Windows Phone 8 build 9543

Windows Phone 8 build 9543 is a build of Windows Phone 8, which was uploaded to BetaArchive by gus33000 on 1 January 2020. It is based on Windows 8 build 8124. It is the earliest available build of Windows Phone 8 and contains many differences compared to the next build.

Notable observations, bugs and findings
This build boots from a FAT16 volume, which is unusual for a Windows NT build of the time. It includes many testing apps, some of which do not start or are in an unfinished state.

There are many differences compared to later builds:


 * The Windows Phone app bar is not implemented like in the final builds of Windows Phone 8. Instead, it uses floating square buttons, think the Material Design concepts from Google.
 * Many extra apps are pinned to the start screen, most likely for debugging purposes. One of them tells the user the IP address of the device, to help with debugging over the network by using KDNET.
 * The settings app in this build, while present, does not start. This bug may have lasted for a while in previous builds of Windows Phone 8 due to a placeholder temporary Wi-Fi app found in the app list, allowing the user to get to the Wi-Fi page of the settings app without launching the settings app.
 * The camera app in this build simply states "Camera under construction".
 * Only the back button is functional in this build, while most of the side buttons remain unimplemented.
 * Applications take a long time to launch in this build, around 5 minutes is required for an application to launch, on a plain gray screen. Overall this build can be considered quite buggy, which is expected given this is an early build of Windows Phone 8.
 * This build also uses a special SKU of Windows called BootableSku. It has a few differences compared to the later MobileCore SKUs. The DISM servicing stack is present in this compile, meaning drivers can be installed by using DISM using INF files. Unlike later builds of MobileCore, this build uses WinSxS components.
 * According to the DISM log files and the INF files, this compile at one point included a battery driver for the RX-100 device it is running on. However, someone removed this driver from the image using DISM for unknown reasons.
 * Wi-Fi is functional in this build, however as most applications do not start or are placeholders, it can only be used for debugging purposes.
 * It should be noted most of the tiles feature placeholder content. The notification count is faked and use two different styles: the traditional Windows Phone tile design and an earlier rounded badge at the top right corner of the tile. It is unclear if the latter was considered for a final design choice or was simply a placeholder.