Windows NT
| Windows NT | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer | Microsoft, with Dave Cutler as the lead architect |
| Written in | C, Assembly language (core) C++, Rust (user mode applications, kernel graphical subsystem) C++, C# (user mode applications, shell) |
| Working state | Current |
| Source model | |
| Initial release | July 27, 1993 (as Windows NT 3.1) |
| Latest release | 26H1 (10.0.28000.2954) (September 8, 2026) [±] 25H2 (10.0.26200.9445) (September 8, 2026) [±] |
| Latest preview |
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| Update method | Windows Update, Windows Server Update Services |
| Supported platforms | x86-64 and ARM64 (and historically Intel i860, DEC Alpha, Itanium, MIPS, PowerPC, IA-32 and ARM32) |
| Kernel type | Hybrid |
| Influenced by | RSX-11, VAXELN, VAX/VMS, MICA, Mach (kernel) MS-DOS, OS/2, Windows 3.1 (userland) |
| Default user interface | Graphical (Windows shell) |
| License | Depending on version, edition or customer choice: Trialware, commercial software, volume licensing, OEM-only, SaaS, S+S |
| Official website | windows |
Windows NT is a proprietary graphical operating system produced by Microsoft as part of its Windows product line, originally released for the workstation, office, and server markets as Windows NT 3.1 on July 27, 1993, and later available to consumers since the release of Windows XP in 2001. The underlying technology of Windows NT continues to exist to this day with incremental changes and improvements, with the latest version of Windows based on Windows NT being Windows Server 2025, which was announced in 2024.
The name "Windows NT" originally denoted the major technological advancements that it had introduced to the Windows product line, including eliminating the 16-bit memory access limitations of earlier Windows releases such as Windows 3.1. Each Windows release built on this technology is considered to be based on, if not a revision of Windows NT, even though the Windows NT name itself has not been used in any other Windows releases since Windows NT 4.0 in 1996.
Windows NT provides more features than other Windows releases, among them being support for multiprocessing, multi-user systems, a 32-bit kernel without legacy 16-bit considerations, 32-bit memory addressing, portability between different computer architectures, and other system services such as Active Directory and more. Newer versions of Windows NT support 64-bit computing, with a 64-bit kernel and 64-bit memory addressing while retaining compatibility with 32-bit software.