User:Anonymous74/vistabuildproject

Update (7/15/21) - This project is done! Check below to see what issues I encountered along the way.

In February, I bought VMWare Workstation Pro 16, and decided to start a project to install every single Pre-Reset Longhorn Build in the software that I could. Out of the builds that I thought I could install, I was able to run every one except 4. I have since concluded that project, but I still have over a terabyte of disk space left, so you know what that means! *hehe*

So, in this new project I will install every build of Post-Reset Longhorn that I can VMWare! This project will mostly be similar to the last project, but I'm making a couple of changes. Here's what I'm changing this time around. 1. I'm not going in order this time. The Longhorn project that I did became very boring, particularly in late M5-M6 and 408x range in M7. In some cases, Post-reset longhorn is even worse, particularly with the 6 different compiles of build 5000. Because of this, I will periodically skip around to avoid boredom and de-motivation. I will still mostly go in order, but if/when I get bored, I will skip around to (hopefully) avoid it. Still, I'm only going to do that if I get REALLY bored, as seeing the evolution is really part of the fun! 2. I'm adding more details on each build, sort of as a template. Here I will rate the difficulty of installing, how interesting I find the build, as well as any installation notes that I found while installing it. 3. I'm not installing anything RC1 and later. These builds are to similar to the RTM to be interesting.

I currently have only installed 2 different builds of post-reset Longhorn (5048 and 5112), but only my 5112 VM is currently working, so I effectively installed only a single build as of me starting this, so I have a lot of work cut out for me, but I'm ready to take on this new challenge. So, let's begin!

LEGEND


 * Green : Installed.
 * Orange : Not yet installed, but should be able to be installed.
 * Red : Currently unable to install.

EXTRA: How I determine how interesting a build is. The more interesting a build is, the higher value /10 it gets. The longer it has been since a new interesting feature in a build, the lower score it gets. That is why a build such as 5360.0.vbl_media_ehome.060411-1930 gets a 3/10, when an earlier but nearly identical build (5355.0.vbl_media.060329-2048) gets a 5/10.

Omega-13

 * This development phase mostly had under-the-hood changes, and as such, these builds are very boring to use. Most of them are simply just a buggier version of Windows XP.

3790.1232.winmain.040819-1629
 * Installed: Yes.
 * Installation Problems: Zero-Day activation, circumvent able file copy errors.
 * Installation Difficulty: 3/10 How interesting is it (IMO): 1.1/10
 * Installation Notes: Was unable to find the file paths for the files that had copy errors, so core apps are missing. For some reason as well the Luna theme was not present. I'm not sure if that's related.
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 16x

5000.vbl_core.040803-2000
 * Installed: Yes
 * Installation Problems: None noted
 * Installation Difficulty: 1/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 2/10
 * Installation Notes: Absolutely no problems, installed just like XP would.
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 16x

5000.vbl_core.040808-2000
 * Installed: Yes!
 * Installation Problems: The file "win32k.sys" needs to be replaced in order for installation to work.
 * Installation Difficulty: 10/10 (about as hard as it gets, relative to other builds)
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 3/10 (This issue makes it more interesting than any of the other 5000 builds in my opinion)
 * Installation Notes: Did as instructed, replaced the files (Win32k.sys and another win32k file, just to be safe), and installed the build! I got the working files from the earlier compile from 8/3/04.
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 16x

5000.vbl_core.040809-2000
 * Installed: Yes
 * Installation Problems: None noted, the issue in the earlier compile was fixed.
 * Installation Difficulty: 1/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 1/10
 * Installation Notes: No problems
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 16x

5000.vbl_core.040818-2000
 * Installed: Yes
 * Installation Problems: None noted
 * Installation Difficulty: 1/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 1/10
 * Installation Notes: No problems.
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 16x

5000.vbl_core.040826-2000
 * Installed: Yes
 * Installation Problems: None noted
 * Installation Difficulty: 1/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 1/10
 * Installation Notes: Nothing.
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 16x

5000.vbl_core.040902-2000
 * Installed: Yes
 * Installation Problems: None noted
 * Installation Difficulty: 1/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 1/10
 * Installation Notes: None
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 16x

5001.winmain.040927-1610
 * Installed: Yes
 * Installation Problems: None noted.
 * Installation Difficulty: 1/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 2/10
 * Installation Notes: Installed without any problems.
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 16x

Beta 1

 * This is when we started to see real changes. A new theme, many new features, and the DWM were all present starting with Build 5048. These builds could also be referred to as Omega-13 builds, but I'm classifying them as Beta 1 due to the huge differences between these sets of builds.

5048.winmain_idx02.050401-0536
 * Installed: Yes
 * Installation Problems: None noted.
 * Installation Difficulty: 5/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 10/10
 * Installation Notes: Had to set BIOS date even though the timebomb was supposed to be broken. I also had to partition the drive before installation.
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

5098.winmain_beta1.050628-1740
 * Installed: Yes
 * Installation Problems: Circumvent-able drive partitioning issues.
 * Installation Difficulty: 2/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 10/10
 * Installation Notes: Installed like normal, but I had to restart after partitioning the HDD to get the build to format it.
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

5112.winmain_beta1.050720-1600
 * Installed: Yes
 * Installation Problems: I installed this build almost 1 year ago so I don't remember.
 * Installation Difficulty: /10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 7/10
 * Installation Notes: I already installed it, so I don't have any.
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 15x (Version used to install)

Beta 2

 * Beta 2 is when Vista's design was finalized. It is the longest period in Windows Vista's development.

5212.winmain.050726-1915
 * Installed: Yes
 * Installation Problems: None noted.
 * Installation Difficulty: 1/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 8/10
 * Installation Notes: No problems.
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

5215.winmain.050726-1915
 * Installed: No
 * Installation Problems: Zero day bomb on first boot, reboot will fix it.
 * Installation Difficulty: /10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): /10
 * Installation Notes:
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

5219.winmain_idx02.050830-2010
 * Installed: Yes
 * Installation Problems: Will crash under vmware unless 6.x compatibility is used.
 * Installation Difficulty: 2/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 8/10
 * Installation Notes: I had to restart after partitioning the drive, but I was able to install it fine after that.
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 6.0

5231.winmain.050912-2020
 * Installed: No
 * Installation Problems: Will crash under vmware unless 6.x compatibility is used.
 * Installation Difficulty: 2/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 6/10
 * Installation Notes: old install got timebombed somehow so i'll have to reinstall it.
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 6.0

5231.2.winmain_idx03.051004-2120
 * Installed: Yes
 * Installation Problems: Will crash under vmware unless 5.x compatibility is used.
 * Installation Difficulty: 5/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 4/10
 * Installation Notes: Unable to install, the setup just instantly crashes. Update: I feel like I got a corrupted download the first time. Either way, a new download of a different image fixed my crashing issue I was having.
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 5.x

5259.winmain_idx02.051113-2100
 * Installed: No
 * Installation Problems: Drive partitioning issues on some virtual machines. It is not noted whether this works on VMWare.
 * Installation Difficulty: 3/10 How interesting is it (IMO): 9/10
 * Installation Notes: build timebombed for some reason so i have to reinstall
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

5259.3.winmain_idx02.051117-1715
 * Installed: Yes
 * Installation Problems: The starter SKU cannot be installed due to a bug.
 * Installation Difficulty: 2/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 4/10
 * Installation Notes: Drive partitioning was finicky, just like the last build, but it did work.
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

5270.9.winmain_idx03.051214-1910
 * Installed: No
 * Installation Problems: None noted.
 * Installation Difficulty: 5/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 6.5/10
 * Installation Notes: Black screen issue after not opening the VM for a while. Have to reinstall
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 6.0

5284.0.vbl_media_ehome.051218-1800
 * Installed: No
 * Installation Problems: The $OEM$ folder in the /sources folder must be deleted in order for setup to work. The eHome features also will be missing, as they only install on real hardware.
 * Installation Difficulty: 5/10 (It took me a while to find a tool that didn't have an ISO size edit limit)
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 6/10
 * Installation Notes: My VMDK file went missing so I have to reinstall....
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

5308.6.winmain_idx01.060202-1920
 * Installed: No
 * Installation Problems: The OOBE is very unstable.
 * Installation Difficulty: 3/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 6.5/10
 * Installation Notes: Lost VMDK
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

5308.17.winmain_idx01.060217-2200
 * Installed: No
 * Installation Problems: None noted.
 * Installation Difficulty: 1/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 3/10
 * Installation Notes: Lost VMDK
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

5308.50.winmain_idx01.060222-1250
 * Installed: No
 * Installation Problems: Only available in German and Japanese! That sure will be interesting
 * Installation Difficulty: 4/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 5/10
 * Installation Notes: Lost VMDK
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

5308.60.winmain_idx01.060223-2145
 * Installed: Yes
 * Installation Problems: None noted.
 * Installation Difficulty: 1/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 2/10 (Another recompile of the same build)
 * Installation Notes: Had that same issue with having to restart after drive partitioning, but I'm going to just stop mentioning it until it goes away at this point.
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

5310.0.vbl_media_ehome_dev.060207-1800
 * Installed: Yes
 * Installation Problems: None noted.
 * Installation Difficulty: 1/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 5.5/10
 * Installation Notes: My drive disconnected in the middle of the install so I had to restart, but that was my fault.
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

5329.0.vbl_media_ehome.060301-2145
 * Installed: Yes
 * Installation Problems: None noted.
 * Installation Difficulty: 1/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 6.5/10
 * Installation Notes: winver banner displays as Longhorn Server for some reason.
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

5337.0.vbl_media_ehome.060313-2100
 * Installed: Yes
 * Installation Problems: Nothing major.
 * Installation Difficulty: 2/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 4.7/10
 * Installation Notes: OOBE froze on the last page making me have to go through it and create the user account again.
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

5342.2.winmain_idx04.060321-1730
 * Installed: No
 * Installation Problems: The x86 version can't be installed on vmware, so I will use the x64 version. The OOBE is very unstable as well.
 * Installation Difficulty: 1/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 5/10
 * Installation Notes: build broke
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

5355.0.vbl_media.060329-2048
 * Installed: Yes
 * Installation Problems: Partition the drive before installing because of a crash, OOBE may freeze and require to be force quit.
 * Installation Difficulty: 2/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 5/10
 * Installation Notes: No disk partition issues besides having to restart like in the past 15+ builds. OOBE crashed so I had to kill it in taskmgr.
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x, upgraded to 10 to try to get DWM working, and it didn't work.

5356.winmain.060330-1450
 * Installed: Yes
 * Installation Problems: None noted.
 * Installation Difficulty: 1/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 4/10
 * Installation Notes: Installed fine.
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

5360.0.vbl_media_ehome.060411-1930
 * Installed: Yes
 * Installation Problems: None noted.
 * Installation Difficulty: 1/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 3/10
 * Installation Notes: Installed fine.
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

5365.8.winmain_idx05.060419-1800
 * Installed: No
 * Installation Problems: None noted.
 * Installation Difficulty: 1/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 5.5/10
 * Installation Notes: black screen
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

5371.0.vbl_media_ehome.060418-1930
 * Installed: Yes
 * Installation Problems: None noted.
 * Installation Difficulty: 1/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 4/10
 * Installation Notes: No problems whatsoever.
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

5378.0.vbl_media_ehome.060426-1930
 * Installed: Yes
 * Installation Problems: None Noted.
 * Installation Difficulty: 1/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 4.5/10
 * Installation Notes: No problems whatsoever.
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

5381.1.winmain_beta2.060501-1900
 * Installed: Yes
 * Installation Problems: None noted.
 * Installation Difficulty: 3/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 3/10
 * Installation Notes: Didn't work with a 20GB hard drive. I needed to expand the drive to 25GB.
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

5382.0.winmain_beta2.060506-1900
 * Installed: Yes
 * Installation Problems: None noted.
 * Installation Difficulty: 5/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 2.5/10
 * Installation Notes: Had to install x86 version, x64 didn't work
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

5384.3.winmain_beta2.060517-1235
 * Installed: Yes
 * Installation Problems: None noted.
 * Installation Difficulty: 1/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 2/10
 * Installation Notes: No issues. I tried to enable Aero, but as expected it didn't work.
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 10x

5384.4.winmain_beta2.060518-1455
 * Installed: No
 * Installation Problems: None noted.
 * Installation Difficulty: 1/10
 * How interesting is it (IMO): 1.5/10
 * Installation Notes: User account issue
 * Hardware Compatibility used: 10x

Alright, that's it! The end gets pretty boring, so I hope you can see why I'm not including any release candidate builds. So, time for me to get started on this new project!
 * 3/4/2021 - Installed build 3790, the first of 6 build 5000s, 5001 and 5048
 * 3/5/2021 - Installed build 5098 3/6/2021 Installed build 5212, and the 3rd of the 6 build 5000s
 * 3/7/2021 - Installed build 5219 3/9/2021 Installed build 5231.0
 * 3/11/2021 - Installed build 5259.0 3/12/2021 Installed build 5259.3
 * 3/15/2021 - Installed build 5270.9 3/16/2021 Installed the 2nd compile of build 5000.
 * 3/18/2021 - Installed build 5284, 5308.17 and the 4th compile of build 5000
 * 5/30/2021 - Official relaunch of this project, installed build 5308.50.
 * 6/2/2021 - Installed build 5308.60
 * 6/3/2021 - Installed build 5310
 * 6/9/2021 - Installed another of the many build 5000s
 * 6/16/2021 - Installed build 5329
 * 6/17/2021 - Installed build 5337
 * 6/18/2021 - Installed build 5342 and build 5355
 * 7/10/2021 - Installed build 5356 and 5360
 * 7/11/2021 - Installed build 5365
 * 7/12/2021 - Installed build 5371
 * 7/13/2021 - Installed builds 5378, 5381 and the 6th and final build 5000
 * 7/15/2021 - Installed builds 5231.2, 5382, 5384.3 and 5384.4. THAT'S IT! I'M DONE! The end. That sure took a long time. Either way, I managed to get ever single build installed. On to XP!
 * 1/24/2023 - What, I've updated the page again? Why? Well, there have been some new leaks since I finished the project, which means new builds to install. I'll be getting to that soon so I'm filling them in as I sort through my VM backup.
 * 1/30/2023 - finished sorting through builds

Screenshots gallery (test):