Trying to install EVERY BUILD of Windows Longhorn

September 02, 2023

Hello there! I'm trying to install EVERY BUILD of Windows Longhorn, which will you'know, take up many disk storage, so I cleared up some huge VMs to make free for this project. I'm also including the x64 versions and Debug! Here's a list of the builds I have installed currently. (also I don't have motivation)

LH Build 3683
LH Build 3706
LH Build 3713
LH Build 3718
LH Build 4001
LH Build 4002
LH Build 4005
LH Build 4008
LH Build 4011
LH Build 4015
LH Build 4017
LH Build 4020
LH Build 4029 (main)
LH Build 4042 (main)
LH Build 4074 (x86)
LH Build 4093 (x86)

Here's my experiences with some of these builds while installing them.

Longhorn Build 4002

Oh god, this was a pain. Firstly, I made the mistake of installing ON THE CD AS IS. That was a mistake, since my copy of the CD doesn't support clean installs! I waited in the "Please wait..." screen, hoping that it would pass that screen, but it wouldn't! So, I tried a different PE. It didn't work. I googled and I found out. So I clone my 4001 VM, which takes up even more space! It was reallly slow. And worst of all, AntiWPA didn't work since it didn't find the byte offset or something, and you couldn't boot in the current time, which sucks.
Longhorn Build 4011
Installed through i386 repack, installed fine. Don't have any problems with it yet.
Longhorn Build 4029 (main)
This was when the VMDK sizes really reached the point. 7 GB. Really? Are you serious? Also it was also a pain to install. Also made the mistake of CD boot as is. Don't bother.
Longhorn Build 4042 (main)
This was installed before the project even existed, but this build was a PPPAAIINN to install. I tried CD boot as-is, but it loads forever in the boot-up screen, forever and ever. I try to install using a different PE, but the CMD prompt just hangs when I try to access the CD. So I try the same thing on a XP PE. It didn't work. The last resort was using Longhorn Patcher. It worked, finally. But the login time was garbage. It went blank for 30-40 seconds. That's bad. I personally don't recommend it unless you really like Plex.

Longhorn Build 4074

This was also installed before the project existed, but I deleted the VM. You know it, but for the starters, it was easy as cake. I installed the TWIWMTB variant, but it messes up Explorer Windows for modern VMWare versions if you turn on MILExplorer. I don't recommend enabling Aero on VMWare versions 13 and up, but if you want to, go for it! This build is stable, so I recommend it! I recommend using longhorn.ms to get some drivers and tricks.

I'm too lazy to include any more builds (procrastination) so uhh I might edit it soon.