NT3.x updates, Windows Update v1

[Torinde]

NT3.x is listed in the FAQ saying to try Windows Update Restored, but at its Compatibility list I see neither NT3.x, nor Windows Update v1.

Does Win 3.x (NT or regular DOS-based) support any kind of updates?

• Internet Explorer up to version 5 is supported
• NT3.51 with the Newshell update looks close to NT4...

Which operating systems are supported by Windows Update v1?

[atauenis]

All Microsoft software received a bunch of updates at their support lifetime. But until some time (probably ~1997 year) all of them required to be installed manually. They had named HotFixes/QFE at that point.

Windows 95 have introduced a registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup\Updates with list of installed updates. Most of QFEs for Win95 are registering self in the key. Some time later, QFECHECK.EXE aka QFECHKUP.EXE application have been released. It is just displaying a list of installed updates, helping with choosing which need to download or order manually.

Updates for Windows 98/ME are made similarly, but are also registering self in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\%GUID%. I don't know exactly where Windows Update Control and Notification Tool are looking, probably to both keys.

Windows 3.x have even no HKLM registry hive, and all HotFixes were released as just a SFX archive which replaced system files with newer versions. It is (almost) not possible to track which updates are installed on the system.

• Internet Explorer up to version 5 is supported

As far as I know, there were no 16-bit ActiveX control of Windows Update. It exists only in 32-bit form (Windows 95/NT4+). This means that it's not possible to use 16-bit versions of MSIE for Windows Update or its reconstructed clones.

So... Windows 3.x definitely have no support for automatic updates.

• NT3.51 with the Newshell update looks close to NT4...

NewShell is an experimental update, which newer were officially released to public. All known builds are a kind of beta version. Even with NewShell the NT 3.51 cannot run 32-bit MSIE 4/5/6, so see above.

[Torinde]

Yes, that makes sense.

Then NT3.x should be removed from the FAQ?

[atauenis]

I think - yes.

Even however NT 3.51 updates are sometimes using HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Hotfix\ to store info about the installed updates, it is used only on a some part of updates. This became widely used in NT 4.0 only. Probably this is why Windows Update website never supported NT 3.51. Real support for NT 3.51 by Microsoft were very small after release of NT 4.0.