Windows 11 in the context of Windows NT

Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. The successor to Windows 8.1, it was released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, to retail on July 29, 2015, and was a free upgrade to users of Windows 7, 8, and 8.1. Its server counterparts are Windows Server 2016, 2019, and 2022. It was succeeded by Windows 11 in October 2021.

In contrast to the tablet-oriented approach of its predecessor, Windows 10 returned to a desktop-oriented interface in line with previous versions of Windows and reintroduced the Start menu. Other features included the Cortana virtual assistant, Task View and virtual desktops, Action Center, biometric authentication through Windows Hello, an improved Settings component, Xbox Live integration, and DirectX 12. Also, Microsoft Edge was introduced, deprecating Internet Explorer. Unlike previous NT releases, Windows 10 received free feature updates on an ongoing basis. Alternatively, enterprise environments can use long-term support milestones that receive only critical and security updates. An ARM version of Windows 10 was released in 2018.

In computing, an epoch is a fixed date and time used as a reference from which a computer measures system time. Most computer systems determine time as a number representing the seconds removed from a particular arbitrary date and time. For instance, Unix and POSIX measure time as the number of seconds that have passed since Thursday 1 January 1970 00:00:00 UT, a point in time known as the Unix epoch. The C# programming language and Windows NT systems up to and including Windows 11 and Windows Server 2022 measure time as the number of 100-nanosecond intervals that have passed since 00:00:00 UTC on 1 January in the years AD 1 and AD 1601, respectively, making those points in time the epochs for those systems.Computing epochs are almost always specified as midnight Universal Time on some particular date.

Microsoft Copilot is a generative artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Microsoft AI, a division of Microsoft. Based on OpenAI's GPT-4 and GPT-5 series of large language models, it was launched in 2023 as Microsoft's main replacement for the discontinued Cortana.

The service was introduced in February 2023 under the name Bing Chat, as a built-in feature for Microsoft Bing and Microsoft Edge. Over the course of 2023, Microsoft began to unify the Copilot branding across its various chatbot products, cementing the "copilot" analogy. At its Build 2023 conference, Microsoft announced its plans to integrate Copilot into Windows 11, allowing users to access it directly through the taskbar. In January 2024, a dedicated Copilot key was announced for Windows keyboards.

Microsoft Edge is a proprietary cross-platform web browser created by Microsoft and based on the Chromium open-source project, superseding Edge Legacy. In Windows 11, Edge is the only browser available from Microsoft. However, a bypass is available to open Internet Explorer.

First made available only for Android and iOS in 2017, in late 2018, Microsoft announced it would completely rebuild Edge as a Chromium-based browser with Blink and V8 engines, which allowed the browser to be ported from Windows 10 to macOS. The new Edge was publicly released in January 2020, and on Xbox as well as Linux in 2021. Edge was also available on Windows 7 and 8/8.1 until early 2023.

Windows Media Player (WMP, now officially referred to as Windows Media Player Legacy to distinguish it from the new Windows Media Player introduced with Windows 11) is the first media player and media library application that Microsoft developed to play audio and video on personal computers. It has been a component of the Microsoft Windows operating system, including Windows 9x, Windows NT, Pocket PC, and Windows Mobile. Microsoft also released editions of Windows Media Player for classic Mac OS, Mac OS X, and Solaris, but has since discontinued them.

In addition to being a media player, the app can rip audio file from compact discs, burn Audio CDs or MP3 CDs, synchronize content with a digital audio player or mobile devices, and stream media over the local network. Originally, it could connect to a number of digital music stores, allowing its users to purchase digital music. The default file formats are Windows Media Video (WMV), Windows Media Audio (WMA), and Advanced Systems Format (ASF), and its own XML based playlist format called Windows Playlist (WPL). The player is also able to utilize a digital rights management service in the form of Windows Media DRM.

Media Player (also known as Windows Media Player in the Microsoft Store) is a media player software for Windows, developed by Microsoft. Written in Windows App SDK, it is built upon Groove Music to add video playback and it’s a modern replacement of the original Windows Media Player. It was first released in January 2022, built for Windows 11 and later released to Windows 10 on January 2023, and it replaces several separate apps.

A terminal emulator, or terminal application, is a computer program that emulates a video terminal within another display architecture. Though typically synonymous with a shell or text terminal, the term terminal covers all remote terminals, including graphical interfaces. A terminal emulator inside a graphical user interface is often called a terminal window.

A terminal window allows the user access to a text terminal and all its applications such as command-line interfaces (CLI) and text user interface (TUI) applications. These may be running either on the same machine or on a different one via telnet, ssh, dial-up, or over a direct serial connection. On Unix-like operating systems, it is common to have one or more terminal windows connected to the local machine.

Groove Music is a discontinued audio player software application and associated music streaming service from Microsoft. Originally known as Xbox Music before rebranding to Groove Music in 2015, the app was included with Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 (as well as very early builds of Windows 11).

The music streaming service, which was called Groove Music Pass, was supported across Windows, Xbox video game consoles, Windows Phone, as well as Android and iOS. As of 2014, the Groove catalogue had over 50 million tracks. Its subscription service Groove Music Pass was officially discontinued on December 31, 2017, and the Android and iOS versions of the Groove Music app were discontinued in December 2018, restricting the player to its native Microsoft Store base.

A video game console emulator is a type of emulator that allows a computing device to emulate a video game console's hardware and play its games on the emulating platform. More often than not, emulators carry additional features that surpass limitations of the original hardware, such as broader controller compatibility, timescale control (such as fast-forwarding and rewinding), easier access to memory modifications (like GameShark), and unlocking of gameplay features. Emulators are also a useful tool in the development process of homebrew demos and the creation of new games for older, discontinued, or rare consoles.

The code and data of a game are typically supplied to the emulator by means of a ROM file (a copy of game cartridge data) or an ISO image (a copy of optical media). While emulation software itself is legal as long as it doesn't infringe copyright protections on the console, emulating games is only so when legitimately purchasing the game physically and ripping the contents. Freely downloading or uploading game ROMs across various internet sites is considered to be a form of online piracy, and users may be sued for copyright infringement.

The Xbox Game Pass is a subscription service as part of Xbox and offered by Microsoft Gaming. Launched on June 1, 2017, the service allows users to download and play video games via video game consoles, Microsoft Windows, Android, iOS, iPadOS, web browsers, smart televisions, and cloud. Game Pass contains a rotating library of games, with the games remaining accessible as long as the user has an active subscription. Game Pass subscribers also receive discounts on purchases of games from the service's library and their respective downloadable content (DLC).

The service consists of two products; the flagship Xbox Game Pass for the Xbox One and Series X/S, and PC Game Pass for PCs running under Microsoft's Windows brand exclusive to the Windows 10 and Windows 11. Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass are available as separate subscription products. A premium tier known as Game Pass Ultimate includes access to both services, in addition to Xbox Cloud Gaming, an on-demand cloud gaming available on console, PC, and mobile platforms, and Xbox Game Pass Essential subscription benefits.

Windows Server 2022 is the thirteenth major version of the Windows NT operating system produced by Microsoft to be released under the Windows Server brand name. It was announced at Microsoft's Ignite event from March 2–4, 2021. It was released on August 18, 2021, almost 3 years after Windows Server 2019, and a few months before the Windows 11 operating system.

Windows Server 2022 is based on the "Iron" codebase, unlike Windows 10 21H2, which is based on the "Vibranium" codebase like its predecessor 20H2; this renders the updates between Windows 10 21H2 and Windows Server 2022 incompatible. Like its predecessor, Windows Server 2019, it requires x64 processors.

Task View is a task switcher and virtual desktop system introduced in Windows 10 and is among the first features new to Windows 10. Task View allows a user to quickly locate an open window, quickly hide all windows and show the desktop, and to manage windows across multiple monitors or virtual desktops. Clicking the Task View button on the taskbar or swiping from the left side of the screen displays all open windows and allows users to switch between them, or switch between multiple workspaces. It was first previewed on September 30, 2014, at a Windows 10 press event in downtown San Francisco. A redesigned Task View with support for giving different wallpapers on each desktop has been introduced in Windows 11.

Hibernation (also known as suspend to disk, or Safe Sleep on Macintosh computers) in computing is powering down a computer while retaining its state. When hibernation begins, the computer saves the contents of its random access memory (RAM) to a hard disk or other non-volatile storage. When the computer is turned on the RAM is restored and the computer is exactly as it was before entering hibernation. Hibernation was first implemented in 1992 and patented by Compaq Computer Corporation in Houston, Texas.

Microsoft's Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 and Windows 11 employ a type of hibernation (Fast Startup) by default when shutting down.