Windows Me build 2358

Windows Me build 2358 is the third Developer Release build of Windows Me. It was mentioned in the article "The Road to Gold: The development of Windows Me" at Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows and was later uploaded to BetaArchive on 20 March 2019.

According to Thurrott, this build did not introduce any significant changes over the previous builds. The article also stated that the build was apparently released a week after DR2 was released, but the Windows Me timeline in the same article lists the release date as 20 August 1999, which is two weeks after DR2. There are three screenshots that could originate from this build, but as the screenshots have no build information, this cannot be confirmed.

New features and changes

 * Microsoft Chat 2.5 was removed.
 * Windows NetMeeting was updated from version 3.0 to 3.01.

Activity Centers
This build is notable for containing a preliminary version of the Millennium Activity Centers, with some differences compared to the ones in Windows Neptune build 5111. The main entries of the Start Page only contain the Photo Center and Music Center, alongside WordPad, Internet Explorer, and Outlook Express.

The Photo Center opens in a new window and is a mostly purple interface. It allows the user to browse pictures and edit them by rotating or cropping the image. Placeholder images are seen on the main page of the Photo Center. The Music Center has a similar interface to Photo Center, and allows the user to play music and edit an album.

Unlike in Windows Neptune, Game Center is completely missing in this build.

An early version of Help and Support Center, also known as Help Center in this build, is included and moved to Recent Programs. Help Center also contains a reference to Activity Centers in the new features.

Customize Your Start Page opens but is mostly buggy. This page also includes a second theme called "Circus", although it cannot be used.

To enable the Start Page, first the  DWORD value must be added to   and be set to 1. Next, run  in the Run dialog or MS-DOS Prompt. Then, open the Display Properties and enable Active Desktop with a new Desktop Item from  and select. At the top bar of the Start Page desktop item, click on the arrow down and select Cover Desktop. It is recommended to disable desktop icons before enlarging the Start Page.

OOBE
A new out-of-the-box experience is also included, which can be run by. It includes a step if the speakers are working by playing the startup sound, and also shows the EULA. There is a step to enter the product key as well, although there is no way to get past this screen. The remaining pages can only be accessed by browsing in the  directory, which shows the remaining steps to the OOBE.

Also, this OOBE mentions Merlin, but he does not launch due to the absence of Microsoft Agent. By installing Microsoft Agent 2.0, Merlin can be made to work.

Although Merlin's speech may not work, installing Speakonia or L&H TruVoice TTS Engine can make Merlin also able to speak.

System Restore
Like build 2348, this build contains System Restore, although there is no UI to enable this feature by default. It can be enabled by setting the key  to Y, then rebooting the machine. It can then be executed by browsing to  and selecting.

System File Protection
Likewise, System File Protection is also included but not enabled by default. The  registry key has to be set to Y in order to be enabled. After the registry key has been updated, the system must be rebooted for the System File Protection to become active.

Bug reporting
A bug reporting page is now included (contained in  inside the main CAB chain before installation).

Installation
When nearing the end of a clean install, setup will complain saying that a shortcut cannot be placed here when setting up the Start menu, selecting either option will continue setup as normal.

Neptune reference
Two files named  and , with the version number 5.50.5048.1 and the product name Microsoft(R) Neptune (TM) Operating System, were found in this Millennium build, but it is unknown whether this Neptune build was ever compiled.

Such a build would likely be a part of the Milestone 1 stage, and, based on the file dates, would be compiled before 16 August 1999.