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.

	Build range	Original filename	Licensed from	Originates from	Photographer/artist	Notes
	Builds 3663-3670 (unconfirmed builds)	samples	unknown	unknown	Charlie Waite Jenny Lam (likely added the branding)	Due to its low quality and it being early in development, it is likely this photo was merely taken from the internet, while the saturation was boosted
	Build 3683	unknown
	Builds 3706-4001	unknown	N/A	Microsoft	unknown
	Builds 4002-4011	unknown	N/A	Microsoft	unknown
	Builds 4015-4031 (main)	unknown	N/A	Microsoft	unknown
	Builds 4029 (Lab06_n)-4042 (main)	unknown	N/A	Microsoft	unknown
	Build 4039 (unused)	unknown	N/A	Microsoft	unknown	Located in %WINDIR%\i386\
	Builds 4042 (Lab06_n)-4067 (idx01)	unknown	Getty Images	Getty Images	Tom Bean
	Build 4050 (private/Lab06, October 22 compile)	unknown	N/A	Microsoft	unknown	A cropped version of a Longhorn Los Angeles Convention Center wallpaper
	Build 4067 (private/lddm dev tech(davidmo).040212-1646) to 4082	unknown	Getty Images	Getty Images	Adam Smith
	Builds 406?, 4083-4093	treeA_cropped	Getty Images	The Image Bank	Andre Gallant

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.

	Name	Licensed from	Originates from	Photographer/artist	Notes
	Aero UE Wallpaper 17	N/A	Microsoft	unknown	May not be official, as it has not been found in any leaked demos; despite the metadata crediting a "Hillel C.", Hillel Cooperman has confirmed that he never owned the camera it was taken with
	Forest of Redwood Trees	Corbis	Corbis	Mark Karrass	May not be official; while it is a stock photo, it has not been found in any leaked demos
	E2E_PHOTOS_wallpaper	Corbis	Corbis	Robert Marien	Used in a Longhorn Days demo circa 2002
	EXTENSIBILITY_wallpaper	Corbis	Corbis	George D. Lepp	Used in a Longhorn Days demo circa 2002 Reused from Windows 2000
	Green grass, close-up	Getty Images	Getty Images	Andrea Sperling	Used in a PDC 2003 Longhorn AERO presentation demo A dark blue version also appears in the Healthcare demo from 2003
	Highway	Getty Images	PhotoDisc	Glen Allison	Used in the SuperFetch demo at PDC 2005; may also have been used earlier Also used in an MSN Explorer demo that was falsely labelled as a Blackcomb/Longhorn demo
	Longhorn blue grass wallpaper	unknown	unknown	unknown	Used in the healthcare demo from 2003
File:Longhorn leaves wallpaper.jpg	Longhorn leaves wallpaper	unknown	unknown	unknown	Used in a Longhorn Days demo circa 2002
	Longhorn Los Angeles Convention Center wallpaper	N/A	Microsoft	unknown	A cropped version of this appears in build 4050 (private/Lab06, October 22 compile)
	Longhorn Los Angeles Convention Center wallpaper 2	N/A	Microsoft	unknown
	Longhorn Stonehenge wallpaper	unknown	unknown	unknown	Used in a Longhorn Days demo circa 2002
File:Longhorn trees wallpaper.jpg	Longhorn trees wallpaper	unknown	unknown	unknown	Used in a Longhorn Days demo circa 2002
	NAVIGATION_wallpaper	unknown	unknown	unknown	Used in a Longhorn Days demo circa 2002
	Ocean Wave	unknown	unknown	unknown	Used in a Longhorn Days demo circa 2002 Reused from Windows 2000
	Plus! Nature	Getty Images	The Image Bank	unknown	Used in a Longhorn Days demo circa 2002 Reused from Microsoft Plus! for Windows XP
	Searching - V2	Terragen	Terragen	Martin Schulte	Used in a PDC 2003 Longhorn AERO presentation demo
	STORAGE_wallpaper	unknown	Science Source	Adam Jones	Used in a Longhorn Days demo circa 2002, albeit flipped horizontally
	TREE AT THE FOUR SEASONS IN WINTER	Getty Images	The Image Bank	Andre Gallant	Used in a demo circa 2004
	Twilight at Lake Powell, Arizona	Getty Images	PhotoDisc	John Wang	Used in a PDC 2003 Longhorn AERO presentation demo, albeit zoomed in and flipped horizontally
	View to Ben Lomond	Getty Images	PhotoDisc	Colin Paterson	May not be official; while it is a stock photo, it has not been found in any leaked demos
	Winter	Corbis	Corbis	Mark Karrass	Used in a Longhorn Days demo circa 2002 Reused from Windows XP
	WO_SCN07	Corbis	Corbis	David Muench	Used in the Excalibur demo circa 2003 Reused from Microsoft Plus! 98 albeit without the copyright text

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.

	Build range	Original filename	Licensed from	Originates from	Photographer/artist	Notes
	Build 5001	unknown	unknown (bull photo) Corbis (original image)	Microsoft unknown (bull photo) Westlight (original image)	unknown (designer and bull photo) Charles O'Rear (original image)	The bull photo was likely taken off the internet; it does not appear to be a stock photo.
	Build 5048	200151237-001	Getty Images	Getty Images	Martin Barraud
	Builds 5059-5231	unknown	N/A	Microsoft	Jenny Lam(?)	In a few earlier unleaked builds, this wallpaper appears with branding
	Builds 5059-5231 (branding wallpaper)	unknown	N/A	Microsoft	unknown

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.

	Name	Original filename	Licensed from	Originates from	Photographer/artist	Notes
	GreenPla	Green Plant	N/A	Microsoft	Claudia	Default wallpaper of builds 5259 to 5308 and 5342, although likely due to a bug
	Longhorn	Nature Vistas	Getty Images	Tony Stone Images	Art Wolfe	Default wallpaper of builds 5310 to 5337 Later appears in builds 5355 to 5840.16384 as img24 (later img37) at a higher resolution, and in widescreen as img34
	SeasideV	Seaside Vista	N/A	Microsoft	Claudia
	TigerLea	leaf1	unknown	unknown	unknown
	Tropical	Tropical Vista DSC_0344	N/A	Microsoft	Claudia
	Underwater	Underwater Vista DSC_0270	N/A	Microsoft	Claudia
	WindowsA	Windows Angle	unknown	unknown	Douglas Evans

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.

	Name	Original filename	Category	Licensed from	Originates from	Photographer/artist	Notes
	img1	10197687	Black and White	Getty Images	The Image Bank	Peter de Lory
	img2	200171069-001	Black and White	Getty Images	Getty Images	Nicholas Veasey
	img3	ca2447-002	Black and White	Getty Images	Tony Stone Images	Jean-Francois Gate
	img4	ca21717	Black and White	Getty Images	Getty Images	Alan Kearney
	img5	MSwanson - Wide - Flower 02	Black and White	N/A	Microsoft	Mike Swanson	Made greyscale Removed in build 5840.16389
	img6	17517595_ea95bf889f_o	Black and White	N/A	Microsoft	Hillel Cooperman	Removed in build 5840.16389
	img7	img13	Textures	N/A	Microsoft	Robert Stein	Removed in build 5840.16389
	img8	UL782453	Textures	Corbis	Corbis	Darrell Gulin	Reallocated to img7 in build 5840.16389
	img9	MSwanson - Wide - Leaf 02	Textures	N/A	Microsoft	Mike Swanson	Reallocated to img8 in build 5840.16389
	img10	unknown	Textures	Getty Images	The Image Bank	Chuck Kuhn	Reallocated to img9 in build 5840.16389
	img11	427930-001	Textures	Getty Images	Tony Stone Images	Rosemary Calvert	Reallocated to img10 in build 5840.16389
	img12	200146243-001	Textures	Getty Images	Getty Images	Dana Menussi	Reallocated to img11 in build 5840.16389
	img13	unknown	Paintings	N/A	Microsoft	unknown	Reused from build 5342. Oddly, it was reallocated from img19 to img13. Removed in build 5840.16389
	img14	SundayAfternoon.Suerat	Paintings	Corbis	Bettman	unknown (credited on Corbis to Bettman) Georges Seurat (painting)	Reallocated to img12 in build 5840.16389
	img15	unknown	Paintings	N/A	Microsoft	unknown	Reused from build 5342 Removed in build 5840.16389
	img16	Bridge.MIverson	Paintings	Corbis	Corbis	Mary Iverson	Reallocated to img13 in build 5840.16389
	img17	Iris.VGogh	Paintings	Corbis	J. Paul Getty Trust/Sygma	unknown (credited on Corbis to J. Paul Getty Trust) Vincent van Gogh (painting)	Reallocated to img14 in build 5840.16389
	img18	Fish	Paintings	Corbis	Corbis	Christie's Images	Reallocated to img15 in build 5840.16389 Original painting by Utagawa Hiroshige (born Ando Hiroshige), calligraphy text right above fish removed
	img19	ca22824	Vistas	Getty Images	Getty Images	Walter Bibikow	Reallocated to img16 in build 5840.16389
	img20	70010299	Vistas	Getty Images	Getty Images	Jack Dykinga	Removed in build 5840.16389
	img21	10115595	Vistas	Getty Images	The Image Bank	Dr. Robert Muntefering	Reallocated to img17 in build 5840.16389
	img22	880228-001	Vistas	Getty Images	Tony Stone Images	Mark Lewis	Reallocated to img19 in build 5840.16389
	img23	Vista06_Field1_SB	Vistas	N/A	commissioned by Microsoft	Michael Haber	Reallocated to img20 in build 5840.16389
	img24 (builds 5355 to 5466) img37 (builds 5469 to 5840.16384)	ap3445-013	Vistas	Getty Images	Tony Stone Images	Art Wolfe	Default wallpaper of builds 5355 to 5466; removed in build 5840.16389
	img24	SteveFu_2	Vistas	N/A	Microsoft	Steve Fu	Default wallpaper of builds 5469 to 5840.16384 Reallocated to img22 in build 5840.16389
	img25	MSwanson - Flower 03	Light Auras	N/A	Microsoft	Mike Swanson	Removed in build 5840.16389 Later used as a background for the "glass" slideshow theme in Windows Photo Gallery, and the associated screensaver.
	img26	img26	Light Auras	N/A	Microsoft	Robert Stein	Reallocated to img27 in build 5840.16389
	img27	DSCN0315	Light Auras	N/A	Microsoft	Robert Stein	Removed in build 5840.16389
	img28	IMG_6010	Light Auras	N/A	Microsoft	unknown	Removed in build 5840.16389
	img29	img28	Light Auras	N/A	Microsoft	Robert Stein	Removed in build 5840.16389
	img30	img30	Light Auras	N/A	Microsoft	unknown	Removed in build 5840.16389
	img31	427930-001_WS	Widescreen	Getty Images	Tony Stone Images	Rosemary Calvert	Widescreen version of img11; reallocated to img30 in build 5840.16389
	img32	880228-001_WS	Widescreen	Getty Images	Tony Stone Images	Mark Lewis	Widescreen version of img22; reallocated to img34 in build 5840.16389
	img33	10115595_WS	Widescreen	Getty Images	The Image Bank	Dr. Robert Muntefering	Widescreen version of img21; removed in build 5840.16389
	img34	ap3445-013_WS	Widescreen	Getty Images	Tony Stone Images	Art Wolfe	Widescreen version of img24/img37; removed in build 5840.16389
	img35	MSX_DSCN0215	Widescreen	N/A	Microsoft	Robert Stein	Widescreen version of img7; removed in build 5840.16389
	img36	Vista06_Field1_SB_WS	Widescreen	N/A	commissioned by Microsoft	Michael Haber	Widescreen version of img23; removed in build 5840.16389

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.

	Name	Original filename	Category	Licensed from	Originates from	Photographer/artist	Notes
	img732	Iceberg	Nature	Getty Images	National Geographic	Eastcott Momatiuk	Replaced with a widescreen version by build 5477
	img733	Island sunset	Vistas	Getty Images	Getty Images	Kevin Forest	Replaced with a widescreen version by build 5477
	img735	Leaning palms	Nature	Getty Images	Getty Images	unknown (credited on Getty to Shoot PTY)	Replaced with a widescreen version by build 5477
	img743	Sawtooth Mountains	Vistas	Getty Images	altrendo	unknown (credited on Getty to altrendo nature)	Replaced with a widescreen version by build 5477
	img746	Two giraffes	Nature	Getty Images	Digital Vision	Karl Ammann	Color model changed to RGB by build 5477

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.

	Name	Licensed from	Originates from	Photographer/artist	Notes
	Autumn Leaves	Getty Images	Iconica	Peter Miller	"leaves" is capitalized from build 5435 onwards
	Creek (builds 5310 to 5329)	Getty Images	Look-foto	Konrad Wothe	Replaced with a different image in build 5337 onwards
	Creek (build 5337 onwards)	Getty Images	altrendo	unknown (credited on Getty to altrendo nature)
	Desert Landscape	SuperStock	Purestock	Elizabeth Carmel	Made brighter in build 5477 onwards
	Dock	Getty Images	Getty Images	Angelo Cavalli
	Forest Flowers	Getty Images	Lonely Planet	Gareth Mccormack	"flowers" is capitalized from build 5435 onwards Made brighter in build 5477 onwards
	Forest	Getty Images	Getty Images	Darrell Gulin
	Garden (builds 5310 to 5329)	Getty Images	Getty Images	Peter Gridley	Replaced with a different image in build 5337 onwards
	Garden (build 5337 onwards)	Getty Images	Digital Vision	Natphotos	Made more saturated in build 5477 onwards
	Green Sea Turtle	Getty Images	Getty Images	Jeff Hunter	"sea turtle" is capitalized from build 5435 onwards
	Hibiscus Flowers (builds 5310 to 5472) Frangipani Flowers (build 5477 onwards)	Getty Images	Getty Images	Kevin Forest	"flowers" is capitalized from build 5435 onwards
	Humpback Whale (builds 5310 to 5329; 5477 onwards) Hump back Whale (builds 5435 to 5472)	Getty Images	Digital Vision	Tom Brakefield	Made more saturated in build 5477 onwards
	Oryx Antelope	Getty Images	Digital Vision	Natphotos	Made brighter in build 5477 onwards
	Toco Toucan (builds 5310 to 5329; 5477 onwards) Toco Tucan (builds 5435 to 5472)	Getty Images	Getty Images	Kevin Schafer	Made brighter in build 5477 onwards
	Tree	Getty Images	Getty Images	Jeremy Walker
	Waterfall	Getty Images	Iconica	Frans Lemmens
	Winter Leaves	Getty Images	Getty Images	Peter Lilja	"leaves" is capitalized from build 5435 onwards Made brighter in build 5477 onwards

User account pictures

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.

	Name	Licensed from	Originates from	Photographer/artist
	user	unknown	unknown (Microsoft?)	unknown
	usertile1	N/A	Microsoft	unknown
	usertile2	N/A	Microsoft	unknown

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.

Logon backgrounds

Pre-reset

Image	Build range	Notes
	Builds 4015 to 4020	Same as Longhorn builds 3706-4001 default desktop wallpaper albeit being zoomed in top-right
	Builds 4029 to 4042	Same as the default desktop wallpaper albeit without a logo
	Build 4042 (Lab06 n)	A 16x1024 gradient graphic stretched to the resolution of the display

The logon background of builds 4048 to 4093 is transparent. This was done to allow OEMs to add their own wallpaper.

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.

Image	Build range	Notes
	Builds 5098 to 5259	Not a static image; comprised of a transparent Windows logo with a gradient background
	Builds 5270 to 5342
	Builds 5355 to 5477	Appears in multiple resolutions

Setup backgrounds

Image	Build range	Notes
	Build 4001	A darker blue version of the default desktop wallpaper
		Alternative version of the default desktop wallpaper, cropped and flipped vertically with added branding
	Builds 4005 to 4042	A darker blue version of the default desktop wallpaper
	Builds 4048(?) to 4093; 5048
	Builds 5098 to 5231	Same as the logon background, although it is static
		Used in the initial setup window

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.

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