Windows Server 2016 - 9785.fbl_partner

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yourepicfailure
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Windows Server 2016 - 9785.fbl_partner

Post by yourepicfailure »

First off, I'm surprised this build was released so quietly. I thank user @DragonWars for bringing this build to my attention. This build is available sadly in en-us only and in standard, datacenter, and the server core variation for those flavors.
This build can boot with today's date and may be debombable. It is compatible with modern graphics drivers.

Interestingly, this is the only Windows 10/Server 2016 build we have that still identifies itself as NT6.3. In fact, it is not too much different from Server 2012R2 with update 1. Metro applications are still restricted to full-screen mode, charms can be accessed when set to start menu mode (unlike 9834 which disables charms in start menu mode), and "live" uxtheme based colorization for immersive UI components is not fully implemented (kind of works when window colors are set to automatic and you logoff/log back on).
So all in all, this build is Server 2012R2 with update 1 + start menu and 9834's dwm animations. Do note, this build's start menu is not like the start menu shown in 9788 or 9795 screenshots. It is in fact the new menu we first (supposedly) saw in 9834 which I found strange. This build is older than 9834 by 3 months.
(if you want to do some dll stubbing, you may be able to port the start menu to 8.1/2012r2 if you remove the certificate from explorer.exe with signtool and boot with disable driver signature enforcement. unlike 9834, this build's explorer does not throw off the "This app can't run on your PC" error when running in 8.1/server 2012R2. I can provide information on where to redirect api calls for missing dlls to someone who's interested.)

Now for screenshots-

oobe:
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First desktop start after closing server manager:
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Settings app, after installing desktop experience:
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And start menu (with some things pinned, store is automatically pinned after installing desktop experience) with charms:
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Server Manager:
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Version information:
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This build defaults to start screen rather than start menu. So you have to change it with the taskbar and navigation properties.

EDIT: Forgot to mention this. In the last screenshot you can see the inactive system properties window. See that color outline around the titlebar text? Sometimes the start menu likes to change to that exact color. Indicating some sort of relation and recognition of the uxtheme window color for accent colorization. Good to see Microsoft was planning for, and working on, this feature this early.
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DragonWars
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Re: Windows Server 2016 - 9785.fbl_partner

Post by DragonWars »

Great information! I am going to set a dual boot with this build once I reinstall my os.

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