Yet another leak in the Windows 8 arena. This time, we get to see a Milestone 2 Build 7955 of Windows 8. Compared to the recent leak of 7850 which showcased very little new features, this new build, 7955, has many of the new features we have been seeing in leaked screenshots.
The build string is: 7955.0.x86fre.fbl_srv_wdacxml.110228-1930 and has been leaked to torrent sites and various other FTP file sharing sites out there.
This is a pre-milestone 3 build and you will be able to unlock those neat features we saw in leaked screenshots. Since build 7950 was the Milestone 2 exit build and has the same compile date as 7955, it is safe to say that this leaked build is a Milestone 2 (or Pre-Milestone 3).
In this build, according to BetaAcrhive, we can unlock the Ribbon UI as well as the Application Folder. Full DWM can also be enabled in this build. The cool new modern task manager and Internet Explorer’s Immersive UI are in this build, and can be unlocked as well. The tablet shell logon screen as well as the Modern PDF reader are also available for unlocking. The Metro styled Webcam app, which we learned about recently, is also abailable for unlocking in this leaked build. It is unknown if Auto-Colorizaton is in this build. For those wondering, this feature will allow the operating system to find a quick match between an ideal Aero theme color and the desktop background.
There is also talk about the next leak of Windows 8, possibly being build 7959 (x64). As of the date of this post, the latest internal build is 7989.0.110421-1825 and is a Milestone 3 build. Previously, all builds of Windows 8 had a universal key that allowed for unlimited activation. As of now, all new builds are required to use unique key which is exclusive to an employee of Microsoft or a verified tester. This may become a problem for leaking future builds.
Microsoft has remained tight lipped about its upcoming flagship operating system, Windows 8. We have seen numerous leaked screenshots and details that slowly reveal Microsoft’s hard work on Windows 8. For up to date Windows 8 news, you can follow us on our Windows 8 page.
UPDATE: Here are the registry keys to unlock a few features in this leaked build: Launch the Registry Editor and add the following:
Unlock Ribbon UI:
Add key value “AppID” to “{9198DA45-C7D5-4EFF-A726-78FC547DFF53}” to the following location:
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \\ CLSID \\ {4F12FF5D-D319-4A79-8380-9CC80384DC08}Unlock Application Explorer:
Activate by adding a folder name to the following “Applications. 4234d49b {-0245-4df3-b780-3893943456e1}”.
Unlock Full DWM:
Add a DWORD value “hide blur” to “1” position in the following location:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \\ SOFTWARE \\ Microsoft \\ Windows \\ DWMThen press twice “CTRL + SHIFT + F9” to activate it.
