Longhorn

This page is under construction. Longhorn is the codename for Windows Vista. Originally conceived in mid-2001, its development was reset in mid-2004; it was later given its final name and was released in late 2006. The codename would also be used for Server 2008, even after Vista was released.

This page lists pre-release wallpapers from both before and after Longhorn was renamed, for the sake of convenience, but does not list wallpapers that are still present in the final release except when there are differences such as saturation or cropping. Note that this wiki will refer to Longhorn as the codename alone rather than "Windows Longhorn", due to that phrasing not being used by Microsoft.

Wallpapers
Windows XP's wallpaper set appears in every Longhorn build until 5355; these are not listed here.

Pre-reset
During late 2002 and early-mid 2003 the default wallpapers were auroras created by Microsoft's own designers, including Robert Stein. From late 2003 onward they would license rights managed images from Getty Images. All of these wallpapers share the same filename, Bliss.bmp, however this wiki refers to them just as default wallpapers to avoid confusion. Jenny Lam was involved in the wallpaper selection process, like with post-reset Longhorn/Vista. The other wallpapers remained the same as XP's throughout this phase of Longhorn's development.

Demos
As a result of Longhorn's ambitiousness, Microsoft produced a large amount of Macromedia Director demos to demonstrate the many ideas the company had for Longhorn. Each of these have their own unique wallpapers, with a few of them being recycled from previous versions of Windows such as Windows 2000 and XP, along with Microsoft Plus! 98.

This list is incomplete, as there are demos that have not yet saw the light of the day, plus many wallpapers are covered by UI elements making them very difficult to reverse search. In some cases, the files within the demos have the UI elements already included on them. Also, please note that some of these wallpapers may not even be official at all. In some cases, there is no way to know for sure; however they will be listed here until proven they are fake.

Post-reset
Please note that this article also includes wallpapers that were added after Longhorn was renamed to Vista.

Builds 5001 to 5231
During this point in development, all of the wallpapers were identical to XP's except the default wallpapers and later the branding wallpaper. Starting from build 5048, the default wallpapers were all titled Longhorn, although this wiki will refer to them as just being the default wallpapers rather than calling all of them Longhorn.

Builds 5252 to 5342
By build 5252 a handful of new wallpapers were added, although XP's wallpapers are still present. Build 5342 additionally added five folders consisting of 36 placeholder wallpapers, with two of those remaining in later builds.

Builds 5355 to 5840.16384
By build 5355, most of the previous wallpapers were removed and replaced with an entirely new set of 1600x1200 wallpapers, with the widescreens ones being at 1600x900, oddly at 16:9 despite 16:10 being more common back then. However, the mountain lake wallpaper would stay, albeit at a higher resolution and slightly more cropped, along with two of the placeholder wallpapers. This set would be slightly updated in build 5469, where the default wallpaper is changed to the wallpaper that is img22 in the final release; the previous wallpaper was reallocated to img37.

Starter
When the Starter SKU was first added, it featured the same wallpaper set as other editions (in turn being the same wallpapers used in most versions of XP), but with the addition of the three wallpapers from the Indian version of Windows XP Starter Edition, with Dunagiri being set as the default wallpaper. By build 5355(?) the set of wallpapers that appear in the final release were added, although this set was slightly updated by build 5477. This resulted in a handful being upgraded to widescreen 1600x1024, while img746 was changed from the CMYK color model to RGB.

Note that the table below only shows wallpapers that feature differences from the final ones.

Build 5840.16389 onwards
Build 5840.16389 replaced the wallpaper set with the one that appears in the RTM release, which includes new ones such as Hamad Darwish's two wallpapers, while removing a handful of others, including the Beta 2 default wallpaper and replacing most of the Light Auras with designed ones as opposed to abstract macro photography. Additionally, the resolutions of the remaining 4:3 and widescreen wallpapers are now in 1920x1440 and 1920x1200 respectively.

Sample pictures
All builds of Longhorn/Vista prior to build 5310 feature the same sample pictures as XP. Said build adds a set of 15 new sample pictures; the XP ones are also installed as the package for them is still included, although it was removed by build 5329. Creek and Garden were replaced with completely different images by build 5337. By build 5477, Microsoft made slight alterations to the sample pictures such as adjusting the saturation, although some of these could be due to color model changes. Descriptions, ratings and tags were also added.

Demos
todo: add table

A few unique user account pictures can be seen in demos from the pre-reset development phase of Longhorn.

Builds 40xx to 5342
todo: add guest/default pictures

Prior to build 5355, all builds of Longhorn use the same set of user account pictures as XP, although they added new guest and default user account pictures.

Builds 5355 to 5378
By build 5355, a new set of user account pictures was introduced, which was mostly complete but had three placeholder pictures. The previous guest user account picture was carried over, so it is not listed here. The rest are the same as the final set so they are also not listed here.

Build 5381 onwards
Build 5381 introduced a near final set of user account pictures, replacing both user and usertile1 with an identical gerbera picture and usertile2 with a robot picture. This set was slightly updated by build 5487, with the guest user account picture being replaced with a new picture and usertile1 being removed, as it is merely a duplicate of user.

Pre-reset
The logon background of builds 4048 to 4093 is solid black; this was also the case with post-reset build 5048.

Post-reset
The logon background in very early post-reset builds is the same as of XP's, comprised of multiple elements. Build 5048, like later pre-reset builds, uses black for its logon background (Windows 2000-style logon screen is enabled by default; the Windows XP logon screen can be enabled in the Control Panel), while builds 5098 to 5259 use a blue-black gradient background (rendered in real-time) with a transparent Windows logo graphic in the top-left corner. Build 5270 introduces a new aurora background; by build 5355, this is replaced with a slightly updated version in multiple resolutions. By build 5487, the logon background has been changed to the one that appears in the final release.

OOBE background
TODO: further research

Most Longhorn builds used either the Windows XP background or their respective Setup background, except for builds 5270 to 5456, which used the full version of the background used in the RTM's Preinstallation Environment.