Microsoft endorses a technique for installing Win7 from scratch

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If you’re looking at installing Win7 from scratch, you have a tough row to hoe. [See the full post at: Microsoft endorses a technique for installing Win7 from scratch]

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ch100

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Just a small point, well a couple actually. Does Woody ever sleep at “Woody central?” and errrm does the above link lead to some M$ page? it just “loops back to a blank page in here. Just curious thats all keep up the good work 🙂

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The article hasn’t been published by InfoWorld yet. Their editors DO sleep! Come back after the sun comes up (US time).

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HiFlyer, Elly, BobbyB

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errm OK but I am on MST does that count lol Just an early riser/night shift 🙂

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The sun never sets on AskWoody… 🙂

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Noel Carboni

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Running Windows 7?

Keep Calm
and
Make Your
System Image
Backup

-Noel

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HiFlyer, SueW, PhotM, Elly, MikeFromMarkham, woody

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Interesting! Is MS really giving in to us Windows 7 users? I am anxiously awaiting the article! I am sure that a new copy of Windows 7 would be riddled with ‘SpyNet’.

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Not to get too geeky on you, but the term “SpyNet” refers to a specific set of servers Microsoft has set up to help them manage information about malware. It’s what Windows Defender and the Malicious Software Removal Tool coordinate with. Servers include:

spynet2.microsoft.com
spynetalt.microsoft.com
wdcp.microsoft.com
wdcpalt.microsoft.com

More info here:
https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/clientsecurity/2011/02/22/microsoft-spynet/

I’ve seen Woody use the term “snooping”, which is a pretty good way to express the wider concept I think you may mean.

-Noel

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“I guess this is easier than putting an updated ISO on MSDN.” 🙂

 

Same goes for Win 8.1 and MS Download Tool – you get Update 3 ISO, which is like Oct 2014 and you have 200 updates to install…

I would very much welcome a choice to dowload either a clean 8.1 U3 ISO for purists and “tin foil hat people” 😉 or a fully compiled ISO updated quarterly (although montly would be even nicer). That would save much time for lots of people and bandwith on MS servers.

ASUS PRIME Z270-K * Intel Core i7-6700 * 2 x 8 GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 2133 MHz * Aorus Radeon RX 570 4GB * Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD * SanDisk Ultra 3D 1TB SSD * DVD RW Lite-ON iHAS 124 * Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer PCI * Windows 10 Pro 21H2 64-bit

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woody

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? says:

too bad we can’t run win7 on a stick, like linux

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anonymous wrote:

? says: too bad we can’t run win7 on a stick, like linux

You can run W8/W8.1 & W10 on stick.

ASUS PRIME Z270-K * Intel Core i7-6700 * 2 x 8 GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 2133 MHz * Aorus Radeon RX 570 4GB * Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD * SanDisk Ultra 3D 1TB SSD * DVD RW Lite-ON iHAS 124 * Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer PCI * Windows 10 Pro 21H2 64-bit

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I went through this last week, using the same procedure I’ve used for months now…takes an hour, tops, to get a fully updated Win7 from a fresh install of 7 Pro 64-bit SP1. Following the info from here at AskWoody + that of wu.krelay.de/en, after the initial ‘boot’, (assuming you have working network drivers already installed and connectivity online) install:

1) Servicing Stack Update September 2016 – KB3177467
2) July 2016 Rollup – KB3172605 (requests a reboot, but do not reboot yet)
3) IE11 – https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17621/internet-explorer-downloads – needs online connectivity, go ahead and reboot when finished.

I do not install the Convenience Rollup (KB3125574).

You’ll reboot and now be able to use Windows Update to do the rest.
Roughly 92 Important updates, and 140+ of Optional. It is in your discretion whether to install those; I don’t. KB971033 is one of the Important updates, but it is unchecked – you may want to ‘Hide this update’ (since it is supposedly related to telemetry and diagnostics).

Alternatively, instead of Windows Update at this point, you can use WSUS Offline to patch which will download all updates, save them to a folder, and then install all of them ‘in bulk’. The other nice thing about WSUSO is that they exclude any snooping or telemetry related patches, and you can also choose to install Security-Only patches (instead of the Security & Quality Rollups). http://download.wsusoffline.net/

I haven’t used SCCM before, but it looks similar to nLite/NTLite. One thing I will mention – the zinger about them releasing an updated ISO is true, however at this point I’d rather they not because the odds are any official ISO would include all the snooping and telemetry patches that we’re all trying to avoid.

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BobbyB, SueW, lizzytish, HiFlyer, Elly, ch100, woody

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Thanks for that up-to-date confirmation. I’m hoping that others will chime in with their observations about the MS technique.

To be clear, the problem being solved on TechNet is inherently different from the one most folks encounter. But there are a lot of parallels.

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zero2dash, ch100

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@zero2dash Thats interesting about WSUSoffline I didnt know they filter out “snooping & telemetry” updates. Its been an absolute age since I used it. Maybe a time to revisit it should anything major change, say an (unofficial) SP3 gets released in the near future. Well all my images are done up to Oct 2016. So its probably going to have to be a radicle change to make me re-do them. As the install.wim’s are getting a bit bulky and in the case of Win8.1×64 need “splitting” and the Win7x64 are on the verge of needing to split. Interesting to note though thx 🙂

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zero2dash wrote:

I went through this last week, using the same procedure I’ve used for months now…takes an hour, tops, to get a fully updated Win7 from a fresh install of 7 Pro 64-bit SP1.

As I wrote here as anonymous some time ago, I did a fresh W7 SP1 install 2-3 weeks ago and after installation I simply ran WU which took 5 minutes (!) to find all the updates, then some time to d/l and install.

Strangely enough, for W8.1 U3 the same procedure resulted in over 3 hours of waiting just for updates applicable to appear.

ASUS PRIME Z270-K * Intel Core i7-6700 * 2 x 8 GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 2133 MHz * Aorus Radeon RX 570 4GB * Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD * SanDisk Ultra 3D 1TB SSD * DVD RW Lite-ON iHAS 124 * Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer PCI * Windows 10 Pro 21H2 64-bit

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You have the best known workaround for speeding Windows 8.1 installation here
http://wu.krelay.de/en/
Check previous months posts too, if you are not familiar with this site.

Other good options:

Use Windows Update MiniTool with the option “Include superseded”
or
If using WSUS, decline all superseded patches first and then the scan will be a it should be.

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HiFlyer, woody, zero2dash

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An earlier variation with comments from some of us 🙂 is here https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/astoica/2017/01/03/windows-7-refreshed-media-creation/

Might be clearer for most people who read here, although still tends to get into a lot of detail and enterprise administration.

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woody

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Installing KB2446710 is only cosmetic to satisfy certain WU criteria, because Microsoft removed intermediate superseded updates as part of the WU repository cleanup at some stage and now the supersedence chain is broken for very old updates. It is not harmful to install though.
What they tend to miss from recommendation is to install IE11 early, immediately after the first Servicing Stack Update, one of the KB2533552, KB3020369, KB3177467.
The best start-up installation sequence would be:

Install from ISO with SP1
KB2533552
KB2670838 – comes under Optional, that one is a must for IE10/11
IE11
KB3020369
KB3177467
Everything else from WU (Optional included or not, I would say yes, without any of the Preview patches).

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So, a Premier Field Engineer do not know some simple details about KB3177467 exclusiveness and KB3138612 being superseded by the convenience update, or that kb3172605 have the latest WUA 😀

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ch100

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Hmm…after several days, MS finally approved my post using my online name of GoneToPlaid. See:

Building Windows 7 Images in 2017

I pointed out that Microsoft used to have a published Hotfix for the Event ID 10 errors which everyone saw after installing Windows 7 SP1.

I pointed out that KB2020369 should be installed only by itself.

I pointed out that KB3125574, the Convenience Update Rollup, includes updates which may cause issues, includes the KB3133977 update which may brick some Asus computers and which will not install on Windows 7 OS versions which do not support Bitlocker, and includes updates which install telemetry. The potential for bricking of some Asus computers is not documented by MS. I pointed out that others have documented other issues and inherent flaws within this Convenience Update Rollup.

So, let me see if I have this straight. MS claimed that the Convenience Update Rollup did not include any updates which which had any other known issues aside from what is documented by Microsoft on this page:

Convenience rollup update for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

All I can say to the MS documentation linked directly above is, Oh really?

Yet more importantly, MS, by finally approving my post (this took several days), is acknowledging that the Convenience Update Rollup (KB3125574) also includes deep telemetry, yet without any disclosure whatsoever from MS that KB3125574 (the Convenience Update Rollup) includes deep telemetry.

If anyone goes down the KB3125574 route, then there are individual updates which you will want to uninstall in order to remove the deep telemetry.

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Sorry, but there are few half truths in your comments.

KB2534111 has nothing to do with the Event ID 10 errors which as you mentioned is a bug in SP1 resolved differently
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2534111/-computer-name-cannot-contain-only-numbers-error-message-when-you-install-windows-7-by-using-windows-7-sp1-integrated-installation-media

KB3125574 does not contain telemetry components. Even if they were there, you advise

If anyone goes down the KB3125574 route, then there are individual updates which you will want to uninstall in order to remove the deep telemetry.

How do you uninstall components from KB3125774?

I cannot comment about the ASUS issue and you mentioned Bitlocker.
The convenience update is supported on the Enterprise version, instructions and details were posted on Technet which is not a site for home users, but a lot of home users installed this update successfully.
What is the relationship with Bitlocker?

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Oops. I meant KB2545227, not KB2534111. I got my wires crossed. The Fix It 50688 for KB2545227 was pulled by Microsoft. See:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-hardware/windows-7-event-id-10-and-fix-it-50688/1b448c4f-e83e-47a3-a2da-f3d225161855

You say that KB3125574 does not contain telemetry components? Yes, it does. To be exact, five updates which install telemetry. Here is a list of all updates which are included in KB3125574. I have indicated the updates which install telemetry, and updates which have other known issues. See:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3cud0w70hpkxuol/KB3125574_List_of_KB_Updates.pdf

I never tried installing KB3125574, so I don’t know if the individual updates can be uninstalled. All I know is the list of updates which are included in the KB3125574 Convenience Update, as shown in my PDF document linked above.

 

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owdrtn, Elly

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I never tried installing KB3125574, so I don’t know if the individual updates can be uninstalled.

That says it all. Some of us have installed it literally hundreds of times, uninstalled it a similar number of times to see the effects, analysed supersedence, written reports endorsed by Microsoft and… I can keep going on forever.

Telemetry is a complex topic.

[Edited by Woody]

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ch100 wrote:

…How do you uninstall components from KB3125774? I cannot comment about the ASUS issue and you mentioned Bitlocker. The convenience update is supported on the Enterprise version, instructions and details were posted on Technet which is not a site for home users, but a lot of home users installed this update successfully. What is the relationship with Bitlocker?

Re the ASUS and Bitlocker issue, see:

http://www.infoworld.com/article/3065487/microsoft-windows/recommended-kb-3133977-patch-can-cause-asus-pcs-to-freeze.html

The upshot is that KB3133977 is a Bitlocker patch. This patch should only apply to Windows 7 Enterprise and Ultimate versions which support Bitlocker, yet this patch tries to install on all versions of Windows 7. That is one issue. The other issue with this patch is that on many ASUS motherboards, ASUS enabled Secure Boot in BIOS even though Windows 7 does not support Secure Boot. The result for such ASUS motherboards is that, after this patch is applied, the ASUS computer is bricked. Woody’s Infoworld article mentions two ways to “un-brick” an ASUS computer after this patch is installed.

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owdrtn, Elly

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It’s ASUS fault then

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abbodi86 wrote:

It’s ASUS fault then

Mmm…not really. Simply because Secure Boot was enabled in BIOS, the setting is ignored by any operating system which doesn’t support this feature. The real issues are that:

— KB3133977 didn’t check to see which version of Windows 7 was installed in order to determine if KB3133977 should be applied.

— And then KB3133977 tried to update Bitlocker with Secure Boot features, simply because KB3133977 saw that Secure Boot was enabled in BIOS, even though no version of Windows 7 supports Secure Boot.

The upshot is that KB3133977 wrongly tried to shoehorn Secure Boot into the Windows 7, if Secure Boot was enabled in BIOS, into the Windows 7 boot process even though Windows 7 doesn’t support Secure Boot.

 

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Currently GMT+11

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So you live in Alaska. How was your winter?

I am at UTC -7 MTS in Calgary, Alberta 😀

--------------------------------------

1. Tower Totals: 2xSSD ~512GB, 2xHHD 20 TB, Memory 32GB

SSDs: 6xOS Partitions, 2xW8.1 Main & Test, 2x10.0 Test, Pro, x64

CPU i7 2600 K, SandyBridge/CougarPoint, 4 cores, 8 Threads, 3.4 GHz
Graphics Radeon RX 580, RX 580 ONLY Over Clocked
More perishable

2xMonitors Asus DVI, Sony 55" UHD TV HDMI

1. NUC 5i7 2cores, 4 Thread, Memory 8GB, 3.1 GHz, M2SSD 140GB
1xOS W8.1 Pro, NAS Dependent, Same Sony above.

-----------------

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Alaska at +11?!
That would be way too cold for my taste. 🙂

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hahaha Ya,

A little sign problem there. I realized that later. Alaska is -11.

Your on the other side of the Date Line. Some various places that, that could be….

--------------------------------------

1. Tower Totals: 2xSSD ~512GB, 2xHHD 20 TB, Memory 32GB

SSDs: 6xOS Partitions, 2xW8.1 Main & Test, 2x10.0 Test, Pro, x64

CPU i7 2600 K, SandyBridge/CougarPoint, 4 cores, 8 Threads, 3.4 GHz
Graphics Radeon RX 580, RX 580 ONLY Over Clocked
More perishable

2xMonitors Asus DVI, Sony 55" UHD TV HDMI

1. NUC 5i7 2cores, 4 Thread, Memory 8GB, 3.1 GHz, M2SSD 140GB
1xOS W8.1 Pro, NAS Dependent, Same Sony above.

-----------------

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It is Australia.

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PhotM

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PhotM wrote:

hahaha Ya,

A little sign problem there. I realized that later. Alaska is -11.

Your on the other side of the Date Line. Some various places that, that could be….

Same side Int Date Line as Canada

UTC+11 = AEDT…..until 2 Apr the +10

Oz has 6 time zones! Not all on DST
https://www.timeanddate.com/time/zone/australia

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PhotM

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😆 LMAO At least I didn’t have a Fist Letter problem 😀 That would need to be on the East side, yes, or have I got that wrong to 😆 …..

--------------------------------------

1. Tower Totals: 2xSSD ~512GB, 2xHHD 20 TB, Memory 32GB

SSDs: 6xOS Partitions, 2xW8.1 Main & Test, 2x10.0 Test, Pro, x64

CPU i7 2600 K, SandyBridge/CougarPoint, 4 cores, 8 Threads, 3.4 GHz
Graphics Radeon RX 580, RX 580 ONLY Over Clocked
More perishable

2xMonitors Asus DVI, Sony 55" UHD TV HDMI

1. NUC 5i7 2cores, 4 Thread, Memory 8GB, 3.1 GHz, M2SSD 140GB
1xOS W8.1 Pro, NAS Dependent, Same Sony above.

-----------------

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