Remember when you just could set "Classic Windows" theme and every app Microsoft made adjusted itself to it, like DWM was only for "cool look" but not for essentials? Imagine how fast Windows 11 on modern hardware could be if they would be able to stick to the native Win 32 apps not these web view garbage they have right now?
It wouldnt be faster as web-less w11 builds exist without any difference. UWP here also isnt slowing down the OS, but it does take longer to load visually (still not affecting the OS) The rather reasons for the slower experience is the default tune towards more power savings. Infact, going all win32 native apps is alot slower than the alternative solutions because gdi (the renderer of win32) has a global lock now due to security fixes & the handwritten finetuned rasterizer was removed for maintainability. gdi is in life support and has all its performance characteristics removed. a faster w11 would require forcing all programs to not be win32 ui instead.
Fun fact: if you open control center and then type C:\ or any drive into the address bar, windows 11 will switch back to the Windows 10 style explorer. And you don't need to break anything in the system for it.
@@Lord-Sméagol ah yes, the operating system that allowed you to corrupt the whole memory with one app, which wasnt used after windows 98/2000 due to how unstable it is
@@Lord-Sméagolsee idk about that - iirc NT was an entirely different beast built from the ground-up but programmed to be compatible with all the Windows APIs. (That’s why cmd has been a terminal *emulator* since Server and 2000 was “built on NT technology [sic]”) So while the programs which originally ran on Windows DOS can be compatible, it’s because of the Windows, not the DOS.
I have a theory that MS forbids employees working on Windows to touch any shell32 code at all, or maybe everyone who knew what the hell the code did pre-Windows 8 is gone, so they just keep on piling on shells and skins over old Windows Vista/7 instead of really improving the underlying UI so it looks pretty while being backwards compatible. Windows XP and prior had a nice theming system yet they just throw it away and use UWP apps and DWM.
I kinda hate that because there's so much overhead they are creating for themselves, instead of rewriting the UI from the ground up and unhooking it from the kernel so that it won't freak out so much after installing something like cairo.
@@ewenlau727 In this particular case, I may be slightly inclined to agree. However, keyword: Slightly. Because really, I still see this as nothing more than typical complaints not worth paying any attention to, especially not from Microsoft's side. But on an personal level as well. Bye.
@throwaway6478 Windows has a release cycle. Microsoft will release a windoes version. Then they release a new version with the same style. Then they make a new style but with similar functionality as the old version, then the cycle continues. Windows 7 was a function update to Vista
I think the last time Windows made truly revolutionary changes was since Windows Vista. There are many improvements since Vista, but underhoood everything is still very much VIsta. And Windows 11 is just Windows 10 + new UI. If Microsoft wants, they can backport all Windows 11 features to Windows 10.
If you copy all code from windows 11 into the old fork of windows 10, what do you get? Windows 11 Windows 11 is the w10 codebase after the abi freeze in 2020, theres no point to 'backport' to an older codebase pseudo style history is kinda like this: commit 1234.. pre 20H2 commit 1235.. 20H2 - fork here: 20H2 (build 19041-19045) (with UX backports from newer commits: 21H2, 22H2) - here is the "latest" version of windows 10 .... commit 1241.. windows server 2022 (build 20348) .... commit 1260.. windows 11 21h2 (build 22000) commit 1271.. windows 11 22h2/23h2 (build 22621-2263x) ... commit 1301..windows server 23H2 (private/internal core edition newer than w11, older than ws2025, also used on xbox currently) (build 25398) ... commit 1355.. windows 11 24h2/windows server 2025 (build 26100) ... commit 1355.. windows vnext (
yeah, I don't know why anyone is surprised by this. Microsoft is committed to backwards compatibility. I'm not saying it's a good thing but of course just deleting new systems and libraries is gonna cause it to revert to older and older ones all the way back to Vista.
You can remove explorer too, replace it with winxshell amd you have a taskbar, desktop and basic start menu. You'll probably have a bunch of "class not registered" errors, but I'm sure its within your skillset to fix.
Microsoft: windows 11, a modern os Enderman: It’s a modern version of windows vista. ---- In the “The state of windows” video, Andrew said: I’m glad that Windows 11 can still do Windows 7 Basic Microsoft: well if he likes it, we have to keep this historic theme
I believe Windows installing updates on the boot screen only happens when there’s an update to the System Firmware - Device Manager showed a warning icon next to it when you opened it a few moments earlier, probably saying that a reboot is required for it “to work”
You can believe that, but you'd be wrong. PendingFileRenameOperations (which is used extensively by Windows updates and app installers) is processed right at the start of Session Manager initialization - or "on the boot screen", for you laymen.
@@throwaway6478But it also appears when there are BIOS updates. It happens to me on my HP Elitebook every time I get a BIOS update via Windows Update.
Why does winlogon have that fallback login UI? Like you can see it's back from the days when Microsoft cared about the quality of their product, but it has all the features normal winlogon has. Was it ever used outside of fallback?
@huttyblue Yeah it did cross my mind, it would explain why it has all the features of the graphical logon, but it still bothers with opening a cmd window instead of just crashing.
Makes sense. Vista was the last "big rebuild" of Windows, and everything since has been piled on top with a new NT version painted on if MS remembers. Kinda makes me wonder if they'll ever care enough to do it again nowadays.
Be careful with putting horizontal red lines near the bottom of the thumbnail, it made me think I already watched the video and I was about to scroll past
Also a fun fact: Disable desktop composition on non-Microsoft apps via the compatibility tab in the app properties dialog, and you'll see the app running in the Windows Vista theme.
when i saw the notification of you premiering a vid it throwed me back in time when people were spamming aboba on the live chat on one of your vid premierès for no reason whatsoever
Yes, because (to extend your analogy) tenants just love it when they get "Error: The procedure entry point SomeOldAPICall could not be located in dynamic link library shell32.dll" when they try to plug in a heater or a refrigerator that's a few years old.
30 years ago they thought that we will have flying cars by now, but now we see a BrokenWin 11 based on NT(?, or at least Vista) skinned with fresh themes and "futuristic" AI on top.
Love the video! I was always fascinated by how I would see a glimpse of the windows 7 basic ui after switching out of fullscreen mode in edge for the fraction of a second!
The Server Core editions of Windows come without any GUI by default -- the LogonUI is the fallback one, and when you login, there is just a CMD script with administration options. It also comes with a Windows 8-like theme, but not quite (the window controls are still square instead of rectangle). I wonder, would it be possible to do this video, but in reverse, there? i.e. getting explorer and/or other GUI programs to run on a version of Windows that comes with no GUI by default.
@@upseguest Oh, yeah sorry I don't have much experience with Windows Server Core, I only used Hyper-V Server before, and it was a long time ago. But if the new 2025 versions have DWM, surely that would be even more reason for it to be able to run GUI apps with a bit of elbow grease? I think I'll try to get an ISO when I come home and play around with it, it definitely seems interesting. Maybe even somehow mutate Server Core to have a full graphical shell lol.
@@upseguestAll versions of Server Core have had the DWM since Server 2008. It's only been on by default since Windows Server 2012 however, for obvious reasons. The "8 but square" look to Server Core 2012-2022 is because those versions came with their own theme, called "Aero Lite" - and yes, it runs just fine on the the corresponding client edition (Windows 8.0 for Server 2012, Windows 8.1 for Server 2012 R2, Windows 10 1607 for Server 2016, and Windows 10 1809 for Server 2019 - Windows Server 2022 didn't have a corresponding client edition, but it may work on Windows 10 21H2 or later, I've just never tested it).
@@Lofotebecause first nobody use it second they consume storgae and in some pc resources, also Microsoft oncr try with windows rt and failed because was 2012 and 2013 and at the time windows apps don't were much as today
@@techgaming-on4wg Not nobody. That is what people like you like to say however, and that is spreading blatant untrue information around. Otherwise called misinformation.
windows 8.1 was kinda ok, it was just for "tablets" and it was doing its job, because they had to optimize it. now microsoft makes really bad and laggy codes and puts them as "layer" which lags stuff more
@@HAKANKOKCU For your Windows 8.1 comment, well yes, but Windows is not an OS primarily made for tablets now, is it? There's a good reason why it is amongst the worst Windows versions of all time. Or well, many reasons. But this is the biggest one.
It was interesting to see Vista under the hood. I hope one day to see Windows XP theme on modern Windows (I know it is possible on Linux, though)! :D Thanks for such deep dive!
Congratulations! It’s a good progress to remove the scaffolding of Windows 11 UI. This also put the light on very concerning design issues as illustrated by all the border effects you shown in this video. Can you step by automated in some ways ?
WE NEED THAT TASKBAR BRO! I really liked the video(any video destroying Windows gets my like), and I really wanna emphasize that UWP can run without DWM, just really broken, you can write forever while loops in batch that continuously trigger the EXE, so the kinda broken thing appears, and the controls are still there, but not drawn.
Microsoft is lazy to build new features on new code, instead using old technology, old source code to build new features (based on Windows NT 4 and Windows NT 4 is still present in Windows 11 today, is just covered with modern uwp "layers".) microsoft lazy at hell💀
Not really. Also, some people on this channel claim that the extreme backwards compatibility is amongst the biggest security fears in Windows. To that I say: It's really not. In fact, if we are supporting Windows 95/98 era apps to an certain extent by default, they should bring back full support for that _and_ reintroduce DOS app support on x64/64-bit system versions, including 16-bit apps in general too. Really, all that would need to be done for such extreme backwards compatibility to work well security-wise, would be to just look at that old code and make it secure again - Or as secure as it can get. Microsoft just doesn't exactly care about that.
Edge doesn't work probably because the version of it installed by default is a UWP app and removing DWM removes most of the context menus and title bar of Edge. However, the fact that it's totally not usable is a mystery, all the webpages and even the settings page are essentially written on JS, HTML, CSS
Chromium Edge isn't is a UWP app like old Edge which was actually on UWP, he could use --disable-gpu in launch flags for edge, chrome could refuse too but somehow detected and started with --disable-gpu by default, firefox (and other browser based on FF) only runs fine without issues with rendering without dwm.
I can imagine the Windows Vista team is laughing from their basements at all the people that said their work was terrible for over a decade when the people start to realize that Vista was the last actual major Windows update and every version since has been a game of try not to break Vista because nothing else will work if it fails.
believe it or not, this has been a thing as early as 98. as you may be able to see its trying to combine the classic 98 theme, 2000 and me, windows xp, windows 7, windows vista and windows 7 too. windows 7 is wearing the skin of 98 and so is xp, 2000 etc. and windows 8, 8.1, 10 and 11 are wearing the skin of windows 7 and then all the other windows oses post 98
Idea: You should strip Windows 11 back to basic or even classic (at the end), and port back all the win32 apps from windows 7 while using openshell for the task bar
Never heard of open shell, but do you think it would be possible to revert and bring back some of the missing and messed up UI elements by modifying some new Windows files that were added in Windows 11 while also bringing back some other ones? All this done to, well, bring back Windows 7/Vista theme and some functionality.
I'm guessing the reason that some apps don't display properly without dwm is because dwm is needed for mica transparency effects. All of Microsoft Edge's context menus, the explorer top bar, and the new explorer context menus have mica and didn't work.
I dont know if you know but if you click uninstall on notepad, it doesn't actually uninstall it, but it brings the older version of notepad, before it became UWP. It can be easily brought back by installing it on the Microsoft Store.
It is possible with custom solutions. The LSA API is open but horribly documented. It's not very elegant either, but technically, it's possible to cook up a LogonUI replacement.
Well, I mean who would touch those 50M lines of code to reinvent the DWM. Rather, its much better for Microsoft and almost every dev out there to make it on top of the existing apis. Just like how a newer version of a programming language is made on top of the existing code of the programming langauge.
Microsoft realized they made their most stable piece of software with Windows 7 and just decided to build on top of it. Nothing will ever come close to 7
It would be nice if the LogonUI fallback was also a mode called "CLI Mode" or something. It's sad that they made it only a fallback. Edit: Although you can just delete, rename, or even change the permissions on Windows.UI.Logon.dll
"Console Mode Logon" (that's its name) is the logon interface of Server Core editions since 2016/version 1607. Server 2016/version 1607 actually had a registry switch to choose which one you wanted - which, surprisingly or unsurprisingly enough, depending on how much you know about how Windows is built - worked on Windows 10 1607 too. But Microsoft got smart: they realised that they didn't need any registry switch, they can just switch mode based on whether Windows.UI.Logon.dll is present (which is where most of the "logon screen", as you know it, lives), and remove that file from Server Core editions, saving ~3MB of disk space in the process. Armed with that knowledge, what do you think would happen if you put a SYSTEM->Deny->Read and Execute ACE on %SystemRoot%\System32\Windows.UI.Logon.dll, or outright deleted that file?
@@Arctic123YTI personally prefer to fiddle the ACLs myself (rather than rename or delete), because it doesn't result in... unexpected behavior when this month's CU rolls around. As long as you don't deny TrustedInstaller access to the file(s), you're golden.
The last time I saw DWM working properly was from Windows 8.1. Starting from Windows 10, DWM is sometimes unstable, with strange bugs and glitches. For example, delay when moving a window. No Nut November 4, 2024 9:53PM
Hello Enderman, i have a suggestion: Can you try if windows repair can fix all of that after you are done with it? Would be really interesting to see :)
@@Waludalf You are aware how huge the source code is to built current Win11? :)... Thats not something that can be "done new" in a matter of a few years.
I think there is more layers that can be peeled off, once when I ran out of system resources, explorer switched to something that looked like the fallback from Vista, but with fonts from Windows 3. Sadly I don't have any screenshots and don't know hot to replicate it
Yes, it's well-known that the kernel really hasn't changed much since Vista. It can't be understated what an absolute revolution Vista was. It's why your opinion of Vista isn't just a check of your socioeconomic status in the late 00s, but also an IQ test.
@@LukeIsASmurfI'm sorry that you don't understand the word "you" is plural. You even admit you said nothing for or against Vista. So your desperate request for victimhood is *DENIED* - especially after yesterday.
That's why I was able to downgrade my Windows 11 laptop to Windows 10 with just one display related issue, both on win11 when updating drivers and Windows 10 when I installed the driver. There must be a reason RTX 4000 series supports Windows 7. Heck, the 3000 series of drivers can run on Vista SP2!
"oh it's just a light debloat don't worry"
the debloat:
@@binku09 real
POV: When you enabled every tweak
Still too bloated, anyone who used Windows Core Server
Linux
@@Dummigame Linux From Scratch
Remember when you just could set "Classic Windows" theme and every app Microsoft made adjusted itself to it, like DWM was only for "cool look" but not for essentials? Imagine how fast Windows 11 on modern hardware could be if they would be able to stick to the native Win 32 apps not these web view garbage they have right now?
"web view garbage" works without DWM, it's UWP that doesn't
@@_kitaes_ right, but it’s still sad trend
uwp itself is bad, but html is.... bruh
@@HAKANKOKCUye
It wouldnt be faster as web-less w11 builds exist without any difference.
UWP here also isnt slowing down the OS, but it does take longer to load visually (still not affecting the OS)
The rather reasons for the slower experience is the default tune towards more power savings.
Infact, going all win32 native apps is alot slower than the alternative solutions because gdi (the renderer of win32) has a global lock now due to security fixes & the handwritten finetuned rasterizer was removed for maintainability. gdi is in life support and has all its performance characteristics removed.
a faster w11 would require forcing all programs to not be win32 ui instead.
Fun fact: if you open control center and then type C:\ or any drive into the address bar, windows 11 will switch back to the Windows 10 style explorer. And you don't need to break anything in the system for it.
Cool
It really works
But anyway... Windows 10 style explorer still not a match for win 7 explorer
Oh yeah found that out lol
Wait until youtube strikes this video for NSFW because you removed windows 11 clothes
lmfao
Lol
You know... UA-cam might do that...
Lol
rofl
If you keep peeling windows 11, you will eventually reach windows xp and 3.1 and even the origin of the world and the Big Bang
You forgot DOS :)
@@Lord-Sméagol ah yes, the operating system that allowed you to corrupt the whole memory with one app, which wasnt used after windows 98/2000 due to how unstable it is
Was there ever a windows 7 basic compatible version of the XP Luna uxtheme?
@@Aeduo No
@@Lord-Sméagolsee idk about that - iirc NT was an entirely different beast built from the ground-up but programmed to be compatible with all the Windows APIs.
(That’s why cmd has been a terminal *emulator* since Server and 2000 was “built on NT technology [sic]”)
So while the programs which originally ran on Windows DOS can be compatible, it’s because of the Windows, not the DOS.
I have a theory that MS forbids employees working on Windows to touch any shell32 code at all, or maybe everyone who knew what the hell the code did pre-Windows 8 is gone, so they just keep on piling on shells and skins over old Windows Vista/7 instead of really improving the underlying UI so it looks pretty while being backwards compatible. Windows XP and prior had a nice theming system yet they just throw it away and use UWP apps and DWM.
that kind of makes sense
Inside, we are all truly windows 7
no, we are all truly windows 1.0
No we are doms actually
@@Malenku_nrunc we are machine code
Fr I have so many memories with windows 7
So true
Enderman to Windows 11: “Let’s see who you really are!”
*unveils Windows 7
“Ok let’s put this disguise back on”
*also unveils windows vista
Why should it be disguised? Windows 11 is a successor of 7, of course it builds on it. The root is of course windows nt 3.1
*unveils Windows NT 5.0
@@Galaxy.WindowsNT 5 is technically Windows 2000, as that uses NT 5.0
@@linuxuser2064 NT 5 is just Windows 2000
A part of me feels comforted seeing the Windows 7 Basic theme on Windows 11. Maybe it's familiarity bias.
I kinda hate that because there's so much overhead they are creating for themselves, instead of rewriting the UI from the ground up and unhooking it from the kernel so that it won't freak out so much after installing something like cairo.
@@xFluing it doesn't, but i agree with overhead part
@@xFluing Who cares about this exactly? Oh, I know. The people of this channel who are overly excited for all these things.
@@ChocoRainbowCorn No, it's the people caring about stability and performance.
@@ewenlau727 In this particular case, I may be slightly inclined to agree. However, keyword: Slightly. Because really, I still see this as nothing more than typical complaints not worth paying any attention to, especially not from Microsoft's side. But on an personal level as well. Bye.
Microsoft: New windows made from scratch
Reality:New unstable build of windows vista!!!
More like 7
@@hatsumi_rou_ 7 is vista
@@hatsumi_rou_No, Vista. I know you're too young to know this, but 7 barely qualified as a service pack for Vista.
@throwaway6478 Windows has a release cycle. Microsoft will release a windoes version. Then they release a new version with the same style. Then they make a new style but with similar functionality as the old version, then the cycle continues. Windows 7 was a function update to Vista
@@throwaway6478because it’s d massive revision of Vista
The Enderman I love. Not that I hate your voice (contrary actualy), just seeing a video like this with captions reminds me of good old days :)
yea but i prefer voiced since im glued to the screen otherwise
Ender's got a hot voice
I think the last time Windows made truly revolutionary changes was since Windows Vista. There are many improvements since Vista, but underhoood everything is still very much VIsta. And Windows 11 is just Windows 10 + new UI. If Microsoft wants, they can backport all Windows 11 features to Windows 10.
If you copy all code from windows 11 into the old fork of windows 10, what do you get? Windows 11
Windows 11 is the w10 codebase after the abi freeze in 2020, theres no point to 'backport' to an older codebase
pseudo style history is kinda like this:
commit 1234.. pre 20H2
commit 1235.. 20H2 - fork here: 20H2 (build 19041-19045) (with UX backports from newer commits: 21H2, 22H2) - here is the "latest" version of windows 10
....
commit 1241.. windows server 2022 (build 20348)
....
commit 1260.. windows 11 21h2 (build 22000)
commit 1271.. windows 11 22h2/23h2 (build 22621-2263x)
...
commit 1301..windows server 23H2 (private/internal core edition newer than w11, older than ws2025, also used on xbox currently) (build 25398)
...
commit 1355.. windows 11 24h2/windows server 2025 (build 26100)
...
commit 1355.. windows vnext (
@@vccsya this is super interesting, do you have a source where i can read more?
Vista is truly revolution. But 7 make it perfect. Both of them are the most beautifully windows ever
*What's underneath Windows 11?*
Well... NT, isn't it?
windows'nt
yeah, I don't know why anyone is surprised by this. Microsoft is committed to backwards compatibility. I'm not saying it's a good thing but of course just deleting new systems and libraries is gonna cause it to revert to older and older ones all the way back to Vista.
You can remove explorer too, replace it with winxshell amd you have a taskbar, desktop and basic start menu. You'll probably have a bunch of "class not registered" errors, but I'm sure its within your skillset to fix.
when your computer isn't working, just delete some core windows components, it'll work slightly better for you
yes.
It's pretty much the schtick of these clickbait channels.
or even better, remove Windows entirely and install Linux
Microsoft: windows 11, a modern os
Enderman: It’s a modern version of windows vista.
----
In the “The state of windows” video, Andrew said: I’m glad that Windows 11 can still do Windows 7 Basic
Microsoft: well if he likes it, we have to keep this historic theme
figuratively and literally
windows is following the "if it aint broke, dont fix it" term with the fallback windows
Looks like Windows 11 is just a Vista paint-job! :D
It's windows 7
@@hatsumi_rou_Vista, actually.
WordPad is indestructible
fire wpf app 🔥
solitaire too
They said the same about pbrush, and yet...
Up until now where they have begun removing it from Windows 11 installs...
I believe Windows installing updates on the boot screen only happens when there’s an update to the System Firmware - Device Manager showed a warning icon next to it when you opened it a few moments earlier, probably saying that a reboot is required for it “to work”
You can believe that, but you'd be wrong. PendingFileRenameOperations (which is used extensively by Windows updates and app installers) is processed right at the start of Session Manager initialization - or "on the boot screen", for you laymen.
@@throwaway6478But it also appears when there are BIOS updates. It happens to me on my HP Elitebook every time I get a BIOS update via Windows Update.
it's just a windows vista with windows 7 theme that have windows 10 theme that have windows 11 theme
Why does winlogon have that fallback login UI? Like you can see it's back from the days when Microsoft cared about the quality of their product, but it has all the features normal winlogon has. Was it ever used outside of fallback?
Its probably there so you can login to things like servers that somtimes don't have a gpu or monitor.
@huttyblue Yeah it did cross my mind, it would explain why it has all the features of the graphical logon, but it still bothers with opening a cmd window instead of just crashing.
The answer is that Windows Server without the GUI uses it.
It's for Windows Server Core.
It's used in server core, hyperv 2019 and azure hci
I expected to see to the classic NT LogonUI, it seems Windows Server Core is using the fallback LogonUI
classic one is handled by GINA, which no longer exists since Vista
"Apps are work better after being deleted" is a phrase I never thought I'd hear
Makes sense. Vista was the last "big rebuild" of Windows, and everything since has been piled on top with a new NT version painted on if MS remembers. Kinda makes me wonder if they'll ever care enough to do it again nowadays.
>install windows 11
>look inside
>windows 7
Vista*
Microsoft: Wait, It's all 9x inside?
Enderman: Always has been.
Or I guess in the post-XP Windows case, it's Windows 2000.
Uhm... no? It's NT, Win9x isn't.
There is no 9x in there, why would anyone think that? Its windows nt 3.1
Uhhh, Alright, Sorry I messed up.
nt 4.0*
Be careful with putting horizontal red lines near the bottom of the thumbnail, it made me think I already watched the video and I was about to scroll past
Also a fun fact: Disable desktop composition on non-Microsoft apps via the compatibility tab in the app properties dialog, and you'll see the app running in the Windows Vista theme.
everything is powered by windows 7 at this point
Yeah😂 6:22
And what isnt powered by windows 7 is powered by windows 95...at best.
actually most of the internet is powered by Linux
@@gjkdshgkjshjkgdfg And then windows sever, cause it existed way before linux was even a thing.
And they just killed the stable windows 7 and leaves us with the windows 11 that it's build on unstable windows 7 build
when i saw the notification of you premiering a vid it throwed me back in time when people were spamming aboba on the live chat on one of your vid premierès for no reason whatsoever
just a heads up, the red bar in the thumbnail made me think i watched this already even tho it is brand new
Naked Windows 11 is crazy tho
The login screen was made for Windows Server Core. So nothing strange here.
In 15 years, it went from being perfectly usable on a potato without DWM and in a very minimal way to not working if you uninstall Edgr.
Not sure if it's a downwards trend in software quality. It's just that most Windows 11 users don't delete DWM.
I can personally agree that each Windows version is more buggy than the last.
exactly, and much of the stuff that works without dwm is also older than dwm itself
5:26 UAC throwing a fit at Andrew
"What's underneath Windows 11?"
the NT kernel duh
Under my Windows 11 Machine is my Table.
what if microsoft finally tried to make a new Windows from scratch, I feel like having so many layers of stuff is just garbage
This is where macOS and iOS win
I love Microsoft's brilliant marketing, especially the part where they pretend to be futuristic.
"Pretend" or "are"? There is an pretty big difference there. But I'm not sure if you would ever notice that.
it's fun to see like this, and i'm glad that i discover your channel like a year ago, even though i don't fully understand, what happen
I hate how they don't even remove these old parts, they just paint over them, like a cheap landlord
Yes, because (to extend your analogy) tenants just love it when they get "Error: The procedure entry point SomeOldAPICall could not be located in dynamic link library shell32.dll" when they try to plug in a heater or a refrigerator that's a few years old.
@@throwaway6478exactly
30 years ago they thought that we will have flying cars by now, but now we see a BrokenWin 11 based on NT(?, or at least Vista) skinned with fresh themes and "futuristic" AI on top.
in some Windows 10 versions like 1709, you can run Windows XP explorer to get an functional Taskbar and Start menu
Love the video! I was always fascinated by how I would see a glimpse of the windows 7 basic ui after switching out of fullscreen mode in edge for the fraction of a second!
Doing this is like paint stripping a wall. First you get windows 10, and finally windows 7. And that's when you realize how pointless it all was
The Server Core editions of Windows come without any GUI by default -- the LogonUI is the fallback one, and when you login, there is just a CMD script with administration options. It also comes with a Windows 8-like theme, but not quite (the window controls are still square instead of rectangle). I wonder, would it be possible to do this video, but in reverse, there? i.e. getting explorer and/or other GUI programs to run on a version of Windows that comes with no GUI by default.
All windows server Core versions are like that, but ever since server 2025 they made it have DWM, from the 25xxx range of builds onwards
@@upseguest Oh, yeah sorry I don't have much experience with Windows Server Core, I only used Hyper-V Server before, and it was a long time ago. But if the new 2025 versions have DWM, surely that would be even more reason for it to be able to run GUI apps with a bit of elbow grease? I think I'll try to get an ISO when I come home and play around with it, it definitely seems interesting. Maybe even somehow mutate Server Core to have a full graphical shell lol.
@@upseguestAll versions of Server Core have had the DWM since Server 2008. It's only been on by default since Windows Server 2012 however, for obvious reasons.
The "8 but square" look to Server Core 2012-2022 is because those versions came with their own theme, called "Aero Lite" - and yes, it runs just fine on the the corresponding client edition (Windows 8.0 for Server 2012, Windows 8.1 for Server 2012 R2, Windows 10 1607 for Server 2016, and Windows 10 1809 for Server 2019 - Windows Server 2022 didn't have a corresponding client edition, but it may work on Windows 10 21H2 or later, I've just never tested it).
Windows is like a project done by consultants. Years and years of layers holding on with spit.
UWP apps were a mistake
Why?
@@Lofotebecause first nobody use it second they consume storgae and in some pc resources, also Microsoft oncr try with windows rt and failed because was 2012 and 2013 and at the time windows apps don't were much as today
@@techgaming-on4wg Not nobody. That is what people like you like to say however, and that is spreading blatant untrue information around. Otherwise called misinformation.
windows 8.1 was kinda ok, it was just for "tablets" and it was doing its job, because they had to optimize it. now microsoft makes really bad and laggy codes and puts them as "layer" which lags stuff more
@@HAKANKOKCU For your Windows 8.1 comment, well yes, but Windows is not an OS primarily made for tablets now, is it? There's a good reason why it is amongst the worst Windows versions of all time. Or well, many reasons. But this is the biggest one.
I mean to be fair it's not surprising that new windows programs based on UDP need the process designed to draw things in UDP apps to work.
7:46, that's weird, I thought that screen only appeared for BIOS and driver updates when Windows boots first then hands it off to the BIOS.
So, the win2000 era theme customisation menu will probably work again!
Makesense win7 was so good that even Microsoft doesn't want to let of it
So fallback has a fallback, what about the fallback of the fallback fallback
Eventually, programs and the border of the windows, look like Windows 3.1 LOL =)
@@mchenrynickNo, lowest you can go is an NT 4.0 look. The OS/2 1.2 look (what laymen call the "Windows 3.x look") was completely replaced.
How do we switch to the 4.0 look?
DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS, DEVELOPERS
I knew If you peeled off the front ui 'cover' it was windows 7 but I didn't realize the 7 window ui was a vista reskin
It was interesting to see Vista under the hood. I hope one day to see Windows XP theme on modern Windows (I know it is possible on Linux, though)! :D
Thanks for such deep dive!
Congratulations! It’s a good progress to remove the scaffolding of Windows 11 UI. This also put the light on very concerning design issues as illustrated by all the border effects you shown in this video. Can you step by automated in some ways ?
Inside is some stuff that would qualify for life support as a human, such as:
Assembly code
WE NEED THAT TASKBAR BRO! I really liked the video(any video destroying Windows gets my like), and I really wanna emphasize that UWP can run without DWM, just really broken, you can write forever while loops in batch that continuously trigger the EXE, so the kinda broken thing appears, and the controls are still there, but not drawn.
Microsoft is lazy to build new features on new code, instead using old technology, old source code to build new features (based on Windows NT 4 and Windows NT 4 is still present in Windows 11 today, is just covered with modern uwp "layers".)
microsoft lazy at hell💀
it's not bad as long as you *replace* the skin instead of putting new one on
Well on the beta wiki you see the earliest version of every windows and use the previous windows, example windows 7 who use Windows vista as the base
Not really. Also, some people on this channel claim that the extreme backwards compatibility is amongst the biggest security fears in Windows. To that I say: It's really not. In fact, if we are supporting Windows 95/98 era apps to an certain extent by default, they should bring back full support for that _and_ reintroduce DOS app support on x64/64-bit system versions, including 16-bit apps in general too. Really, all that would need to be done for such extreme backwards compatibility to work well security-wise, would be to just look at that old code and make it secure again - Or as secure as it can get. Microsoft just doesn't exactly care about that.
actually it's for backwards compatibility
@@rockpie.iso.tar.bz2 "AcTuAlLy It'S fOr BaCkWaRdS cOmPaTiBiLiTy"
i love seeing whats under windows, since it's always just older windows.
it's funny how you can actually make classic theme fully functional with some patches
Finally someone proved that windows 11 is just another overlay like windows 10 and 8 was. It’s still windows vista/7 in its roots!
What did you write on the keyboard at 2:39?
Edge doesn't work probably because the version of it installed by default is a UWP app and removing DWM removes most of the context menus and title bar of Edge. However, the fact that it's totally not usable is a mystery, all the webpages and even the settings page are essentially written on JS, HTML, CSS
Chromium Edge isn't is a UWP app like old Edge which was actually on UWP, he could use --disable-gpu in launch flags for edge, chrome could refuse too but somehow detected and started with --disable-gpu by default, firefox (and other browser based on FF) only runs fine without issues with rendering without dwm.
This is amazing, I’ve been wanting to see this for years thank you
I can imagine the Windows Vista team is laughing from their basements at all the people that said their work was terrible for over a decade when the people start to realize that Vista was the last actual major Windows update and every version since has been a game of try not to break Vista because nothing else will work if it fails.
believe it or not, this has been a thing as early as 98. as you may be able to see its trying to combine the classic 98 theme, 2000 and me, windows xp, windows 7, windows vista and windows 7 too. windows 7 is wearing the skin of 98 and so is xp, 2000 etc. and windows 8, 8.1, 10 and 11 are wearing the skin of windows 7 and then all the other windows oses post 98
Just imagine malware deleting those files,would scare the crap out of me.
not possible for a malware because deleting those require SYSTEM level privileges.
@@monjurimabegum2861nothing stops malware for asking for system level privilages
@@monjurimabegum2861 Which are possible to obtain, or can be bypassed entirely.
@@monjurimabegum2861 First off, it's not SYSTEM, it's TrustedInstaller, and you can takeown Windows as long takeown is running as admin
@@monjurimabegum2861 if you can run things from TrustedInstaller - which you can, demonstrated by the video - then malware *could* delete those files.
Idea: You should strip Windows 11 back to basic or even classic (at the end), and port back all the win32 apps from windows 7 while using openshell for the task bar
already is being done with 10to7 packs/mods, except without openshell, because openshell is quite mid
Never heard of open shell, but do you think it would be possible to revert and bring back some of the missing and messed up UI elements by modifying some new Windows files that were added in Windows 11 while also bringing back some other ones? All this done to, well, bring back Windows 7/Vista theme and some functionality.
@wiktorwiktor12 I mean yeah but that's the only way I think of to restore a working taskbar, don't even bring up that stupid WinXShell thing
Yes!
@@thesupremeorg sib/sab or explorer7
This is a mashup between Win 98 (the titlebar gradient), Win 10 (taskbar?) and some Win XP, Vista, 7 and 8 elements.
No wonder W11 is glitchy.
I forgot I have membership on this channel •-•
the SMW icons are cute
windows vista is underneath
I'm guessing the reason that some apps don't display properly without dwm is because dwm is needed for mica transparency effects. All of Microsoft Edge's context menus, the explorer top bar, and the new explorer context menus have mica and didn't work.
I dont know if you know but if you click uninstall on notepad, it doesn't actually uninstall it, but it brings the older version of notepad, before it became UWP. It can be easily brought back by installing it on the Microsoft Store.
When I read the title I was hoping it to be secretly Vista, wasn't too wrong xdd
if windows 12 comes out in the future and it will rely on an NPU, i'm afraid my i9-13900H laptop will get obsolete :(
Hmm... Possible to get back a style like ehats on Windows XP without the fancy LogonUI? Only a window, to login like Windows 95 ^^'
It is possible with custom solutions. The LSA API is open but horribly documented. It's not very elegant either, but technically, it's possible to cook up a LogonUI replacement.
ConsoleLogonHook
Cool I'll check that out!
Can you make one? Im sure it would be much better then the Microsoft one.
Well, I mean who would touch those 50M lines of code to reinvent the DWM. Rather, its much better for Microsoft and almost every dev out there to make it on top of the existing apis. Just like how a newer version of a programming language is made on top of the existing code of the programming langauge.
Microsoft realized they made their most stable piece of software with Windows 7 and just decided to build on top of it. Nothing will ever come close to 7
It would be nice if the LogonUI fallback was also a mode called "CLI Mode" or something. It's sad that they made it only a fallback.
Edit: Although you can just delete, rename, or even change the permissions on Windows.UI.Logon.dll
"Console Mode Logon" (that's its name) is the logon interface of Server Core editions since 2016/version 1607. Server 2016/version 1607 actually had a registry switch to choose which one you wanted - which, surprisingly or unsurprisingly enough, depending on how much you know about how Windows is built - worked on Windows 10 1607 too.
But Microsoft got smart: they realised that they didn't need any registry switch, they can just switch mode based on whether Windows.UI.Logon.dll is present (which is where most of the "logon screen", as you know it, lives), and remove that file from Server Core editions, saving ~3MB of disk space in the process.
Armed with that knowledge, what do you think would happen if you put a SYSTEM->Deny->Read and Execute ACE on %SystemRoot%\System32\Windows.UI.Logon.dll, or outright deleted that file?
@@throwaway6478 So it is intentional? I might try that on my daily driver PC.
@@Arctic123YTI personally prefer to fiddle the ACLs myself (rather than rename or delete), because it doesn't result in... unexpected behavior when this month's CU rolls around. As long as you don't deny TrustedInstaller access to the file(s), you're golden.
The last time I saw DWM working properly was from Windows 8.1. Starting from Windows 10, DWM is sometimes unstable, with strange bugs and glitches. For example, delay when moving a window.
No Nut November 4, 2024 9:53PM
the classic theme is my favorite, i wish we could have it on modern windows so bad
MAN I LOVE WINDOWS (except for the bloatware and spyware on modern versions)
Such under the hood stuff, so fun to watch.
microsoft: hmm yeah let’s give all the newer windows undercover newer but it’s win7.
enderman: I WILL FIND YOURE SECRETS
I’ll always be surprised that all Microsoft does is add layers of garbage on top of Windows Vista
the screen at 7:51 actually shows up when you preform a bios update. its copying updates files to a temporary directory whilr it shows that screen.
Hello Enderman, i have a suggestion: Can you try if windows repair can fix all of that after you are done with it? Would be really interesting to see :)
I want Windows classic theme back
dude i remember in windows 11, if you press windows + P in lock screen, gui could be w8 in some builds
actually some pages looks exact same as in Windows XP
You can still enable the high contrast theme to set a theme similiar to classic
i'm now excited to see video about how to make windows 11 have everything in classic mode without those new menus and ribbons
Why can't Microsoft stop building on older windows versions and just make a new one and attempt backwards comparability ;-;
Windows is very backward compatible. Compare that to apple macos x.
@Lofote still, at this point just make a new one and then try to add comparability instead of building upon old blocks of breaking software
@@Lofoteso backwards compatible that even a UA-camr manages to run the first version of Microsoft explorer
@@Waludalf You are aware how huge the source code is to built current Win11? :)... Thats not something that can be "done new" in a matter of a few years.
@Lofote that's the thing, it's that huge due to it just piling up, that's why I'm saying this at all
I think there is more layers that can be peeled off, once when I ran out of system resources, explorer switched to something that looked like the fallback from Vista, but with fonts from Windows 3. Sadly I don't have any screenshots and don't know hot to replicate it
“Despite everything, it’s still you.”
Great video as always Enderman!❤
who am I kidding, windows 11 is at its core just *lightly* modified version of windows vista
Yes, it's well-known that the kernel really hasn't changed much since Vista. It can't be understated what an absolute revolution Vista was. It's why your opinion of Vista isn't just a check of your socioeconomic status in the late 00s, but also an IQ test.
@@throwaway6478i never said anything positive or negative about vista. maybe it's your ignorance that made you reply like that.
@@LukeIsASmurfI'm sorry that you don't understand the word "you" is plural. You even admit you said nothing for or against Vista. So your desperate request for victimhood is *DENIED* - especially after yesterday.
Lol at the thumbnail red bar, was think is video i watch before, then see 2hrs ago
That's why I was able to downgrade my Windows 11 laptop to Windows 10 with just one display related issue, both on win11 when updating drivers and Windows 10 when I installed the driver. There must be a reason RTX 4000 series supports Windows 7. Heck, the 3000 series of drivers can run on Vista SP2!