Author: Blue Horizon

I didn't expect there to be much new in this build, but alas there is quite some significant changes in here that are present in the final build.

Since this is a server build I will have to cover the server branding across the OS, but for the most part it's nearly identical to it's workstation counterpart. So let's see what's changed this time around.

Setup isn't changed all that much, although the "Beta 2" text on both the setup banner and background are absent.

During wizards it now has a new style of graphic at the top right of windows. In this case it has been changed to a disk graphic rather than squares. The window also seems to be taller as well.

Thankfully this build is much faster to install than the previous one, even if it is a server build instead.

And at the end of setup there's a new graphic to the right, also featuring the same disk graphic. Although it seems that the graphic doesn't span all the way vertically - possibly cause of the changed window size.

A better look at the setup background in high color mode. Again, the "Beta 2" tag is absent.

Now, for some reason before setup the workstation bootscreen from the last build is used instead of this one. Aside from that, this bootscreen has a black square to identify it's a server build, similar to how server versions of Windows use grey as their color.

Upon starting up, you're greeted with a new logon dialogue with no window title bar visible. The "Beta 2" text looks rushed being that it was simply typed in MS Paint along those lines.

Just for comparison, here's the wallpaper of the logo this time with a proper "Beta 2" tag.

And now at the desktop. The only noticeable difference is that the MSN icon is gone, however it can still be run by going to Program Files\Online Services\MSN and running msninst.exe.

In the welcome window, "What's New" is replaced with "Finish Setup". Nothing really new to see here.

The start menu now has a shortcut to Windows Update at the top. Of course, there we're servers from MS pertaining to these betas at the time, but they're long gone by this point. There is a video showing off the development cycle of NT 5.0 right here, and it seems like there is an earlier NT 5.0 server wallpaper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrdJjWdekE8

The explorer uses small toolbar icons to save space. A tiny step in the right direction...

...But I can't say the same for the magnifier. It takes up a lot of screen space on a low resolution, especially if it's "snapped" to any of the sides.

I forgot to mention this in the last two builds, but there is now an option in mouse properties to disable the pointer shadow. Disabling it does tend to speed up the cursor somewhat.

And of course, now IE has smaller toolbar buttons by default.

Help now includes topics about setting up and configuring certain services and tools within NT Server 5.0, and also identifies as Beta 2 in the title bar.

Sounds properties has reverted to the familiar UI this time around, and sounds like chimes, chord, and ding have been replaced with the newer ones from 98.