I believe this has worked since Win95.  There's enough information in the
.EXE file header format for the Windows "shell" to determine what
environment the program requires, and supply it if possible.
  Note that support for the "DOS" environment, except for direct access to
devices, has always been better in the NT/2K/XP line than in the 95/98/ME
line, where it was too easy for a DOS executable to accidentally stomp on
the Windows kernel....

Dave Gillett


On 21 Mar 2005 at 8:36, Robert Lendrim wrote:

> I obtained a program from the USCG called posaid2.exe which is used to convert loran
> navigation numbers to latitude and longitude. It appears to be a DOS file. I first
> ran it as a DOS file in a DOS (command) window on my WXPSP2 computer and it worked
> fine. Later I double-clicked on it in Windows Explorer. I was surprised to see it
> start up and open it's own DOS window, ready to run by pressing the proper command
> keys. I never saw that happen in any previous version of Windows.
>
> Is this a (new) feature of XP that it will run DOS files from within windows? Or
> is this something peculiar to the executable file? Or something else that I don't
> understand?
>
> Thanks, Bob Lendrim
>
>                          PCBUILD's List Owners:
>                       Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]>
>                        Drew Dunn<[log in to unmask]>

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