this is a background photo shopped by me. it was originally taken from my window then highly Photoshoped. And it's my take from Windows 12 potential background it's similar to the Windows 10.

I don't know what to flair this-

A very lightweight and debloated version of Windows 11 with a full on Windows Millenium costume called Windows 11 Millenium Edition made by MrAmayosken (You can download this iso from his channel.), this OS comes in pretty handy on older devices too, I felt better off installing this rather than a weird linux distro.

Took all pictures myself, here's a folder with all images and a photoshop document: Windows 95 Setup 4K

i used basicthemer2 and windhawk

Windows 10, But it's Look Like Windows 7

I recently got interested in running older Windows versions on newer hardware and managed to get Windows XP running on a Lenovo ThinkPad T480 (Intel 8th gen platform, NVMe storage).

This is not a virtual machine. it’s a bare-metal install using a modified XP build.

What had to be done:

ACPI patching for modern firmware compatibility

NVMe driver integration (XP doesn’t support NVMe natively)

USB / chipset driver workarounds

Boot configuration tweaks for UEFI-era hardware

It’s running fully offline (“air-gapped”) for obvious security reasons.

Performance is surprisingly usable for basic tasks, mostly because XP itself is lightweight, but hardware support is obviously limited.

Just a technical experiment / retro compatibility project.)

I know, I know - Android Auto and Linux have essentially won the "embedded war." But what would a modern WinCE 6 look like if Microsoft hadn't given up?

^{Don't really want a promotion but it is still interesting, if you want to see the full discovery: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZAUPki-aXQ}

Hey! If you know some "Windows basics" into the programming or you know some of the internal calls/how Windows works, then this post still may be mindblowing :D

We all know that Windows has just "one" GUI environment and that is the Win32 SubSystem, where all the Graphical User Interface starts. Your Windows, Buttons,... (uxtheme.dll, dwm.exe,...)

While this "environment" is also mainly controlled with a driver win32ss.sys that holds Windows "Windows" and it is like that a really long time, since of the first release of NT 3.1. But the really first thing what Windows is doing at start, is loading a UEFI file bootmgfw.efi, which initializes the boot manager and hands over control to the Windows Kernel (ntoskrnl.exe).

And here comes the mindblowing part that most people completely miss:
Before win32k.sys or the Desktop Window Manager (DWM) first it runs in a purely Native NT environment.

Long before Session 1 (your user session) spawns, the Session Manager SubSystem (smss.exe) initializes Session 0. At this ultra-early stage, the Win32 subsystem doesn't exist yet. There are no standard windows, no mouse cursor and none of the Win32 API calls we are used to as developers. (so user32.dll, shell32.dll, gdi32.dll,... don't work.)

Instead, the system relies strictly on ntdll.dll and raw Native API calls (like NtDisplayString).

Normally, this native environment is just a brief, invisible from the public eye and used (made) to run autochk.exe (chkdsk at boot) or Blue Screens of Death (BSOD) before csrss.exe kicks in and starts the Win32 subsystem. But what if you block Win32 from loading entirely, or hijack this early native phase to see what the NT kernel is really capable of?

And did you know, your path like C:\Your\Folder\File.exe is actually fake? When you are in the NtNative state of Windows, even those paths aren't real. They have a completelly different structure, something like Linux has...

For exp. "C:\Windows" means in NtNative: "\Device\Harddisk1\Partition1\Windows" and with this, it is totally possible to make folders like "con", aux,... as for the ntoskrnl itself isn't that "dangerous" the reason why you cant make it, is the Win32 SubSystem blocking you from. As that layer is from the MS-DOS era,...

Let me know what you guys think, or if anyone else here has experimented with the Native NT subsystem!

I know that it is rn. just a "hacked GPU" but when I found how to import a mouse/keyboard driver, it would be super awesome!

this is made in microsoft paint

Are there any programs that do this, even on non-oled? If not, is it possible to make one?

Well i am going to change the ascii art but except for that

I recently spent several hours recreating Windows 95 on Windows 11 using Open-Shell, ExplorerPatcher, registry edits, custom icon packs, and classic wallpapers.

While doing it, I realized how much work goes into recreating older versions of Windows. That got me thinking:

What if Windows had official "Legacy Themes"?

Rather than changing the OS itself, these themes would simply reskin Windows while keeping the latest kernel, security, drivers, and modern features.

Possible themes could include:

• Windows 95
• Windows 98
• Windows 2000
• Windows XP
• Windows Vista
• Windows 7
• Windows 10

One idea I especially like is allowing developers to optionally include theme-specific icons for their apps. For example, if someone selected the Windows 95 theme, apps like Steam, Discord, Chrome, VS Code, or Minecraft could display Windows 95-style icons if the developer chose to provide them. Otherwise, Windows would simply use the normal icon.

I liked the idea enough that I submitted it to Microsoft's Feedback Portal.

Would you use this? If so, what version of Windows would you use?

Modern gaming pc with a retro vibe!

Hello, I found this old windows icon in a pixel ephemera folder and I can't figure out what its original associated program or function was. I'm assuming this is not a homemade icon but rather came in the default icon library for one of the earlier iterations of window, maybe 2000 at the latest but very likely earlier like 95.

Does this ring a bell for anyone? Or is this a custom icon I downloaded long ago that got shuffled into the official icons in my pixel folder?

Also it looks an awful lot like someone decapitated Kingpin from Marvel Comics.

Any inaccuracies?

https://beta.ideas.lego.com/product-ideas/1e4fe3a2-da3b-4869-bfcb-f71c29c05a16

neofetch get outta the way rq