Windows beta builds that are NOT in the MS Collection Book

[The Distractor]

linuxlove: remember the NTOSKRNL.EXE in NT 3.5 RTM had a different build number to what was shown when installed..

[Darkstar]

Darkstar: is there anything else OS-wise ?

Restoring these tapes takes some time, and since I do the tapes chronologically I'm still somewhere in 1995/1996 so there are no Win98 betas yet

I have "NetWare 4.1 final beta" and a few OS/2 Warp3 builds ("General Availability", "Gamma", "Gamma with WinOS2") and a few non-beta OS's (OS/2 Warp3, GeoWorks 2.0, Novell DOS 7, SCO UnixServer 3 and various builds of TSX-32, which was a DOS-based, DOS-compatible multitasking text mode operating system)

I'll keep you posted on any other betas I find, although it might take a few days/weeks

While I've been downloading, I've also been checking NTOSKRNL.EXE on the downloaded NT builds. So far they all seem to be legit, though NT35_845.rar seems to be mislabeled, NTOSKRNL.EXE has a build of 851.

Build 851 is not in the Collection Book either

-Darkstar

[linuxlove]

Really, anything you can give us will be appreciated here. This is BetaArchive after all so keep up the work and I hope you don't wear out that 386 just for our cause.

[Pwned]

I just installed NT4 1141:

[Darkstar]

I just installed NT4 1141:

Wow, that was fast
Is it possible to convert the file system to NTFS if you install from DOS? Or do you run it on FAT?

-Darkstar

[Pwned]

I just installed NT4 1141:

Wow, that was fast
Is it possible to convert the file system to NTFS if you install from DOS? Or do you run it on FAT?

-Darkstar

I didn't install this for everyday use, so, there were problems with NTFS and I choose FAT. It is not so important, what FileSystem I will use.
Yeah, 1175:

Explorer hung, and I can't do anything with that!

[lucas93]

I vote Darkstar for BA FTP access

Darkstar, if you don't mind me asking, where did you get those tapes from?

[Darkstar]

Darkstar, if you don't mind me asking, where did you get those tapes from?

I got the tapes from someone I know, who found them in his basement and was about to throw them out when he moved houses.

He said that, back in the 90's, you could get these tapes from the sysops of some well-known BBS's, as a weekly or monthly subscription service. He didn't remember the details but said that he got them from sweden or so, for what was like 30 or 40 euro/month. I don't need to mention that this was highly illegal even back then, although most of the stuff has faded into obscurity by now so probably nobody really cares anymore.

There's some *very* obscure stuff on these tapes, like MS Office applications for Alpha and the like. Too bad I didn't succeed in installing NT4 on my AlphaStation yet, otherwise I would have a pretty usable installation there now

Too bad that some of the files are now (or probably have always been) slightly broken, i.e. CRC errors on extract, although the backup software didn't report any errors.

Here's a sad example:
http://cornelia.regengedanken.de/~mdrue ... broken.rar
This is probably another unknown beta release, however, one of the zip files is corrupted. Maybe someone wants to create a "cannibalized" version of it by using the missing bits from a slightly different build? Or maybe someone who knows ihs way around the zip compression can even fix the archive somehow, it's probably just a few bits that have flipped (or a few bytes). Brute-force archive repair, anyone?

Oh, and if someone wants to take a look at this, the version info on the kernel says it's 1025 but the only known release of NT3.51 should be 1057. Is this also a case of the differing build numbers in kernel and winver?
http://cornelia.regengedanken.de/~mdrue ... german.rar
If it's not yet known I also have the english version here

-Darkstar

[lucas93]

lol, best way to collect something. Get it, put it in a safe spot and come back 15 years later when it's super rare

Thanks for taking the time to restore these Darkstar

[betascollector]

I downloaded PC-DOS 7.0 Final Beta, PC-DOS 7.0 Beta and I still downloaded Chicago Build 275.
How to extract TD0,DSK and XDF files?

[linuxlove]

I'll get all the new releases uploaded sometime tonight. When there's daylight outside, I can't upload anything since something will be going on while it's still daylight. Night, however is free game so I'll be back tomorrow and let you all know if it uploaded properly.

[Darkstar]

I downloaded PC-DOS 7.0 Final Beta, PC-DOS 7.0 Beta and I still downloaded Chicago Build 275.
How to extract TD0,DSK and XDF files?

For TD0 files there's the TELEDISK.EXE executable that can write it back to a physical floppy disk (or image file if you're in VMWare etc.)
The 1.8meg images must be copied with xdfcopy
DSKs can be written with loaddskf.exe

It's all in there. Note that I'm not responsible this, these files are as-is from the scene releases.

-Darkstar

[betascollector]

Warning: If you are installing Chicago Build 275 in VMWare, Remember to disable the ethernet.
EDIT: And if you installing Chicago Build 216 in VMWare, Disable Audio card.
Because it will cause Windows Protection Error. (maybe based on Nashville Build 999?)

[lucas93]

Why's that?

[Jecag]

Hi, I noticed DarkStar's stuff and decided to join this site

Anyways, I downloaded his "Broken Beta", all the Zip Archives decompressed without an issue (I'm on a Mac). The ARJs decompress to a certain point, but it gets stuck at AUTOCHK.EXE

Is there any specific tool you recommend DarkStar on decompressing the ARJs.

If I do get it fully uncompressed, I would share it with everyone here. And DarkStar, thanks for leaking your betas.

[WinPC]

Thanks for these builds! Finally, I have something to add to my internal server, I just turned it on (I only need to turn it on and off as I use it and it connects to the network automatically since that's how it's configured), and I'm now going to add these builds to it, despite how late it is where I am. I'll make sure to test at least some of them tomorrow.

Anyway, do you have any early Chicago builds, especially those in the 3x-4x build series? I've been looking for them for over three years now, since late 2006, but have never been able to find copies of them.

But anyway, thanks for sharing!

[betaluva]

THANKS for sharing Darkstar, especially seeing you had to go to all that work to get the data from those crusty old DAT tapes.

[jimmsta]

Hi, I noticed DarkStar's stuff and decided to join this site

Anyways, I downloaded his "Broken Beta", all the Zip Archives decompressed without an issue (I'm on a Mac). The ARJs decompress to a certain point, but it gets stuck at AUTOCHK.EXE

Is there any specific tool you recommend DarkStar on decompressing the ARJs.

If I do get it fully uncompressed, I would share it with everyone here. And DarkStar, thanks for leaking your betas.

I'm also on a mac, and used MacPorts' unarj port to decompress the archives. I've gone ahead and repacked the extracted archive here: http://cid-201d867119a80ed3.skydrive.li ... -fixed.rar

[trustBA]

Careful when downloading NT 3.5 build 854, there is a trojan TR/Dropper.Gen in the file called RDR.sys (NT Lan Manager Redirector File System Driver).

[ultrawindows]

http://cornelia.regengedanken.de/~mdrue ... 5beta1.rar
=
Readmy: Notes On Using the Shell Technology Preview with Windows NT version 3.51
Build: 3.51.1053.1

[The Distractor]

yeah, that's just newshell.

[GL1zdA]

There's some *very* obscure stuff on these tapes, like MS Office applications for Alpha and the like. Too bad I didn't succeed in installing NT4 on my AlphaStation yet, otherwise I would have a pretty usable installation there now

It would be great, if you would upload some Alpha stuff (Is it Office 97 (Word 97/Excel 97 actually) or maybe you have the 4.2 for NT version everyone is looking for?). There are at least a few AlphaNT users on this forum.

[Darkstar]

I had to temporarily remove the downloads from the server. I hope everyone who wanted already got them. If not, I can provide new links again later.

I'll look into the alpha apps tonight

-Darkstar

[zeehonden_3]

Aah too bad I saw these links too late . I hope they will be uploaded to another server very fast.

Anyway, thanks so much for sharing Darkstar!

[trustBA]

OK, I've installed Windows 95 build 216 on VPC 2004 SP1 and works very perfectly (with Sound). Some notes:

1. missing file after installation, a single .vxd are not added to the autoexec.bat or config.sys
2. Hangs in the 2nd phase of installation. Restarting works just fine.

Screenshots:






Look at the System Properties, it's real build, not fake.