(PROGRESS/REQUESTING HELP) MK3-8 Unconventional Merging of SSWPI and Longhorn

Below is my own understanding of what Longhorn is/was:

I thought that Longhorn was originally intended to be the stepping stone between XP and Win 7, and was supposedly the best looking of all of the various versions of Windows OS. But MS got too ambitious and tried to add too many features in before they were ready ( some of which still haven't been embraced by the general public such as its intended file system WinFS ), so it kept being delayed, pared down, and delayed again, until it was finally released as Vista. It was still not really ready to be released with the level of hardware that was available at the time, so it didn't come into it's own until Vista SP1, at which point it was too late because the public had already rejected it. MS didn't recover until Win 7 was finally released. Some even say that Win 7 should have been called Vista SP3, and was the closest to what Longhorn was supposed to have been, even though those same people say that Vista SP1 looked better, but still not as good as the betas of Longhorn looked

I said the above to ask the following question: Is Longhorn closer to XP or to Win 7? ie, should the install of Longhorn and the tools used be closer to those used for XP or for Win 7? If you are trying to take an install source for LastXP and just swap out the various pieces for those of Longhorn, could that be why you are having issues? Would it be better to start with an install source for Last7? I'm asking these questions because I don't know the answer. For all I know, Longhorn is different enough from either to require new problems to be solved.

In any case, I like the idea of the project, if nothing else as a curiosity or for use on older hardware, so please continue, and good luck!

 

Grab XPP1\setupldr.bin and XPP2\setupldr.bin from LastXP v20 and put back in

This should fix it so it boots... I really have forgotten all this and I lost all my information off SITP forum and my HDD crash in 2013 killed off my local information

 

Wikipedia makes the distinction between what is Longhorn and what is Vista as the Development Reset in 2004. Longhorn pre-reset was based off NT 5.2 (Windows XP Pro x64 / Windows 2003 Server) -- likely it would've been version NT 5.3. After the development reset, the name Vista was chosen and the internal version number long-jumped to NT 6.0

WinWorld seems pretty knowledgeable on the various versions of Windows especially pre-release, leaks, and betas. Here's what they have to say about Longhorn...
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Windows Longhorn Pre-Reset

Windows Longhorn was the pre-release codename for Windows Vista and was the successor to Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 (built from NT 5.2 codebase). Development on the OS started in May 2001 and went through two unique development cycles separated by a development reset in 2004. The reset occurred as Microsoft's development staff had lost focus on the project as a whole and what was required to be done in order to bring it to market. Features were being written into the OS at an alarming rate with a significant lack of QA or vision of true requirement. This combined with Microsoft's trustworthy computing initiatives caused the reset.

Several features of Longhorn planned that were actually shipped include the glass replicating Aero theme (which followed the Slate and Jade themes from earlier builds), along with the Windows Sidebar - although this was shipped as a standalone utility where as most builds (at least in pre-reset) shipped this as part of explorer.exe. Numerous improvements to the Windows Explorer, along with an updated Internet Explorer 7, Windows Media Player 11, instant search, new 3-d games and other items made it into the final version of Windows Vista.

Windows Longhorn existed as a continuation of the Windows 2003 codebase although after build 4094 development was reset; restarted from scratch as the original Longhorn builds were growing in complication (described as 'a mess') and Microsoft introduced a new focus on security.
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Wikipedia lists all the Longhorn builds (Development of Windows Vista) and their differences/changes. The development reset occurred after Build 4096; and your build is based off Build 4011... that looks to me to be very closely related to XP/2003.

 

I think you should ditch the XPP1 XPP2 methods and not mess with the included drivers, only the hardware and VM's drivers you include manually would be safe, it's not like including the entire Bashrat packs in this would be a good idea IMO. it would also uncomplicate the ISO layout you have currently. Just my opinions, but I don't remember what else apart rom winnt.sif, txtsetup.sif and setupldr.bin you need to edit to allow XPP1/XPP2/XPPro layouts to work, we need WhiteAndBlue (Kay) or Ghost to help if that is what you really want tho, I have forgotten too much.

 

Not a criticism, just curious, but why pick 4028, instead of 4074, which is a later, more "complete" and well known build, and is available in both x86 and x64 versions? [ Anything after 4074 is considered unstable, AFAICT. ]

 

With that approach, you will be able to make your own decision as to which build is most stable. My information might not be correct.

 

BP's right.

(From Wikipedia):

 

The only thing you should have to change is remove XPP1, XPP2 then move XPPro\i386 to the DVD, use the original setupldr.bin from LongHorn and then it should boot correctly once you modify EZBoot to point to the correct boot file.

Well ok it's getting complex, I'll see how I am going after I finish with the builder/mod release this week.

 

There never was a boot file for XPPro, we only ever booted to XPP1 and XPP2, you can not use XPPro folder directly it get's called and used from the txtsetup.sif and wint.sif in the XPP1 and XPP2 folders

 

Use the boot setupldr.bin or boot file directly off the Longhorn ISO and then keep the files in the same folder as the longhorn uses by default.

-EDIT-

I only know how it works due to RyanVM, MSFN, Kels, Ricktendo, NLite (NTLite) and many hours figuring out how .sif and .inf files work, then mastering SFX and finally batch scripting. the fun part is working on unattend.xml's and trying to figure out why they aren't working when they look like the should. Or why a PC boots to a black screen because you left a modded .dll from a previous windows OS version in your overlay/$OEM$ folder