Windows XP build 2257

Windows XP build 2257 is a build of Windows XP. This build was released on 24 August 2000 as a 'final preview' before Beta 1, which was due in October at that time. This build was released in the Personal and Professional SKUs, just like build 2250.

New features and changes

 * A new boot screen and safe to shutdown screen is introduced in this build. However, the only changes from the Windows 2000 boot screen are the "Microsoft Codename Whistler" name replacing "Windows 2000 Professional" and the removal of the "Built on NT Technology" tag.
 * When upgrading to this build, a graphical overlay with a progress bar, which is in a similar style to the GUI portion billboards, is shown during the text mode portion as it copies files, however, the setup still falls back to text mode if it encounters errors.
 * Setup now includes billboards during the last portion of GUI setup that resemble the ones used in Windows 98 and Windows Me. Alongside, if this build is upgraded from a previous build or Windows version, an out-of-the-box experience will run after the GUI portion of setup and before the first boot to the desktop.
 * The login screen received minor updates, such as a "Please wait..." message while shutting down and the user logging in is shown during the login process.
 * The Professional theme has been given a makeover, and would largely remain unchanged up to build 2419. The theme was renamed "Watercolor" in build 2410.
 * Along with the Professional theme, the Start Panel (now called the Personal Start Menu) has been given a makeover, and it is now enabled by default in the Personal SKU. The Professional SKU does not have it enabled by default, but it can now be enabled or disabled in the Taskbar and Start Menu properties.
 * Notably, on the preview pane for the Personal Start Menu, there is a concept for the Sample Test Visual Style, which debuted later in build 2410.
 * The "Comments?" link is now enabled by default and the link works properly, as it now opens a window to send a comment to the Whistler developer team.
 * ClearType, which was seen since build 2223, now has a user interface to enable it in this build. It can be enabled or disabled in the Desktop Properties.
 * Starting from this build, the kernel has support for the  argument for booting into WinPE.

Bugs and quirks

 * If setup is started from MS-DOS (via ), the setup will refer to itself as "Windows Whistler Server" in the top left, even though this is the client build of 2257.

Theming
The theming service in this build has rendering problems, and often will fail to redraw the theme borders correctly.

Upgrading from previous builds
Due to a faulty version check from the updated Dynamic Setup, this build will not upgrade from any NT-based build as it will result in a "Windows Whistler Setup can not upgrade the currently installed operating system" error. This build can upgrade properly on Windows 9x versions. To bypass this error you can do one of two things.
 * 1) Use build 2250's installation media and launch the  from build 2250. At the "Welcome to Setup" screen, change the installation media to this build's, resulting in build 2250's setup copying files from this build.
 * 2) Use WinExplorer to enable the option to upgrade.

VMware crash on Windows 11
During setup, the build may cause the host machine to crash on Windows 11 if using an older version of VMware. To solve this, set the OS type to "Windows XP Professional" instead of "Windows 2000 Professional."

OOBE
Due to the changes in the OOBE, Merlin will not appear for unknown reasons.

File differences
The following files have been introduced or removed compared to build 2250 Professional: