Windows longhorn 5048 wallpaper

From Windows Wallpaper Wiki

The default wallpaper of Longhorn in build 5048. Originally known as Sky reflected in office windows, close-up, it was licensed from Getty Images. It was taken by Martin Barraud. It depicts office windows looking towards a cloudy sky. Its location is not specified on Getty, nor does Barraud recall where and when it was taken, other than it being during the pre-digital era of photography.

It was briefly taken down from Getty Images in January 2020, along with many other photos, due to Getty discontinuing rights-managed licenses, so it returned as a royalty free image.

Trivia

• The same image appears as a wallpaper on the Samsung GT-B5702 phone, with extra saturation added.
• According to Rob Girling, he planned for Windows XP Professional to feature a similar default wallpaper depicting an office building, but this idea was rejected.

External links

• Getty Images page

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.

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.

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.

Post-reset[]

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.

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.

Builds 5355 to 5840.16384[]

By build 5355, most of the previous wallpapers were removed and replaced with an entirely new set of 1600×1200 wallpapers, with the widescreens ones being at 1600×900, 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.

Starter[]

When the Starter SKU was first added (branded «Windows Starter 2007» in several builds till 5329), 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 1600×1024, while img746 was changed from the CMYK color model to RGB.

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 1920×1440 and 1920×1200 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.

User account pictures[]

Demos[]

A few unique user account pictures can be seen in demos from the pre-reset development phase of Longhorn.

Builds 40xx to 5342[]

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.

Builds 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[]

The logon background of builds 4048 to 4093 is solid black.

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.

Setup backgrounds[]

OOBE background[]

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.

This is from Splitwirez, you can find him in the Classic Shell website. I’m only uploading this to Internet Archive just in case it disappears. You may use this skin for Classic Shell.