Windows 7 build 6758

6.1.6758.0.winmain.080724-1015
	Build of Windows 7
OS family	Windows NT
Version number	6.1
Build number	6758
Build revision	0
Architecture	x86
Build lab	winmain
Compiled on	2008-07-24
Expiration date
Timebomb	2009-04-01 (+251 days)
About dialog

Windows 7 build 6758 is a Milestone 3 build of Windows 7. It was uploaded to the Internet Archive on 7 April 2024^[1] alongside with its x64-based server counterpart and related debugging symbols.

It notably introduces a series of major underlying functionality and design changes, such as underlying internal improvements to Windows Setup, Control Panel applets, a new look for the user-facing system shell, as well as incremental improvements to aspects of specific Start menu and Windows Explorer functions. Specific notification tray flyouts have also been redesigned, and complete user interface overhauls to Paint and WordPad have also been introduced.

New features and changes[edit | edit source]

Windows Setup[edit | edit source]

Plain-text format upgrade compatibility reports can now be generated inside of a Setup instance that is being run under a ramdisk environment. Attempting to upgrade in WinPE will still remain blocked as ramdisk-based OS installations are not supported by full client/server releases. There is no unique message attributed to the upgrade block at this point in development.

Installation paths
Upgrade block in WinPE

Deployment Image and Servicing Management Tool[edit | edit source]

The Deployment Image and Servicing Management Tool (DISM) has been greatly expanded to feature a new subset of imaging commandlets. Help has been expanded to include a general overview of all existing commands, and it is now possible to modify the contents of mounted Windows images. Images can now be re-mounted if a mount point becomes invalidated, and captured WIM images can now be cleaned of leftover metadata and orphaned resources.

DISM help

Out-of-box experience[edit | edit source]

A new looping progress animation for the out-of-box experience initialization process, which is mostly identical to the new boot screen design seen in the later build 6780, has been implemented. The animation clearly does not appear to be finished as the reflection in most frames are inconsistent with the actual progress bar, and it is being played at a very low frame rate.

This animation can also be observed by generalizing the existing image via the Sysprep utility.

Setup progress animation
Out-of-box experience progress animation

User interface[edit | edit source]

The user interface has seen a major uplift since the previous available build, now featuring a variety of both minor and major visual and functional changes across different system functions.

Windows Explorer[edit | edit source]

The Windows Explorer user interface has been significantly updated to reflect a new light blue theme seen in the final release. The Vista aurora glint animation has been removed from the details pane, and icons are no longer shown on the main toolbar. New iconography for the preview pane has also been introduced, and the typing scroll interface now immediately hides after two seconds, rather than slowly panning out. New homegroup sharing options for read-only and full read/write access have also been implemented.

Existing library views for individual folders are now merged together into one large combined view; for instance, the main libraries (which feature both user-specific and global "Public" directories for files in the system) are now shown at once. Sorting options now have an additional "Arrange" label positioned to the left-hand side, and the "By" prefix has been dropped from all possible sorting options. Unique iconography for built-in library folders (such as Documents, Pictures, the Internet, and Communications) has been added.

Windows Explorer user interface
Libraries folders
Ditto, inside of a library folder

Opening the Games Explorer for the first time now prompts the user to configure individual options for existing game metadata, as well as providing the option to automatically download and install new game updates over the Internet. A new link to open the Windows Marketplace catalog is now included as part of the Games Explorer system folder.

Games Explorer
Games Explorer setup

Start menu[edit | edit source]

The start menu has been slightly modified to feature links for the user's document, picture and video libraries by default, and up to ten My Recently Used (MRU) items are now displayed by default. Minor localization changes have been introduced to the search bar, and options for searching through the user's computer and on the Internet via the start menu are no longer available. Spacing adjustments have been made to existing Start menu items when performing a search.

Start menu search function

Desktop Window Manager[edit | edit source]

New Desktop Window Manager animations for Aero Snap have been added. They can be triggered by dragging a window to either the left, right or top sides of the screen.

Snapping to left
Snapping to right
Snapping to top

Desktop Gadget Gallery[edit | edit source]

The Desktop Gadget Gallery no longer runs by default, and the three initial gadgets (Clock, RSS Feed and Pictures) are no longer pinned to the desktop by default. Both the Contacts and Sticky Notes gadgets have been removed from the operating system (although the latter is still available as its own dedicated application, which still does not function in this build as it was undergoing an extensive rewrite). Gadgets can now be snapped to the right-hand side of the desktop again, replicating existing Windows Sidebar functionality from its predecessor; a feature that had been absent since early development builds of Windows 7.

User Account Control[edit | edit source]

By default, User Account Control no longer transitions to a special logon session when administrative elevation is requested by an application or by the user. All UAC dialogs are instead directly displayed on the user's desktop.

User Account Control consent dialog

This change was reverted in later builds due to newly-introduced security implications.

Notification tray[edit | edit source]

Notification tray icons are now spaced out by several pixels, rather than being grouped very closely to each other. Certain tooltips shown when hovering over specific notification tray items have been redesigned entirely, or were converted into text only; for instance, hovering over the Network tray icon (itself also redesigned to show a Wi-Fi signal indicator) now only shows a compacted read-out of the currently connected network, rather than displaying additional verbose information; whereas hovering over the Windows Health Center icon now displays a more verbose detail of existing problems that must be resolved. Other instances, such as the volume tooltip, have been reduced to nothing more than a simple tooltip that only shows the current volume percentage in text form, rather than additionally report the primary audio device. Localization changes have also been introduced in the notification tray settings applet found within the Control Panel.

Flyouts[edit | edit source]

Existing system flyouts have also seen significant change since the previous build. The Windows Solution Center flyout has recieved a major design overhaul; it now reports the overall count of existing issues (prioritized by both important issues first; this change is also further reflected in its notification tray tooltip) and displays status icons depending on the severity of the issues themselves. The network flyout has been slightly modified to feature a compacted design containing only the necessary information about the current network conditions and the current network name, rather than display verbose information such as the current network adapter.

Windows Solution Center flyout
Networking flyout

Applications[edit | edit source]

Internet Explorer[edit | edit source]

The Internet Explorer user interface has received slight improvements over the previous available build. Web pages can now be directly favorited and added to the Favorites Bar, and support for Web Slices (interactive web applets that extend upon the existing Internet Explorer user experience) have been added to the application. The Safety Filter has been renamed to the SmartScreen Filter (and has additionally gained new iconography), and there is no longer an option to manually invoke the Developer Tools through the main toolbar. Activities have been renamed to Web Accelerators.

Data roaming support has been removed. Web browsing history can now be configured to be automatically deleted upon application exit.

Internet Explorer user interface
Internet Options "General" tab
Internet Options "Content" tab
Web Accelerator tab in Add-on Manager

Windows Media Center[edit | edit source]

The Windows Media Center user interface has been slightly updated: elements across the user interface have been redesigned to use a thinner font, names for individual menu options are now placed below their associated images, and a slightly darker theme is used throughout the application. The TV Channel List button is no longer present in playback controls. The application no longer starts in full-screen mode by default.

Windows Media Center main menu

Windows Media Player[edit | edit source]

The Windows Media Player application has received a significant usability update: the Media Library can now be reset to its default state, metadata for audio tracks are now automatically downloaded upon launch, and a new design for the Player View (which features a placeholder blue streak background) has been implemented into the application, now offering options for returning to the main library view or playing all available media in shuffled ordering. In addition, Windows Vista branding is no longer present in the Player, and it is no longer possible to customize the background image for the Library View.

The Windows Media Player version has been updated to version 12.

Windows Media Player
Ditto, player view
Ditto, with media list expanded

Windows DVD Maker[edit | edit source]

The header caption design for Windows DVD Maker has been updated to consistently reflect the newly-introduced light blue look seen in the Windows Explorer user interface.

Windows DVD Maker welcome page

Miscellaneous[edit | edit source]

A new default cursor set has been briefly introduced in this build, featuring bolder text and precision select cursors. Windows XP-style DPI scaling is now used by default, and the Go Fish! system theme is no longer included in the operating system. New desktop wallpaper images have been introduced for the existing subset of built-in system themes.

Shortcuts for the Windows Meeting Space, Windows Mail and Windows Contacts communications applications are no longer present in the start menu, and a shortcut for the internal Feedback Tool has been added to the desktop. It is no longer possible to join other users' meetings in the Windows Meeting Space conferencing application, as the responsible code for searching existing meetings has been removed. New iconography for the Windows PowerShell ISE has been added.

The InkBall video game is no longer present.

Control Panel[edit | edit source]

Applet changes[edit | edit source]

New applet additions[edit | edit source]

New applets for biometric and sensor devices have been introduced, and other applets such as the Recovery Center and Windows KeyRing have been renamed to both "System Recovery" and "Credential Manager", respectively. It is now possible to configure a dedicated fingerprint reader to perform a system logon.

Backup and Restore[edit | edit source]

The Windows Complete PC Backup utility now supports creating and restoring from block-level system image backups that are hosted on a network share.

Windows Complete PC Backup Wizard
Block-level backup network location dialog

Credential Manager[edit | edit source]

The purpose of the newly-renamed Credential Manager applet has been completely changed to focus on enterprise credential storage, rather than acting as a personal password manager (previously the original purpose of Windows KeyRing) - support for creating, viewing properties of, and manually encrypting keyrings have been removed entirely, and it is no longer possible to create secure notes or store credentials for online services. Instead, the user can now create credentials for services hosted on a local domain and import authentication certificates installed on the user's computer into the main Credential Manager keyring.

Credential Manager applet
Ditto, credential creation
Ditto, certificate addition
Certificate picker

Ease of Access Center[edit | edit source]

The Ease of Access Center now makes use of the Windows text-to-speech engine to introduce accessibility options to visually impaired users.

Audiovisual settings[edit | edit source]

By default, system sounds are now reduced by 80% when using communications applications, and minor localization changes have been introduced to the Sound Properties applet. Clicking on the "Display Settings" drop-down option in the desktop context menu now directly takes the user to the Display applet's screen resolution sub-page.

Getting Started[edit | edit source]

The Getting Started applet no longer displays the user's computer's hardware specifications. All items in the provided new tasks list are no longer categorized by task type, and two new options for modifying User Account Control settings and configuring Backup and Restore are now present.

Miscellaneous[edit | edit source]

The Windows Security Center link in the System Properties applet has been replaced with a link to the Windows Solution Center, which had previously merged functionality with the former in earlier builds.

The shortcut to the Windows Ultimate Extras functionality is no longer present in the operating system. This comes after its respective applet had been removed entirely in earlier builds.

Bluepill-specific changes[edit | edit source]

User interface[edit | edit source]

The Bluepill implementation in this build has had several further enhancements over the previous available build.

Start menu[edit | edit source]

The Start menu's suggested tasks list for specific MRU items has been modified to now support icons, and tasks are now displayed as small list items rather than as individual tiles. Suggested tasks can no longer be pinned. Furthermore, the Start menu has now obtained new transition animations for viewing the All Programs list or hovering over a Start menu item with suggested tasks.

The taskbar now includes three default pinned applications, which include Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, and the Windows Explorer.

Suggested start menu item tasks

Applications[edit | edit source]

Calculator[edit | edit source]

The Calculator application has been updated to support equation history, and new functions for calculation templates and date/time conversion have been added. Transition animations have been added when switching modes or turning on different functions, and the layout of the unit conversion mode has been slightly modified. The Statistics function has been moved into its own separate calculator mode, and additional algorithmic functions have been added to the Scientific mode. The overall layout of the Programmer mode has been completely reworked.

Standard mode
Scientific mode
Statistic mode
Unit conversion
Date and time calculation
Templates

Reworked Paint and WordPad applications[edit | edit source]

The user interfaces of both the Paint and WordPad editors have been completely overhauled to feature the new Office 2007-style user interface, which makes use of the Ribbon to consolidate functions into a single, user-friendly toolbar.

Reworked Paint user interface
Reworked WordPad user interface

Bugfixes[edit | edit source]

Desktop Window Manager[edit | edit source]

Color bleeding during Desktop Window Manager composition (observed in Windows 7 build 6730) has been fixed; as a result, background elements obscured by window frames no longer have their color values multiplied by excessive amounts.

Graphical artifacts in window captions, specifically corrupted frame buffer output of window names, no longer recur in this build.

Bugs and quirks[edit | edit source]

Control Panel[edit | edit source]

Viewing system properties may crash the Windows Explorer shell.

Hibernation[edit | edit source]

Hibernation may not work properly and will more likely cause a full system shutdown rather than saving the contents of memory to disk for later reuse.

Windows PowerShell[edit | edit source]

The Windows PowerShell Integrated Scripting Environment (ISE) crashes on launch.

Miscellaneous[edit | edit source]

The Microsoft Serial Mouse driver may attempt to automatically install itself and subsequently fail in doing so. It can be manually removed by rescanning plug-and-play drivers in the Device Manager.
Navigating across different pages may crash the Help and Support Center.