It is Build 5308!
No, not the same 5308 that was released last week, a different 5308!


The build released last week was 5308.17; where .17 means recompile number 17.
On February 28th, 2006, a new build was released, just days after the first. This build, 5308.60, is the 60th recompile, and purportedly more stable, less troublesome, smoother, faster, and without the memory leaks.
Though the reports of its stability and near perfection may have been exaggerated, NeoSmart Technologies has obtained proof of it's release.

View: Full Story
News source: Ramblings of a Computer Guru

Yeah, Nighthawk & I were discussing this over lunch after looking at the latest downloads on the MS Connect site.

OMG, and just a few days of having the other one installed.

Oh ffs. I'm glad I didn't download that earlier build.

whenever someone says ffs it makes me el oh el. but it doesn't long to install that staged build anyways, took like 20-30 mins for me. So this build will probably take the norm. (about an hour) Good thing I bought an extra HD Friday, now I can put it to good use besides storage, I'll just quad-boot that badboi (Win XP, Mac OS X x86, 5308 Staged, and 5308.60). I'm getting it now but I'll let you guys know if it is actually better. Amazingly 5308 has been deciding to act nice the past few days, I think part of it was the superfetching and autodefragmenting and other shit running in the background on first boot that was making it all slow, I let it run o ver night and it's been fast ever since. Still shitty ass WDDM drivers so no Glass but oh well.

i wonder how well the isos take to a binary difference / patch maker type program.

I bet it still doesn't solve the ATI driver issue (mentioned on other post), so I guess I won't get it just yet....

meh, i'll wait for the next big release to dl. not worth my time.

Whats the difference between FebCTP_5308.60_32bit_Main_Unstaged_DVD_EN
and FebCTP_5308.60_32bit_Main_Unstaged_CHK_DVD_EN the second one is called the check build for developers.

@dazzacole: A check build is essentially a debug build for software/driver developers, and you don't want to mess with it!

Stick with the regular, free/release build which is what that first link will get you.

Thanks, Taco Bell also I've read elswhere there is no real improvement in the 5308.60 version over the first 5308 version except for server install is this correct.

That's a bummer! I had hoped that this build would have at least addressed the problem of vista setup getting all screwed up with the dreaded black screen.

Regarding the staged and unstaged build; it will be a noticeable improvement of installation time.
My experience: 5308.17 ::: 22 mins.
5308.60 ::: 12 mins.
Using x64 to compare.

UPDATED
Build 5308.winmain_idx01.060223-2145

thats the server edition Build 5308.60

The vista client edition is the same in that package as it was in 5308.17 - the changes are to the server edition only.

Well what's the difference between Staged and Unstaged?

@Chugworth: Staged is the proposed n-in-1 DVD distribution that's been somehow packaged to support multiple workstation editions such as Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, etc. It uses the product key to automatically figure out which one should be installed.

Unstaged is essentially Ultimate and Server together on the same DVD.

For now, I am sticking with Ultimate builds. I like the staged builds. I might try the starter edition on an old pentium mmx 200 to see if it works... lol

As for that new build, as I understand it, it is strictly the Server core that has some minor changes.

Well, and this is for real. lol. I talked to Paul Donnelly (it's easy to get an MS contact, just look at the @microsoft.com people in the newsgroups on connect and add them to your list sometimes they talk to you), he said that they did about 13 lines of code change to like Directory Services or Active Directory... something like that. Nothing that would ever even be used in Workstation/Client installs. I did install the build and it was the same performance.

You can install any product edition available using the provided product keys with the Unstaged DVD as well.

Staged Images are ReImaged. In Other words, Microsoft instralled them on a
machine, syspreped and reimaged it. This is done, because the installation
speed is better then, as far as I know.The drawbacks are for example, that
network cards are not the first detected anymore, The LAN connection is
called "Network Connection 3" for example.

you end up with exactly the same installed product, but Staged builds
install much faster - staged builds are basically a sysprepped WIM image.
Install time is normally at least ½ the non-staged. This resembles a
Sysprepped image that a organisation would deploy in their environment.
Staging is a term used to describe the process of installing an
“unassembled” image as created by the Windows build process to a
reference machine (and thus assembling the image) and then recapturing
the end result into a format for distribution. This process uses
deployment tools such as sysprep and ximage.
http://blogs.msdn.com/nigel/archive/2005/12/21/506019.aspx

@Nighthawk: Oh, I didn't know that was true for b5308, so thanks for the clarification man.

Now, granted we didn't get those other product keys 'til now, but since the key format is the same, do you know if that was also true for the Unstaged b5270 DVD?


@esc: Excellent information and that also explains some of things I've been hearing/seeing, so thanks a lot man!!! Definitely gonna make note of that!

I rather believe this.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/windowsvi...ert/ximage.mspx

BTW 5308.60 has Windows DVD Maker and that DVD Codec for MCE; according to my experience only the sidebar codec collapsed.

Good find. I think we've got staging cornered now.

Actually, I have noticed it to be a bit more responsive, that's odd. I know it's not placebo effect either. Like normally right clicking on computer -> properties would take a good 3 or 4 seconds for it do anything now it does it immediately. I also noticed that the bmps are back for backgrounds (there was just jpegs for the bliss' in .17) and they scale correctly now (they would get pixelated for me in .17).

Might be worth switching over to for shits and giggles.