Windows Server 2012 build 7904

Windows Server 2012 build 7904 is a build of Windows Server 2012, which was uploaded on 30 September 2021. This is the last known build to contain the blue-green gradient background present since build 7777 of its client counterpart. It would be later replaced with a plain green wallpaper featuring a wordoku puzzle in 7927 (client).

Changes
The Windows Server 2008 R2 name has also changed to Microsoft Pre-release Windows Operating System.

Many changes to the user interface have occurred since build 7850.

Windows Basic/Aero Lite is now used as the default theme instead of Windows Classic. The Aero Lite visual style has gained Metro-style window metrics, but only when the Desktop Window Manager is initialized. The Metro Horizon has been replaced with a desktop tile, although its resources are still present; clicking it brings the user back to the classic Windows desktop. Tiles are now icon-aware, and right-clicking on a tile shows a menu with several options - "Move to Other View" being among them, although this does nothing when clicked. In fact, all of the options bar the "Open" option (which opens the app without actually entering the desktop) - including such items as "Uninstall" and "Resize" - either do nothing or show an error when clicked.

The ability to search files and applications in the Start screen was implemented. The bugcheck and Windows Boot Manager functionalities now support VBE2 at all times (build 7850 only supported it during boot) and have been updated to the design first seen in Windows 8 build 7899. In addition to this, a user tile is now located at the top of the screen filled with the user's profile picture (replacing the Search button, which was not seen again on the Start screen until Windows Server 2012 R2 Update in 2014), as well as a volume icon.

Accents and backgrounds have been implemented, of which are accessible using a registry key. The Start screen now has multiple views - although this is hinted at in build 7880 of its client counterpart by the existence of a "Move to Other View" option found while right-clicking on the Start screen tiles, it is unimplemented. This other view is an "Other Programs" view that contains all installed programs. As a result of this, there are far less applications in the default Start screen view. The tile colors in the Start screen have been changed to be more uniform.

The copyright date of  has been updated from 2009 to 2010. This is, as of today, the only build of Windows Server 2012 to use it, as the next build already has a 2011 copyright date.

Shell
This build is one of the first server builds to contain a new built-in volume HUD, replacing the one included by default by OEMs. The location of the volume HUD is in middle right instead of top left in RTM.

Start screen accent
To get the Start screen accent, open Registry Editor, head to, create a new key called DWM, make a DWORD called EnableAccent and set its value to 1. Afterwards, log off and then log back on again.

Removable media prompt
The removable media prompt has been revamped as well, using the new Metro design. It mostly consists of the same actions as the previous removable media prompt used in earlier builds of Windows 7.

Immersive apps
Immersive Browser:.

Redesigned Server Manager
An early iteration of the new Server Manager interface is present in this build, and can be accessed by running.

Setup

 * The messages shown when setup is starting, installing or upgrading Windows, restarting the computer or preparing the OOBE are cut off.
 * This build cannot be installed in VirtualBox. It will refuse to boot with a black screen showing an error code of either 0x0000001E or 0x0000000A. This bug persists until build 8148.

Arial
This build uses the Arial font for the title bar and watermark because of a typo in the  and   files.

Start screen
Due to issues with the Start screen's accent, there will be rendering issues when using EnableAccent.

Explorer crashes in Safe mode
When booting into safe mode, Explorer may crash after logging in.

Login sound
Upon logging in, the login sound will play three times instead of once.

Crash while booting into setup
On VMware, the OS may crash while booting into the setup. This can be fixed by setting hardware compatibility to 10.x.

Windows Classic
Despite no longer being the style used, the "Windows Classic" colour scheme is still used initially on the first login of a user account, before the default Windows theme is applied thus overwriting those settings with Aero Lite's colour scheme. Later builds would fix this by initially having the colour scheme on the default user configuration already match the default visual style's colour scheme.