Windows 95 build 90c

4.00.90c
Build of Windows 95
Screenshot
OS familyWindows 9x
Version number4.00
Build number90
Build revisionc
Architecturex86
Compiled on1994-03-29
Product key
Beta Site ID140743
Passwordd8f20fe0a
About dialog
Microsoft-Chicago-4.00.90c-About.png
TCB.png TCBGallery.png BA.png

Windows 95 build 90c is an internal Milestone 6 build of Windows 95, which was originally leaked by Dark Lord of warez group SCOTCH on 14 April 1994 and considered lost, but was later found and uploaded to BetaArchive by Battler on 17 November 2017.[1] It is a re-compile of builds 90 and 90b, based on the letter following the build number. In general, this build has a very similar feature set to build 89e, including all of the bugs from the previous build.

NFO file[edit | edit source]

The following NFO file was included as part of the S.C.O.T.C.H. release.[2]

NFO contents 

                 ▄                          █▄                █▄
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  ▄█▀▀▀▀    ▀▀▐▌            ▐▌▌          ▀█▄█ ░▀█▀▄       ▐▌▌ █ ░██
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 █▒▒▀▀▀▄▄▄▀▀▀▀▀▄▄    ▄█▀█▀▀▀██  ▄█▀█▀▀▀▀█▀▄ ▐▌ ██  ▄█▀█▀▀▀██  ▐▌ ██▀█▀▀▀█▀▄
  ▀▄▄ ▒▓▒ ▄▄▄▄▒▓▒▀▄ █░██   █▄█▄█░██  ▄   █░█▐▌ ██ █░██   █▄█▄ ▐▌ ▐▌█     █ █▄
     ▀▀▀▀▀█▀▐▄▀▀▄█▐█▒▐▌▌    ▀██▒▐▌▌ ▄▀▄  ▐▌▐▌█ ▐▌█▒▐▌▌    ▀█▀  █ ▐▌▌     █ ▐▌▌
   ▄        █▄█  ███░▐▌▌      █░▐▌▀▀▄ ▄▀▀▐▌▐▌█ ▐▌█░▐▌▌         █ ▐▌▌     ▐▌░██
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▄ ██▒▀▄        ▄█▀█▀▀▄ ▀▄   ▄██▀▄ ▀▄  ▀ ▄███▀█▒▐▌▌▀▄ ▀▄   ▄███ █▒▐▌▌     █░▐▌▌
███▒▓▒█▀▄▄▄▄▄██▀█▀    ▀▀██▄█▀███ ▀▀██▄▄██▀█▀ █▓▐▌▌  ▀▀██▄█▀███ █▓▐▌▌    ▐▌ ██
▀██▄▄▄▄▀▀▀▀▀█▀▀▀         ▀▀▀▀ ▐▌    ▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀██▄▄    ▀▀▀▀ ▐█▀▀▀██▄▄ ▀▀▀▀██▄
  ██▀▀▀▀                       ▀▄               ▀▀▀▀▄        ▀    ▀▀▀▀▄    ▀▀▀
 ▐█▌▌
 █▄██
  ▀█▀
                            Proudly Presents:

                      MICROSOFT CHICAGO (WINDOWS 4)
                            BETA BUILD 901A               
 ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
 │ RELEASE INFO                                                              │
 ├───────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────┤
 │ Cracked by..: N/A ....................│ Supplier...: DARK LORD............│
 │ Program %...: 100%....................│ Date.......: April 14th 1994......│
 │ Graphics....: GREAT!..................│ Company....: Microsoft............│
 └───────────────────────────────────────┴───────────────────────────────────┘

  Well here's the build 901A of the april-beta of WINDOWS 4.  This has yet 22 more
  bugs fixed than the previous April Beta BUILD.                       
  
  Just unzip the 15 disks into a directory on your HD and run the INSTALL.BAT.   
 
  Enjoy - and see you soon in our next scotchy release!!

                                      DARK L0RD - $(0T(H PRESIDENT '94


  Special greetings : N0NE
                                           
  Group greetings   : N0NE             

  PLEASE DRINK TOO MUCH   S.C.0.T.C.H.   !!!

 ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
 │        If you want to join S.C.0.T.C.H. get in contact with me or         │
 │        Les Manley on:                                                     │
 │                        ELEVENTH HOUR (WORD HQ)                            │
 │                          EURO NODE (EURO HQ)                              │
 │                       SECOND FRONT (SWEDISH HQ)                           │
 │                          GETAWAY (DANISH HQ)                              │
 │                          FAST WAY (GERMAN HQ)                             │
 │                               ALPHA 2010                                  │
 │                             UNLAWFUL ENTRY                                │
 └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
 ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
 │ MEMBER B0ARDS                                                             │
 ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
 │     N A M E             N U M B E R    N 0 D E S     S Y S 0 P            │
 │ [ELEVENTH HOUR..]      [313-N0T-4Y0U]    [10]       [MKo!.......]         │
 │ [EUR0 NODE......]      [+49-N0T-4Y0U]    [10]       [FLASH LIGHT]         │
 │ [SECOND FRONT...]      [+46-N0T-4Y0U]    [04]       [LES MANLEY.]         │
 │ [SPELL B0UND....]      [+46-N0T-4Y0U]    [04]       [VIPER......]         │
 │ [FAST WAY.......]      [+49-N0T-4Y0U]    [08]       [ANDY.......]         │
 │ [GETAWAY........]      [+45-N0T-4Y0U]    [05]       [MACR0 NIT..]         │
 ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
 │ DISTRIBUTION SITES                                                        │
 ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
 │     N A M E            N U M B E R     N 0 D E S     S Y S 0 P            │
 │                                                                           │
 │ [POSITIONS......]    [AVAILABLE...]       [.]       [..........]          │
 ├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
 └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
 ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
 │ SC0TCH MEMBERS                                                            │
 ├───────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────────────┤
 │ NAME         POSITION                 │ NAME         POSITION             │
 ├───────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────────────────────────┤
 │ DARK LORD    SCOTCH PRESIDENT         │ THE DREAMER  COURIER COURDINATOR  │
 │ LES MANLEY   SCOTCH VICE PRESIDENT    │ SNUSKIS      MULTINODE COURIER    │
 │ HOLY BEAST   CODER                    │ SCAZZI       COURIER              │
 │ MR EAGLE     SUPPLIER                 │ MIND BENDER  COURIER              │
 │ HOSON        SUPPLIER                 │ DOMINATOR    COURIER              │
 │ FIREHEAD     COORDINATOR              │ BAD KARMA    COURIER              │
 │ Mko!         WHQ SYSOP                │                                   │
 │ FLASHLIGHT   EURO HQ SYSOP            │                                   │
 │ MACRO NIT    GETAWAY SYSOP            │                                   │
 │ ANDY         FASTWAY SYSOP            │                                   │
 └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

              -*-  S.C.0.T.C.H - THE BEST UTILLITIES AR0UND! -*-

New features and changes[edit | edit source]

  • This build includes an application to play CD Audio. It can be run via PLAYCDA.EXE, but it fails to load due to insufficient memory.
  • The Games folder has been moved to inside the Accessories folder.

Setup[edit | edit source]

  • Setup now features an option to recover the setup process when launching it after a crash. This would later evolve into SmartRecovery and then into Safe Recovery.
  • On the "Customize" page, the "Select directory" have been moved to a new "Advanced.." page.
  • The final message has been changed to prompt the user to remove all floppy disks from the floppy drives.
  • The "User Information" page has the company field filled out with "Microsoft Corp. (Build90)". There is now also a "Product Identification Number", also being filled out by a string of letters.

Windows 94 and 4.0 references[edit | edit source]

This is the only known build of Microsoft Chicago that includes a reference to Windows 94.[3] A dialog used by setup mentioning Windows 94 was discovered by BetaArchive member Lucas Brooks. This find is interesting as the first build to use Windows 95 branding was build 189, which was compiled six months after build 90c.

This find also suggests Chicago was planned to be called Windows 94 in the first part of 1994. It's also possible this was one of a few final names considered at the time. This Windows 94 reference was already replaced by Chicago in the next build.

  • Dialogue with Windows 94

    Dialogue with Windows 94

In addition to this, there is also a Windows 4.0 reference. When creating an emergency boot disk, setup will prompt the user to label the disk as "Windows 4.0 Emergency Boot Disk".

Bugs and quirks[edit | edit source]

Setup[edit | edit source]

  • Due to missing files, there will be two errors that a file could not be copied during setup; one of them being SERVICES.INI. They can be safely skipped in order to allow setup to continue. This does not apply for some copies.
  • After system detection, an error will appear that Windows Help could not be initialized.
  • It is currently not possible to upgrade to this build using the normal method because it will have errors that appear after system detection. If it is normal, it will report an error and press OK to exit setup. To overcome this error, just add the /I parameter to setup and then continue to install/upgrade as normal. However, additional hardware settings need to be set up manually.
  • This is the first build where the setup does not initialize from an existing Windows installation. It is possible that this block was implemented due to setup still being buggy when launching it from there. It was removed temporarily in the official Beta 1 and permanently in build 267.

Drivers[edit | edit source]

  • Various video cards (such as S3 86c928, Tseng w32, and XGA) cannot use 800x600 at true color or 1024x768 with 65536 colors and Windows will complain about insufficient video memory even if the video card has 2MB of video memory or more. ATI Mach32 is not affected.
  • Most video drivers in this build are very unstable, and launching or even saving in 32-bit applications will result in the computer crashing and freezing.

File differences[edit | edit source]

The following files have been introduced or removed compared to build 89e:

Added files
Name Description Version
biosxlat.386
combuff.386
dosmgr.386
dosnet.386
ebios.386
flywin.scr Flying Windows screen saver 4.00.89
imaadpcm.acm IMA ADPCM CODEC for MSACM 4.00
marquee.scr Marquee screen saver 4.00.89
msadpcm.acm Microsoft ADPCM CODEC for MSACM 4.00
msg711.acm Microsoft CCITT G.711 (A-Law and u-Law) CODEC for MSACM 4.00
msgsm610.acm Microsoft GSM 6.10 Audio CODEC for MSACM 4.00
mystify.scr Mystify screen saver 4.00.89
pageswap.386
stars.scr Stars screen saver 4.00.89
timlp652.spd
vmm.386
wfwnet.drv Windows for Workgroups network driver 4.00.89
Removed files
Name Description Version
arcsrv32.exe NTAGENT MFC Application 1.0.001
c
cirrus.sym
dc5100_1.spd
debapp.dll
debmp.dll
debug.dll
dehex.dll
demet.dll
dess.dll
dewp.dll
dibeng91.dll Windows 4.0 DIB Engine 4.00.83
edit.com
edit.ini
guide.exe
imm32.dll
inetmib1.dll SNMP Internet MIB 3.50
kdcolor1.spd
mach32.sym
mach32d.sym
mach8.sym
marvel.cnt
marvel.hlp
mciole.dll OLE1 object handler for MCI objects 4.00
mcm.dll
mos.inf
moscc.dll
moscl.dll
moscp.exe Generic Example Application 3.3
mosmisc.dll
mplayer.exe Media Player OLE2 server 4.00
msjstick.drv Joystick driver for IBM-compatibles 4.00
msopl.drv Yamaha OPL2/OPL3 Driver 4.00
olregapp.exe OLREG MFC Application 1.0.001
olregdll.dll OLREG MFC Application 1.0.001
readysnd.shg
received.shg
regserv.exe
remember.shg
riched.dll Chicago Rich Text Edit Control 4.00
riched32.dll Chicago Rich Text Edit Control 4.00
s3.sym
sccch.dll
sccexp.dll
sccfa.dll
sccfi.dll
scclo.dll
sccpg.dll
sccut.dll
sccview.dll SCC FileViewer Object 1.00
sccvw.dll
sndvol32.exe Volume Control 4.00
snmp.exe SNMP Proxy App 3.20
srvlog.dll
srvmsg.dll
ssflywin.scr Flying Windows screen saver 4.00.90
ssmarque.scr
ssmyst.scr Mystify screen saver 4.00.90
ssstars.scr Stars screen saver 4.00.90
stopsrv.exe
sysdetmg.sym
timlp232.spd
tseng.sym
vdd.sym
vsami.dll
vsasc8.dll
vsbmp.dll
vsdrw.dll
vsexe.dll
vsflw.dll
vsgif.dll
vsmsw.dll
vsqpw.dll
vsrtf.dll
vstiff.dll
vsw6.dll
vswk3.dll
vswks.dll
vswmf.dll
vsword.dll
vswork.dll
vswp5.dll
vswp6.dll
vswpf.dll
vsxl.dll
vsxlc.dll
winexcl.shg
winlogo.shg
winreg.dll
xga.sym

Gallery[edit | edit source]

Setup[edit | edit source]

  • Initializing from DOS

    Initializing from DOS

  • Setup background

    Setup background

  • License prompt

    License prompt

  • Microsoft-Chicago-4.00.90c-Setup-3.png
  • Microsoft-Chicago-4.00.90c-Setup-4.png
  • Microsoft-Chicago-4.00.90c-Setup-5.png
  • Early "Plus Pack" prompt

    Early "Plus Pack" prompt

  • System detection

    System detection

  • Unable to initialize Windows Help

    Unable to initialize Windows Help

  • Begin installation prompt

    Begin installation prompt

  • User verification prompt

    User verification prompt

  • Setup complete

    Setup complete

Interface[edit | edit source]

  • Boot screen

    Boot screen

  • Login

    Login

  • First boot

    First boot

  • Demo

    Demo

  • WinBug

    WinBug

  • My Computer

    My Computer

  • MS-DOS prompt

    MS-DOS prompt

  • WinPad

    WinPad

  • Paint

    Paint

  • Calculator

    Calculator

  • System monitor

    System monitor

  • Control Panel

    Control Panel

  • System Properties

    System Properties

  • Safe to shutdown screen

    Safe to shutdown screen

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ https://www.betaarchive.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=37804
  2. ↑ https://www.krnl386.com/leakdb/?query=90c
  3. ↑ https://www.betaarchive.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=39874
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