The Hidden Purpose of Windows' winstart.bat
The little-known winstart.bat batch file
Raymond Chen explains the little-known winstart.bat file in Windows 95, which runs during system startup before the GUI loads. Unlike autoexec.bat, it loads TSRs only for Windows programs, not for MS-DOS virtual machines. This feature actually dates back to Windows 3.1, as documented in the Resource Kit. The article includes diagrams and a table illustrating how TSRs are visible in different virtual machines.
It’s like leaving your house, walking down the street, and halfway down the block, realizing that you’re now walking inside a movie studio set.