Windows Longhorn Build 5048 Tweak Guide

Published Date: Tuesday, 04/26/05
Last Updated: Tuesday, 05/05/05

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Welcome!

On April 25, 2005, at the WinHEC 2005 engineering conference, Microsoft unveiled Windows Code-Named "Longhorn", Build 5048. As far as stability is concerned, this is the best build of Longhorn yet. As far as what is broken, it is the worst build of windows I have ever seen. Direct Sound is broken in this build so if your cpu usage goes too high the sound will studder like there is no tomorrow. This build also sports a new search feature, which doesn't always work, but when it does work it is very nice. I would not reccomend ANYONE run this build as their main OS. If the Direct Sound bug was not present then you could, but with the bug it isn't going to happen. Anyway lets get to the tweaks, this build didn't require many at all so read on!

While Microsoft have not officially published requirements for Longhorn this is what we would reccomend as the minimum for a smooth running Longhorn:

• 1.5 GHz Intel Pentium 4 Processor or higher; 1.2 GHz AMD Athlon/Opteron/Athon 64
• 512+MB of RAM
• 6GB of free hard disk space

Note: Don't e-mail me if you have it running on a lower spec system, I don't care. This is just a guideline and what our tests have proven to be the minimum usable spec without occasional freeze ups and overall slow performance.

Longhorn Installation Reccomendations

First and foremost, an excellent resource for Longhorn installation tips as well as a list of known issues is the following Microsoft KB Article:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;829967

Please pay attention to that article as it does outline a few of the limitations in Longhorn build 5048.

Changes since build 4074

• The "Jade" theme has been revised and has a much cleaner look, it is now called "Aero".
• The sidebar has been removed from Longhorn.
• WinFS has been scrapped from Longhorn.
• Device Manager has been put back where it belongs in the system properties dialogue under the hardware tab.
• Start menu now has all programs menu migrated to the left pane where the MFU appear.
• There is a new shutdown button in the start menu. Windows will select the shutdown method that is best for your system (Stand by, Hibernate, etc). You can access the other options via a dropdown list which is found next to the shutdown button.
• Longhorn is now built on a new core (Windows Server 2003 SP1) and was restarted in September.

Known issues in this build

• DWM Crashes when started using uxss.exe.
• On some machines setup will crash with a "Stub loader for setup program has encountered an error" when starting install within windows.
• Sound cards that are not natively supported by Longhorn may studder and stop working unexpectedly. This is especially true for the SB Audigy. Please refer to our DirectSound fix section for instructions on fixing this problem.
• Explorer is capped to display only 50 files/folders in a given directory. This can be worked around by viewing the icons in groups and refreshing the window by pressing F5.
• Onboard NVidia network cards still do not work properly.
• Welcome screen is still the same as Windows XP's. It is not enabled by default.
• Tooltips pop up for system tray apps after each reboot.

Disable Un-needed Services

Longhorn has some new system services, some of which can cause slowdowns and unnecessary ram usage. To speed up Longhorn, we will want to disable a number of services. To do this, follow these instructions:

Click Start, Run. Type "services.msc" and press OK.
To disable a service, double click on it. Under the "Startup Type" field, select "Disabled".
Disable the following services:

• Application Experience Lookup Service
• Base Firewall Engine
• IPSEC Services
• mpssvc
• IP
• Network Access Protection Agent
• Software Licensing Service
• Security Center (This thing is annoying)
• System Restore Service
• System Maintenance Service
• UPnP Device Host
• WinHTTP Web Proxy Auto-Discovery Service
• Windows Search Engine

It is recommended that you restart your computer after this step.

Also, for all of the lazy people out there who don't want to manually disable the services, we have made a batch file that disables and then stops the services for you. Download the batch file HERE.

Windows Explorer: Performance Options

Click Start, right click on "Computer", and click Properties.
Click on the Advanced tab. Under Performance, click Settings.
Uncheck these options:

• Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing
• Fade or slide menus into view
• Fade or slide tooltips into view
• Fade out menu items after clicking
• Show preview and filters in folder
• Show shadows under menus
• Slide open combo boxes
• Slide taskbar buttons
• Use a background image for each folder type

Close the Performance Options & System Properties dialogs.

Click Start, Run. Type "control folders". Press OK.
Click the View tab. Modify the settings as shown below.

Uncheck:

• Automatically search for network folders and printers
• Use Domain Folder Sharing Wizard

DirectSound In Longhorn: How to Fix it

In Longhorn 5048, the DirectSound and Driver Installation routines are severely broken, leaving you with no sound or sound that skips and stutters.

Thanks to Nighthawk We have finally figured out a fix for this. By following the instructions below you will have fully hardware accelerated sound under Longhorn.

First, download this file:
http://www.chris123nt.com/guides/5048/fixes/DSoundFix.rar

Extract the contents of the RAR file to anywhere you wish.
Now, you can either use our installer and skip to step 2, or you can replace the files manually in Step 1. To run the installer, simply open the DsoundFix.cmd file in the extracted folder.

Step 1
Run the batch file located in the FILES directory of this pack.

Step 2
Next, click on the Start Menu, right click on Computer, and click Manage.
In the Computer Management window in the left pane, choose “Device Manager”.
Under “Sound and Audio Devices”, choose your sound card. (If it’s not listed, look in the “Unknown” category, which has a yellow question mark next to it).
Right click on your audio device and click “Update Driver…”
In the “Add New Hardware” wizard, choose to specify where the driver is. Browse to wherever your drivers are located.
Once you have started installing the drivers, Windows will ask you for the location of wdmaud.drv. In the dialog that appears type in “C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32”, and press OK.

Several more Add New Hardware wizard dialogs will appear. When asked, let the wizard search for the driver. When asked to insert the Windows XP Professional CD-ROM into Drive A: (no joke), press OK. In the dialog that appears next, type “C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS”. Press OK. Do this for every “Add New Hardware” wizard dialog that appears.

Once you have installed your drivers and no more “Add New Hardware” wizard dialogs appear, restart your computer.

To see if you have fixed DirectSound, simply go to Start, Run, and type “dxdiag”. In the DirectX Diagnostics Window, click the Sound tab. Look for “Type: WDM”. This means you have hardware acceleration under DirectSound. If it says “Type: Emulation”, then either something has gone wrong, or your audio device does not support hardware acceleration and/or DirectSound.

Note: It seems that this fix does not work if Longhorn Setup Installs your sound drivers, so if your sound card is supported by Longhorn setup please disable it then re-enable it after setup is complete.

Removing the Evaluation Text from the Desktop

Thanks to Rafael For this Information

To remove the watermark text, simply copy win32k.sys, along with Rafael's patcher, into a temporary directory and execute it. You'll need to then copy the patched system file back into \system32. You can do this easiest through the recovery console, or if it's running in a VMware Virtual Machine, simply use DiskMount to mount the drive. Presto!

Rafael's Patcher

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Where can I download Windows “Longhorn”?
A: You can obtain Longhorn from the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) if you are an MSDN Universal subscriber.

Q: What is the full build number of Longhorn?
A: Windows® Code Name “Longhorn”
Evaluation Copy. Build 5048.winmain_idx02.050401-0536

Q: How do I change the “Registered User” information?
A: Click Start, Run. Type “regedit”.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion, and edit the "RegisteredOwner" and "RegisteredOrganization" keys to your liking.

Q: What Internet Browser do you suggest I use in Longhorn?
A: This is really up to your own preference. You could use Internet Explorer, Avant Browser, MyIE2, Opera, Mozilla, Mozilla Firefox, or other browsers.

Q: What versions of Microsoft Office work under Longhorn?
A: Microsoft Office XP and 2003 work under Longhorn and have been tested. Office 2000 is compatible as well but has several issues.

Q: What editions of Longhorn will be available when it is completed?
A: Currently, there are planned versions of Home Edition, Professional, Tablet PC, Media Center Edition, Small Business Edition and Premium.

Q: Where can I find a timeline of the Longhorn builds & leak dates?
A: You can find these around the internet, simply by searching Google. But, for our readers’ convenience, we have compiled an easy to follow timeline with most of the information you need at the end of this guide.

Longhorn Timeline

• Build 3683 – Leaked November 19, 2002. First public leak of Windows “Longhorn”. This build is from Lab 06; contained extras from the Avalon lab that are not seen in other builds (new display properties dialog box, etc). Some features were broken, such as Internet Explorer downloads.
• Build 4008 – Leaked February 28, 2003. Second leak. Contained a cleaner version of the “Plex” visual style; Internet Explorer downloads fixed, more sidebar tiles.
• Build 4015 – Leaked April 2003. Third Leak. We prefer to call this the build from hell. Not much different from 4008, except the new style taskbar was enabled by default and could only be disabled by turning off the sidebar. This build consumed HUGE amounts of memory in very little time.
• Build 4029 – Leaked September 23, 2003. Fourth leak. Displayed the beginnings of the new style Explorer windows, contained a new sidebar clock.
• Build 4051 – Leaked October 25, 2003. Released at the Professional Developer Conference, this build was supposed to be quite stable, as it was the first developer preview of Longhorn, but it ended up being horrible as far as being able to develop and test sidebar tiles went. It just leaked too much memory which hindered the ability to do anything useful with it. Introduction of the “Slate” theme, “Plex” was removed.
• Build 4053 – Leaked March 1, 2004. Explorer memory leak seems to have been fixed for the most part. More responsive than 4051.
• Build 4074 - Released at the WinHEC Engineering Conference on May 4, 2004. New features include the Jade theme, more sidebar tiles, etc.
• Build 5048 - Released at the WinHEC Engineering Conference on April 25, 2005. New features include a more polished theme, more stable etc.

Thanks goes out to Larney, Dyne, Allen, BlueScreenOfDeath, Nighthawk, and Rafael for their contributions to this tweak guide.

Copyright 2004 Chris123NT. All Rights Reserved.