Windows 2000
personal computer operating system by Microsoft
Windows 2000 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft, targeting the server and business markets. It is the direct successor to Windows NT 4.0, and was released to manufacturing on December 15, 1999, and then to retail on February 17, 2000, with Windows 2000 Datacenter Server being released on September 26, 2000.
Windows 2000 introduces NTFS 3.0, Encrypting File System, and basic and dynamic disk storage. Support for people with disabilities is improved over Windows NT 4.0 with a number of new assistive technologies, and Microsoft increased support for different languages and locale information. The Windows 2000 Server family has additional features, most notably the introduction of Active Directory, which in the years following became a widely used directory service in business environments. Although not present in the final release, support for Alpha was present in its alpha, beta, and release candidate versions. Its successor, Windows XP, only supports x86, x86-64 and Itanium processors. Windows 2000 was also the first NT release to drop the "NT" name from its product line, however the "NT" moniker would be used for one final time in the "Built on NT Technology" tagline used on the product's packaging as well as a few other places in the operating system (such as the boot and logon screens).
Four editions of Windows 2000 have been released: Professional, Server, Advanced Server, and Datacenter Server; the latter of which was launched months after the other editions. While each edition of Windows 2000 is targeted at a different market, they share a core set of features, including many system utilities such as the Microsoft Management Console and standard system administration applications.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Windows 2000” is personal computer operating system by Microsoft. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Windows, personal and computer, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “personal computer operating system by Microsoft” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q483881. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2000 and 1999.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Windows 2000”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Windows 2000 primary sources, Windows 2000 archive and Windows research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Windows 2000”?
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Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Windows 2000” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.