Win32s

Win32s is a 32-bit application runtime environment for the Microsoft Windows 3.11 operating system. It allowed some 32-bit applications to run on the 16-bit operating system using call thunks.

Concept and Characteristics
Win32s was intended as a partial implementation of the Win32 Windows API as it existed in early versions of Windows NT.

The "s" in Win32s signifies subset, as Win32s lacked a number of Windows NT functions, including threading, asynchronous I/O, newer serial port functions and many GDI extensions. This generally limited it to "Win32s applications" which were specifically designed for the Win32s platform,, although some standard Win32 programs would work correctly, including Microsoft's 3D Pinball Space Cadet and the Windows 95 calculator.

Win32s inherits many of the limitations of the Win16 environment. True Win32 applications execute within a private virtual address space, whereas Windows 3.x used an address space shared among all running applications. An application running on Win32s has the shared address space and cooperative multitasking characteristics of Windows 3.1. Consequently, for a Win32 application to run on Win32s, it must contain relocation information.

A technique named thunking is fundamental to the implementation of Win32s as well as Chicago-kernel operating systems, which are Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me. However, allowing user-level thunking greatly complicates attempts to provide stable memory management or memory protection on a system-wide basis, as well as core or kernel security&mdash;this allows poorly written applications to undermine system stability on Win32s, as well as the Chicago-kernel systems. The stability and security Windows NT can offer is partially based on thunking being totally illegal, except thunks from Win16 to Win32&mdash;the CPU must remain in protected mode at all times. Newer versions of Windows transparently provide a virtual machine for running Win16 applications.

Win32s-compatible applications could be built using Microsoft's development tools. However, several program compilation options and DLLs which were implicit in Windows NT 3.1 have to be included with the application in Win32s. Microsoft ceased support for Win32s in Visual C++ version 4.2 released in late 1996.

Win32s included an implementation of the card game FreeCell as an example application, a couple of years before the game became famous with its inclusion in Windows 95.

Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, a DOS game, included a level editor that required Win32s to run. The editor used a Windows GUI for displaying the large maps because high-resolution graphic modes were already handled by Windows.

Sources and installation
Win32s can still be found using web search engines; PW1118.EXE is generally the installation file used. Developers should ensure they are installing OLE if they require consistent clipboard handling. Many applications which need to be made OLE aware (i.e. setting up their OLE server) must be reinstalled. Win32s was also included with some early Win32 programs.