Win95 (and beyond, and somewhat before) DOS boxes also allowed to run DOOM and other protected mode software. But pretty much only if the software was written for "DPMI" ("DOS Protected Mode Interface")[1], which abstracted all of the protected mode "management" stuff away from the software, like switching into protected mode, allocating memory, etc.
If you ran DOOM, you might remember DOS/4GW. That was a so called "DOS extender", and the DPMI "server" when DOOM ran under DOS. When you ran DOOM under Windows, Windows itself became the DPMI server, and DOS/4GW acted as a thinner layer.
Protected mode software written that way did not run as a v86 task anymore, but closer to a regular Win32 task (it was after all real 32bit software).
Thanks for the info. I grew up on the DOS PC and know 4gw was a 32bit extender though I was unaware of the DPMI abstraction and how it related to running DOS under Windows.
If you ran DOOM, you might remember DOS/4GW. That was a so called "DOS extender", and the DPMI "server" when DOOM ran under DOS. When you ran DOOM under Windows, Windows itself became the DPMI server, and DOS/4GW acted as a thinner layer.
Protected mode software written that way did not run as a v86 task anymore, but closer to a regular Win32 task (it was after all real 32bit software).
[1] Or its predecessor VCPI.