High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! 32-bit file access refers to the higher performance, protected mode disk caching method introduced in Windows for Workgroups 3.11, which replaced SmartDrive. It bypassed MS-DOS and directly accessed the disk, either via the BIOS or 32-bit disk access. This feature was a backport from the then-unreleased Windows 95, as suggested by Microsoft's advertisements for Windows for Workgroups 3.11. With the introduction of 32-bit file access and Long File Names in Windows 95, DOS was reduced to the role of a boot loader for Windows.
