Windows 2000 build 1515

Windows 2000 build 1515 is the earliest available build of Windows 2000. This build is listed on the Crazybytes 15 warez CD list. Two warez groups shared the Workstation SKU of this build, though one mislabeled it as build 1516.1. This build introduces many features originally found in the Microsoft Cairo project, most notably Distributed File System, CairOLE (OLE) and, a new user interface provided by the Windows Desktop Update as well as many user accessibility improvements which have been a key part of Windows 2000's development. Due to its earliness, it's still based on 9x.

New features

 * Most NT 4.0 references have been replaced with NT 5.0. However, many parts of the interface are still very similar to NT 4.0. One example that stands out, in particular, is the 'Windows NT Setup' program, which remains unchanged from Windows NT 4.0 RTM (and by proxy, build 1327).
 * FAT32 support is implemented in this build.
 * This build introduces advanced logon options.
 * Support for Plug and Play has been added, along with a new user interface for installing device drivers when they are missing from Windows NT. The dialogs are present in.
 * A new application named Active Directory Browser is present in this build. You can start it by running.
 * version 5.0 build 1376256 has been introduced in this build from the Microsoft Cairo project.
 * Microsoft Exchange Server Database utilities has been introduced in this build.
 * version 2.0 has been added in this build.
 * Microsoft Java Runtime has been added in this build.
 * This build introduces Windows Installer support, although no .msi files known to work in this build have been found so far.
 * This build features a new wizard to share folders and files over the network, however, it is not installed by default. Assuming D: is your CD-ROM driver, with the setup disc inserted, run  to run this wizard.

Control Panel additions

 * The Add New Hardware Wizard has been added to Control Panel in this build.
 * A new Power Management Properties Control Panel applet has been added in this build, however it is not installed by default by Windows Setup. In order to run it, insert this build CD-ROM media into the machine, and run the following command assuming D: is your CD-ROM drive letter: . Due to the early nature of this applet, it is not functional. Buttons do not do anything, and it is believed that this is what the   button in the Display Properties applet is supposed to launch like in later builds.

Setup features

 * Text setup now allows you to directly format the target installation partition to NTFS, as opposed to Windows NT 4.0 formatting it to FAT instead during text mode setup and then converting it to NTFS on first boot. This also means that partitions above 4 GB on C: can be created from the setup.
 * The line break for the second line of the note on the emergency repair disk page of GUI setup has been moved from after by to after time.
 * This build introduces a new progress bar during Disk verification in text mode setup.
 * The file copy dialog during the first part of GUI setup has been redesigned (this change would later get backported to Windows NT 4.0 SP3). This can be also seen when installing applications using the installer created with.

Accessibility features

 * Mouse acceleration settings have been introduced to the Mouse Control Panel applet.
 * New accessibility settings for high contrast have been introduced in the accessibility control panel. However the only high contrast schemes available are "Brick", which is repeated 17 times and "Rose" repeated 10 times in the drop down menu.

Shell features

 * Internet Explorer has been updated from 2.0 to 4.0 Beta 1 (4.71.0603.0). It includes an early version of the Windows Desktop Update which is very similar to the version found in Memphis build 1415.
 * This build has a show desktop button at the end of the taskbar, which is similar to the one found in the early 14xx Memphis builds. This feature was removed by build 1575, then briefly reintroduced with an additional menu in build 1773 only to be removed again. This feature remained absent for ten years, until Windows 7 build 6568 reintroduced it for the second time, with the same functions as this build's button along with a new feature called Aero Peek. The Windows 7 reincarnation is still present today (although Aero Peek is disabled by default on later versions of Windows).
 * The system font got changed from Microsoft Sans Serif to Tahoma, which remained as default up to build 1592 and returned in build 1946.
 * does not start by default anymore in this build.
 * Sound options have been added for "Default Sound", "Complete Navigation", "Move Menu Item", "Start Navigation", Power Configuration (Critical Battery Alarm and Low Battery Alarm), "Select", "Show Toolbar Band". Options for "Incoming Call", "New Mail Notification", "Outgoing Call" have been removed. Windows references in the Sounds Properties applet have been renamed to Windows NT.
 * The inactive title bar foreground text color for the Windows Standard themes has been updated from White to Black.
 * A new wizard to create an html page for folders has been added into this build. You can access it by right clicking in a folder and selecting . However in most cases it is not attached to the user interface and you need to run   in order to launch it.
 * This build introduces the My Documents folder on the desktop. However, it does not feature a dedicated icon yet.
 * You can now dock folders on the side of the Desktop by dragging an icon on any side. This feature is called DeskBar and has been introduced with the Windows Desktop Update of Internet Explorer 4.
 * A hidden DeskBar Options tab has been added to the taskbar properties dialog. In order to access it, right click the taskbar, press the CTRL key, and while keeping it pressed, click on Taskbar properties. The tab will then appear in the dialog but clicking on it will make the shell hang. This tab is meant to show docked folders on the side of the desktop when working.
 * The Start menu has been updated with a new log off option in this build, along with extra find options for the new Directory feature, and Internet Explorer 4 search.
 * A new Thumbnail view is present in Windows Explorer. In order to enable it per folder, go to Folder Properties, tick the checkbox for Thumbnail view and apply. Then go to the folder, change the view to Thumbnail.
 * The security tab of the Windows Explorer Properties dialog has been redesigned in this build.
 * A new section has been added to the Folder Options of Windows Explorer for Web View. Due to the early nature of this addition is looks very simple compared to later builds.
 * This build features as part of the Internet Explorer's Windows Desktop Update a new tidy start menu wizard. However it is not attached to the user interface by default. To start it, run.
 * The bitmap shown in the wizard also shows a Start menu with "Windows 95" branding.
 * 's copyright has been updated from 1981-1996 to 1981-1997. This change would remain in effect for a large majority of Windows 2000's development cycle, even on 1998 and early 1999 builds (with the exception of build 1773). The copyright date would finally be updated in build 1983.
 * The copyright date in the Command Prompt has also been updated from 1985-1996 to 1985-1997.

Display Properties changes

 * A pre-release energy saving settings section has been added to the Display Control Panel, however pressing the Configure button does nothing.
 * The screen saver dropdown menu in this build has been updated to mention the architecture and file version of some screen savers.
 * An option to use a gradient on window title bars has been added to the Appearance section of Display Properties.
 * A Desktop tab has been added allowing the user to set a web page as the Desktop background.

Directory shell extension
On the desktop a new icon has been added with this build, linking to a new shell extension named. While the purpose of this shell extension is not known, it allows you to view Windows NT objects using Windows Explorer. This was perhaps used for testing shell extension functionality. Search capabilities are also present in the Start menu.

Microsoft Management Console
This build includes an early version of Microsoft Management Console as well as early versions of a few snap-ins. Due to the early nature of MMC in this build, most snap-ins and MMC itself are barely functional. This build by default includes the following snap-ins:


 * Device Manager (Not registered by default, in order to register it, run the following command:
 * Microsoft Directory Service Manager (Left over from the standard Server SKU, only present on the setup disc)
 * File Service Management
 * System Services Management

To start MMC in this build, run

On startup MMC displays various tips to the user, including a reference to a similar Word 6.0 tip:

"Please don't run with scissors!!! Didn't you learn anything from our Word Product!"

Another tip describes the Microsoft Management Console codename: Slate.

"The Slate code name for Microsoft Management Console is based on the trend of using stone-related names for system management projects at Microsoft. Slate was selected for its having the shared meaning of being a writing tablet and the activity designated for action."

Misc
The following graphic is included in  on the installation disc.



Differences
The following files have been introduced compared to the initial RTM release of Windows NT 4.0 Workstation:


 * We can note the addition of the Windows NT Distributed File System into this build, a feature that made its debut in Microsoft Cairo and came back only two years after.
 * This build is the last known build of Windows to feature code to load Microsoft Cairo configuration files during setup (namely CAIRO.INF, a file defining all Microsoft Cairo changes compared to the base Windows NT build) as well as checking the presence of the CairoSystem registry value in the registry.
 * Some server components are present on this build installation media, along with the build binary output logging files (SYNTHGM.SBK, SYNTHGS.SBK and SYNTHMT.SBK). The latter tells us this build was leaked directly from the build machine output folder at Microsoft and explains the presence of left over server files.

Bugs and quirks

 * The ACPI implementation in this build is very early and buggy, and is likely to crash most hypervisors. Therefore, it is not advisable to use ACPI with this build, since setup can crash during or after the text mode stage of setup.
 * Setup crashes during the text mode stage if no switch is used to make the setup program copy files to hard drive.
 * At least one 'Windows NT' string is replaced with 'Internet Explorer' in this build, due to the inclusion of the early Windows Desktop Update. This was fixed by build 1585.
 * Windows Messaging cannot be installed in this build, installing it during setup will fail with an access denied error on accessing msmail.inf.
 * Some software-rendered games running in low resolutions can glitch the Windows desktop.
 * Despite this build resembling NT 4.0, some software requiring Windows 2000 may install without errors due to the NT kernel being 5.0. Obviously, said software will often crash due to lack of certain libraries.

Installation notes
Since this build still retains many architectural similarities as Windows NT 4.0, it is installable in the same manner on most hypervisors with the following exceptions:


 * ACPI support is very early, and as a result the support offered by the ACPI HAL limited frequently resulting in crashes. Therefore it is advised to either:
 * Disable ACPI in the destination environment through the hypervisor's configuration options or testing computer's BIOS setup.
 * Press F5 at the SCSI/RAID driver prompt during text-mode setup to select the Standard PC HAL.
 * When running on hypervisors, such as Microsoft Virtual PC 2007, it is advised to set Virtual PC's processor affinity to a single core in Task Manager. While being one of the least troublesome builds with processor affinity, when compared to other builds, it may still bugcheck during the boot process before the 2nd stage of text-mode setup or GUI setup when hypervisor's processor affinity is not set "correctly."