Windows 8 build 8102.101

6.2.8102.101.winmain_win8m3.110830-1739
	Build of Windows 8
OS family
Architecture	x86, x64, ARM32
Compiled	2011-08-30
Timebomb	2012-03-11 (+194 days)
Works in
About

Windows 8 build 8102.101 is the official Developer Preview build of Windows 8 which was released on 13 September 2011. It is the only available build to come with the official Redpill, thus having the Start screen and the Charms bar enabled by default. Files from the ARM32 compile of this build were discovered on the Microsoft Symbol Server on 21 May 2022.

Redpill[edit | edit source]

This is the first publicly released build of Windows 8 to have all new Metro features working out of the box. While the image that was distributed by Microsoft has all Metro features enabled, it still uses the same internal mechanism of (un)locking Metro features through Redpill as seen in earlier builds. A remnant from the Redpill application is present in this build in the form of a redpill.log file in the System32 directory, giving some insight to the functioning of the official Redpill unlocker.

The contents of the file are listed below:

redpill.log:

Running with /labuseonly
 Running with /restrictedlab
 Running with /privatebinary
 Overriding version check...
 Installing licenses...
 Setting IE activesetup stub
 Setting MIE install state...
 Checking MIE package state...
 Restarting sessionenv...
 Setting IE activesetup stub
 ERROR: Binary version mismatch!
 Enabling via /enable
 Setting MIE install state...
 Checking MIE package state...
 Preparing to install immersive browser...
 Installing MIE OOB...
 Installing MIE complete. Return code: 0
 Finished installing MIE OOB.
 Restarting sessionenv...
 Setting IE activesetup stub
 NoExplorer flag set; skipping explorer restart

Disabling Metro[edit | edit source]

As this build still utilizes Redpill, setting HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\RPEnabled to 0 will disable the Metro features like the start screen or hot corners, effectively un-redpilling the build and resulting in an experience similar to earlier leaked builds of Windows 8, and thus Windows 7, after Explorer is restarted. Special applications were created to suffice for this need. Note that setting RPEnabled to 0 will also result in the Microsoft Confidential watermark appearing on the desktop and winver, just like in earlier builds of Windows 8. In cases where Explorer was not restarted after disabling Metro, a hybrid between classic and Metro may occur where part of the Metro interface still shows on top of the classic shell. In other cases, the start screen accent may show garbled.

Because of the similarities in the way of how features are locked between 8102 and some earlier builds, the files dropped by Redpill in build 8102 have been used to unlock Metro features in several older builds, such as builds 8056, 7989, and 7927.

Updates[edit | edit source]

Uninstalling the KB2608610 update will revert the system to build 8102.0.winmain_win8m3.110823-1455.

Desktop
Version Reporter Applet

New features and changes[edit | edit source]

Installation[edit | edit source]

The redesigned Windows Recovery Environment has been added to the installation media.
Setup strings in installprep.exe have been changed again to remove most of the informality introduced in build 8045.

Metro[edit | edit source]

New lock screen backgrounds have been introduced.
The default accent color has been changed to green. However, it can no longer be changed.
The ability to zoom out on the Start screen has been removed. It would return in the next build.
To showcase the abilities of the Metro UI, this build includes sample apps which are not included in later builds.
Store received a new icon. However, it's still unavailable in this build.

Desktop[edit | edit source]

The Aero theme has been updated.
The Start orb has been replaced with a flat Start button.
The Windows 7 login screen background has been set as the desktop background.
When User Account Control launches, the user interface now will be completely hidden, showing only the wallpaper, watermark and icons.

Windows included games[edit | edit source]

This is the first build of Windows 8 to not include the classic built-in games from Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Bugs and quirks[edit | edit source]

Compatibility[edit | edit source]

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.

Installation[edit | edit source]

The option to perform a full upgrade is disabled by default, although it is possible to enable it to keep the user profile's files or perform a clean installation. To allow a full upgrade to take place, delete noupgrade.txt in the sources folder.

Themes[edit | edit source]

This build has some bugs with theming and DWM:

Application windows that use the DWM to expand the glass frame into their client area (for example, Desktop Gadget Gallery, Mozilla Firefox, Windows Mobility Center) might appear broken, with the transparency effect failing to render for the lower half of the window resulting in a gray square.
Switching to a High Contrast theme and then switching back to Aero or Aero Lite might result in a fully transparent taskbar. The navigation bar may also appear black.
Running WindowsAnytimeUpgradeResults.exe with the Aero Lite theme will enable the glass effect for that theme.