Windows NT 3.51 build 854

Windows NT 3.51 build 854 is the earliest known build of Windows NT 3.51 that was originally uploaded to warez BBSes on or after 23 November 1994 by Dark Lord of warez group SCOTCH. Due to its earliness, the system identifies itself as Windows NT 3.5 and setup still has references to it.
For a long time, there was a dispute on whether this build is a post-RTM build of Windows NT 3.5, or an early build of Windows NT 3.51. Considering that it contains many features that would be introduced in the latter, it has been concluded that this build is a build of Windows NT 3.51.https://www.betaarchive.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40978 Sometimes, this build has been considered a build of Windows Cairo by some due to the inclusion of the Object File System, however, this is unlikely as the component has been included in other non-Cairo builds, including Windows NT 3.51 build 896 and numerous Windows NT 4.0 (Shell Update Release) builds.
== New features and changes ==
*Windows 95-styled common controls have been implemented (e.g. tooltips on buttons).
*An updated version of the Media Player application is now included.
*Customization options for the Command Prompt have been added.
*When selecting SCSI adapters in text-mode setup, "BusLogic Family" has been renamed "BusLogic Standard SCSI Host Adapters".
*Graphical identification and authentication (GINA) has been added.
*NTFS file compression has been added for improved system performance.
*Support for the PCMCIA interface has been added.
*OpenGL-powered screensavers have been added.
*Added new message entries in the bugcheck message table intended for SAVEDUMP.EXE.https://www.geoffchappell.com/studies/windows/km/bugchecks/index.htm Strangely, despite being messages, they are implemented as regular bugcheck codes that are invoked by the kernel. They would be removed during Windows XP's development, with 0x8E being used later for KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED.
** 0x8C (BUGCODE_PSS_CRASH_INIT) is the "Beginning dump of physical memory" message.
** 0x8D (BUGCODE_PSS_CRASH_PROGRESS) is the "Dumping physical memory to disk" message.
** 0x8E (BUGCODE_PSS_CRASH_DONE) is the "Physical memory dump complete. Contact your system administrator or technical support group" message.
== Enhancements ==
=== Chicago Shell ===
This build includes an early version of the Chicago Shell and User update (commonly known as "NewShell"). To install, follow this procedure:
#Copy the IDW, MSTOOLS, and UI directories from the GUI or NEWSHELL folder of the installation media onto the Windows directory (usually \WINNT35) of the hard drive.
#Go to Control Panel, open "System", and add %SystemRoot%\idw;%SystemRoot%\mstools;%SystemRoot%\uito the "path" switch.
#Run the newshell.cmd file from the UI directory and reboot the computer.
The NewShell update found on the widely available copy of this build (available on BetaArchive as of August 2023) is broken and will blue screen on boot upon installation as the Windows Server DLL (WINSRV.DLL) is truncated at 1264073 bytes due to incomplete extraction from the split ARJ archives.
=== OFS ===
An OFS driver (version 0.33) is included with this build. It can be enabled by using The Distractor's batch file.https://www.betaarchive.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=21396
== Bugs and quirks ==
=== PCMCIA driver ===
The new PCMCIA driver is set to start on every boot by default, even if the computer doesn't support PCMCIA. In this case, an error about a service or driver failing to start will be shown on boot. To fix this, change the startup type for the PCMCIA driver in the Devices control panel to either Manual or Disabled.
== File differences ==
== Gallery ==
=== Standard shell ===
WindowsNT35-3.5.854-Setup.png|Upgrade setup
WindowsNT35-3.5.854-Setup2.png|Upgrade setup
WindowsNT35-3.5.854-Setup3.png|Setup finish
WindowsNT35-3.5.854-Boot.png|Boot screen
=== Chicago Shell ===
NT35-854-NS-Welcome.png|Welcome dialog
NT35-854-NS-Logon.png|Logon dialog
NT35-854-NS-desktop.png|Desktop
NT35-854-NS-Start.png|Start menu
NT35-854-NS-winver.png|winver
NT35-854-NS-NTSecurity.png|Windows NT Security dialog
NT35-854-NS-ShutdownInProgress.png|Shutdown in progress dialog
NT35-854-NS-safe.png|Safe to shutdown screen
== References ==
Category:Windows NT 3.5x builds
Category:Windows NT 3.51 builds
Category:Pre-release builds of Shell Technology Preview