Windows Vista build 5098

Windows "Longhorn" build 5098 is one of the last builds compiled before the Beta 1 stage of Windows Vista. By this point, Microsoft implemented a substantial amount of features originally planned for Windows "Longhorn", thus ending the Omega-13 milestone.

This build marks the beginning of the beta 1 stage. It looks quite similar to 5112, although it still is called Windows 'Longhorn'. This build also has the 5112-style setup. It cannot upgrade to 5112 because build 5099 or higher is required to do so. Paul Thurrott used screenshots of this build in his review of Vista Beta 1, and UX.Unleaked also has a few images of this build available. On 2020-01-27, this build was listed on a thread by UX.Unleaked blog founder Grabberslasher to be released to the BetaArchive FTP, and was later released in the fourth set of his 33 Longhorn/Vista builds along with build 4081.

In comparison with build 5048, this build was a much more significant advancement with regards to introducing new user interface features. The Explorer shell had seen significant changes, including virtual folders, a new search interface, many new icons (mostly for the Control Panel), a redesigned toolbar and the addition of the Games Explorer. This build also updated the Windows Aero theme, making it look very similar to the RTM version. However, Windows Aero now requires a LDDM driver and XDDM drivers do not work, so Aero is currently not known to run in this build outside of real hardware. The Aero Basic theme still has numerous differences when compared to the theme that is in the RTM.

Bugs and quirks

 * When attempting to create a new partition, the setup will hang. However, the partition will be created and can be formatted upon reboot.
 * Windows Media Player will crash upon exiting during its first startup.
 * The Computer folder in Windows Explorer may sometimes not display the list of drives. Refreshing the folder will usually fix the problem.