Windows 98 SE build 2184.1

Windows 98 SE build 2184.1 is a Simplified Chinese build of Windows 98 Second Edition, which was shared on BetaArchive on 6 July 2021. Beforehand, it was found by BetaWorld user 随便问我 on 14 September 2019. This build was notably compiled after the English RTM build.

On 28 August 2022, the Chinese warez CD "个人电脑-最新工具配套光盘" (Personal Computer - Latest Tools CD) was uploaded to the Internet Archive. This warez CD notably uses (a folder dump of) the full CD of this build as a base, to which 5 additional folders and 3 files (including the Windows 98 RTM's boot image) were added to the root.

Its Simplified Chinese version was once mistaken for the official version of Windows 98 SE, and it was widely spread on the Internet in mainland China. Even after the official version was released for a long time, many people still used this version (this version has a time bomb, but will not be prompted while the installer is running).

History
Some time before the official Simplified Chinese version of Windows 98 SE (build 2222A) was released, many pirated discs containing the so-called official version or the final official Simplified Chinese version of Windows 98 SE appeared on the pirated disk market in mainland China, and there were similar ones circulated on the Internet. These things are essentially build 2184.1.

It is not clear why build 2184.1 was passed as the official version at that time, but it may be because it is relatively stable, and users who do not know the inside information will use it as the official version after installation. Until one day (the exact date is February 1, 2000), they found that the computer was frozen after turning on the computer, and a sentence was displayed on the screen: "ERROR: this pre-release version of Windows has expired." Restart. We all know now that this is a sign that the beta version timebomb has been triggered; but many people did not know it at the time. They were at a loss for a while, and they posted on the Internet, or submitted articles to computer magazine mailboxes, asking for solutions, and they suffered a lot. After a while, some netizens worked out a solution to crack the timebomb by replacing the boot file. Later, some pirated discs will not only contain Build 2184.1 itself, but also bring timebomb cracking patches.

After the release of the official Chinese version of Windows 98 SE, pirated disks quickly followed up, and Build 2222A quickly flooded the market. Build 2184.1 also disappeared from sight and was eventually lost for a time.

BetaWorld members stumbled upon the existence of Build 2184.1 and the story behind it while searching some old magazines. Although many people searched the Internet with keywords such as "the final version in Simplified Chinese", they have not found anything. Until September 14, 2019, a member who asked me casually found this Build while digging the resources of old pirated discs, and it was able to see the light of day again.