Disabled Timebombs in Windows 2000 Pre-Release Builds

Discuss Windows 2000, NT, XP and Windows Server 2000, 2003, SBS 2003.
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SupernovaNick
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Disabled Timebombs in Windows 2000 Pre-Release Builds

Post by SupernovaNick »

Sources like BetaWiki and BetaArchive Wiki say that certain Windows 2000 pre-release builds have timebombs. However, all of the Windows 2000 pre-release versions I have ever downloaded from the BetaArchive FTP, WinWorld, and the old-dos.ru FTP and installed in any emulator/hypervisor have no timebombs.

How come all of the timebombs are disabled beforehand when they still exist in all Windows 9x and Windows XP pre-release builds? Just wondering out of curiosity.

ATeamInc
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Re: Disabled Timebombs in Windows 2000 Pre-Release Builds

Post by ATeamInc »

AFAIK the timebomb in these builds depends on install date, for example if a build has a 180 day timebomb it will expire 180 days after installation date (say 180 days from now if you have time snyc enabled).

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Re: Disabled Timebombs in Windows 2000 Pre-Release Builds

Post by SupernovaNick »

ATeamInc wrote:AFAIK the timebomb in these builds depends on install date, for example if a build has a 180 day timebomb it will expire 180 days after installation date (say 180 days from now if you have time snyc enabled).
Yes, but the timebombs are actually disabled. The "About Windows" box makes no mention of a timebomb expiring a certain number of days after installing or a certain number of days after a specific date. As proof, I installed them using the dates they were compiled (i.e. build 1877 installed using the date 17 August, 1998) and then turning time sync back on to bring the system date and time to the present. The OS did not expire and neither before nor after turning time sync back on did the "About Windows" box mention a timebomb.

This is an image from BetaWiki of the "About Windows" box in a timebombed build 1877:
Image

This is my "About Windows" box in my machine running Windows NT Workstation 5.0 build 1877. This is also what it looked like before turning time sync back on:
Image

As a side note, the pre-release version of Internet Explorer in early Windows 2000 builds such as build 1585 expires just like in Windows 98 pre-release builds.

DobaMuffin
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Re: Disabled Timebombs in Windows 2000 Pre-Release Builds

Post by DobaMuffin »

Personally, the only version of Windows 2000 I've seen with a time bomb was an evaluation copy with a 120 day limit on use.

SupernovaNick
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Re: Disabled Timebombs in Windows 2000 Pre-Release Builds

Post by SupernovaNick »

DobaMuffin wrote:Personally, the only version of Windows 2000 I've seen with a time bomb was an evaluation copy with a 120 day limit on use.
What build was it?

DobaMuffin
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Re: Disabled Timebombs in Windows 2000 Pre-Release Builds

Post by DobaMuffin »

It shows up as Version 5.0 (Build 2195), which is not pre-release.

SupernovaNick
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Re: Disabled Timebombs in Windows 2000 Pre-Release Builds

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DobaMuffin wrote:It shows up as Version 5.0 (Build 2195), which is not pre-release.
Maybe it was a service pack beta.

AussieCartoonFan2001A
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Re: Disabled Timebombs in Windows 2000 Pre-Release Builds

Post by AussieCartoonFan2001A »

Did you know Windows 2000 Build 1946 was the only post-15xx beta build of Windows 2000 that didn't have a timebomb.

Dr.pepper
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Re: Disabled Timebombs in Windows 2000 Pre-Release Builds

Post by Dr.pepper »

The funny thing is with the NT 5.0 builds, If you hit cancel when it starts deleting ATI_DEL.SYS, It will install regardless of you having the BIOS date changed
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SupernovaNick
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Re: Disabled Timebombs in Windows 2000 Pre-Release Builds

Post by SupernovaNick »

UPDATE: I noticed that build 2072 has a timebomb but not on a specific date. It expires 444 days after installation regardless of the date it was installed on.

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Re: Disabled Timebombs in Windows 2000 Pre-Release Builds

Post by Overdoze »

SupernovaNick wrote:It expires 444 days after installation regardless of the date it was installed on.
This is the standard Windows 2000 timebomb for pretty much all builds since beta 3 or so IIRC. Also for the Neptune 5111.1 that we have.
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