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Also called "Win2K" and "W2K," Windows 2000 was a major upgrade to Windows NT 4, launched in early 2000. Available in one client and three server versions, Windows 2000 added support for Plug and Play. It used the same interface as Windows 95/98, but added considerably more features, dialogs and options.

From NT Domains to Active Directory
Windows 2000 supported Active Directory, which replaced NT's domain system and made network administration simpler. This was a major redesign of the directory structure for companies. More stable than NT, Win 2000 was designed to eliminate erroneous replacement of DLLs when applications were installed (see DLL hell).

Versions
Windows 2000 Advanced Server was similar to Windows NT Server, Enterprise Edition, which supported clustering and automatic failover in the event of a system failure. Windows 2000 DataCenter Server supported more advanced clustering and was the top server offering. Windows 2000 Professional was the client version. See Windows, Windows Server 2003, Windows NT, Windows XP, Active Directory and Plug and Play.

   Windows 2000                 SMP
   Version              Use     Support  RAM

   Professional         Client           2GB

   Server               Server  4-way    2GB
   Advanced Server*     Server  8-way    8GB
   DataCenter Server*   Server  32-way  64GB

 *Supports clustering, failover and load balancing