Windows Internals, Part 1: System architecture, processes, threads, memory management, and more, Seventh Edition

Chapter 2. System architecture

Now that you’ve learned the terms, concepts, and tools you need to be familiar with, it’s time to start exploring the internal design goals and structure of the Microsoft Windows operating system (OS). This chapter explains the overall architecture of the system—the key components, how they interact with each other, and the context in which they run. To provide a framework for understanding the internals of Windows, let’s first review the requirements and goals that shaped the original design and specification of the system.

Requirements and design goals

The following requirements drove the specification of Windows NT back in 1989:

Provide a true 32-bit, preemptive, reentrant, virtual memory OS.

Run on multiple ...