Windows Vista build 5259

Windows Vista build 5259 is a pre-Beta 2 build of Windows Vista.

Setup
Once again, the setup interface has been changed massively - mostly being one of the biggest changes yet. A new aurora wallpaper has been introduced, replacing the old bluish wallpaper with the Windows logo on the top-left. The setup autorun has also slightly decreased in length, and now uses a fade effect as well. It also introduces a new logo found in later releases of Windows, including Windows 7, however it is slightly stretched. The colors of the buttons also don't match slightly with the autorun background. Once choosing to install Windows, the same old progress bar will be left mostly untouched (asides from the bar being split between sections and now accurately increasing in size), however the main part of setup itself is now based inside an Aero-themed window mockup. However, many things (such as the buttons and text) aren't positioned correctly, and the Windows logo on the top-left is also stretched. The entire font is also different.

For the pages itself, the product key page now has a new option, prompting for whether you'd like Windows to automatically be activated upon reaching the desktop. The disk partitioning section of setup is also re-organized slightly, and the disk icon may show a 4-bit Windows XP logo.

The hardware portion of setup is now starting to resemble a lot of the first stage of setup more. The generic progress bar in previous builds has been replaced with the progress bar found in the first section of setup, with the new aurora wallpaper as well. The completing installation text however is still there.

Once rebooting after the hardware portion of setup, you will be introduced to a completely new Out-of-Box Experience. This is the first build of Vista since build 5001 to contain an OOBE, however it has much significant improvements compared to XP's OOBE. Rather than settings the country/region during the graphical stage of setup in XP, it is now included on the first page of this build's OOBE. The same goes with timezone selection and computer name (although this is just a repetition of the current computer name selection during the first stage of setup, however the computer name selection during the first stage would be removed in later builds). Account creation is also possible once again, with the addition of adding passwords and password hints, alongside choosing the default account profile picture through a few selection of images. Upon choosing the computer name, you can also select the desktop background, and there is an update selection page after the computer name page. The final page is simply a "thank you" page.

New features and changes

 * Applications that require elevated perms upon launch will now open up a user account control dialogue once again, now looking more similar to that of RTM.
 * The report a bug icon on the desktop has been renamed to simply Feedback.
 * Option to use USB drives as a virtual RAM (Super Fetch).
 * A flyout menu is added to the network tray icon.
 * Tablet Input Band is renamed to Tablet PC Input Panel.
 * WindowsMobile folder is added to the Windows folder.
 * ncryptui.dll is added.
 * Netio Unattend Generic Command is added.
 * Client for NFS Service is removed.
 * Windows Share Manager (pc2pcsur.exe) is added, however it doesn't work.
 * Updated icon for PIX Photo Screensaver.
 * PNP installer program for CMI (pnpdrvinst.exe) is added.
 * PTRes.dll is removed.
 * Network Access Protection Client UI is removed.

New and changed apps
Certain apps such as Migration Wizard have been changed, where Migration Wizard now re-uses a similar interface as the fake Aero Glass window during setup. However, it throws out two asserts upon launch. The Help and Support Center has also been organized in a much more efficient manner. Windows Media Center has been updated quite a fair bit, now containing a much different layout. Finally, Internet Explorer 7 has dropped its bluish-purple accent, and is now back to a more grey look. The loading icon has improved in quality, and it has also been slightly re-arranged. Tabs now also have its own close button, rather than having to right click on a tab to close it.

Windows AntiSpyware

 * This build introduced Windows Antispyware, which would later become Windows Defender in later builds of Vista.
 * About Windows AntiSpyware uses a different type of about box compared to most of the other Windows about boxes. The about box also has a stretched Windows XP logo on it.
 * This app isn't the first version of AntiSpyware in this build. Previous versions of this app existed as Microsoft AntiSpyware, based on GIANT AntiSpyware.

Windows Explorer

 * The most significant change is the ribbon color now being a blue-green gradient.
 * Tip of the Day is removed.
 * Folders bar is removed.
 * Group Items by is renamed to Group By.
 * Expand all groups and Collapse all groups have their words start with Caps Lock on now.
 * Windows Update is re-added to Favorites section in the menu bar.
 * Drive indicators are updated.
 * Updated arrow buttons, background is now same as Aero colors.
 * Windows folder no longer has the Preview Pane on top.
 * File path is moved quite to the right in the address bar.
 * Help icon is added to the toolbar.
 * View and Pane icons switched places in the toolbar.

My Computer

 * Updated alignments.
 * Free spaces are now explained as X GB free in Y GB rather than just X GB.
 * Preview Pane now mentions processor name, memory amount and workgroup info rather than the item amount.

Games Explorer

 * Tile View is updated and it no longer shows the rating, it shows the developer name as a link instead.

Windows Photo Gallery

 * Windows Digital Gallery is renamed to Windows Photo Gallery.
 * There are new icons in it's toolbar and Choose a thumbnail view drop-down menu button.
 * Dates section is renamed to Date Taken in the navigation pane.
 * Batch Change File Format, Batch Resize, Move to Folder and Copy to Folder options are removed.
 * Ability to change the thumbnail size is removed.
 * Preview Pane is renamed to Info.
 * Publish Movie task is removed from the Tasks menu bar section.
 * Add Pictures and Videos to Library... is renamed to Add Pictures and Videos to Gallery....
 * Search box is updated and now uses the Segoe UI font.
 * Play Slideshow is minorly renamed to Play Slide Show in the Tasks menu bar section.
 * New Label is renamed to New Tag.

Windows Media Player

 * The title bar no longer uses the WMP10 style, no longer has an arrow on the left side of the minimize button and has a new icon.
 * Bing link is added to the menu bar.
 * Playback bar now has a black background instead of the WMP10 style.
 * List Pane's now disabled by default.
 * Menu bar options are removed.

My Library

 * Updated icons.
 * Recently Added is added to Primary Views while My Playlists is removed from it.

Windows Calendar

 * Overall redesigned interface.
 * Windows Photo Gallery-like downside bar is added.
 * Search box has an updated look.
 * Send Publish Announcement is renamed to Send Publish Email.
 * 5-Day Week is renamed to Work Week.
 * 7-Day Week is renamed to Week.
 * Event Details, Task Details and Calendar Details are merged at Details.
 * In Help toolbar section, Keyboard Shortcuts link is added.
 * Publish to RSS is removed.

Windows Mail

 * Outlook Express is renamedd to Windows Mail.
 * Outlook Express link is removed, all of it's sublinks are now separate ones.
 * Icons are rewamped.
 * Toolbar color is now gray and shorter in height.
 * First ever e-mails sent by Microsoft Outlook Express Team are now sent by Microsoft Windows Mail Team.
 * Contents and Index is renamed to View Help.
 * App splashscreen is quite updated in this build.

Magnifier

 * Magnifier interface is now double-columned instead of single-columned and it takes less vertical space.

Remote Desktop Connection

 * Updated Local Devices configuration under Local Resources tab.
 * Proxy Server is renamed to Gateway Server under Connection tab.

General > Logon Settings

 * Prompt for credentials checkbox is removed.
 * Updated text regarding invalid/empty username.



Control Panel
Control Panel received many updates. The gradient on the left is now a dark green to light green gradient with a green Windows logo. An entirely new page has been added too, dubbed System. This replaces the old Computer properties dialogue with a more efficient and less compact page. The main page includes the Windows Edition, system rating, processor info, amount of RAM, computer name and description, workgroup, and activation. Extra toolbars have been added on the green sidebar, such as Hardware and Security Center. Here you can change things such as the current theme and desktop background. The Auxilliary Display applet is renamed to Windows SideShow in this build. Ease of Access applet received a new icon. Set Program Access and Defaults applet window is renamed to Program Defaults (it's still known as its old name in Start menu's All Programs section). Windows Update is integrated as a new applet rather than a webpage. Show Thumbnails is added to Taskbar and Start Menu Properties. There's a new applet dedicated to AutoPlay. Speech Properties applet is renamed to Text to Speech. Games is removed from Programs applet.

Personalization
5 sections exist in this new applet:


 * Theme
 * Color Scheme
 * Desktop Background
 * Screen Saver
 * Sound Effects

Network Center

 * Fonts and background are updated.
 * Local Area Connection icon is no longer stretched out.
 * Applet title is now larger.

Parental Controls

 * Windows Parental Controls is shortened to Parental Controls.
 * User Accounts and Notifications links are added to the applet sidebar.
 * User picture is now shown in a smaller size in the applet.
 * Applet now opens in the Control Panel window rather than a separate window.

Game Rating Systems

 * Background is now white.
 * Updated title font.
 * Change Settings is renamed to OK.

Display

 * This applet has been highly degraded since most of the options have been moved under the new Personalization applet.
 * Updated fonts.

Monitor

 * Settings tab is renamed to Monitor.
 * Identify monitors button is added and Troubleshoot button is removed.
 * Color Quality is renamed to Colors and it no longer shows a color bitmap down below the drop-down menu.
 * Screen Resolution is renamed to Resolution.
 * Advanced is renamed to Advanced Settings.
 * How do I get the best display? help link is added.

Scaling

 * This new tab is used to change the DPI settings.

Date and Time

 * Applet is now taller.
 * Changing settings require administrative priveleges unlike last build.

Printers and Faxes

 * Microsoft Digital Document Writer is renamed to Microsoft XPS Document Writer.

User interface
Although windows using the Aero Basic theme looks similar to aforementioned builds of Vista, and DWM effects are also practically the same, Aero using DWM now resembles that of RTM, with things such as the buttons now being updated. The taskbar and Start menu have received major updates, with the taskbar resembling that of RTM as well. The start menu is closer to resembling that of RTM, but it still has a few differences. There is also now an option to change the Glass color. Finally, Flip3D also resembles that of RTM and is pinned to Quick Access by default. Start menu's links such as Network and Computer no longer have icons on them. Clock on the taskbar now has a smaller font. Desktop icon alignment is updated. Windows Explorer's classic menu bar color is now gray again and it's font size is larger. History icon received a new style. Yet again, this version received a minor update at font rendering. Drop-down menu items and buttons are updated again (they have less glossy reflection effects) and they look closer to RTM. Choice circle has a less hue on the point sign on it when it's selected.

Security Screen (CTRL+ALT+DELETE)

 * Switch User button is added just like the logon screen.
 * Default link no longer has underlined text style.

Findings

 * Windows Share Manager's executable file, pc2pcsur.exe reports version 7.00 instead of 6.0. However there were no Windows versions that reported kernel number as 7.00 or as any 7.x numbering.

Bugs

 * This build tends to have stability issues, and can easily crash upon simple tasks, such as installing drivers and opening up applications. At worst, bluescreens can also occur.
 * Windows Explorer crashes if you open Details pane of Properties window.
 * Certain applications such as Device Manager isn't accessible via run. In this case, an alternative route is Control Panel > System > Hardware > Device Manager.
 * The CPU may not be shown correctly in system properties.
 * Even if you don't have a floppy drive in your machine, a button for it may appear in File Explorer anyway.

Installation
On some devices and virtual machines, the setup cannot partition the hard drive, requiring the usage of DiskPart.

Windows AntiSpyware
Time displays the 24-hour format but within indicating AM/PM.