Question Is NT 4.0 still being used today ?

[Wing901]

Or can it be used for network today?

 

[COLGeek]

Likely not, except in specific use-cases, like old production/manufacturing systems, etc. It would be very vulnerable to connect and use in modern day usage.

Just sharing this recent article: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250516-the-people-stuck-using-ancient-windows-computers

 

[USAFRet]

Or can it be used for network today?

Lacking any recent security fixes.
Current SMB, any semi-recent IE version (TLS), many many many other concerns.


This, from 14 years ago:
https://serverfault.com/questions/180325/security-concerns-about-windows-nt-4-0


Listed vulns:

Microsoft Windows Nt 4.0 security vulnerabilities, CVEs

Microsoft Windows Nt version 4.0 security vulnerabilities, CVEs, exploits, vulnerability statistics, CVSS scores and references

www.cvedetails.com

 

[BFG-9000]

Do you think anyone but the government would throw away a multimillion dollar CNC machine just because there are no Windows 2000 or later drivers for it? 100 year old machine tools are common and even if a newer machine works better/faster, the old one is not only paid for but it would require paying to dismantle it much like demolishing a house--it's not free to get rid of it.

NT4 is surprisingly compatible and here it is running on Ryzen 9

however I suspect most users are still trying to nurse along their ISA-slot equipped vintage PCs.

I don't see a problem if it's not on an internet-connected network or at least segmented from it. It has been increasingly difficult to connect to it from later OSes and now Microsoft has stripped NTLMv1 and the DES it uses from Windows 11 24H2 and Windows Server 2025, so NTLMv2 introduced in SP4 is it unless you want to use a 3rd party Kerberos client. Needless to say, you have to open up so many security holes to get this to work that the modern PC shouldn't be internet-connected either.

 

[Wing901]

Do you think anyone but the government would throw away a multimillion dollar CNC machine just because there are no Windows 2000 or later drivers for it? 100 year old machine tools are common and even if a newer machine works better/faster, the old one is not only paid for but it would require paying to dismantle it much like demolishing a house--it's not free to get rid of it.

NT4 is surprisingly compatible and here it is running on Ryzen 9

however I suspect most users are still trying to nurse along their ISA-slot equipped vintage PCs.

I don't see a problem if it's not on an internet-connected network or at least segmented from it. It has been increasingly difficult to connect to it from later OSes and now Microsoft has stripped NTLMv1 and the DES it uses from Windows 11 24H2 and Windows Server 2025, so NTLMv2 introduced in SP4 is it unless you want to use a 3rd party Kerberos client. Needless to say, you have to open up so many security holes to get this to work that the modern PC shouldn't be internet-connected either.

Really surprised if it is still working on a modern machine because NT4 even XP cannot support newer hardware,

 

[Eximo]

Kind of the whole point of NT was to go beyond the typical consumer desktop of the time. Not surprising that it can handle a newer computer. I prefer Windows 2000 myself, but NT 4.0 has some charm to it.

I see a sneaky 3DFX logo over there. Huh, that board does have PCI, so likely a PCI Voodoo card, neat.

Might be a fun option for my PCI Voodoo 5 I have laying around.

 

[COLGeek]

Kind of the whole point of NT was to go beyond the typical consumer desktop of the time. Not surprising that it can handle a newer computer. I prefer Windows 2000 myself, but NT 4.0 has some charm to it.

I see a sneaky 3DFX logo over there. Huh, that board does have PCI, so likely a PCI Voodoo card, neat.

Might be a fun option for my PCI Voodoo 5 I have laying around.

Fun fact. When Windows 2000 began development, it was originally called NT 5.0. Partway through the beta process it changed.

 

[Eximo]

That I did know. Windows XP launched as NT 5.1. And Windows Vista/Longhorn was 6.0, 7 was 6.1, and etc, they didn't actually correct the version number until Windows 10 I think?

A lot of software was weirdly hard coded to OS versioning as well and would query the registry for the Windows version.

There was an older error that popped up and said "You are not in Chicago anymore", which was a funny you aren't running Windows 9x. I observed it once when trying to get some old software to work on Windows 7 at work, that one was too stupid to be fooled by compatibility modes and app compatibility hacks, ended up running in an XP VM, which could still fool it.

 

[Misgar]

NT4 was my favourite OS from 1996 to 2000, both at work (on industrial PCs) and at home.

I might try installing it as a VM under Hyper-V in Windows 10 just for fun.

 

[Wing901]

NT4 was my favourite OS from 1996 to 2000, both at work (on industrial PCs) and at home.

I might try installing it as a VM under Hyper-V in Windows 10 just for fun.

NT4 is pretty fast compare to Windows 2000 and XP. But now, it is only for fun.

 

[Eximo]

My weekend goal is to do some testing of old Athlons and boards. Probably will whip out the old Win 2k or XP discs. Have to see if any of my old IDE optical drives work too I suppose.