Win32 console

Win32 console is a text user interface implementation within the system of Windows API, which runs console applications. A Win32 console has a screen buffer and an input buffer, and is available both as a window or in text mode screen, with switching back and forth available via Alt-Enter keys.

Win32 consoles are typically used for applications that do not need to display images but which might use color. Examples include command line interface tools; command line interpreters such as Windows Command Prompt, Windows PowerShell; file managers such as Far Manager and Midnight Commander; and editors such as the MS-DOS Editor.

A Win32 console application may run in two modes.

One mode places the text in a window and uses an operating system's font rendering. In this mode, an application's interaction with user is controlled by the windowing system. This is analogous to X Window System applications such as xterm.

In a mode Win32 console uses a hardware text mode and uploads a raster font to the video adapter. This is analogous to a text system console. Full screen uses Windows' built-in VGA driver, rather than any installed graphics drivers, unless another driver is VGA-compatible. Therefore, it only supports VGA-compatible text modes, giving it a maximum character resolution of 80 columns by 28 rows. This contrasts with comparable consoles in various other operating systems such as Linux, which are able to display higher resolutions through different drivers. This mode was deprecated in Windows Vista as Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM) ceased to support these VGA modes. It was possible to circumvent this issue by installing a Windows XP display driver; however, Windows 8 and later only accepts WDDM drivers.

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