I've always thought the phrase "Windows/DOS Subsystem for Linux" was backwards. Shouldn't it be "Linux Subsystem for Windows/DOS"?
What am I missing?
What am I missing?
http://www.multibooters.co.uk/system.html
And that of course puts 32 bits executables in SysWoW64 and 64 bit executables in System32.
The system boots from the "system" partition, and then the system boots the operating system in the "boot" partition.
system32 holding 64-bit binaries in 64-bit Windows is 300% backwards compatibility to accomodate legacy hard-code, though.
Compare:
>The system boots from the "system" partition, and then the system boots the operating system in the "boot" partition.
With: The operating system boots from the "boot" partition, and then it is loaded from the "system" partition.
Or:
The boot files are in the "boot" volume, the operating system files are on the "system" volume.
In any case, you shouldn't put a folder containing the BCD (Boot Configuration Data) in a \boot folder and the BOOTMGR on a volume that you call "system" or you don't call the "other" volume "boot".
About SysWow64/System32 sure it has been done for compatibility reasons but while System32 had to be kept, the name of the "new" folder could have been better chosen, like (say) Old32Sys, or Legacy32, or similar.
Of course both represent not a problem, the naming is not intuitive and allows for a quick laugh, that's all.
That's why the "Boot" tag moves to whichever partition is host to the running OS. The "system", as in the boot loader, is not the OS, is separate from the OS, and initializes before the OS.
>About SysWow64/System32 sure it has been done for compatibility reasons but while System32 had to be kept, the name of the "new" folder could have been better chosen, like (say) Old32Sys, or Legacy32, or similar.
The name stems from the Windows on Windows[1] subsystem, or WoW for short, which serves to execute 16-bit executables on 32-bit Windows NT. The most famous component of this subsystem is NTVDM[2].
Windows 32-bit on Windows 64-bit[3], or WoW64 for short, is the 32-bit practical equivalent to WoW for 64-bit Windows NT. Whereas WoW relied heavily on virtualization and emulation, WoW64 instead presents a 32-bit system library that 32-bit programs are silently redirected to.
As an aside, C:\Windows\System is still around for backwards compatibility even in 64-bit Windows. It houses 16-bit binaries.[4]
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_on_Windows
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_DOS_machine#Windows_NT...
[3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WoW64
[4]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_folder#List_of_special...
The code in the PBR (Partition Boot Record) chainloads a file named BOOTMGR (which is a boot manager) that looks at what to boot in a file residing in the \boot folder called BCD (Boot Configuration Data).
Q:How do you call the partition (volume) where this stuff is?
A:System
EFI or BIOS loads WBM, which resides in the EFI system partition or active partition (also tagged "System") as applicable, which then reads the Boot Configuration Data (aka BCD) also located in that partition. Windows itself is located in a separate partition from WBM and BCD.[1]
WBM then boots a specified Windows installation from a given partition, which is tagged as "Boot". If desired, WBM can also chainload into another bootloader (eg: NTLDR, Windows 9x bootloader, GRUB, etc.) to boot something other than Windows NT6 and up.[2]
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Boot_Manager
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booting_process_of_Windows_NT#...
However, I've had a bit of a web search on a few occasions since then, and not been able to find any concrete evidence to support the existence of any other "Windows subsystem for X" subsystems. So that might have just been a random idiot making stuff up, as far as I can tell. Someone with better searchengine-fu might be able to find something more conclusive though?
They were originally known as Microsoft Subsystems[1][2] and encompassed Win32, POSIX, and OS/2.
This was followed by Windows Services for UNIX along with the demise of POSIX and OS/2 subsystems, which was subsequently succeeded by Windows Subsystem for Linux.
Yes, this means Win32 is to this day a subsystem of Windows NT.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Windows_2000_architecture...
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_POSIX_subsystem
It does both syscalls in linux style "for linux" programs (WSL1) and it also happens to be "for running linux" (WSL2).
I don't get the confusion, to be honest. Do you also feel that "Windows driver for HP Deskjet" is a way to run Windows on your HP Deskjet?
The "ownership" :)
("MyBrand (TM) Solution for Opportunity")
Try reading it as "DOS subsystem for [running] Linux".
I would have liked it better if VMware worked that way, or virtualbox now.