Windows 2000 build 1515

Windows 2000 build 1515.1 is the earliest leaked build of Windows 2000 (at the time still called Windows NT 5.0) and is listed on the CrazyBytes volume 15 warez CD list. Two warez groups leaked the Workstation SKU in 1997, though one mislabeled it as build 1516.1.

New features

 * Internet Explorer has been updated from 2.0 to 4.71.0603.0. It includes an early version of the Windows Desktop Update which is very similar to the version found in Windows 98 (then called 'Microsoft Memphis') build 1415. (Indeed, it is one of the earliest versions available for Windows NT today.)


 * This build has a show desktop button at the end of the taskbar, which is (again) similar to the one found in the early 14xx Memphis builds. This feature was removed by 1585, then briefly reintroduced with a additional menu in 1773 only to be removed (again). This feature remained absent for nearly 10 years, until Windows 7 build 6519 reintroduced it for the second time, with the same functions as 1515'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).


 * 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).

Bugs

 * 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 1585.

Installation notes
As this build is still very similar to NT 4.0, you can install it on any hypervisor/emulator that can run this build, with the following precautions:
 * As the CD of this build is not bootable, you have to format a disk with any DOS/Windows 9x bootdisk, and run setup from the CD using that bootdisk. Any attempt to make the CD bootable has resulted in BSoD.
 * As mentioned above, it is not advisable to use ACPI with this build as you can encounter a BSoD at TXT stage of setup. Therefore, disable ACPI in any hypervisor/emulator that supports it.
 * In Microsoft Virtual PC 2007, it is advisable to set Virtual PC's processor affinity to a single core in Task Manager whenever you want to run this build (or most pre-XP builds, really). This build is rather picky (although one of the least troublesome offenders) in that aspect, and it may BSoD on you during the boot process before the 2nd stage of text setup or GUI setup.