Windows 8 build 8045

Windows 8 build 8045 is a build of Windows 8, which was uploaded to BetaArchive on 26 January 2020.

New features and changes

 * The system crash screen has been redesigned to resemble the one found in the RTM build, albeit with a black background instead of a cerulean shade.
 * The background in the wordoku puzzle desktop wallpaper has been changed to feature a set of colorful strands at the bottom of the image.
 * The Refresh your PC option was added under the name Rejuvenate your PC.
 * The loading animation has become larger and whiter in some occasions.
 * MSHelp was renamed back to Windows Store. However, it is still not functional and opening it results in a black screen.
 * The boot screen has been updated to feature a smaller loading spinner.
 * When booting into Startup Repair, the spinner now reads "Preparing Automatic Repair".
 * The right-hand Charms bar is now accessible again without the need of a touchscreen. It is accessible by pressing the ⊞ Win key combination.
 * All SKUs have been dropped except for the Prerelease SKU, which is now referred to as "Windows Developer Preview".
 * This build introduces an early version of the "Recovery" screen.

Setup

 * Setup graphics have been updated to remove Windows 7 references.
 * The splash screen now shows a colored Windows logo instead of a white one. Additionally, a gradient has been introduced to the background, as opposed to it being single colored and the color has been changed from teal to blue.
 * Descriptions are now more informal.
 * The progress bar located at the top has been removed, but the stages can still be seen.

Verbose boot removal
In this build, you can no longer append the  boot argument or enable OS Boot Information in msconfig. If you do this, it will just show the build's regular boot screen. Additionally, this also means Safe Mode now uses the regular Windows boot screen as well.

Compatibility
To install or run this build in VMware Workstation, the hardware compatibility version must be set to versions 8.x/9.x; otherwise, a bugcheck will occur.

Start screen
The Start screen appears to hide all tiles on boot unless they are interacted with.

Lock screen
The lock screen may not display correctly if the Start button was removed via the  registry value.

Version Reporter Applet
The leak warning in the Version Reporter Applet is colored black instead of the red that is seen in most builds.