WinFS Beta 1 on any Vista post-reset build

[Emir214]

I found this post on the old Channel 9 forums where user keeron states:

I read the earlier threads on Channel9, quickly downloaded the 70odd meg WinFS Beta 1 and installed it on my XP machine (later installed in on the Vista partition as well).

Note the last part: "(later installed in on the Vista partition as well)"

Has anyone been able to get WinFS Beta 1 or Beta 1 Refresh (the difference is that Refresh works on the final version of .net Framework 2.0, while Beta 1 uses the beta 2 version of .net Framework 2.0) working on any Vista post-reset build? Since keeron's post is from " Mon, Aug 29 2005 4:18 PM", maybe WinFS Beta 1 would work on Vista build 5112 (a.k.a. Beta 1). I am not sure though, since there's no way to reach keeron now.

[Kimberly5384]

Yes, it'd work on Beta 1. I believe in the release notes it was stated that it's compatible with Vista Beta 1 and XP. You can't use it on the RTM build though, apparently shortly after that build of WinFS was released the thing just got cancelled indefinitely.

[Emir214]

Yes, it'd work on Beta 1. I believe in the release notes it was stated that it's compatible with Vista Beta 1 and XP. You can't use it on the RTM build though, apparently shortly after that build of WinFS was released the thing just got cancelled indefinitely.

All mentions online state only XP. From Quentin Clark, who ran the Program Management team for WinFS:

There were a few pieces of feedback we heard from customers at the PDC in 2003. One was about making the technology available downlevel to Windows XP. Thus, Our Beta 1 bits that are being released today actually do work on XP.

From Paul Thurott:

Yesterday, the company announced the Beta 1 release of WinFS, a release that would ship for Windows XP only, no less.

And from the Release Notes:


That's why I asked this question. Have you tried WinFS Beta 1 on Vista Beta 1?

[Emir214]

Related: Error accessing Global Address List when syncing Outlook with WinFS Beta 1 StoreSpy

[Emir214]

Found this post on AeroXP (as archived by the Wayback Machine) by The_Doctor (who I think is also here on BA), with a timestamp of "Sep 1 2005, 01:37 AM"

I'm glad someone started a topic on this, because I have been wondering the exact same thing myself. As far as I can tell if you aren't a developer creating new things that use the WinFS technology, it's quite useless other than to say "Oh yea, I've got that installed". It won't install on Vista either, I get an error saying it requires XP SP2 or higher . I guess we'll all just have to wait for WinFS to develop a little further before it's of any use.

I'd appreciate if someone can check any Vista build though.

[Emir214]

And yet another conflicting source. From https://betanews.com/2005/09/14/winfs-e ... /#comments.

Beta 1 of WinFS is available now and was distributed at the PDC. The test release works on Windows XP SP2 and Windows Server 2003, in addition to Windows Vista builds.

May anyone check please if WinFS Beta 1 installs on any Vista build?

[Emir214]

Yes, it'd work on Beta 1. I believe in the release notes it was stated that it's compatible with Vista Beta 1 and XP. You can't use it on the RTM build though, apparently shortly after that build of WinFS was released the thing just got cancelled indefinitely.

Stanimir Stoyanov uploaded instructions on 30 August 2005 on how to install WinFS in Vista (based on the date, post-reset but before build 5219 from PDC 2005 held in September 2005) and Server 2003:

1. Get a HEX Editor application.
2. Start en_WinFS_Beta1.exe and it will extract the necessary contents to C:\\winfsbeta1 (by default). When the extraction process is done, you may get an error message on non-WXP SP2 systems - just disregard and close it.
3. Drag C:\\winfsbeta1\\winfs.msi to your HEX editor and go to offset 0×1FE9E.

Now you can choose one of the following:
#1 4. Look at the ASCII pane and replace = 501 with > 500.
#2 4. Look at the ASCII pane and replace 501 with [NTVersion_Major][NTVersion_Minor]. E.g. “501″ for Windows XP, “502″ for Windows Server 2003, “600″ for Windows Vista (fka. “Longhorn”).

5. At offset 0×1FEBC replace byte 0×32 with 0×30.