16-bit Windows (Windows 1.x, 2.x, 3.0, 3.1, etc.) on 64-bit Windows
151 points · Open discussionotya128
winevdm
C2018–2026
otya128 / winevdm
winevdm
16-bit Windows (Windows 1.x, 2.x, 3.0, 3.1, etc.) on 64-bit Windows
42Distinct people
54Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
3.7KGitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
16-bit Windows (Windows 1.x, 2.x, 3.0, 3.1, etc.) on 64-bit Windows
GitHub
Where it is used
No documented product use was verified in the last source check.
What people are saying
No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.
No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.
Also in these discussions
- leecher1337/ntvdmx64 · linked in 3 of the same discussions
Mentioned in the same Hacker News threads. That is not proof they are substitutes.
This week on Hacker News
Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 5:04:57 PM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year54 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2018-08-02 02:27:00 UTC to 2026-10-27 01:15:04 UTC.
* An incomplete calendar period is marked with an outlined bar. Its count is not directly comparable with a full period.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 2019 | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 11 | 1 | 10 |
| 2020 | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 5 | 1 | 4 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 9 | 1 | 8 |
| 2025 | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| 2026 (partial) | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2027-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 5 | 1 | 4 |
From the project README
An excerpt from the repository, fetched Nov 13, 2026.
Read the project’s introduction
winevdm on 64-bit Windows
Download stable version
Download latest version (unstable)
16-bit Windows (Windows 1.x, 2.x, 3.0, 3.1, etc.) on 64-bit Windows
An altered version of winevdm (a 16-bit Windows emulator), ported to 64-bit Windows.
How to run
If you get an error that VCRUNTIME140.dll is missing, install Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio 2017 (32-bit)
Drag and drop Win16 executable file to otvdm.exe or execute otvdmw.exe.
How to install
Download or compile
Run "install" shortcut or right-click on install.inf and select "Install"
You can execute Win16 binaries directly!
If the registry is initialized by Windows Update, perform the above procedure again.
You can uninstall it by running uninstall.reg.
Configuration
See otvdm.ini.
How to compile(Visual Studio)
Install Visual Studio 2017
Edit PropertySheet.props
Compile
How to compile(cmake)
git clone https://github.com/otya128/winevdm.git
cd winevdm
mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make
How does it work?
This program contains the following items
CPU Emulator
64-bit Windows cannot modify LDT(NtSetInformationProcess(,ProcessLdtInformation,,) always returns error)
wine based Win16->Win32 conversion codes:
BOOL16 WINAPI DestroyWindow16( HWND16 hwnd )
{
return DestroyWindow( WIN_Handle32(hwnd) );
}
Relay routines from 16-bit to 32-bit are autogenerated by convspec
53 pascal -ret16 DestroyWindow(word) DestroyWindow16
DOS emulation for Win16
16-bit <=> native HANDLE conversion
Fix compatibility problems, fix compatibility problems
install.inf
When 64-bit Windows detects a 16-bit installer, it has a mechanism to start an alternative installer which is not 16-bit.
This program uses it.
WINDOWS directory redirection
Some Win16 programs try to save their settings in %WINDIR%<filename>.ini
In recent Windows, it is not allowed to save to %WINDIR%, so it redirects.
winevdm
winevdm.exe [--app-name app.exe] command line
winevdm.exe CALC.EXE
It can also run DOS executables (DOS emulator-like).
You can set the DOS version with the VDMDOSVER environment variable.
DOS emulation is incomplete and it is recommended to use DOSBox or MS-DOS Player.
Read the full README on GitHubWhat Hacker News says
54 sources> Wish I could run 16-bit apps tho.
https://github.com/otya128/winevdm
https://github.com/leecher1337/ntvdmx64
In Why Windows 11 still ships with Windows 95's memory manager hidden inside itIf you need something much easier then you can run Word 2.0 (well any Windows 3.0+ 16bit app) easily on x64 Windows 10/11 https://files.catbox.moe/dy4bqy.png
All you need is this https://github.com/otya128/winevdm
In Microsoft Word for Windows 1.1a, Native X64 PortCan run on modern 64-bit windows too with otvdm: https://github.com/otya128/winevdm
In PCjs MachinesI've been using otvdm (aka winevdm) and it is very good. It works like the original ntvdm did when running on non-x86 platforms. It emulates the processor and translates 16-bit api calls into 32-bit api calls so things work as you'd expect.
https://github.com/otya128/winevdm
In Windows 1.0 and the WinAPI, 40 Years LaterDo you mean winevdm? https://github.com/otya128/winevdm
Wine itself doesn't run on Windows AFAIK.
In Windows drive letters are not limited to A-ZThe reverse of that is running 16bit Windows 1.x/2.x/3.x apps on 64bit Windows 10/11 https://github.com/otya128/winevdm
In Unofficial "Tier 4" Rust Target for older Windows versionsIt already is in some form! This is what I used to play Sid Meier's Civnet with my brothers: https://github.com/otya128/winevdm
In Nearly 90% of Windows Games Now Run on LinuxIn case this thread gets picked up by a search engine and some future person is wondering the same thing, there is a port of winevdm[1] to 64-bit Windows that will let you run 16-bit programs.
[1] https://github.com/otya128/winevdm
In "This question has been retired"There is also this, which works very well and seems to be less legally sketchy:
https://github.com/otya128/winevdm/
In "This question has been retired"Most likely because Microsoft didn't consider it a valuable use of engineering time in general.
AMD's 64-bit extensions explicitly forbade dropping to 16-bit code. Once you enter 64-bit mode you lose access to all the modes which NTVDM needs to run MS-DOS or 3.x apps.
AFAIK the virtualization extensions added in 64-bit (known as VT-x etc) do allow 16-bit code, but that would require rebuilding NTVDM as a Hyper-V client (ala WSL2) instead of using 32-bit protected mode as a way to virtualize 16-bit code. However, these extensions didn't exist until way later and they didn't get support for booting 16-bit guests until later than that.
You could software emulate x86 to do NTVDM stuff. In fact, there's a FOSS program that does this, called WineVDM[0]. The MIPS/Alpha/PPC ports of NT used software emulation in NTVDM, so it is feasible.
[0] http
Read the rest
s://github.com/otya128/winevdm
Interestingly, they also recommend using DOSBox for DOS apps.
I guess it is a form of emulation... but
You can run 16-bit Windows (Windows 1.x, 2.x, 3.0, 3.1, etc.) on 64-bit Windows with https://github.com/otya128/winevdm
I got Microsoft Encarta 98 to work on Windows 11 this way
In Multiple new macOS sandbox escape vulnerabilitiesWinevdm: 16-bit Windows (Windows 1.x, 2.x, 3.0, 3.1, etc.) on 64-bit Windows
3 points · Open discussionThe TSS was always one of the most obnoxious aspects of the 80286 that stuck around much longer than it should have. On 386 or anything newer, using it was _slower_ than implementing it in software, yet you still needed them to implement task gates necessary for things like exceptions and interrupts.
If anyone actually has a serious need to use ancient 16 bit software, emulators like 86Box work very well. Software that old doesn’t really need performance faster than, say, a Pentium 90, which 86Box has no trouble achieving on my M1 (ARM) MacBook.
You can also use winevdm[1] on modern 64 bit Windows operating systems. I have this in production use for a niche case where someone can’t give up a particular 16 bit app, and I didn’t want to tangle with a VM for them.
The technical details of making sure a modern CPU still functions exactly like
Read the rest
an 80386, which in turn made sure it functioned like an 80286, when you fire up a 16 bit task on, say, 32-bit Windows 10 (or 64-bit with something like winevdm[1]) sound like a nightmare for a microcode engineer or QA tester.
[1] https://github.com/otya128/winevdm
I carry those old games from old windows installs. They won't run "natively" on modern windows, however someone ported a subset of WINE, winevdm, to windows called otvdm.
I was playing Chips Challenge yesterday!
https://github.com/otya128/winevdm
In Remake of the Windows 95 Solitaire gameShowing the 15 most recent of 54 sources. Enable JavaScript to search and browse every indexed mention.