MS-DOS 1.x
MS-DOS (Compaq-DOS) version 1.12 (based on MS-DOS 1.25) for Compaq Personal Computer

    Version 1.24 (OEM) – basis for IBM's Personal Computer DOS 1.1
    Version 1.25 (OEM) – basis for non-IBM OEM versions of MS-DOS, including SCP MS-DOS 1.25

            Compaq-DOS 1.12, a Compaq OEM version of MS-DOS 1.25; Release date: November, 1983[29]
            TI BOOT V. 1.13, a Texas Instruments OEM version of MS-DOS; Release date: August, 1983[30]
            Zenith Z-DOS 1.19, a Zenith OEM version of MS-DOS 1.25[31]
            Zenith Z-DOS/MS-DOS release 1.01, version 1.25, a Zenith OEM version of MS-DOS; Release date: May, 1983[32]

MS-DOS 2.x
MS-DOS 2.11 boot disk for the Leading Edge Model D in its sleeve

Support for IBM's XT 10 MB hard disk drives, support up to 16 MB or 32 MB FAT12
formatted hard disk drives depending on the formatting tool shipped by OEMs,[33]
user installable device drivers, tree-structure filing system,[34] Unix-like[35]
inheritable redirectable file handles,[36][37] non-multitasking child
processes[38] an improved Terminate and Stay Resident (TSR) API,[39] environment
variables, device driver support, FOR and GOTO loops in batch files,
ANSI.SYS.[40]

    Version 2.0 (OEM), First version to support 5.25-inch, 180 KB and 360 KB floppy disks;[41][42] Release date: October 1983[43]
    Version 2.02 (OEM, Compaq); Release date: November 1983[44]
    Version 2.05 (OEM, international support);[21] Release date: October 1983[45]
    Version 2.1 (OEM, IBM only)[21]
    Version 2.11 (OEM)[21]
        Altos MS-DOS 2.11, an Altos OEM version of MS-DOS 2.11 for the ACT-86C
        ITT Corporation ITT-DOS 2.11 Version 2 (MS-DOS 2.11 for the ITT XTRA Personal Computer); Release date: July 1985[46]
        Olivetti M19 came with MS-DOS 2.11[47]
        Tandy 1000 HX has MS-DOS 2.11 in ROM
        TeleVideo PC DOS 2.11, a TeleVideo OEM version of MS-DOS 2.11
        Toshiba MS-DOS 2.11 in ROM drive for the model T1000 laptop
    Version 2.13 (OEM, Zenith); Release date: July 1984[48]
    Version 2.2 (OEM, with Hangeul support)[21]
    Version 2.25 (OEM, with Hangeul and Kanji support)[21]
    Version 2.3 (used on the Toshiba Pasopia 16)[49]

MS-DOS 3.x
MS-DOS 3.3C for the PC-9800 series

    Version 3.0 (OEM) – First version to support 5.25-inch, 1.2 MB floppy drives and diskettes, FAT16 partitions up to 32 MB;[50][51] Release date: April, 1985 [52]

    Version 3.1 (OEM) – Support for Microsoft Networks through an IFS layer,[50] remote file and printer API[53][54]
    Version 3.2 (OEM) – First version to support 3.5-inch, 720 KB floppy drives and diskettes and XCOPY.[41]
    Version 3.10 (OEM, Multitech); Release date: May, 1986[55]
    Version 3.20 – First retail release (non-OEM); Release date: July, 1986[56]
    Version 3.21 (OEM / non-OEM); Release date: May, 1987[57]

    Version 3.22 (OEM) – (HP 95LX)
    Version 3.25 (OEM)
    Version 3.3 (OEM) – First version to support 3.5-inch, 1.44 MB floppy drives and diskettes, extended and logical partitions, directory tree copying with XCOPY, improved support for internationalization (COUNTRY.SYS),[58] networked file flush operations[59]
    Version 3.3a (OEM)
    Version 3.30; Release date: February, 1988[60]
    Version 3.30A (OEM, DTK); Release date: July, 1987[61]
    Version 3.30T (OEM, Tandy); Release date: July, 1990[62]
    Version 3.31 (Compaq OEM only)[nb 1] – supports FAT16B with partitions larger than 32 MiB;[nb 2] Release date: November, 1989[63]

MS-DOS 4.0 / MS-DOS 4.x

    MS-DOS 4.0 (multitasking) and MS-DOS 4.1 – A separate branch of development with additional multitasking features, released between 3.2 and 3.3, and later abandoned. It is unrelated to any later versions, including versions 4.00 and 4.01 listed below
    MS-DOS 4.x (IBM-developed) – includes a graphical/mouse interface. It had many bugs and compatibility issues.[64]
        Version 4.00 (OEM) – First version with builtin IBM/Microsoft support of a hard disk partitions greater than 32 MB and up to a maximum size of 2 GB,[65] FASTOPEN/FASTSEEK, DOSSHELL, could use EMS for the disk buffers and provided EMS drivers and emulation for 386 compatible processors;[66] Release date: October, 1988[67]
        Version 4.01 (OEM) – Microsoft rewritten Version 4.00 released under MS-DOS label but not IBM PC DOS. First version to introduce volume serial number when formatting hard disks and floppy disks (Disk duplication also[nb 3] and when using SYS to make a floppy disk or a partition of a hard drive bootable);[68] Release date: April, 1989[69]
        Version 4.01a (OEM)

MS-DOS 5.x
MS-DOS version 5.0

    Version 5.0 (Retail) – includes a full-screen text editor. A number of bugs required re-issue. First version to support 3.5-inch, 2.88 MB floppy drives and diskettes. The SHARE command was not needed anymore for old DOS 1.x style FCB file API to partitions over 32 MB.[66][65] First version to get the HIMEM.SYS driver and load portions of the operating system into the upper memory area and high memory area. Support up to four DOS primary partitions although FDISK cannot create more than one.
        AST Premium Exec DOS 5.0 (OEM) – a version for the AST Premium Exec series of notebooks with various extensions, including improved load-high and extended codepage support[70][71]
    Version 5.0a (Retail) – With this release, IBM and Microsoft versions diverge.
    Version 5.50 (Windows NTVDM) – All Windows NT 32-bit versions ship with files from DOS 5.0

MS-DOS 6.x
German MS-DOS 6.2 Update
MS-DOS version 6.22

    Version 6.0 (Retail) – Online help through QBASIC. Disk compression, upper memory optimization and antivirus included.
    Version 6.2 – SCANDISK as replacement for CHKDSK. Fix serious bugs in DBLSPACE.
    Version 6.21 (Retail) – Stacker-infringing DBLSPACE removed.
    Version 6.22 (Retail) – New DRVSPACE compression.[72]

MS-DOS 7/8 (as part of Windows 9x)
Main articles: MS-DOS 7 and Windows 9x

    MS-DOS 7.0 was included in Windows 95's first retail release. It contains support for VFAT long file names when run in a Windows Virtual 8086 box or with an LFN driver such as DOSLFN. JO.SYS is an alternative filename of the IO.SYS kernel file and used as such for "special purposes". JO.SYS allows booting from either CD-ROM drive or hard disk. Last version to recognize only the first 8.4 GB of a hard disk. The VER internal command reports the Windows version 4.00.950, applications through the MS-DOS API would be reported a version number of 7.00.
    MS-DOS 7.1 was included in Windows 95's OEM Service Release 2 through Windows 98 Second Edition. It added support for the FAT32 file system and logical block addressing (LBA), and was the last version that could boot to the command line from a hard disk. The VER internal command reports the Windows version 4.00.1111, 4.10.1998, or 4.10.2222 depending on the version of Windows, while applications through the API would report version 7.10.
    MS-DOS 8.0 was included in Windows Me, the last version based on MS-DOS, and DOS mode was significantly altered in this release. Booting from the hard disk to a command line only was no longer permitted, AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files were no longer loaded nor parsed before loading the Windows GUI; booting from floppy disk was still permitted to allow for emergency recovery and this version is included in Windows XP and later versions for creating MS-DOS Startup Disks. The VER internal command reports the Windows version 4.90.3000, or 5.1 when created from newer versions of Windows. Applications requesting the version through the API would report version 8.00.

Microsoft DOS was released through the OEM channel, until Digital Research released DR-DOS 5.0 as a retail upgrade. With PC DOS 5.00.1, the IBM–Microsoft agreement started to end, and IBM entered the retail DOS market with IBM DOS 5.00.1, 5.02, 6.00 and PC DOS 6.1, 6.3, 7, 2000 and 7.1.