Windows Longhorn build 4093

Windows Longhorn build 4093 is the last 'main' compile of the original Longhorn project (based on the Server 2003 RC1 codebase) before development was reset with build 3790.1232. This build was leaked on 28 August 2006, shortly after the closure of the original OSBetaArchive, and was labeled a farewell release. It is highly unstable; which was typical of most later Longhorn builds. It was also the last pre-reset Longhorn build to be available, and one of the last to be compiled.

Many applications and features are unstable works-in-progress, and might not function as intended. The development reset began sometime within four hours and fourteen minutes after the compilation of this build, at 16:29 (although many teams had already been working with the new codebase since at least 3 August 2004). Development moved to a new code base, which eventually became Windows Vista.

While this build is only available in the Professional SKU, a Home edition is mentioned in the Activation Wizard discussed later in the article. It is currently unknown if this build was compiled under the Home SKU.

Setup
Although setup is mostly similar to previous builds of Windows Longhorn, a few places have been changed slightly, mostly just text being changed.

Features

 * A new sound tray icon has been added to the taskbar, however, it just opens up the Sound and Devices Properties window.
 * The Games library has been largely updated. Although there are no longer any shortcuts to the games (but the games themselves are still present on the system) due to componentization, there are certain features located on the toolbar, such as buddy matchmaking.
 * The shutdown/restart/stand by choices have been uplifted, now including an entirely revamped shutdown screen, prompting you if you want to carry out said action.

UAC
User Account Control has received a few uplifts in this build, now granting a tick dialogue in the properties of an application on whether non-admins can open said app or not. The dialogue itself upon opening an unknown application has also been modified.

MXPlayer
It has a new version of Media Player called MXPlayer. It can be accessed by running  in the installation directory, but it is incomplete and a lot of the options don't work or result in assertion errors.

Avalon Applications
This build includes an Avalon-based Windows Movie Maker application. However, the application is highly unstable and the debug prompts/assertion error messages that plague it make it nearly unusable. The Movie Maker can be found in.

This build also marks the return of the Display Properties dialog first seen in build 3683. However, most of the links simply redirects to the Windows XP options. An Avalon-based Power dialog can be found in this build as well, though it is unstable. Likewise, there is also an Avalon Wireless Presentation application in this build. The applets are,  , and  , all of which are found respectively in the   folder.

A prototype Color Management control panel (based on Avalon) is found in this build as well. During componentization of the build, an error was made within the manifests for the main Control Panel executable, leading to the executable not being present in the component store and its main DLL component duplicated. The component in question is. However, it is believed that the missing executable was a stub, starting the main application code found through another component named ; the launcher stub for the former can be reproduced using an IDE. The control panel applet is extremely unfinished, as shown by the other pages accessible on the right either crashing or doing nothing due to the lack of functions found within the DLL file.

Prototype Windows Product Activation
Inside  is a file named. It contains dialogs for a prototype version of Windows Product Activation, however most of the dialogs don't load and those that remain are highly unstable and incomplete. Some of the dialogs can be run via, where Y is a number from 1 through 10. Only dialog options 2, 3 and 6 load correctly. The sixth dialogue mentions about both Home and Premium SKUs of Windows Longhorn, which indicated that there was going to be said SKUs. These SKUs would later become Windows Vista Home Basic and Home Premium. Asides from the SKUs, the entire list of LicenseUI pages can be found here.

Fixes from 408x

 * The Windows Classic theme has been fixed in this build, unlike the builds in the 408x range. Before this build and after 4074, the theme was not working due to a bug, but the Windows Classic visual style was still working.
 * Hardware and Devices folder is now functional and can open again is this build, unlike the builds in the 408x range.
 * Windows Product Activation is present again in this build, unlike the builds in the 408x range.
 * The video card can initialize again without needing to Enable VGA Mode after installing drivers, unlike the builds in the 408x range.

Installation

 * As typical for componentized builds, it tends to take a long time to install and can be unstable.
 * The WinPE hangs for extended periods of time when starting setup on the current date even if the timebomb is broken.
 * The hardware portion of setup has many issues with MUIs, and will fail to copy certain files. Whenever setup prompts you to locate certain files, simply skip them. However, this depends on the copy and hardware being used. This build will usually complain about a missing  file which can be found in   but this truly depends on the hardware and system time and is independent of the copy used.
 * On first logon and after completion of the hardware detection phase of setup,  will not launch normally. It can be launched manually with the task manager.
 * The screen color depth is set to 16-bit colors instead of 32-bit colors by default.

Upgrade
Attempting to upgrade from other builds is not possible as one of two outcomes may occur:
 * 1) A bugcheck with error code 0x7E after the second reboot. This is commonly observed when trying to upgrade from non-componentized builds, such as 4074 (via a registry tweak that reports it as a componentized build).
 * 2) An error during the file copy phase.

No mouse driver in WinPE
On some computers and hypervisors, this build's WinPE doesn't support the mouse, so you must use the keyboard to navigate the WinPE. This seems to be related to using a PS/2 mouse as well as some USB mice, as some USB mice seems to work fine for the setup.

Timebomb
Unlike other Longhorn builds, it contains a broken timebomb and can be installed on the current date.

Outlook Express
Outlook Express does not start due to registry errors and certain dependencies on WinFS.

Explorer

 * CD and DVD drives behave like local disks. Floppy drives behave like local disks only if a CD is inserted in the system.
 * Help and Support crashes Explorer.
 * Explorer will crash after adding the display tile in sidebar and won't launch again. A workaround is to create a new account via cmd.
 * In the Game Library, the text overlaps.
 * Sometimes, icons may not show correctly on the desktop and Start menu unless you log off and log back on.
 * Viewing large folders might cause Explorer not to properly load all directories (which is true for the System32 directory). Refreshing Explorer several times fixes this.

Themes
Changing the theme will leave the taskbar without a visual style, reminiscent build 4074's theming service bug. This can be fixed by restarting  or changing to another theme (except Windows Classic).

The navigation buttons of Windows Explorer, Internet Explorer and other Avalon-based applications will disappear if the application is in use.

Control Panel

 * By default, the Phone and Modem Options Control Panel applet name is empty.
 * Sometimes, Computer Management will display script errors due to missing registry entries.

Drivers

 * This build does not install the default monitor driver by default and may need to be installed manually. As a result, changing the display resolution will not ask for confirmation.


 * The HAL driver will show up as an unknown device, though Windows functions normally.


 * Many driver categories are missing their icons.


 * Sound drivers are unstable in VMware Workstation and can stop working for no specific reason. Hardware acceleration for sound is also unstable.

Safe mode
The Safe mode is completely broken and results in a bugcheck with code 0x7B. This is because the  key, located in   is largely incomplete and missing a lot of entries. Restoring the key from a build with working safe mode enables this build to boot in safe mode, but the display is not initialized properly which leads to no video output (which is seen as a black screen).

Other bugs

 * Similar to build 4088, the task manager of this build is known to hang when launching a new task if  is not running.
 * Sometimes, Ctrl - Alt - Delete menu can throw out an  error.