Win 7 - Long Term Plan?

I like Win 7 and have no plan to move to Win 10 at any time in the
near future, possibly ever. I'm getting too old for the kind of BS
and trauma MS creates. I'm referring to forced updates, undocumented
updates, and user interface nonsense they expect us to put up with.

I have 2 fairly new desktops with legal OEM Win 7 Pro x64 installed.
I'm hoping they might last longer than I do, but if not, I'd like to
have a plan in place.

I have the working original OEM install discs.

I make periodic Images with Macrium Reflect, for use if a major
problem occurs.

For a fresh install of Win 7 in the future, I'm wondering if there is
a way (and if it's practical and makes sense) to make a list of the
updates I would want to install and find them in the form of
executable files. I'd then save them to DVD's or whatever, to be used
if and when I need them.

Opinions & Ideas welcome.

DC

On Sun, 01 Nov 2015 15:22:56 -0600, wrote:
For a fresh install of Win 7 in the future, I'm wondering if there is
a way (and if it's practical and makes sense) to make a list of the
updates I would want to install and find them in the form of
executable files. I'd then save them to DVD's or whatever, to be used
if and when I need them.

The information is out there on the Web, but I don't blame you for
not finding it because you probably don't know the right buzz word.
I've been in that position on other occasions.

Do a Google search for "slipstream windows updates" (without the
quotes), and you'll find many guides to doing pretty much what you
want.

The first hit I saw with that search was Lifehacker:

http://lifehacker.com/how-to-slipstr...tes-into-your-
installatio-1562956432

I just skimmed it, but in general they're pretty good. But there are
plenty of other good links there too.


--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://BrownMath.com/
http://OakRoadSystems.com/
Shikata ga nai...

wrote:
I like Win 7 and have no plan to move to Win 10 at any time in the
near future, possibly ever. I'm getting too old for the kind of BS
and trauma MS creates. I'm referring to forced updates, undocumented
updates, and user interface nonsense they expect us to put up with.

I have 2 fairly new desktops with legal OEM Win 7 Pro x64 installed.
I'm hoping they might last longer than I do, but if not, I'd like to
have a plan in place.

I have the working original OEM install discs.

I make periodic Images with Macrium Reflect, for use if a major
problem occurs.

For a fresh install of Win 7 in the future, I'm wondering if there is
a way (and if it's practical and makes sense) to make a list of the
updates I would want to install and find them in the form of
executable files. I'd then save them to DVD's or whatever, to be used
if and when I need them.

Opinions & Ideas welcome.

DC


I'm keeping one PC going on Win7, but I'm relying on regular Macrium
Reflex images alone. It is an OEM box, and it still has factory reset
available, but I've discarded using that except as a very, very last resort.
Not only would you have to run OS updates, but new drivers, all
installed programs, all personal files, and a vast amount more.

I can appreciate your belt-and-braces caution. Do you think I'm being
under-cautious?

Ed

Aside from the updates preferences, you might
want to consider getting a full retail disk if you
really want to stay with Win7. It doesn't need
to be Pro, but an OEM disk is only licensed for
the machine it's on. You can't legally put it on
another box and may have a lot of trouble doing
so if you try. That means that despite all of your
backup and caution, your Win7 may be only as safe
as your motherboard. If you have a retail disk you
can install as much as you want to, as long as it's
only one machine at a time.

DennyCrane asked:

For a fresh install of Win 7 in the future, I'm wondering if there is
a way (and if it's practical and makes sense) to make a list of the
updates I would want to install and find them in the form of
executable files. I'd then save them to DVD's or whatever, to be
used if and when I need them.

WSUSoffline

Build your own update repository. Use after a fresh install to apply
all the updates, or those you want, without having to download them all
again from Microsoft. Have them on hand even after Microsoft
discontinues support. Doesn't require an install. Put in any folder
you want after unzip. I usually unzip under a WSUSoffline_version
folder because I keep older versions that retrieved updates for old
products that newer versions of WSUSoffline no longer supports.

http://www.wsusoffline.net/docs/
Don't bother with his home page unless you can read German. The other
pages are in English.

He has forums to ask for help on using it; however, my recollection is
that he somewhat expects you know how Microsoft's WSUS servers work, so
do some homework and research before asking.

Obviously not smart to put the wsusoffline folder in the same partition
(drive) as the OS since you'll be wiping that partition to do a fresh
[re]install. Although the initial interface is graphical for selecting
what repositories you want to build, the program runs as a console-mode
process (i.e., in a DOS window). This is similar to how many graphics
converter or media player software works: they present a graphical front
end but issue background calls to FFmpeg. When you click Start in
WSUSoffline's GUI, it opens a command shell within which it runs its
commands.

In its config, you might want to include CRTs (C runtimes) and .NET
frameworks and updates so you don't end up having to retrieve those from
Microsoft to updat a fresh install. I think service packs are included
by default. If you tell it to create .iso images of each product, it
will create ISO images in addition to (not instead of) its update
repository. Those are handy to burn to optical disc media so you have
them on hand if the disk fails where you have the WSUSoffline
repositories, or to tote to other computers where you are doing a fresh
install of Windows or Office.

It takes a long for WSUSoffline to download the updates as it would for
you; however, you can use your idle time to update the WSUSoffline
repositories to get a full first set of repositories and then
incrementally update them later. Obviously the more products you select
for it to retrieve updates, and creating ISOs, means it takes longer to
finish the selected tasks.

Mayayana wrote:
Aside from the updates preferences, you might
want to consider getting a full retail disk if you
really want to stay with Win7.



Getting harder and harder to find a full version retail edition of Win7
on disk. Newegg.com only has Win7 Home or Pro full retail on USB or
download ($120, $199 respectively)

--
....winston

| Getting harder and harder to find a full version retail edition of Win7
| on disk. Newegg.com only has Win7 Home or Pro full retail on USB or
| download ($120, $199 respectively)
|

That sounds like OEM pricing. Buycheapsoftware.com
is advertising full retail box Win7 Pro for $284. I would
expect Home to be about $100 less.
(The name "buycheapsoftware" doesn't sound very
auspicious, but I've bought from them several times
in the past.)

But they have Win8.1 full Home for $103. Maybe that's
a possibility for people who consider 8/8.1 to be a
usable product.

As I'm sure you know, it's important to make sure
what one buys is not OEM if one wants insurance for
the future. On the other hand, spending nearly $300
for a license that one already has would be a painful
investment.

Per ...winston:
Getting harder and harder to find a full version retail edition of Win7
on disk. Newegg.com only has Win7 Home or Pro full retail on USB or
download ($120, $199 respectively)

I just paid eighty bucks on Amazon last week, and now I see it's down to
$49.... go figu http://tinyurl.com/nf6r9ds
--
Pete Cresswell

On Sun, 1 Nov 2015 16:40:20 -0500, Stan Brown
wrote:

On Sun, 01 Nov 2015 15:22:56 -0600, wrote:
For a fresh install of Win 7 in the future, I'm wondering if there is
a way (and if it's practical and makes sense) to make a list of the
updates I would want to install and find them in the form of
executable files. I'd then save them to DVD's or whatever, to be used
if and when I need them.

The information is out there on the Web, but I don't blame you for
not finding it because you probably don't know the right buzz word.
I've been in that position on other occasions.

Do a Google search for "slipstream windows updates" (without the
quotes), and you'll find many guides to doing pretty much what you
want.

The first hit I saw with that search was Lifehacker:

http://lifehacker.com/how-to-slipstr...tes-into-your-
installatio-1562956432

I just skimmed it, but in general they're pretty good. But there are
plenty of other good links there too.

Thanks, Stan. But I don't want to slipstream, just collect and save
individual files for each update I would want to use if I ever need to
Install from scratch.

DC

On Sun, 01 Nov 2015 23:17:53 +0100, FredW
wrote:

On Sun, 01 Nov 2015 15:22:56 -0600, wrote:

For a fresh install of Win 7 in the future, I'm wondering if there is
a way (and if it's practical and makes sense) to make a list of the
updates I would want to install and find them in the form of
executable files. I'd then save them to DVD's or whatever, to be used
if and when I need them.

Use WSUS Offline Update to download all (most) updates for your Windows:
http://www.wsusoffline.net/docs/

Version history and download:
http://download.wsusoffline.net/

When you want to re-install Windows 7, use WSUS Offline Update to
download most Window Updates.

After a fresh install of, you can let this program update the
reinstalled Windows without having to go online.

After this you go online to find missing Windows Updates.

I have done this several times, very convenient.


Thanks, but this is more complicated than I want to get into. I would
want to collect individual files for each desirable update. Then if I
ever want to install any of them I could dos so one or a few at a
time.

DC

On Sun, 1 Nov 2015 22:58:17 +0000, Ed Cryer
wrote:

wrote:
I like Win 7 and have no plan to move to Win 10 at any time in the
near future, possibly ever. I'm getting too old for the kind of BS
and trauma MS creates. I'm referring to forced updates, undocumented
updates, and user interface nonsense they expect us to put up with.

I have 2 fairly new desktops with legal OEM Win 7 Pro x64 installed.
I'm hoping they might last longer than I do, but if not, I'd like to
have a plan in place.

I have the working original OEM install discs.

I make periodic Images with Macrium Reflect, for use if a major
problem occurs.

For a fresh install of Win 7 in the future, I'm wondering if there is
a way (and if it's practical and makes sense) to make a list of the
updates I would want to install and find them in the form of
executable files. I'd then save them to DVD's or whatever, to be used
if and when I need them.

Opinions & Ideas welcome.

DC


I'm keeping one PC going on Win7, but I'm relying on regular Macrium
Reflex images alone. It is an OEM box, and it still has factory reset
available, but I've discarded using that except as a very, very last resort.
Not only would you have to run OS updates, but new drivers, all
installed programs, all personal files, and a vast amount more.

I can appreciate your belt-and-braces caution. Do you think I'm being
under-cautious?

Ed

Hi Ed,

You're not be under-cautious. If it feels good, do it.

DC

| I just paid eighty bucks on Amazon last week, and now I see it's down to
| $49.... go figu http://tinyurl.com/nf6r9ds

I see 62.85. But that's OEM. It's important to
recognize the difference. Full version can be
installed on any number of machines as long as
it's one at a time. OEM is not licensed for more
than one machine. It's possible you could use it
twice and fasttalk the people at MS into giving
you a key, but in general it will refuse to activate
on a second machine unless it's got the same
motherboard. In other words, OEM is like a
disposable, single-use copy of Windows.

I suppose that if you can get OEM for very
cheap, then maybe that's not a bad idea. At
$49 or $62.85 you could possibly buy several
OEM disks for less than the cost of a full version
disk. Then if you don't have more hardware
failures than disks you'll be alright. Either way,
if you're running OEM you'll lose it if there's something
like a close lightning strike or shorted-out power
supply that kills the motherboard.

On Sun, 1 Nov 2015 18:21:45 -0500, "Mayayana"
wrote:

Aside from the updates preferences, you might
want to consider getting a full retail disk if you
really want to stay with Win7. It doesn't need
to be Pro, but an OEM disk is only licensed for
the machine it's on. You can't legally put it on
another box and may have a lot of trouble doing
so if you try. That means that despite all of your
backup and caution, your Win7 may be only as safe
as your motherboard. If you have a retail disk you
can install as much as you want to, as long as it's
only one machine at a time.



This is not a problem. Advanced Tokens Manager (free software) can
save and restore your activation data, even if you've changed some
hardware. I've used it and it works.

Right now the author's site is not responding but if you want to have
a look later, here's the URL:

http://joshcellsoftwares.com/product...tokensmanager/

Meanwhile, if you want to know more about it look he

http://www.howtogeek.com/75496/how-t...to-reactivate/

DC

Mayayana wrote:
| Getting harder and harder to find a full version retail edition of Win7
| on disk. Newegg.com only has Win7 Home or Pro full retail on USB or
| download ($120, $199 respectively)
|

That sounds like OEM pricing. Buycheapsoftware.com
is advertising full retail box Win7 Pro for $284. I would
expect Home to be about $100 less.
(The name "buycheapsoftware" doesn't sound very
auspicious, but I've bought from them several times
in the past.)

But they have Win8.1 full Home for $103. Maybe that's
a possibility for people who consider 8/8.1 to be a
usable product.

As I'm sure you know, it's important to make sure
what one buys is not OEM if one wants insurance for
the future. On the other hand, spending nearly $300
for a license that one already has would be a painful
investment.


No, those prices were for full version retail (non-OEM)
OEM W7 Home = $100
OEM W7 Pro = $140

OEM is one DVD (32 or ^4 bit)
Retail is two DVDs (32 and 64 bit)

Newegg is now out of stock on retail full version editions (Home and Pro)

--
....winston

(PeteCresswell) wrote:
Per ...winston:
Getting harder and harder to find a full version retail edition of Win7
on disk. Newegg.com only has Win7 Home or Pro full retail on USB or
download ($120, $199 respectively)

I just paid eighty bucks on Amazon last week, and now I see it's down to
$49.... go figu http://tinyurl.com/nf6r9ds



Apple to orange.
- you linked to an OEM version. OEM is not retail full version that
was recommended elsewhere.
OEM is one DVD per pack (32 or 64 bit)
Retail full IS 2 DVD's (32 and 64 bit)


--
....winston