Windows 8 build 7996 (fbl_multimedia_media_sndproc)

6.2.7996.0.fbl_multimedia_media_sndproc.110504-1700
Build of Windows 8
Screenshot
OS familyWindows NT
Version number6.2
Build number7996
Build revision0
ArchitectureARM32 (ARMv7)
Build labfbl_multimedia_media_sndproc
Compiled on2011-05-04
Expiration date
Timebomb2012-03-15 (+316 days)
About dialog
7996winver.png
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Windows 8 build 7996 (fbl_multimedia_media_sndproc) is a build of Windows 8. The original partner drop for both the retail and debug client releases of this build's unstaged ARMv7 installation media and Preinstallation Environment, including raw symbol sets for Nvidia were uploaded on 12 September 2024 along with build 7968, 7969, 8020 and 8038. The Qualcomm drop was uploaded on 5 December 2024, followed by the Texas Instruments drop the following day.

Editions and keys[edit | edit source]

Dedicated editions for the upcoming Windows Developer Preview, respectively codenamed Prerelease and PrereleaseARM, have been temporarily added to the operating system. Its functionally is based on the Ultimate edition, but additionally combines the feature set included as part of the Enterprise edition. The Enterprise Evaluation edition has also been added.

Edition / SKU Name Key
Starter[a] 7Q28W-FT9PC-CMMYT-WHMY2-89M6G
Starter N[a] D4C3G-38HGY-HGQCV-QCWR8-97FFR
Home Basic YGFVB-QTFXQ-3H233-PTWTJ-YRYRV
Home Basic N MD83G-H98CG-DXPYQ-Q8GCR-HM8X2
Home Premium RHPQ2-RMFJH-74XYM-BH4JX-XM76F
Home Premium N D3PVQ-V7M4J-9Q9K3-GG4K3-F99JM
Professional HYF8J-CVRMY-CM74G-RPHKF-PW487
Professional N BKFRB-RTCT3-9HW44-FX3X8-M48M6
Enterprise H7X92-3VPBB-Q799D-Y6JJ3-86WC6
Enterprise Evaluation VV6W8-NF7BJ-FKHGQ-P424D-FHC7K
Enterprise N BQ4TH-BWRRY-424Y9-7PQX2-B4WBD
Enterprise N Evaluation P7CCN-72DMB-93C9B-C9PD7-379HK
Ultimate D4F6K-QK3RD-TMVMJ-BBMRX-3MBMV
Ultimate N HTJK6-DXX8T-TVCR6-KDG67-97J8Q
Beta (Prerelease) VKKC6-NQQQH-JW3QX-XRVKX-KJJK9
Beta N (PrereleaseN) 3HDCN-87G3V-FPCDF-C6HTB-79Q3X
Beta ARM (PrereleaseARM) J2ND2-BCW98-8669Y-HPBF3-RDY99

Installation[edit | edit source]

QEMU installation guide:

Prerequisites[edit | edit source]

The following requirements used in order to install this build onto a virtual machine are listed below:

  • The QEMU v6.1.0 Tegra 2 WoA fork that simulates a real-world Nvidia Tegra 250 development kit, modified to run early Windows on ARM builds
    • As of 2024, continuous integration (CI) is currently only set up to automatically produce Windows builds. The fork must be manually compiled from source by using a different operating system like macOS or Linux.
  • The required patched EFI firmware capsule images (originally from build 7822), to be placed in the QEMU installation directory in a new folder named fw
  • Two virtual hard disk images (for storing the installation media and the OS install)

Precautions[edit | edit source]

  • The emulator may quit when a system reboot is initiated. This is an intentional design decision implemented by Microsoft as restarts are treated as full shutdowns by the Tegra 250 HAL, and cannot be worked around.
  • In rare edge cases, Secure Digital MultiMediaCard (SDMMC) emulation may not be reliable and can possibly corrupt the main OS disk partition midway through image deployment or feature staging. Re-attempting the below instructions by first formatting the main OS partition and then modifying the setup BCD store to use one CPU core (located as EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD in the installation media) via the command below may help significantly improve the chances of a successful installation, at the expense of additional time due to the lack of multi-threading:
    bcdedit /offline /store M:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD /set {default} NUMPROC 1
  • USB HID device emulation is unstable and will occasionally result in devices failing to register any user inputs. To restore input, switch to the QEMU compatibility monitor (Ctrl+Alt+2) and run the following commands:
    device_del kbd
device_add usb-kbd,id=kbd
  • For builds prior to 7957 (excluding builds 7792 and 7822), it is critical that the Windows Setup boot image be substituted with the Windows Preinstallation Environment image from the original partner drop (ordinarily located in the winpe or woape directories), as the Setup boot image does not contain the required hardware abstraction layer (HAL) extensions, and will therefore cause the operating system to immediately bugcheck with code HAL_INITIALIZATION_FAILED as soon as the boot sequence starts.
  • This guide is not for build 7915 due to it being designed to run on Texas Instruments OMAP4 and won't run on the Tegra 2 QEMU. It is required to use QEMU-woa instead.

Instructions[edit | edit source]

These instructions assume that the user has an elevated command prompt window open.

Create the needed virtual disk images through the diskpart utility by running the below script; they will be created under a directory in the C: drive named ARM8. The INSTALL, MainOS and EFI system partitions will be respectively mounted under drive letters F and P. 

create vdisk file="C:\ARM8\Setup.vhd" maximum=4096 type=expandable
select vdisk file="C:\ARM8\Setup.vhd"
attach vdisk
convert gpt
create partition primary
format quick fs=fat32 label=INSTALL
assign letter=M
create vdisk file="C:\ARM8\Main.vhd" maximum=65536 type=expandable
select vdisk file="C:\ARM8\Main.vhd"
attach vdisk
convert gpt
create partition efi size=100
format quick fs=fat32 label=EFIESP
create partition primary
format quick fs=ntfs label=MainOS
assign letter=P
exit

Depending on the users' desired build flavor (free or checked), copy the contents of the installation media over to the INSTALL partition. Extract the needed EFI boot manager (\Windows\Boot\EFI\bootmgfw.efi) from the Windows PE or Windows Setup boot image to INSTALL, as EFI\Boot\bootarm.efi.

Eject all currently attached virtual disks from the machine, and paste and run the contents of the below script onto a batch file within the QEMU installation directory, replacing FWType with either the 78xx variant firmware (for early builds up to 7898) or the multi variant (for builds 7898 through build 7996):[b] 

set BL=".\fw\HARMONY.fd.FWType"
set MAIN="C:\ARM8\Main.vhd"
set SETUP="C:\ARM8\Setup.vhd"

qemu-system-arm ^
    -M tegra2-qemu -m 1G -accel tcg,thread=multi ^
    -bootloader %BL% ^
    -device usb-tablet,id=mouse -device usb-kbd,id=kbd ^
    -drive if=sd,index=0,format=vpc,file=%SETUP% ^
    -drive if=sd,index=1,file=%MAIN% ^
    -serial null -nic none ^
    -s ^
Start installing the operating system. Setup must be directly invoked from the original installation media as the version in the OS boot image does not function. The following command may be used to start the installation process:
start D:\sources\setup.exe

Immediately after completing the first phase of setup, remove the SD slot for the installation media and boot into the operating system by using the below batch script configuration:[b] 

set BL=".\fw\HARMONY.fd.FWTYPE"
set MAIN="C:\ARM8\Main.vhd"

qemu-system-arm ^
    -M tegra2-qemu -m 1G -accel tcg,thread=multi ^
    -bootloader %BL% ^
    -device usb-tablet,id=mouse -device usb-kbd,id=kbd ^
    -drive if=sd,index=0,file=%MAIN% ^
    -serial null -nic none ^
    -s ^

Continue installing the operating system through normal means.

New features and changes[edit | edit source]

Redpill[edit | edit source]

The copyright watermark in the Metro OOBE has been removed.

An option to make an "online account" using a Windows Live ID (later known as a Microsoft Account) has been added to Control Panel and the OOBE. A link to turn a local account into an online account has also been added to Control Panel.

Miscellaneous[edit | edit source]

  • When booting via UEFI, an OEM-provided graphic from ACPI tables will be displayed instead of the Betta fish.

Bugs and quirks[edit | edit source]

Setup[edit | edit source]

The boot screen has rendering issues when starting setup, showing both the loading files and boot screen at once.

Gallery[edit | edit source]

  • Windows Preinstallation Environment

    Windows Preinstallation Environment

  • First boot (installing MS Help)

    First boot (installing MS Help)

  • System Properties (Prerelease SKU)

    System Properties (Prerelease SKU)

Redpill[edit | edit source]

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

  • Make it yours

    Make it yours

  • Settings

    Settings

  • User creation

    User creation

  • Account options

    Account options

  • Finalizing settings

    Finalizing settings

Interface[edit | edit source]

  • User Account CPL

    User Account CPL

  • User Account CPL - manage accounts

    User Account CPL - manage accounts

  • Add an online account

    Add an online account

  • Add an online account - Windows Live ID

    Add an online account - Windows Live ID

  • Add an online account - Done

    Add an online account - Done

  • Account options

    Account options

  • Add a local account

    Add a local account

  • Change to an online account

    Change to an online account

Notes[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Starter edition (and its N counterpart), last included in Windows 7, had since been internally repurposed during Windows 8 development to act as a base for new and existing Windows client SKUs. The Web Server edition would also be identically repurposed during development of its server counterpart for both Desktop Experience and Core editions, although Standard Server would later take its place as the base for Server Core editions during the late development phases of Windows Server 2016, specifically during Redstone 1 development.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 If utilizing the quad-core variant of the Tegra 2 WoA fork, the machine configuration in the batch script must be modified to address 2 GB of RAM, and the patched 2g EFI firmware capsules must also be used to start up the virtual machine. The multi2g combination can be used to immediately boot into builds 8020 through late 81xx; if this combination is not being used, then necessary registry modifications against the SYSTEM hive to load Tegra 2 HAL extension IDs VEN_ra2.&DEV_0002 (HalExtTegra2.dll) and VEN_ra2.&DEV_0003 (HalExtTegra2Dma.dll; in later builds, HalExtTegraDma.dll) are required.
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