Year 2000 technical summary
A   MS-DOS and MS-Windows Y2K Issues << >>


   
A.0 Contents

  A.0     Contents  
  A.1     MS-DOS V5.x/V6.x  
     A.1.1     MS-DOS V5.0a (English)  
     A.1.2     MS-DOS V6.0 (English)  
     A.1.3     MS-DOS V6.2 (English)  
     A.1.4     MS-DOS V6.21 (English)  
     A.1.5     MS-DOS V6.22 (English)  
  A.2     MS-Windows  
     A.2.1     Windows V3.1 (English)  
     A.2.2     Windows 3.11  
   
A.1 MS-DOS V5.x/V6.x

  Only English versions of MS-DOS are discussed here. For information regarding non-English versions check Appendix F §F.1.1 (Vendors, Microsoft) for the comlete list of Microsoft products and Y2K compliance information.  
   
A.1.1 MS-DOS V5.0a (English)

 
Microsoft statement
Compliant with minor issues:
  • The DIR command displays only 2 digit years, but handles the display and sorting of years correctly
  • The DATE command, and some external commands which accept dates as input do not accept 2 digit years as input for dates subsequent to 1999. Four digit years must be used for these commands.
Patches
None available, and no plans to develop any.
Dependencies
The OS relies on the BIOS providing the correct date and time at system boot.
 
   
A.1.2 MS-DOS V6.0 (English)

 
Microsoft statement
Compliant with minor issues:
  • The DIR command displays only 2 digit years, but handles the display and sorting of years correctly
  • The DATE command accepts dates with 2 digit years only in the range 80-99, and treats them as years in the 20th century. Years in the range 00-79 are treated as invalid, four digit years must be used subsequent to 1999.
  • The BACKUP command only uses the rightmost (least significant) digit of the year in the backup file naming convention. BACKUP also does not correctly recognise years subsequent to 1999.
Patches
None available, and no plans to develop any.
Dependencies
The OS relies on the BIOS providing the correct date and time at system boot.
 
   
A.1.3 MS-DOS V6.2 (English)

  As MS-DOS V6.0 (English).  
   
A.1.4 MS-DOS V6.21 (English)

  As MS-DOS V6.0 (English). This version is not widely available.  
   
A.1.5 MS-DOS V6.22 (English)

  As MS-DOS V6.0 (English).  
   
A.2 MS-Windows

  Only English versions of MS-Windows are discussed here. For information regarding non-English versions check Appendix F §F.1.1 (Vendors, Microsoft) for the comlete list of Microsoft products and Y2K compliance information.  
   
A.2.1 Windows V3.1 (English)

 
Microsoft statement
Compliant with minor issues:
  • The File Manager WINFILE.EXE has trouble displaying post Y2K dates.
  • The Control Panel Date/Time applet does not recognise 2000-02-29 as a leap day
Patches
Updated WINFILE.EXE available.
Dependencies
Windows V3.1 relies on the underlying version of MS-DOS to provide the correct date and time, which in turn relies on the BIOS providing the correct date and time at system boot.
 
   
A.2.2 Windows 3.11

  As Windows V3.1 (English).  

 

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