Windows Vista/6.0.5112.winmain beta1.050720-1600

Windows Vista Build 5112 (with a build tag of 5112.winmain_beta1.050720-1600) released on July 27, 2005 is the first official Beta 1 build of Windows Vista by Microsoft and the first released after Microsoft decided to give the "Longhorn" project the final "Windows Vista" name. However, "Longhorn" was still used throughout the interface (such as in the "About Windows" dialog box).

When contrasted with Build 5048 this build was a notable advance with many new features. New interface features include AERO Wizards for creating shortcuts and mapping network drives; the Games Explorer; the List Pane to facilitate the composition of Static Lists; the "Save Ghost" (a preview in the Shell of a file before it is written to disk); Virtual Folders (that replace the AutoLists of Build 5048); an improved Advanced Search interface; new Control Panel applets (e.g., Auxiliary Display); and numerous new high-resolution icons.

Virtual Folders replace the traditional folders on the Start menu (in keeping with pre-reset "Longhorn" concepts) and are displayed prominently within the navigation pane of Windows Explorer, which illustrates the direction of Microsoft's vision for this feature at the time. New Virtual Folders for photos and videos—All Pictures and Videos, All Videos, Keywords, and Rating—combine photos and videos into a unified view, which is reminiscent of "Longhorn" concepts such as Phodeo.

Other new features include Guided Help, Network Projection, PC-to-PC Synchronization, SafeDocs (a preliminary version of the new Windows Backup application), and Windows Speech Recognition (with the Microsoft Speech Center and its associated commands). Windows Speech Recognition in this build is notable for the abilities to configure the operation of voice commands, to play albums, artists, genres, and playlists from a user's Windows Media Player library, and to control operating system volume levels (features not present in the RTM version).

In regard to the new name of the operating system, Jim Allchin stated: "I love this name. ‘Vista’ creates the right imagery for the new product capabilities and inspires the imagination with all the possibilities of what can be done with Windows—making people’s passions come alive.” Allchin's comments were reminiscent of those he made of "Longhorn" during WinHEC 2004.

New features
New preliminary features in this build when compared with Windows "Longhorn" Build 5048 include:
 * An AERO Wizard for creating shortcuts
 * An AERO Wizard for mapping network drives
 * Castle LSA Service
 * Full Volume Encryption (BitLocker) executables and DLL
 * Windows Full Volume Encryption API (fveapi.dll); FVE Auto Convert Utility (fveauto.exe); Fve Utility (fveconv.exe); Windows Full Volume Encryption Tool (fvetool.exe)
 * Games Explorer
 * Guided Help (ACW.exe)
 * Image Mastering API 2 (IMAPI 2)
 * Improved Category mode for Control Panel (similar to the one seen in Windows Vista RTM)
 * List Pane for Static Lists
 * Media Foundation Protected Pipeline
 * Network Projection
 * Options for broadcasting a presentation, connecting to a network projector, viewing a presentation, and adjusting settings
 * New Control Panel applets
 * Auxiliary Display (Windows SideShow), Portable Devices, Solutions to Problems (Problem Reports and Solutions), and Windows Parental Controls
 * New documentation in the Help and Support Center
 * PC-to-PC Synchronization
 * QWAVE Quality of Service (QoS) API
 * SafeDocs (sdclt.exe) that replaces NTBackup of previous versions of Windows NT
 * Save Ghost—a preview of an item before it is written to disk, allowing users to navigate into metadata properties to set properties on the item
 * Smart Card Credential Provider
 * Toggle to enable User Account Control (toggle.exe)
 * Trusted Platform Module (TPM) Base Services
 * Virtual Folders
 * All Items: User's Files
 * Documents: All Documents; Authors; Keywords; Rating; Recent; Types
 * Music: Albums; All Music; Artists; Favorite Music; Genre; Rating
 * Pictures and Videos: All Pictures and Videos; All Videos; Date Taken; Keywords; Rating
 * Windows Disk Failure Resolver (Disk Diagnostic AERO Wizard) (DFDWiz.exe)
 * Virtual Folders for ratings now allow users to narrow query results (by rating) directly within the navigation pane of Windows Explorer
 * Windows Parental Controls (featuring software ratings by ESRB and PEGI)
 * Windows Speech Recognition (with Microsoft Speech Center)

Potential features

 * Games Explorer customization options and the Add Games Wizard are mentioned in documentation from the Help and Support Center:

Removed features
These features/options which were previously included in Windows "Longhorn" Build 5048 have been removed from Build 5112:
 * Column header options to filter by months and years simultaneously
 * Events, Locations, and People AutoLists
 * The ability to create a Static List from the context menu is no longer available by default
 * The previous option to display "My Hardware" on the Start menu has been removed
 * The "Show Picture Preview on Hover" previously available in Build 5048 and pre-reset builds is no longer available
 * The previous WinSAT /? command no longer opens a webpage for command line help; instead, the command states that new help functionality will be made available by Beta 2

Changes
Changes from Build 5048 include:
 * Folder templates—including those determined by the predominant type of files in a folder ("folder sniffing")—now include separate (albeit incomplete) color gradients for menu bars, command bars, and the Details Pane: green for documents, orange for pictures or videos, and red for music; color coding based on folder content is a pre-reset "Longhorn" concept and the earliest known post-reset build in which they are included is 5063. The design decision will remain in Windows Vista up to Build 5259.
 * Build 5219 introduces orange color coding for the new Contacts folder.
 * Static Lists are no longer based on the Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL) structure of Windows Media Playlists
 * System requirements have been changed; they are an 800MHz Pentium III and 512MB RAM.