The best way to rebuild Windows 7 from scratch

'Sleeping' PC actually running full-blast

Instead of resting quietly in sleep mode, a reader’s PC appears to be working hard — as evidenced by a hot CPU, rapidly spinning fans, and no response to wake-up keystrokes.

Plus: What to do when backups fail because Windows keeps reassigning drive letters.

This PC’s sleep mode is anything but peaceful

Reader Robert Brenner’s “sleeping” PC sometimes acts as if it’s possessed. Robert’s using Win10, but the same problem — and solution — pertains to other Windows versions as well.

• “After being put into sleep mode for several hours, my Win10 Pro laptop will randomly run its fan at high speed and discharge hot air.

  “When I try to take it out of sleep mode and sign in, I get only a blank screen. Pressing the power button, escape key, function keys, and so forth [doesn’t wake it]. I have to hold down the power key for a forced shutdown.

  “After restarting and signing in, the fan gradually subsides to its slow-normal speed. During startup, there’s no message about anything wrong. I’ve never had this issue with Win7 Pro.

  “I have to believe that Win10 is running some sort of hidden processes or services while it’s ‘asleep.’ It might be actually doing Microsoft’s bidding, collecting things. I know of no other reason for the laptop to run the fan at its highest speed (or even be on) after apparently being asleep for hours (with no fan on). There’s nothing on the screen indicating that something is running.

  “I’ve performed malware and virus scans, and all drivers and software are up to date. Any ideas on what’s going on?

It sounds like the Windows Automatic Maintenance (WAM) system is at work. Working in conjunction with Task Scheduler, WAM can wake a sleeping PC to perform whatever maintenance tasks are in the queue.

These tasks can include running Windows Update, defragging/optimizing hard drives, doing security scans, checking for solutions to earlier Windows errors, and so on. (See the MSDN article, “Automatic Maintenance,” for Win10 and for Win8. Win10 builds on the Win8 system, and earlier Windows versions had simpler forms of WAM. But the general concepts are the same.)

These automatic tasks, especially when running in combination, can be so CPU- and/or disk-intensive that they make the PC temporarily slow to respond to user input. That’s one reason that these heavy-duty maintenance tasks are usually scheduled during sleep mode — times when maintenance won’t interfere with normal user operations.

To learn what’s going on with your system, explore Task Scheduler to see — and possibly alter, if you wish — whatever automatic maintenance is scheduled. Also check Windows’ Reliability Monitor logs for errors at the times of the seeming-hangs.

For information on Task Scheduler, see:

• “Exploring Windows’ Administrative Tools: Part 4” – Oct. 11, 2012, Top Story
• “Schedule a task” – Microsoft how-to
• “Task Scheduler” – MSDN article
• “Picking the right way to schedule Windows tasks” – Feb. 14, 2013, LangaList Plus column

For information on Windows’ Reliability Monitor, see:

• “The Windows Maintenance Challenge: Part 1” – Aug. 14, 2014, Top Story
• “Using Reliability Monitor” – TechNet article
• “How to use Reliability Monitor” – Microsoft how-to“
• “Start Reliability Monitor” – TechNet article

Backups fail due to shifting drive letters

Windows is making Donn’s backup routine difficult.

• “Hi, Fred. I’m having backup problems.

  “I was able to perform a backup using my USB-based F: drive. A week ago, I tried it again, but Windows changed the USB to E:. I plugged the drive into the E: port, but Windows said I was in error. I changed back, but it still wouldn’t work.

  “Trying to contact Microsoft didn’t help. Do you have any more suggestions? Thanks.”

First, note that USB ports don’t have drive-letter assignments — there is no “USB E:” port, for example. Drive letters are assigned to the drives themselves, regardless of which USB port they’re plugged into.

This is usually a good thing: When you plug a drive into any USB port, Windows will try to restore the previous drive-letter for that drive, so your files will appear in the same letter/location as before.

However, this approach works only if there are no other drives in the mix — and no changes to the USB system. If you have a number of USB drives, and you’re more or less promiscuous about what ports you plug them into and the order in which you insert the drives, the USB subsystem can assign multiple port/drive-letter listings for each device.

For example, if a drive’s previous drive-letter assignment is already in use (perhaps because a different drive has been plugged in and is using that drive letter), the USB system will assign the next-higher available drive letter to the drive.

Conversely, a drive with a higher drive letter might be reassigned to a lower drive letter, if a drive that previously had that lower letter is removed from the mix.

I suspect this is Donn’s problem; he built a backup task that assumed the target USB drive would always be F:. But his drive configuration changed, reassigning the backup drive to E:. The next backup failed because there was no F: drive.

There are two ways to fix this type of drive letter–assignment problem: one physical and the other software related.

The simple, physical fix: This method involves stabilizing your USB-drive configuration. If you can, leave the target drive plugged in — or, barring that, at least reconnect your USB drives the same way each time (the same drives plugged in the same order, to the same USB sockets).

The closer you can come to putting the USB subsystem back into the configuration it was in when you made the successful backup, the better the odds that Windows will remember and reuse the correct drive-letter assignments.

The software fix: Use Windows’ Disk Management console to manually assign a semi-permanent drive letter to the target drive.

For full information on the Disk Management console, see the Windows help article, “Change, add, or remove a drive letter,” and the TechNet article, “Disk Management.”

In shorthand form: With the target USB drive plugged in, type diskmgmt.msc in Windows’ Start/Run box, or in a command window. The Disk Management console will open. Right-click on the target drive and select Change Drive Letters and Paths (see Figure 1).

In the next dialog box, select the Change option to reassign the target drive a new drive letter.

Now use this trick: Pick a drive letter as close to the end of the alphabet as possible — ideally Z: or something close by.

By manually assigning a drive the highest possible letter, you’ll ensure that the drive can’t be reassigned to an even higher letter — because there are no higher letters! This trick helps ensure that your drive-letter assignment “sticks” and won’t change as other, lower-lettered USB drives come and go.

You can then set up your backup (or other drive-related) task, using that drive-letter assignment (e.g., Z:).

Combining these two steps — a stable physical USB configuration plus a manual drive-letter assignment to a drive-letter that’s resistant to change— usually resolves USB drive-assignment woes.

But if not, there’s one more trick you can try:

• Unplug all external USB devices: your drives, printers, hubs — everything.
• In Windows’ Device Manager, step through and uninstall all external USB devices. (For help, see “How to correct Device Manager hardware errors,” in the July 23, 2009, LangaList Plus column.)

  Note: If your system has been in use for a while, and/or you have a significant number of USB devices and drives, you’ll find many entries in Device Manager. This could be part of the problem: Windows might have created separate entries for each configuration of USB device you’ve ever used, leading to a welter of entries — and confusion. By removing all the entries, you’ll be simplifying and clarifying your setup.

• When you’ve removed all USB devices that can be removed, don’t plug anything back in yet. Instead, reboot (or click Device Manager’s Action/Scan for hardware changes menu item). Windows will then rebuild your core USB setup.
• Now, plug in your USB devices, one by one. Start with the important, long-term, and relatively unchanging devices — keyboards, mice, hubs, printers, semi-permanent external backup drives, and so forth. Leave for last less-important and transient USB devices such as small thumb drives, cameras, and such.

When you’re done, make a mental note of the configuration, especially as to which ports your backup drive(s) are plugged into, and what order you plugged them in.

In the future, putting things back in the original locations and order should help Windows remember which drive is which and what letters should be assigned to each drive.

The best way to rebuild Windows 7 from scratch

A new or (more typically) rebuilt Win7 system requires some extra care to get fully patched.

The updating process can be long and tedious; here’s how to get through it as quickly as possible.

Windows 10 is rapidly becoming the preferred operating system, but there are millions of Win7 machines still in use. If you’re rebuilding a Win7 PC from scratch, or you’re setting up a new virtual machine, or you’ve looked around and found a new system to purchase, you’re going to have to install over 200 updates to get it current. That process is not just time consuming, it can also be tricky.

Here’s the quick list of steps for getting a Win7 system fully patched and working well. I’ll go into each step further below.

• Step 1. Start by determining whether you have the original release-to-manufacturer version of Win7 or you have Win7 Service Pack 1 (SP1)
• Step 2. If you need SP1, download it ahead of time.
• Step 3. Download an enterprise update rollup that is closest to SP2 for Win7.
• Step 4. Download IE 11.
• Step 5. Download and install the latest Windows Update client update.
• Step 6. Enable Microsoft Update to ensure that all remaining updates are installed.
• Step 7. Finish installing all offered updates.

Here are the details.

Determine whether you have Windows 7 SP1

If you built your Win7 installation from media on hand, it might not include the critical Service Pack 1. To check, click Start/Control Panel/System. The System panel notes whether Service Pack 1 is installed. If you’ve recently purchased a new PC with Win7, it will most likely have SP1. But check anyway. (If it doesn’t have SP1, take the machine back! It’s not new.)

If you don’t have SP1, manually download it to your machine. But first, there’s one more confirmation you need to make before you acquire it. Check whether you have 32- or 64-bit Windows. Most systems purchased within the past several years are 64 bit.

But an older machine — especially laptops — might have shipped with a 32-bit edition. In the aforementioned System panel, look for System type; it should say either “32-bit Operating System” or “64-bit Operating System.”

You can download the service pack from the Microsoft Download Center as KB 976932. Click the big red download button and, on the page that appears, scroll down to the bottom of the list of offered files. Look for the unintuitively named windows6.1-KB976932. For 32-bit machines, choose x86.exe file; for 64-bit machines, select x64.exe (see Figure 2).

Download the equivalent of “Service Pack 2”

Microsoft has never released an official SP2 for Win7, despite requests for it from many MS customers. The closest we can get is an enterprise rollup, KB 2775511. This bundle of updates includes over 90 hotfixes released after SP1.

You find the download for the rollup on the Microsoft Update Catalog site. In Internet Explorer (you must use IE), enter 2775511 in the upper-right search bar and click Search. If an ActiveX control pops up (see Figure 3) requesting access, allow it; it’s needed to download the patch.

Click Add to place the download into your “basket.” Next, click the basket icon (upper-right corner of the window) and download the file to either your computer’s hard drive or a flash drive. (Note: I you have problems with downloading this update, skip it. It will simple take somewhat longer to add all updates.)

Download Internet Explorer 11

As of Jan. 12, Version 11 is the only supported version of IE on Win7 systems. If you don’t already have it, head over to the IE 11 download site and store the upgrade file on the PC or a flash drive.

In theory, you should be able add IE 11 from Windows Update. But that failed on the system I was building for this article. I had to use the file I downloaded manually.

Download Windows Update client

The last download is February’s patch for the Windows Update (WU) client — KB 3135445. Put it with your other downloads.

This is important because some Win7 systems are suffering a malady that hit Windows XP. You’ll see the Windows process svchost take up 100 percent of CPU resources during WU scans. The latest WU client prevents this problem.

(June 2015 WU update KB 3050265 mentions this issue in Win7 systems with smaller amounts of RAM. But even systems with 4GB of RAM have been affected. The fix for that problem was in the February WU patch.)

Manually install the downloaded updates

Add these updates one at a time, accepting system reboots when requested. Next, click Control Panel/Windows Update and select the Change settings link. Look for the Microsoft Update (MU) option and ensure that it’s enabled (checked). MU patches other Microsoft applications such as Office, whereas Windows Update patches only the Windows operating system.

(Enabling Microsoft Update isn’t critical for anyone running Office 2016; the suite now uses Click-to-Run to deploy all updates once a month.)

The final install of patches

With Service Pack 1 (if needed), the Enterprise rollup, IE 11, and the WU client update all installed, it’s time to manually run Windows/Microsoft Update to scan for the remaining patches.

But before we do, I recommend one last preventative addition: install the GWX Control Panel app (download site) to block Windows 10. Enable the option to disable the Win10 upgrade.

Now, in Windows Update, click the Check for updates link in the left column.

If you set up GWX Control Panel, you should not be offered KB 3035583, the prep update for Win10. Also, though I don’t pass on any security updates, I did skip nonsecurity patches that I don’t feel were needed by my system — for example, KB 3102429, an update that supports Azerbaijani Manat and Georgian Lari currency symbols in Windows.

You might find that as you patch the remaining 100 or so updates, some will fail. Simply reboot your system and let any pending patches install. Then manually scan again and try again to install the failed updates. Typically, a system reboot and a second try does the trick.

At this point, you should have a fully patched Win7 machine. It’s a much more difficult process than it should be, but eventually you’ll get there.

Two final steps: Make whatever user customizations you prefer and then make a full image backup of the completed system.

Comparing notes on Office on Windows 10

Lounge member JytteC has three new PCs, all equipped with Windows 10.

He bought Office 2016 and installed it on all three machines, with such unhappy results that he took off the new Office and reinstalled the old Office 2003! Now, all is well again, he says to his fellow Loungers in the Windows 10 forum.

Whereupon Loungers compare their Office on Windows experiences. You might find it all instructive.

The following links are this week’s most interesting Lounge threads, including several new questions for which you might have answers:

Office Applications
General Productivity	Can you tell how many Office activations on key?
Word Processing	Keeping a logbook in Word
Spreadsheets	Increasing memory performance of Excel without moving to 64-bit Office
Databases	Mystified by Access 2013 difference on two PCs
Visual Basic for Apps	Use Excel to get result
Microsoft Outlook	Outlook 2013 damaged by recent Win10 update
Non-Outlook E-mail	Thunderbird problems connecting to server
Windows
Windows 10	Office 2003 on Windows 10 works fine
Windows 8	Win8 vs. 8.1 system-image backups
Windows 7	Chkdsk hangs
Windows Vista	Good browser for Windows Vista
Windows XP	Frozen pointer and BSOD
Windows Servers	Win2K3 Srv creating new user accounts on boot
Internet/Connectivity
Internet Explorer and Edge	IE 11 crashing
Third-Party Browsers	Can’t type @ symbol in Chrome
Networking	Win10 1511 network problem
Other Technologies
Security & Scams	SuperAntiSpyware and tracking cookie
Maintenance	Recommend cloning program?
Hardware	How to make laptop-battery power last longer?
Other Applications	Xplorer2 Pro: better than PowerDesk Pro from 2015 Ultimate utility list

starred posts: particularly useful

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