Windows 8 Previews

An article about pre-release versions of Windows 8, including alpha, Developer Preview, Consumer Preview, and Release Preview builds.

Builds 8102 and earlier
Build 7700 uses the Windows 7 RC default wallpaper, likely due to being forked from a RC build of Windows 7. Build 7746 and 7758 changed the default wallpaper back to the one featured in Windows 7's RTM release. By build 7777, this would be replaced with an infamous blue-green gradient wallpaper with the text "shhh... let's not leak our hard work" at the top. Between builds 7927 and 8064, the wallpaper changed several times, each featuring a fractured wordoku puzzle that says "Start me up", with more letters being added in each revision of the wallpaper. By build 8064, Windows 7's leftover wallpapers (except for the regional wallpapers) were removed. By build 8095, the puzzle is no longer present, with the default wallpaper being set to Windows 7's logon background, while a panoramic lake wallpaper has been added as an alternate option; all of the Windows 7 regional wallpapers were also removed.

Builds 8118 to 8140
With the 7 wallpapers being removed, new themes were added, consisting of photography taken by an unknown Microsoft employee. img0 and img1 from previous builds remained. The theme names remain the same as the original 7 themes despite many not correlating anymore, although there is no Nature theme, so as a result the new wallpapers start at img7. These wallpapers were not cropped, so most of them remain at 4:3 aspect ratios rather than 16:10.

Builds 8148 to 8161
By build 8148, the number of themes went down to just two and they were changed up; several wallpapers were removed, while a few new ones were added. At this point, the panoramic lake wallpaper was removed.

Builds 8175.5 to 8441, 8520, and 9200 (fbl_eeap)
TODO: investigate builds 8186 and 8431 By build 8175.5, Theme1 was removed and replaced with a new Nature theme. The default wallpaper was replaced with a Metro version of the Windows 7 Beta wallpaper by build 8186(?), although builds 8305, 8432 to 8441, 8520, and 9200.0.fbl_eeap feature the previous wallpaper. By build 8195 (fbl_dnt3_wireless), Theme2 was also removed, although not replaced with another theme yet, however this theme still appears in many internal builds up to 9200.0.fbl_eeap along with the previous default wallpaper. The default wallpaper was changed to one consisting of grey "8"s by build 8330, and one featuring a field of red tulips by build 8375 (the color temperature and saturation are slightly lower by build 8382).

Builds 8520 and 9200.0.fbl_eeap reverted the set of wallpapers to the ones included in earlier builds but retains the display names of themes/wallpaper categories as in build 8513 as well as the final release.

Builds 8513 and 8888 onwards (except fbl_eeap)
In build 8513 and by build 8888 (except fbl_eeap builds), the wallpapers that appears in the final release were added.

Lock screen wallpapers
TODO: identify build ranges Lock screen wallpapers were added by build 7997. None of these appear in the final release. Much like the other wallpapers, they are highly likely to have been taken by Microsoft themselves.

Builds 7927 to 8064
This wallpaper is used for the system lock screen.

Builds 7997 to 8064
Build 7997 added six lock screen wallpapers to choose from. The previous system lock screen wallpaper remained.

Build 8513
Most of the placeholder wallpapers were replaced with the wallpapers that appears in the final release; a new img105 was added.

Builds 8888 onwards
By build 8888, img100 and img105 were replaced with the ones that appear in the final release.

User account pictures
Windows 8 came with the same selection of pre-loaded user account pictures as Windows 7 up to build 80xx (the new default user account picture was added by build 7899). By build 80xx, the number of user account pictures went down to just two; with the exception of guest, all of Windows 7's user account pictures were removed. By build 8161, 2 absolutely identical user account pictures were used for default accounts and guest account respectively. By build 8195, the default user account picture was replaced with the one that appears in the final release.

OOBE and logon backgrounds
Redpill was introduced in build 7779 and is disabled by default up to build 8056 and in build 8118 (builds 8064 and 8102.winmain_win8m3_eeap had the entire Metro user interface stripped out); builds 8102.0 and 8102.101 is distributed with Redpill already applied and can be disabled. While the unredpilled OOBE and logon screen in builds 8118 and earlier used the same backgrounds as Windows 7, a new background was introduced for both:
 * Metro OOBE in builds 7899 to 7963;
 * Metro logon screen in builds 7899 to 8002.

The Metro OOBE and logon background were replaced by a gradient of the accent color in builds 7973 to 8045 and in builds 8008 to 8045 respectively, and the solid accent color for both from build 8056 onwards.

Build 8128 onwards no longer use Redpill; all the Metro features are now available out of the box.

Setup backgrounds
All builds of Windows 8 prior to build 8045 use the same setup background as Windows 7, although builds 8002 through 8014 also include an unused WinPE background image merely consisting of a simple teal-green gradient. Builds 8045 through 8161 use simply consists of  color, and builds 8175.5 to 8438 use simply consists of   color. By build 8441, the setup background was changed to a purple background, which is identical to the default Metro accent color in the final release.

Picture Password
Picture Password was introduced in build 8xxx.

You can see these images in the Picture Password setup tutorial when setting it for the first time: