I had a Win2K cd-rom with a license key that I dragged around with me for almost a decade for this exact reason. It was all downhill for Windows after that.
I still have mine. It's the "Advanced Server" edition because damn that is just extra cool to run.
Windows 2000 startup screen (as well as the ill-received Windows Me) was very elegant for its time. I think the Windows 7 GUI emulation in 8.1 was also pretty good.
What do you mean by Windows 7 GUI emulation in Windows 8? I didn't use Windows 8 much, but I thought all apps, including those that run on Win7, had a Win8 look, title bar, etc?
Windows 8 Metro UI and its flat glyph-inspired iconset (similar to minimalist signage, e.g in EU traffic signs) was such a disaster that 8.1, that soon followed, allowed options to toggle between Metro (for those who preferred) and the classic Windows 7 look & icons. It was called Legacy UI in their options.