Download Windows 2.1x .iso Fast and Easy Today!

Windows 2.1x is the successor to Windows 2.0, released on May 27, 1988. Windows 2.1x shortly replaced Windows 2.0 and these contained minor upgrades to the operating system along with 2 versions: Windows/286 v2.10 and Windows/386 v2.10, both released on the same day. An update, v2.11, was released on March 13, 1989. These two operating systems were supported until December 31, 2001.

Features

Windows/286 v2.10
Windows/286 takes advantage of the HMA to increase the memory available to Windows programs. It introduced the HIMEM.SYS DOS driver for this purpose. It also includes support for several EMS boards, although this support is not related to the 80286 processor. The segmented nature of Windows programs is quite suited to the usage of EMS, as portions of code and data can be made visible in the first megabyte of memory accessible to real-mode programs only when the program using them is given control. Microsoft encouraged users to configure their computers with only 256KB of main memory, leaving the address space from 256-640KB available for dynamic mapping of EMS memory.
Despite its name, Windows/286 was fully operational on an 8088 or 8086 processor. Windows/286 would simply not use the high memory area since none exist on an 8086-class processor; however, EMS could still be used, if present. A few PC vendors shipped Windows/286 with 8086 hardware; an example was IBM's PS/2 Model 25, which had an option to ship with a "DOS 4.00 and Windows kit" for educational markets, which included word processing and presentation software useful for students, which resulted in some confusion when purchasers of this system received a box labeled Windows/286 with a machine that was definitely less than an 80286.


Windows/386 v2.10
Windows/386 was much more advanced than its predecessor. It introduced a protected mode kernel, above which the GUI and applications run as a virtual 8086 mode task. It allowed several MS-DOS programs to run in parallel in "virtual 8086" CPU mode, rather than always suspending background applications. (Windows applications could already run in parallel through cooperative multitasking) With the exception of a few kilobytes of overhead, each DOS application could use any available low memory before Windows was started.
Windows/386 also provided EMS emulation, using the memory management features of the 80386 to make RAM beyond 640k behave like the banked memory previously only supplied by add-in cards and used by popular DOS applications. (By overwriting the WIN200.BIN file with COMMAND.COM, it is possible to use the EMS emulation in DOS without starting the Windows GUI.) There was no support for disk-based virtual memory, so multiple DOS programs had to fit inside the available physical memory; therefore, Microsoft suggested buying additional memory and cards if necessary.
Neither of these versions worked with DOS memory managers like CEMM or QEMM or with DOS extenders, which have their own extended memory management and run in protected mode as well. This was remedied in version 3.0, which is compatible with Virtual Control Program Interface (VCPI) in "standard mode" and with DOS Protected Mode Interface (DPMI) in "386 enhanced" mode (all versions of Windows from 3.0 to 98 exploit a loophole in EMM386 to set up protected mode). Windows 3.0 also had the capability of using the DWEMM Direct Write Enhanced Memory Module. This is what enables the far faster and more sleek graphical user interface, as well as true extended memory support.

Downloads

Windows 2.11 286 (.ZIP) (x86)
Windows 2.11 386 (.ZIP) (x86)

After that you can just put the files on a Floppy disk or a CD-ROM and install Windows 2.0 on a computer, or you can use Virtualbox to emulate it.

As Windows 2.1x does not require a CD key to be installed or to continue using the software, you can use it permanently without having to purchase any product keys. Also, since the software is considered abandonware, it is legal to use! (So no need to worry about anything illegal)

Info

Developed by: Microsoft Corporation
Release date: May 27, 1988.
Latest version: 2.11 (Released in 1989)
Source model: Closed source
License: Commercial software
Preceded by: Windows 2.0 (in 1988)
Succeeded by: Windows 3.0 (in 1990)
Support status: Unsupported as of December 31, 2001
System requirements:
CGA/HGC/EGA/VGA Monitor
MS-DOS 2.0
256 KB of RAM or higher
Hard drive with at least 2 MB of space available.

Screenshots