Windows Black Pearl

Windows Black Pearl
	Crusty Windows bootleg
	The desktop of Windows Black Pearl
Original OS	Windows XP SP3
Release date	September 18, 2015
Author	Ahmad Hashem
Country	Egypt
Language(s)	English
Architecture(s)	x86 (32-bit)
File size	690.1 MiB
Download link	Win_Black_Pearl.iso
Date added	April 6, 2024

Windows Black Pearl is a bootleg Windows XP SP3 edition, which was created by Ahmad Hashem. It released on September 18, 2015, and was added to the archive on April 6, 2024.

Description

The bootleg is a modified Windows XP SP3 ISO. It comes with many themes and wallpapers, new icons and cursors, with some Mac OS X elements in there as well.

SkyDriverXP 11.1 (DriverPacks September 2010) will pop up during setup.

On the first boot of the OS, Autorun Protection will run, and then it will stick around for a few minutes as it tells you about ESET Smart Security and other things, and then it closes.

It comes with its own autorun. Through it, you can install the bootleg, visit the author's website and Facebook, and view information about the author.

It is unattended and preactivated. The bootleg was made using nLite 1.4.9.1 on Windows 7 SP1 and the autorun was made with AutoPlay Media Studio 8.1. The ISO was touched up with UltraISO 9.6.2.3059.

Changes from Windows XP SP3

Minor changes

The text-mode setup OS text is changed to "Windows Black Pearl Setup By Ahmad Hashem". The "Please wait while Setup initializes..." text at the end of the text-mode setup has the OS name replaced with "Windows black paerl".
Setup, and subsequently the rest of the pre-desktop process, now starts in 1024x768 resolution
The Explorer throbber image is changed
The Run dialog has had its icon and text at the top removed
The Winver banner and bar is now Mac OS X themed.
The shutdown dialog is changed
There is now a nonfunctional menu item named "Ahmad_Ali_Hashem" at the top of the desktop context menu
My Computer now has links to Control Panel, Folder Options and Administrative Tools

Changes in pre-desktop procedures

New setup graphics. Everything except the background and the animating bar on the bottom right is gone. Said bar is now a static dark red color, it no longer animates.
New boot graphics, and later on, animated boot screen (thanks to BootSkin)
New pre-OOBE graphics
The OOBE video is skipped
The OOBE is skipped
New login graphics, with a nonfunctional language button

Look and feel

New default theme, and wallpaper
37 new themes included
20 new wallpapers included
New icon set
New cursor set
New sound scheme. The startup and shutdown sounds are changed.

Software

AIMP 3.5.5 build 1324
ESET NOD32 Antivirus 7.0.302.0
Mozilla Firefox 26.0
Internet Download Manager 6.18 build 7 (TorReviver, comes with Koushik Halder theme)
VLC Media Player 2.1.1
WinRAR 5.01 beta 1 (cracked, registered to basheer abu-jyab)

Customization Utilities

Stardock BootSkin 1.0

nLite addons

TWEAK (addon by OnePiece, made with DX Tool Registry TWEAKS AddOn Creator, August 11, 2012)

Notes

Bootleg quirks

The Windows Setup now refers to itself as "Windows Mini 7 Setup".
There is now an internet shortcut to the author's website on the desktop.
WinRAR is supposed to be cracked, but the crack expects the OS to be running 64-bit Windows as it drops its key file to Program Files (x86), while the bootleg is based on 32-bit Windows. Therefore, the crack will never actually work.