Release to general availability (October 25, 2001)
The Windows XP Preview Program unveiled this build of Windows XP to the public for the remainder of Summer 2001, until the final version was released to manufacturing on August 24. The first build to use the name "Windows XP" was Build 2462, and it also contains the final startup sound for Windows XP as well as the new Control Panel background and UI.īuild 2505: Release Candidate 1 (July 2, 2001) All beta versions of Windows XP as of 2001 now include Internet Explorer 6 Beta. Pre-2001 builds of Windows Whistler contained Internet Explorer 5.6. Yet, this build still has the Windows 2000 startup sound.
Mistakenly, Microsoft announced the final name to be Windows 2001. This first beta version of Windows XP, still only known as Whistler back then, contains a new Start menu. In early 2000, the operating system was codenamed "Whistler", and this pre-beta version still looked very much like Windows 2000. 1.5 Release to general availability (October 25, 2001)ĭevelopment of Windows XP Build 2202: Pre-Beta 1 (February 2, 2000)ĭevelopment of Windows XP all started off with this build.