Windows Vista build 5112

6.0.5112.winmain_beta1.050720-1600
	Build of Windows Vista
Release name	Beta 1
OS family	Windows NT
Version number	6.0
Build number	5112
Architecture	x86, x64
Build lab	winmain_beta1
Compiled on	2005-07-20
Expiration date
Timebomb	2006-09-30 (+437 days)
SKUs
	Professional
Product key
	TCP8W-T8PQJ-WWRRH-QH76C-99FBW
About dialog

Windows Vista build 5112 is the official Beta 1 build of Windows Vista, which was officially released on 27 July 2005. It is one of the first Beta 1-class builds to be compiled, and certainly, the first Vista build to become widely available.

At this point in development, Microsoft had decided that Windows Vista would be the final name of the operating system, hoping to boost the image and perception of the product among end users. Jim Allchin expressed enthusiasm for the name, stating:

'Vista' creates the right imagery for the new product capabilities and inspires the imagination with all the possibilities of what can be done with Windows – making people's passions come alive.
— Jim Allchin on the final operating system name^[1]

However, the name Longhorn was still used in numerous areas, such as within the About Windows dialog box, the registry entry for Winlogon, the XML data for the install.wim file, and on the boot screen. This is to be expected, considering that this build was compiled two days before the announcement of the name change to Vista. The name Vista was only mentioned on the desktop watermark.

Setup[edit | edit source]

Although the setup is mostly similar to the previous build, the hardware portion of setup now contains a dummy progress bar again.^[a]

Setup - Autorun
Setup autorun options - startup repair
Setup - Collecting Information
Setup - Product key
Setup - EULA
Setup - Upgrade page
Setup - Installation settings
Setup - Disk partitioning
Setup - Computer name
Setup - Copying files
Setup - Hardware setup

Build 5099 or later is required to upgrade to this build, but it is possible to upgrade from 5098 by replacing the sources folder (excluding install.wim) from 5098 itself.

New features and changes[edit | edit source]

Aero[edit | edit source]

The Aero theme gained a slight update from build 5098, featuring more distinct borders and fixed text color on some windows. Through the use of a patched uxss.exe executable for either the x86 or x64 architecture compiles, it is possible to use the Desktop Window Manager in a virtual machine solutions or on non-LDDM-compliant graphics hardware.

There exist two different ways of initializing DWM: either by replacing the uxss.dll library in the Windows\System32 directory with a patched variant and adding a hardware check override into the registry, or by using a physical machine with period-correct graphics hardware and display drivers. The first method can be achieved by opening the Registry Editor, navigating to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft, creating a new key called DWM and creating the following DWORD values inside the key:


Key	Values
EnableMachineCheck	1 - enables the graphics hardware check, which restricts DWM support solely to graphics hardware that features support for the Longhorn Display Driver Model. Display drivers for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 are also excluded from window compositing in their entirety. 0 - disables graphics hardware check
ForceSoftwareD3D	1 - forces software rendering 0 - uses hardware rendering
Glass	1 - translucent/glass window frames 0 - disables glass effects, replaces captions with metallic window frames
Blur	1 - enables blur effect 0 - disables blur effect, useful if ForceSoftwareD3D is enabled
UseAlternateButtons (optional)	1 - square-like buttons 0 - normal buttons
MagnificationPercent (optional - use at own risk!)	0 - 100 (decimal) - normal scaling any decimal value in range of 1 to 99 - downscaling percentage of windows any decimal value more than 100 - upscaling percentage of windows

After committing these changes, log out of the system, and then log back on to initialize the DWM stack. If DWM does not automatically start, kill the uxss.exe process.

Windows Explorer[edit | edit source]

List Pane for Static Lists.
The ability to create a list from the New section in context menus has been removed.

Full Volume Encryption[edit | edit source]

Windows Full Volume Encryption API (fveapi.dll)
FVE Auto Convert Utility (fveauto.exe)
FVE Utility (fveconv.exe)
Windows Full Volume Encryption Tool (fvetool.exe)

Miscellaneous[edit | edit source]

Two new icons have been added to the desktop, one leading to a supplemental driver installer that simply installs drivers made for Windows XP that aren't ready to work on this build yet, while the other is a document talking about Avalon and Indigo.
Media Foundation Protected Pipeline has been added.

Bugs and quirks[edit | edit source]

Installation[edit | edit source]

Although this build can partition as intended during setup, the partitioning page doesn't refresh properly, requiring the user to reboot the system in order to see the new partition. This bug persists until build 5360.

DWM[edit | edit source]

On some configurations with patched uxss.exe, when ForceSoftwareD3D value is set to 0, the screen freezes (except for the cursor), until DWM is disabled, even if hardware acceleration is set to full. Along with that, if glass effects are enabled, there would be artifacts on non-Explorer window borders.