Xbox One OS build 8422

6.2.8422.0.fbl_fun_embedded_xos_devs.120920-1700

Build of Xbox OS
Architecture	x64
Compiled on	2012-09-20
Expiration date
Cert. expiry	2013-07-22 (+305 days)
SKUs
XOS
About dialog

Xbox One OS build 8422 is a build of Xbox OS. It was originally shared in the form of an alpha development kit disk dump (from the October 2012 XDK) under the VHD format on 2 August 2015 by warez group DemonSquad following allegations surrounding the purchase of a development kit by an unknown individual on eBay in August 2012. The operating system is based on a heavily stripped-down version of the Windows 8 codebase, leaving only the bare essentials required for launching Xbox One/Durango games such as minimal GDI+ and USER APIs.

It notably contains an early version of the Xbox XDK Launcher (referred to as the Xbox Compositor), which is merely a simple list of launchable/installed applications complete with a small number of configurable settings, along with additional debug information detailing the console's specifics and current network information printed at the top right.

Findings

As described earlier in the article, the operating system is based on a heavily stripped-down version of Windows internally referred to as ClientCore, and therefore only includes the necessary APIs required for games built for the Xbox One (then-codenamed Durango). Support for legacy Win32-based applications is almost entirely absent, with binaries commonly used by regular desktop applications being replaced with cut-down variants containing APIs found in regular PC games that additionally take advantage of DirectX or featureless stubs such as shell32.dll. Likewise, a unique disclosure warning with a similar premise to the NDA warning found in the watermarks of various Windows 8 builds can also be found within the aforementioned binary's respective MUI file, stating the following:

Use of all files being copied and installed during this installation process are subject to the terms and conditions of the Durango Development Kit License Agreement between Microsoft Corporation or its affiliate, and you or your employer. If you or your employer does not have a valid Durango Development Kit License Agreement, you are not authorized to use these files.

The build comes with a driver for an AMD Radeon HD 6300 engineering sample and contains several internal development tools for Xbox One applications, including tools used to update the firmware for the Xbox One's Kinect sensor (referred to internally as NUI 2.0 and AlphaSensor) and built-in utilities for the SmartGlass companion application. By default, the preinstalled image contains two applications used for testing the Kinect's hardware. On startup, multiple services that are required for full development kit functionality (such as an FTP server and a Telnet client) are launched alongside the compositor and the standard Windows command line interface, which can be switched to with the Alt+Tab hotkey.

The build is best utilized with an Xbox 360 controller, although it is possible to fake controller input by pressing the F12 key and using the keyboard to navigate through the interface.

Bugs

• The Launcher found within the original leak's virtual hard disk (and the VHD provided within its recovery media) does not function by default. A copy of the build's recovery VHD which contains a fixed Launcher was published in July 2021.
• When opening an application, the Alt+Tab menu might become broken.
• The NuiView application sometimes becomes broken.
• The Visual Gesture Builder Previewer application might open randomly.

Gallery

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  Boot screen

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  Tools

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  Network Settings

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  Visual Gesture Builder Live Previewer

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  NuiView

Miscellaneous

Development kit

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  Alpha development kit

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  Ditto, back side

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  Ditto, with required USB devices connected to development kit

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  Inside

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  Ditto; AMD Radeon HD 7870 GPU sample additionally shown

Kinect sensor

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  Provided Kinect sensor (NUI/AlphaSensor)

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  Ditto, back side