User:Anonymous74/xpbuildproject

I've done it with Longhorn, I've done it with Vista, and now I'm doing it with Windows XP. In my ongoing quest to install as many Windows beta builds as I can, I will be installing every beta build of Windows XP in VMware Workstation Pro 16. After doing Longhorn and Vista, the logical next step would be Windows 7, but I currently don't have the disk space to dedicate another 300GB+ to Windows builds. Maybe when I have a bigger hard drive. For now, I'm interested in the evolution of XP builds, so here we go...

LEGEND:

• Green: Build is installed.
• Orange: Build is not yet installed.
• Red: I tried to install the build, but it didn't work.

Information about build interest ratings: 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. For me, visual changes make a build more interesting so that is the most important metric in determining this value.

Let the project begin!

Beta 1 - The beginnings of XP.

2202.1.ntvbl06.000202-1835

• Installed: Yes
• Installation Problems: The build CD isn't bootable so I will need to run setup from a boot disk, and partition the drive before installing.
• Installation Difficulty: 7/10
• Installation Notes: Copying the CDROM.SY_ file from the Windows 2000 RTM ISO makes the build bootable. Thanks to @lubuntut for this info!
• How interesting is it? (IMO): 4/10
• Build Notes: Pretty much Windows 2000 with a build number.
• Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

2211.1.main.000309-1512

• Installed: Yes
• Installation Problems: None noted.
• Installation Difficulty: /10
• Installation Notes: Installed fine.
• How interesting is it? (IMO): 6/10
• Build Notes: Neptune login screen is present, although I found the VMware 7.0 drivers installed, but they cause a BSoD on startup so I have to remove them. Update: For some reason it auto installed the WDDM Driver instead of the normal one! Now it works fine.
• Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

2223.1.main.000411-2307

• Installed: No
• Installation Problems: The build may crash while installing drivers. Hopefully I can get past that!
• Installation Difficulty: /10
• Installation Notes: Could not install. GUI Setup restarts when copying files.
• How interesting is it? (IMO): 7/10
• Build Notes:
• Hardware Compatibility used: 5x

2250.1.main.000628-2110

• Installed: Yes
• Installation Problems: None noted.
• Installation Difficulty: NA/10 (Already installed prior to beginning)
• Installation Notes:
• How interesting is it? (IMO): 9/10
• Build Notes: The first build to have a complete working watercolor theme, among other things.
• Hardware Compatibility used: 15x

2257.1.idx01.000810-2103

• Installed: Yes
• Installation Problems: None noted.
• Installation Difficulty: 3/10
• Installation Notes: it froze on hardware setup on the first try.
• How interesting is it? (IMO): 8/10
• Build Notes: The watercolor theme got redesigned.
• Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

2267.1.idx01.000909-1503

• Installed: Yes
• Installation Problems: None noted.
• Installation Difficulty: 4/10
• Installation Notes: Stuck on "Setup is starting Windows Whistler" Update: I managed to get it installed by disabling ACPI, but after installing the VMware SVGA driver it TOTALLY broke the VM. Even safe mode couldn't save it... This is why I avoid chk/debug builds whenever I can. It's currently reinstalling. Update: Installed.
• How interesting is it? (IMO): idk/10 (the betawiki page has no info on the build's changes)
• Build Notes: This build originally scene leaked in 2000, but was lost until very recently!
• Hardware Compatibility used: 5x

2267.1.idx01.000910-1316

• Installed: Yes
• Installation Problems: None noted.
• Installation Difficulty: 1/10
• Installation Notes: It worked.
• How interesting is it? (IMO): 8/10 (Many new features, but I'm sure they existed in the prior compile, so you could say that that build is more deserving of the 8/10 here.)
• Build Notes: nice loading screen.
• Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

2276.1.Lab02_N.000928-2023

• Installed: Yes
• Installation Problems: Largely the same issues as the ones in build 2201.
• Installation Difficulty: 7/10
• Installation Notes: I tried an NT boot disk, DOS boot disk with winnt.exe, and even installing dos. I get stuck on "Setup is starting Windows Whistler" Update: Fixed by disabling ACPI.
• How interesting is it? (IMO): 7/10
• Build Notes:
• Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

2287.1.beta1.001012-1643

• Installed: Yes
• Installation Problems: The same issue as the last build.
• Installation Difficulty: /10
• Installation Notes: Set BIOS Date, Installed DOS, disabled ACPI, ran winnt.exe, partitioned the remaining 6GB of my 8GB drive, installed build.
• How interesting is it? (IMO): idk/10 (The BetaWiki page has no info on new features.)
• Build Notes: Nothing interesting really.
• Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

2296.1.beta1.001024-1157

• Installed: Yes
• Installation Problems: None noted.
• Installation Difficulty: 4/10
• Installation Notes: Stuck on "Setup is starting Windows Whistler", disabling ACPI fixed this.
• How interesting is it? (IMO): 3/10 (The BetaWiki thread does not list many changes, which makes sense I guess.)
• Build Notes: The official Beta 1 build released to testers.
• Hardware Compatibility used: 5x

Beta 2 Builds - Watercolor was still being used at the beginning, but by the end XP had mostly taken form.

2410.main.001208-1937

• Installed: Yes
• Installation Problems: None noted.
• Installation Difficulty: 4/10
• Installation Notes: I needed to disable ACPI or it would freeze up at "Setup is starting Windows Whistler"
• How interesting is it? (IMO): 6/10
• Build Notes: It finally has a proper generic video driver for 32-bit color and higher resolutions.
• Hardware Compatibility used: 5x

2416.idx01.010104-1958

• Installed: No
• Installation Problems: None noted.
• Installation Difficulty: /10
• Installation Notes: I get a disk configuration error after the first reboot to gui setup. I've tried just about every different configuration possible and it just doesn't work.
• How interesting is it? (IMO): 5/10
• Build Notes:
• Hardware Compatibility used: 5x and 6.5-7x.

2419.idx02.010113-1154

• Installed: Yes
• Installation Problems: None noted.
• Installation Difficulty: NA/10 (Already installed before starting)
• Installation Notes:
• How interesting is it? (IMO): 8/10
• Build Notes: One of the final builds to include Watercolor.
• Hardware Compatibility used: 15x (Shows how old this VM is!)

2419.idx02.010115-1412

• Installed: Yes
• Installation Problems: None noted.
• Installation Difficulty: 3/10
• Installation Notes: I had to convert the MDF file to ISO in UltraISO. Usually VMware handles MDFs fine but this one didn't work for some reason.
• How interesting is it? (IMO): 5/10
• Build Notes: Final build to include the watercolor and sample visual styles.
• Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

2428.idx01.010129-1827

• Installed: Yes
• Installation Problems: None noted.
• Installation Difficulty: NA/10 (Already installed before starting)
• Installation Notes:
• How interesting is it? (IMO): 10/10
• Build Notes: The first build to include Luna.
• Hardware Compatibility used: 15x

2430.main.010130-1821

• Installed: Yes
• Installation Problems: None noted.
• Installation Difficulty: 1/10
• Installation Notes: I no longer have to disable ACPI to get into the installer.
• How interesting is it? (IMO): 4/10
• Build Notes: It added a drop shadow that was unique to this build only on title bar text. I guess that's neat.
• Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

2433.main.010206-1822

• Installed: Yes
• Installation Problems: This build is known to be particularly unstable, it might take some trial and error to get it up and running.
• Installation Difficulty: 1/10
• Installation Notes: I had no issues whatsoever.
• How interesting is it? (IMO): 4/10
• Build Notes: Not very much interesting stuff here at this point.
• Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

2446.main.010224-2228

• Installed: Yes
• Installation Problems: None noted.
• Installation Difficulty: 1/10
• Installation Notes: No issues.
• How interesting is it? (IMO): 3/10
• Build Notes: A couple logo changes.
• Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

2454.main.010306-1653

• Installed: Yes
• Installation Problems: None noted.
• Installation Difficulty: 2/10
• Installation Notes: Many files wouldn't copy but the build still installed fine.
• How interesting is it? (IMO): ?/10 (No info on BetaWiki about new features.)
• Build Notes:
• Hardware Compatibility used: 6.5-7x

2457.main.010309-1904

• Installed: No
• Installation Problems: This build will hang on certain systems at the end of GUI setup, resetting fixes this issue.
• Installation Difficulty: /10
• Installation Notes:
• How interesting is it? (IMO): 3/10
• Build Notes:
• Hardware Compatibility used:

2458.main.010310-1552

• Installed: No
• Installation Problems: The build will crash during boot on some copies of the build due to a rogue driver. I will need to replace it if the BA copy is affected by this.
• Installation Difficulty: /10
• Installation Notes:
• How interesting is it? (IMO): 2/10
• Build Notes:
• Hardware Compatibility used:

2459.main.010312-1811

• Installed: No
• Installation Problems: None noted.
• Installation Difficulty: /10
• Installation Notes:
• How interesting is it? (IMO): ?/10 (No info about changed on BetaWiki.)
• Build Notes:
• Hardware Compatibility used:

2462.main.010315-1739

• Installed: No
• Installation Problems: None noted.
• Installation Difficulty: /10
• Installation Notes:
• How interesting is it? (IMO): ?/10 (No info again on BetaWiki.)
• Build Notes:
• Hardware Compatibility used:

And that's it! As I did with my Vista project, I will not be including any RC builds due to how similar they are to the final OS. I will include dated updates below as I begin installing builds.

• 7/15/21 - Project thread created.
• 7/16/21 - Installed build 2211.
• 7/17/21 - Tried and failed to install build 2223, installed build 2257.
• 7/18/21 - Installed the 2nd of the 2 build 2267s and Build 2202.
• 7/20/21 - Installed Builds 2296 and 2410.
• 7/21/21 - Installed the checked/debug compile of build 2267 and build 2276.
• 7/22/21 - Installed Build 2287. Done with beta 1 unless I can get Build 2223 working!
• 7/25/21 - Installed builds 2419 chk/debug and 2430.
• 8/5/21 - Installed builds 2433 and 2446.
• 8/15/21 - Installed build 2454.