windows 2000.

Usage

WIN.COM has several parameters that facilitate system recovery and diagnostics. These parameters are listed on this Microsoft support page: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/142544.

Issues

Corruption or deletion of WIN.COM caused many issues for users of Windows 95 and 98, and some early Windows viruses targeted WIN.COM. Corruption of WIN.COM would cause an error, and a Microsoft support page is still available showing information about WIN.COM errors.

See also

References

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