<s>
Microsoft	B-Application
Diagnostics	I-Application
(	O
MSD	B-Application
)	O
was	O
a	O
software	O
tool	O
developed	O
by	O
Microsoft	O
to	O
assist	O
in	O
the	O
diagnostics	O
of	O
1990s-era	O
computers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
assumptions	O
made	O
by	O
the	O
program	O
were	O
valid	O
until	O
the	O
late	O
1990s	O
:	O
it	O
does	O
not	O
handle	O
plug-and-play	B-Device
USB	B-Protocol
or	O
other	O
new	O
technologies	O
that	O
appeared	O
around	O
2000	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
PC	B-Operating_System
DOS	I-Operating_System
6.1	O
and	O
above	O
,	O
QCONFIG.EXE	O
provides	O
similar	O
functionality	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Commercial	O
alternatives	O
include	O
Manifest	O
MFT.EXE	O
from	O
Quarterdeck	O
's	O
QEMM	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
MSD.EXE	B-Application
first	O
shipped	O
with	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Word	I-Application
for	I-Application
Windows	I-Application
,	O
and	O
was	O
later	O
included	O
in	O
Windows	B-Application
3	I-Application
,	O
MS-DOS	B-Application
6	O
,	O
and	O
on	O
the	O
Windows	B-Application
9x	O
CD-ROMs	B-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
OS/2	B-Application
and	O
Windows	B-Device
NT	I-Device
contain	O
code	O
forked	O
from	O
DOS	O
at	O
the	O
DOS	O
5	O
level	O
,	O
the	O
versions	O
of	O
MSD.EXE	B-Application
included	O
here	O
correspond	O
to	O
that	O
of	O
that	O
era	O
(	O
i.e.	O
</s>
<s>
Windows	B-Device
NT	I-Device
3	O
and	O
NT	B-Device
4	I-Device
have	O
WINMSD	O
,	O
a	O
program	O
with	O
similar	O
features	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
the	O
DOS/Windows	O
specific	O
functions	O
were	O
replaced	O
by	O
similar	O
Windows	B-Device
NT	I-Device
concerns	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
WINMSDP.EXE	O
,	O
included	O
in	O
the	O
resource	O
kits	O
,	O
provides	O
the	O
print	O
functionality	O
of	O
MSD.EXE	B-Application
for	O
WINMSD	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Since	O
NT	O
5	O
(	O
Windows	B-Application
2000	I-Application
)	O
,	O
WINMSD.EXE	B-Application
has	O
been	O
a	O
loader	O
for	O
MSINFO32.EXE	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Users	O
generally	O
started	O
the	O
program	O
from	O
the	O
DOS	B-Operating_System
Command	I-Operating_System
Prompt	O
using	O
the	O
command	O
MSD.EXE	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Starting	O
the	O
program	O
under	O
a	O
DOS	O
window	O
in	O
either	O
Windows	B-Application
or	O
OS/2	B-Application
shows	O
only	O
the	O
DOS	O
details	O
allocated	O
for	O
that	O
DOS	O
session	O
,	O
not	O
for	O
the	O
machine	O
in	O
general	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Aspects	O
of	O
the	O
system	O
for	O
which	O
MSD.EXE	B-Application
provided	O
technical	O
information	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
disk	O
drives	O
(	O
and	O
partitions	O
)	O
,	O
excluding	O
CD-ROM	B-Device
drives	O
etc	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Microsoft	O
replaced	O
MSD.EXE	B-Application
with	O
MSINFO32.EXE	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
first	O
appeared	O
in	O
MS-Word	B-Application
,	O
and	O
later	O
was	O
distributed	O
with	O
Plus	B-Application
!	I-Application
</s>
<s>
for	O
Windows	B-Application
95	O
and	O
Windows	B-Device
98	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
MSINFO32.EXE	B-Application
under	O
Windows	B-Application
XP	I-Application
stores	O
system	O
history	O
from	O
WMI	B-Library
in	O
the	O
XML	B-Protocol
files	O
in	O
Windows	B-Application
\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Datacoll	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
interest	O
of	O
backward	B-General_Concept
compatibility	I-General_Concept
,	O
WINMSD	O
became	O
a	O
loader	O
for	O
MSINFO32	B-Application
.	O
</s>
