Windows 9x Subsystem for Linux Brings Your Linux Software to Microsoft's Peak-'90s Operating Systems
Anything Windows 11 can do, Windows 95 can do too — including, now, running Linux applications side by side with Windows software.
Mononymous developer Hailey has taken Microsoft's concept of the Windows Subsystem for Linux to a new level — by writing a version for running Linux applications within the classic 32-bit Windows 95 or Windows 98 operating systems: the Windows 9x Subsystem for Linux.
"With Windows 9x Subsystem for Linux you can run all your favorite Windows and Linux apps side-by-side with a modern Linux kernel running cooperatively with the Windows kernel in ring 0," Hailey explains of the project. "And unlike modern WSL, no hardware virtualization is used so even your 486 can run it! Please enjoy, I think this might be one of my greatest hacks of all time."
Released in 2016, initially as a simpler compatibility layer, Windows Subsystem for Linux is designed to virtualize a Linux operating system so that native Linux applications can run on top of Microsoft's Windows 10 and Windows 11. Windows 95, meanwhile, was released — as the name implies — back in 1995, as a consumer-oriented alternative to the more powerful Windows NT range. While popular at the time, it has long dropped off Microsoft's support radar: the last update was released in 1997, just prior to the launch of also-abandoned successor OS Windows 98, and official support was dropped at the end of 2001.
Abandoned by Microsoft does not, however, mean abandoned by everyone. Hailey's project takes the concept of the Windows Subsystem for Linux and brings it to Windows 95 and Windows 98, complete with a modern kernel running on modern or vintage hardware — "[I] really got this one in right under the wire," the developer notes, "before they start removing 486 [processor] support from Linux.
The project is fully-functional, and no joke: it's possible to run 16- and 32-bit Windows applications side-by-side with Linux applications on anything from a 486 upwards, with full access to operating system features including paging, memory protection, and pre-emptive scheduling. "Proudly written without AI [generative Artificial Intelligence," Hailey notes of the project's source code.
The project is detailed in Hailey's Mastodon thread, with source available on Codeberg under the reciprocal GNU General Public License 3.
Freelance journalist, technical author, hacker, tinkerer, erstwhile sysadmin. For hire: freelance@halfacree.co.uk.