Windows 95

Windows 95
Year of release	1995
Default wallpaper	N/A
Included image types	Wallpapers Patterns
Preceded by	Windows 3.1 (1992)
Succeeded by	Windows 98 (1998)

Windows 95 is an operating system released by Microsoft in 1995. It is the successor to Windows 3.1. It features a new set of tiles, as well as one full screen wallpaper, Clouds. It was succeeded by Windows 98 in 1998.

Wallpapers

Windows 95 has a set of tiles in Bitmap format, as well as one full screen wallpaper, Clouds. The pixel art tiles were most likely designed in-house or outsourced to an external graphic designer. Some of the high color ones featuring photos may have utilized licensed stock photos, but no origins have been found. All of these were reused in Windows 98 and Me.

The filenames on the disc generally differ from the names given after installation; these names are listed here too.

	Name	Original filename	Resolution	Notes
	Black Thatch	thatch2	31x30
	Blue Rivets	rivets2	16x16
	Bubbles	bubbles	64x64
	Carved Stone	egypt	32x32
	Circles	circles	32x32
	Clouds	clouds	640x480	Likely serves as the branding wallpaper, as the clouds are a major part of 95's branding
	Forest	forest	256x256
	Gold Weave	gator	256x256
	Houndstooth	hounds	27x25
	Metal Links	mesh	200x180
	Pinstripe	pstripe	30x32
	Red Blocks	3dblocks	54x96
	Sandstone	sand	256x256
	Stitches	weave2	96x96
	Straw Mat	bamboo	30x32
	Tiles	redtile	32x32
	Triangles	pyramid2	16x16
	Waves	halftone	32x32

Fun stuff folder

The funstuff folder on the CD includes a folder named pictures, which features Clouds as well as another branding wallpaper called win95, featuring the Windows 95 logo over the same clouds. This wallpaper greatly resembles the bootscreen, although the Windows flag is larger here. None of the contents of the funstuff folder are installed during setup, so these can only be found by browsing the CD.

• 

  The win95 wallpaper.

Pre-release

The first leaked build of Windows 95 is build 58s. While the tiles here are the same as in 3.1, two new wallpapers are introduced: Chicago and Warning. Build 73f adds Constrct and renames Warning to Work, while adding a new Warning wallpaper. Build 116 replaces the previous work wallpaper with a new full screen wallpaper of the same name. All of these were replaced with the final wallpaper set by build 310.

	Name	Resolution	Notes
	Chicago	635x437	Removed in build 310
	Constrct	640x480	Introduced in build 73f; removed in build 310
	Warning (build 58s) Work (builds 73f-99)	320x160	Introduced in build 58s; removed in build 116
	Warning	258x119	Introduced in build 73f; removed in build 116
	Work	640x480	Introduced in build 116; removed in build 310

Patterns

Windows 95 also includes a set of 8x8 patterns, which are tiled across the desktop. These are not in Bitmap format and are instead rendered through binary values. They can be applied in conjunction with a wallpaper; if the wallpaper is set to be centered, the pattern will be visible on the space surrounding the wallpaper. Due to their simplistic nature, they do not use as much memory and are thus a good option on computers with low RAM.

	Name	Code
	Bricks	187 95 174 93 186 117 234 245
	Buttons	170 125 198 71 198 127 190 85
	Cargo Net	120 49 19 135 225 200 140 30
	Circuits	82 41 132 66 148 41 66 132
	Cobblestones	40 68 146 171 214 108 56 16
	Colosseum	130 1 1 1 171 85 170 85
	Daisies	30 140 216 253 191 27 49 120
	Dizzy	62 7 225 7 62 112 195 112
	Field Effect	86 89 166 154 101 149 106 169
	Key	254 2 250 138 186 162 190 128
	Live Wire	239 239 14 254 254 254 224 239
	Plaid	240 240 240 240 170 85 170 85
	Rounder	215 147 40 215 40 147 213 215
	Scales	225 42 37 146 85 152 62 247
	Stone	174 77 239 255 8 77 174 77
	Thatches	248 116 34 71 143 23 34 113
	Tile	69 130 1 0 1 130 69 170
	Triangles	135 7 6 4 0 247 231 199
	Waffle's Revenge	77 154 8 85 239 154 77 154

Setup background

The setup background features a collage of tech-related images with a 2 color blue-black gradient map applied over it, including a keyboard, mouse, cables and CDs. It is known to have been produced in-house (along with the photos), but it is unknown who designed it. The keyboard was owned by Kevin Kennedy, who lent it to the designer. A higher quality version is also used on the first time run startup screen, although like the bootscreen it is squashed to 320x400, stretches out to 640x400, and when ran on real hardware it further stretches out to the resolution of the monitor.

Unlike setup backgrounds in Windows NT releases, this is also included as a wallpaper in C:/WINDOWS along with the other wallpapers. Windows NT 3.51 and NT 4.0 feature a very similar setup background (which previously appeared as the setup finalization background in 95 build 189), although it uses different cable and CD images, while the mouse image is in a slightly different position.

• 

  The setup background.

• 

  The version displayed on the first-time run startup screen.

Pre-release

The first leaked build of Windows 95 (codenamed Chicago), build 58s, uses the same blue-black gradient used for 3.1's setup background. By build 73f, this is replaced with a new monochrome background showing a desk with a CD player, a desk phone with modem, and a computer. Although the file (embedded within SUWIN.EXE) is black and white, it is displayed as black and blue while being used in the setup.

Build 189, the first build that identifies as Windows 95, introduces the final setup background, and also includes the setup background as one of the selectable wallpapers (which is used in the finalization of the setup), although the latter is the version used in NT 3.51 and NT 4.0 but with a darker shade of blue. Build 216 replaces this file with the final 95 version. Interestingly, the German localization of build 222 features a completely different background for the setup finalization process, which consists of space, accompanied by Earth and a galaxy, as well as the wordmark.

• 

  The setup background in builds 73f to 180.

• 

  The setup background in builds 73f to 180 as seen with the color palette used in setup.

• 

  The setup finalization background in build 189, later used in NT 3.51 and NT 4.0.

• 

  The setup finalization background in the German version of build 222.