/lwt/ Legacy Windows Thread

/lwt/ Legacy Windows Thread Thread paste no.1 - will be tweaked accordingly with new info and tools

Older OP's, and links will be relocated to the end of this pastebin, they may not be the best in terms of compatibility, ease of use, or other factors, but are still there for troubleshooting purposes.

Remmber to post the thread number, usually found in the first few posts of the previous thread.

>What should I do in terms of security?
Simple, don't be a bloody mongoloid and download/access/torrent random shit

						---------OP------------
Formerly Daily Windows 7 Thread: /d7t/

/lwt/ paste (WIP): https://pastebin.com/M32z9Mpg

Feel free to share your experience here on using legacy Windows operating systems past their EoL date, such as:
>Keeping up with security hygiene (OS/network hardening)
>Getting legacy Windows systems updated
>Methods to circumvent software artificial blocks
>Last versions of software/drivers known working on legacy Windows
>Custom forks/builds of software that don't support legacy Windows systems anymore
>And other tips-and-tricks
Post your projects, devices, and setups.

Recommended legacy Windows:
>8.1 with Update 3 (NT 6.3)
The middle-ground for those wishing to avoid 10/11, and yet not want to completely sacrifice hardware compatibility on the way out.
– In-built USB3/UASP support
– In-built NVMe & eMMC support
– 4Kn/Advanced Format drive support
– First Windows OS to be compatible with UEFI Class 3 devices (no need for int10h workarounds like UefiSeven)
– Start Screen/Ribbon can easily be eliminated with StartIsBack/OldNewExplorer
– Arguably more efficient than 7, especially for low-end devices of the era (e.g. x86 tablets with Windows RT)
– Metro UI stigma caused it to be quickly forgotten, with some software devs dropping support quicker than for 7.
EoL Date: 01/10/2023 (Embedded 8.1 Industry: 07/11/2023)
ESU Bypass: BypassESU Blue (10/13/2026 with Server 2012 R2 updates – only common client/server components will be updated, keep that in mind)

>7 SP1 (NT 6.1)
The thread-starter. If you can get it running on your modern device without any problems, then do so – forward-compatibility utilities like VxKex tend to be designed for 7.
Simplix's UpdatePack7R2 is the quickest way of getting 7 updated.
EoL Date: 01/14/2020
ESU Bypass: BypassESU (01/10/2023 with client updates; 01/09/2024 with Server 2008 R2 updates – common client/server components will be updated)

Previous /lwt/:

Below you will find most of the information posted across multiple threads. It can be a bit long, as there are multiple sections. Best way to navigate from here on is to use the index, or to ctrl+f and type the name of the OS in the index.

Index:
1. Windows 8.1
2. Windows 7
2.1 Windows 7 .iso's, information regarding licensing, and patches
2.2 Supported Web browsers
3. Windows Vista
3.1 Windows Vista .iso's, information regarding licensing, and patches
4. Windows XP
4.1 Windows XP .iso's, information regarding licensing, and patches
4.2 Windows XP web browsers
5. Windows 2000 (No information worth adding as of yet)
6. Windows 98 (No information worth adding as of yet)
7. Windows 95 (No information worth adding as of yet)
8. MSDos (No information worth adding as of yet)
9. Interesting shit (Things that are worth a look, but may not be practical to your everyday use)
10. Older OP's
11. Removed links from index sections 1-8 (These links can be useful if you need to troubleshoot an install of software compatibility issue


								 -----Windows 8.1-----

Patches
Extended Security Updates
https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/bypass-esu-blue.86548/


									---Windows 7---

2.1: Windows .iso's, information regarding licensing, and patches

simplix's UpdatePack7R2 for quickly getting a 7 install/image updated.
https://blog.simplix.info/update7/

Wufuc:
Disables the "Unsupported Hardware" message in Windows Update, and allows you to continue installing updates on Windows 7 and 8.1 systems with Intel Kaby Lake, AMD Ryzen, or other unsupported processors.
Inactive project, though it still works fine.
https://github.com/chipsi007/wufuc - Use for info, download from https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/wufuc.html
* github download link is down, use the majorgeeks link

*Wufuc has had some mentions of being a bit unreliable, you can try out P-lider as an alternative:
https://github.com/p-lider/WuaCpuFix

VKD3Don7: being a fork of vkd3d-proton, aims to provide support for the Windows® 7 operating system.
https://github.com/Mantamaehne/VKD3Don7
* experimental software

WinAPICoreHack:
Allows you to use modern software otherwise blocked on w7 such as blender and stable diffusion, fixes a lot of games which won't launch.
https://github.com/nalexandru/api-ms-win-core-path-HACK

Windows 7 API Extensions:
https://github.com/vxiiduu/VxKex
* experimental software

Patches:
Extended Security Updates(ESU)
https://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/bypass-windows-7-extended-security-updates-eligibility.80606/

ESU patching, but contains some more interesting things, if you're into that sort of stuff
https://hackandpwn.com/windows-7-esu-patching/
https://github.com/HackAndPwn/Windows-7-Patching
Once these updates are installed on top of an up-to-date Windows 7 SP1 installation, the OS has been completely updated with hotfixes and optional features. All of these updates can be found on this GitHub repository: Windows 7 Patching.

Other windows 7 licensing stuff, and info about backported Win10 telemetry components and updates containing them from an Anon giving advice to someone who didn't post PC specs

Generally, it all goes down to this (you haven't provided specs of that new 'puter, so hard to tell what other stuff you might have to do):
1. Check hardware/software compatibility, be aware of any workarounds you might have to do, depending on grade of stuff's incompatibility.
2. Get an ISO with SP1 already integrated (MSDN-verified ones should be trusted, like from Massgrave). Pro and Enterprise should both be the best choices as they're capable of volume activation (BTW Enterprise is basically as same as Ultimate, feature-wise. Just differs in licensing). Easiest way to activate without messing with SLIC stuff.
3. Get Simplix's UpdatePack7R2, drop the ISO to the executable - that should manage the slipstreaming process.
(Enthousiast's MDL Win7 Tool seems to be more extensive, but you'd have to still get the latest version of the UpdatePack. Drop it to an already-extracted bare-tool folder; You can also use Integrate7, instead).
4. Flash/burn the image & get the OS installed & activated (if you installed Pro or Enterprise, easiest way out should be with Abbodi's KMS_VL_ALL.)
5. Do your usual post-install configuration (set up settings, configure group policies, set up features via OptionalFeatures.exe, install drivers, software, especially Abbodi's BypassESU). You can also deal with neutering Win10-era telemetry components (Keep in mind Cumulative Updates/Monthly Rollups already include said components, so unless you install Security-Only updates, you won't escape from them that easily. And even then, who knows if they don't contain bits and bots of that, already).
However if you follow these steps, you can safely have them neutralized without worrying about CUs magically bringing them back:
https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/2000012-neutralize-telemetry-sustain-win-7-8-1-monthly-rollup-model/

^^ Continued

Simplix's UpdatePack doesn't suppose to include known CompatTelRunner/DiagTrack & GWX updates, so one can easily hide them if for some reason they happen to be proposed after WU search (list from Simplix's site):

KB971033-x86-x64 (Update for Windows Activation Technologies validation)
KB2952664-x86-x64 (System compatibility update for Windows 10 migration)
KB2977759-x86-x64 (Troubleshooting compatibility issues for Windows 10 migration)
KB3021917-x86-x64 (System Diagnostics and Telemetry for Windows 10 migration)
KB3035583-x86-x64 (Update installs the Get Windows 10 app)
KB3068708-x86-x64 (Update to improve telemetry quality and diagnostics)
KB3075249-x86-x64 (Update adds telemetry points to consent.exe)
KB3080149-x86-x64 (Update for CEIP and Telemetry Diagnostics)
KB3081954-x86-x64 (Update for improving Work Folders and Telemetry)
KB3123862-x86-x64 (Updated capabilities for Windows 10 upgrade)
KB3139923-x86-x64 (Update adds telemetry points to consent.exe)
KB3150513-x86-x64 (Updated configurations for compatibility diagnostics)
KB3161608-x86-x64 (Update adds telemetry points to consent.exe)
KB3163589-x86-x64 (Message about running an outdated version of Windows)
KB3172605-x86-x64 (Update adds telemetry points to consent.exe)
KB3173040-x86-x64 (Windows 10 upgrade expiration notification)
KB4493132-x86-x64 (Windows 7 End of Support Notification)
KB4524752-x86-x64 (Windows 7 Pro End of Support Notification)



Speaking about neutralizing W10-era telemetry components - this might be interesting, albeit very-slightly obtrusive:
https://forums.mydigitallife.net/posts/1592218 (from abbodi0406)
Basically a custom-made update package for suppressing DiagTrack/CompatTelRunner components (applies to Win7 and Win8.1). Can't be installed on a live-running system (so have it slipstreamed to the installation image, or add the package to the offline OS - using DISM via WinPE, for example).

2.2: Supported Web browsers

Latest working official Firefox (117.x) :
>[Localized] * https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/nightly/2023/07/2023-07-14-09-41-20-mozilla-central-l10n/
>[English] * https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/nightly/2023/07/2023-07-14-09-41-20-mozilla-central/
* Only download the "...win32.zip" or "...win64.zip" releases for 32- and 64-Bit respectively, the installer blocks older operating systems.

Latest working official Chromium (109.x) :
>[Ungoogled] * https://github.com/macchrome/winchrome/releases/tag/v109.5414.120-M109.0.5414.120-r1070088-Win64
>[Regular] * https://github.com/Hibbiki/chromium-win64/releases/tag/v109.0.5414.120-r1070088
* Releases are 64-Bit only.

								---Windows Vista---

3.1 Windows Vista .iso's, information regarding licensing, and patches

Windows Vista Enterprise SP2 x64:
https://archive.org/details/WinVistaEnterpriseSP2x64
Process of activation:
1. type cscript slmgr.vbs -skms kms.cangshui.net in an elevated command prompt
2. type cscript slmgr.vbs -upk
3. type cscript slmgr.vbs -ipk VKK3X-68KWM-X2YGT-QR4M6-4BWMV
4. type cscript slmgr.vbs -ato

DONE! Your Vista is activated

-Remove the online activation mention for Vista (don't really like how one has to rely on external random activation servers)
EzWindSlic/Daz's Windows Loader should work fine with them, alternatively KMS-VL-ALL (not to be mistaken with abbodi's KMS_VL_ALL, of which is a fork of the earlier)
https://forums.mydigitallife.net/posts/1296482/

Windows Vista Ultimate x64 ISO
---THIS ISO IS AN UPGRADE EDITION FOR WINDOWS XP---
https://archive.org/details/win-vista-ultimate-x64

Other fully activated ISO's

https://archive.org/details/win-vista-sp-2-x-64-aio (x64)
https://archive.org/details/vista_winclubpl (x86)

Untouched Vista images
https://massgrave.dev/genuine-installation-media.html
https://files.rg-adguard.net/ (served via torrent, but seems to mirror all of MSDN/MVS stuff)

Last versions of software for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008
https://msfn.org/board/topic/175262-last-versions-of-software-for-windows-vista-and-windows-server-2008/

Windows Vista Update Repository (until April 2017+)
https://msfn.org/board/topic/181756-windows-vista-update-repository-until-april-2017/ (update repo with all Vista updates up to EOL)

greenhillmaniac's post, Vista repository with Server 2008 updates (atleast for the few people who care about the OS) Server 2008 updates repo, for installing on Vista; up to December 2019, so non-ESU
https://msfn.org/board/topic/176686-server-2008-updates-on-windows-vista/#comment-1139171


									---Windows XP---

4.1 Windows XP .iso's, information regarding licensing, and patches

Ramsey's XP Integral Edition (formerly Black Edition)
https://zone94.com/downloads/software/operating-systems/123-windows-xp-professional-sp3-x86-integral-edition
Ramsey/LuxLOL's been doing it since 2008-ish

A link to the thread on harkaz's Unofficial Service Pack 4
https://msfn.org/board/topic/171171-introducing-unofficial-windows-xp-sp4

Instal iso for build 3301:
https://archive.org/details/windows-xp-build-3301
Product key(Needs testing): 3D2W3-8DJM6-YKQRB-B2XDB-TVQHF

Windows XP exFAT Driver [KB955704] (x86)
https://archive.org/details/windows-xp-exfat-driver-kb955704-x86

4.2 Windows XP web browsers

Firefox version 48 32-Bit:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/48.0/win32/en-US/Firefox%20Setup%2048.0.exe
Firefox version 48 64-Bit:
https://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/48.0/win64/en-US/Firefox%20Setup%2048.0.exe

MyPal and RoyTam's browsers
http://rtfreesoft.blogspot.com/
https://github.com/feodor2/mypal68

And here, some forks of interest.

Supermium, a Chromium fork, patching new versions to keep support for older operating systems :
>https://github.com/win32ss/supermium
Thorium, a Chromium fork, heavily optimized :
>https://github.com/Alex313031/thorium-win7
Mercury, a Firefox fork, heavily optimized :
>https://github.com/Alex313031/Mercury



						----------Interesting Shit---------

9. Interesting shit (Things that are worth a look, but may not be practical to your everyday use)

Mention Legacy Update (brings back Windows Update client functionability for legacy Windows systems)
also contains an archive of Microsoft's Download Center before most of the stuff got removed due to the SHA-2 transitioning in August 2020
https://legacyupdate.net/

Magnet links to the XP source code
magnet:?xt=urn:btih:889857B7D802AB0AF2526AF60FCB3D9750E503C2
magnet:?xt=urn:btih:1a4e5b67060ff2bc8fe2de36a6c265c77f392a0c

slimdown list of activation-related scripts.
https://github.com/abbodi1406/KMS_VL_ALL_AIO

For those wanting to run old games (tl;dr: GameUX.dll (aka Games Explorer) services have shut down few years back, softlocking old games depending on GameUX-specific compatibility shims from running).
Funny thing, it's a 7-only thing. Doesn't happen on Vista at all.
https://msfn.org/board/topic/179464-old-games-failing-to-launch-and-how-to-fix-it

Windows 7 theme for Linux users on KDE Plasma:
https://gitgud.io/wackyideas/aerothemeplasma

DX repository ranging from DX1.0 to DX9.29
www.oldversion.com/windows/directx/

"Youtube is slow on my old system" Try this
It's probably YouTube serving videos encoded in VP9 or AV1 (you should check stats for nerds and see if it's avc1, vp09 or av01), and since your laptop's graphics chip most likely doesn't support decoding it, it relies on software decoding instead. If your laptop's graphics chip supports H264, you might want to use the (enhanced-)h264ify extension. What browser are you using, by the way?
Or use yt-dlp to pipe the stream to a video player of your choice, if it's the case of YouTube as in website lagging as f*ck.
Gonna leave this here: https://github.com/nicolaasjan/yt-dlp (in-between releases with WinXP-specific builds).

YT-DLP does have an XP version
Releases->Assets->Show all assets->yt-dlp_x86_Windows-XP.zip
simple as

A Playstation 2 emulator that runs on Windows XP
https://github.com/blueclouds8666/pcsx2_XP


						---------OLDER OP's-------------

10. Older OP's

OP:
Feel free to share any tips and tricks here on using Windows past its EoL date, such as alternative browsers and ways to bypass software artificially blocking legacy Windows systems.
Post your projects, devices, and setups.

Remember, Windows 10 and 11 are user hostile operating systems.

(credits to pirate anon for the info below)

Installing Windows 7 from scratch:
1. Grab the latest Simplix updatepack torrent here: magnet:?xt=urn:btih:220BC5F3B03D831115DF2958885EDC165E45043A
2. Grab yer Win7 ISO of your choice from: https://massgrave.dev/windows_7_links.html
3. Drag yer Windows7.ISO onto the Simplix.exe file. It will integrate all updates, including NVME, and USB3 drivers into it. Learn some pirate tunes, it'll take a while.
4. Prepare a USB Flash Disquette with Ventoy and copy the patched .ISO file to it. Rufus also works
5. Boot & install! Talk like a pirate while yer' doin' it! ARRRR!!!
6. Grab this script from Github: https://github.com/Strappazzon/teleme7ry
7. Run the script to remove telemetry from yer installation
7. YES! 7! AGAIN! Install Simplewall from https://www.henrypp.org/product/simplewall for security!
7! AHHAHAHAAAHAHAAA SEVEN!!! Tweak to your heart's desire!

Activation-related scripts:
https://github.com/fzlzjerry/BypassESU-v11/blob/main/Wim-Integration.cmd
https://github.com/Alex313031/Snippets/tree/main/WIN7
https://github.com/gatoslu/KMS-VL-ALL-CMD
https://github.com/Alex313031/Snippets/raw/main/Windows_Loader_v2.2.2.zip
https://github.com/Dir3ctr1x/EzWindSLIC
* My personal way of doing it is Windows 7 Professional SP1 with KMS-VL-ALL


					-----------OLDER LINKS----------------

11. Removed links from index sections 1-8 (These links can be useful if you need to troubleshoot an install of software compatibility issue. Links removed follow the same order as they appeared above

						------Windows 7--------

Installing Windows 7 from scratch:
1. Grab the latest Simplix updatepack torrent here: magnet:?xt=urn:btih:220BC5F3B03D831115DF2958885EDC165E45043A
2. Grab yer Win7 ISO of your choice from: https://massgrave.dev/windows_7_links.html
3. Drag yer Windows7.ISO onto the Simplix.exe file. It will integrate all updates, including NVME, and USB3 drivers into it. Learn some pirate tunes, it'll take a while.
4. Prepare a USB Flash Disquette with Ventoy and copy the patched .ISO file to it. Rufus also works
5. Boot & install! Talk like a pirate while yer' doin' it! ARRRR!!!
6. Grab this script from Github: https://github.com/Strappazzon/teleme7ry
7. Run the script to remove telemetry from yer installation
7. YES! 7! AGAIN! Install Simplewall from https://www.henrypp.org/product/simplewall for security!
7! AHHAHAHAAAHAHAAA SEVEN!!! Tweak to your heart's desire!


Activation-related scripts:
https://github.com/fzlzjerry/BypassESU-v11/blob/main/Wim-Integration.cmd
https://github.com/Alex313031/Snippets/tree/main/WIN7
https://github.com/gatoslu/KMS-VL-ALL-CMD
https://github.com/Alex313031/Snippets/raw/main/Windows_Loader_v2.2.2.zip
https://github.com/Dir3ctr1x/EzWindSLIC
* My personal way of doing it is Windows 7 Professional SP1 with KMS-VL-ALL


						------Windows Vista-----

					      -------Windows XP------

Instal iso for build 3301:
https://archive.org/details/windows-xp-build-3301
Product key(Needs testing): 3D2W3-8DJM6-YKQRB-B2XDB-TVQHF

Various SP install iso's, product keys found in description:
https://archive.org/details/windows-xp-all-sp-msdn-iso-files-en-de-ru-tr-x86-x64