Whistler Build 2531

Whistler Build 2531
	Crusty Windows bootleg
	The desktop of Whistler Build 2531
Original OS	Windows XP Build 2531
Release date	2001
Author	?
Language(s)	English
Architecture(s)	x86 (32-bit)
File size	493 MB
Download link	Whistler.ver.5.1.2531.English.iso
Date added	January 18, 2022

Whistler Build 2531 (not to be confused with the stock Whistler build of the same name) is a bootleg Windows XP Build 2531 edition, which was created by an unknown author. This could possibly be the first XP bootleg ever created and released. Anyhow, it was added into the archive on January 18, 2022. The release date is unclear, but we'll just say 2001 for now.

Description

The bootleg is based on a Release Candidate 2 build of Windows XP, which notoriously had several things added to it that weren't in the original build, such as TweakUI, extra backgrounds, a fish screensaver, and the removal of the timebomb and activation. It is unclear why exactly the leaker released it like this, but a rumor suggests the author was unhappy with the beta leaking scene at the time and did it out of spite. For many years, this was the only release of Build 2531 available until a team on OSBetaArchive later restored the ISO to its original state, and the unmodified build finally would leak in June 2022.

Other than these changes, the build is the same as the leaked version.

Changes from Windows XP build 2531

Look and feel

New default wallpaper. The default wallpaper has been changed from the default blue Windows XP wallpaper to a colored version of the painting "Reptiles" by M. C. Escher
23 new wallpapers included
1 new screensaver included

Software

Grep
Sach's Marine Aquarium v0.99K
TweakUI 1.33
USort
UFind
Vi
WinInfo 2.3

Notes

Bootleg quirks

The setup routine has been changed slightly. A program called AutoExNT is used to then execute a script named "firstrun.js", which will do a lot of the changes you will see in the OS. The most notable are:

An entire elaborate setup (involving arcane registry wizardry) solely to remove the timebomb
Restoring the unused Unix utilities in the build itself
Unregistering 2 essential activation DLLs

Funnily enough, it doesn't clean up after itself properly. A lot of the helper utilities it uses are still present and are never removed.
The Guest account, among others, is now disabled by default.
Command Prompt has had its default black and white color scheme replaced with a white and blue color scheme. The text has been made larger.
You will get a file copy error on the files "ds16gt.dLL" (sic), and "odbc16gt.dll". Neither of those files exist on the CD, even though it is specified in TXTSETUP.SIF.
Thanks to the several scripts in place, the timebomb and activation has been removed, so you do not need to change the date.

Remarks

There is another bootleg of Windows XP with similar changes to this one, called build 2495. It was presumably made by the same author.

Gallery

Setup at a copy error
Setup at the second copy error
Setup at a module loading error
Empty desktop
Start menu
System Properties, WinInfo 2.3, and About Windows