Will Windows 3.11 run on a 286 system?

[barney]

I was just wondering if Windows 3.11 will run on a 286? If yes, does it run fairly smoothly? Thanks.

Barney

 

[Anonymous Coward]

I believe windows for workgroups 3.1 will run on a 286, but I am pretty sure standard mode was removed in the 3.11 version.

 

[krebizfan]

I was just wondering if Windows 3.11 will run on a 286? If yes, does it run fairly smoothly? Thanks.

Barney

Windows 3.11 will run on a 286. It works about as well as standard mode Windows 3.11 on a similar clock speed 386 with equivalent RAM. An early AT upgraded to 1.5 MB of RAM will provide a less than satisifying experience. However, with enough extended memory, and a plan to run nothing but Windows applications, the whole process will be fairly smooth. I did a lot of work with Windows on a 286 with 5.5 MB of RAM.

Note that this means standard mode. No virtual memory, no vxds or other high performance drivers for hardware, any EMS memory needed for a DOS application will have to be seperately defined, and no virtual machines or background processing for DOS programs. I think some of the higher video resolution modes did not work in standard mode.

Windows for Workgroups (also 3.11) was a different product and only ran on a 386.

 

[barney]

Ok, thanks for the info.

Barney