Going to be installing Windows 7 fresh on a SSD, please advise

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NathanP2007

[H]ard|Gawd
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Dec 17, 2007
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Okay so I just bought a PC I built for my brother back from him to use as my HTPC. I just bought a SSD to install Windows 7 (Pro, 64-bit) on it as well. As of right now I only own the Windows 7 (Pro 64-bit) disc that doesn't have SP1 on it. In the recent past I did this for my parents PC but it didn't go well. I got stuck in the loop of Windows Update hanging and eventually had to give up (couldn't troubleshoot around it) and buying Windows 10 and just installing that.

Since then (recently in fact) I have found posts on here showing me how I'd likely get around that if it was to happen again. Like this:

There are two updates that need to be applied when you are not connected to the Internet (this is what screws most people up when they apply them) - for whatever reason if you're actually online when you go to apply these update (done so in numerical order) it doesn't actually fix the long-time wait and see bullshit that so many people are having trouble with. Download the two updates from the Microsoft pages below (if you haven't done that already or installed them), disconnect from the Internet, and install the updates with a reboot between each (sadly it actually seems to matter) and then you shouldn't have any extended delays with updates. It will still be slow on the first big update but subsequent attempts should work much faster.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3138612

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS16-039 - Critical
​
I am also aware of the recent "Convenience Rollup" which looks great, though I am not exactly sure when it can be used (what has to be installed before you use it?)

What would be great, I have no clue if it exists or not, is if there is an ISO out there with the most recent Windows 7 Pro 64-bit (w/ SP1) version on it, that isn't shady, can be put on a USB thumb drive and installed on my SSD, then if need be install those two updates linked above, then install the Convenience Rollup and be (basically) fully upgraded. If that doesn't exist than oh well, I'll take all the tips and advice you can give me.
 
Your best course of action is to create your own ISO, and I just wrote a guide last night for someone else which you can find here (I didn't give the thread the title you see below, mind you):

Windows 7 SP1 Fully Patched 1 hour

It's up to you to do it or not but I personally wouldn't trust any ISOs posted online by anyone else - I know that sorta-kinda flies in the face of making your own ISO using something you get from someone else but for me personally, having done that so many times (and I've used the System File Checker in Windows 7 to verify that every file is solid and has the necessary Microsoft digital signatures without issues), it's second nature to create a new ISO for myself once a month, takes a few minutes and it's done and I can use that ISO (moved to an 8GB USB stick, of course since it's larger than I can burn on a DVD5 and I don't use dual layer DVD media) to install a completely updated Windows 7 as of the time the update pack happened to be released (and it doesn't have any of the Windows 10 related bullshit, updates, nagware, forced updates or the retroactive telemetry either).

As for using Windows 7, what I discovered as of today is that if you install Windows 7 SP1 clean and stop at that point - meaning you have no updates past the original SP1 files - you need to install 4 updates which will resolve most if not all of the delays and slow updating but you must download these updates manually, disconnect from your Internet connection entirely and then install them - if you're online when you attempt to install them they will try to grab other files in the process which breaks the actual update purpose. I know it sounds fucked up and it is, so thank Microsoft for that - just remember to download them manually to your machine, disconnect, install the updates, reboot, then get back online and hit Windows Update and see what happens:

KB3102810
KB3138612
KB3145739
KB3153199

I tested those on a VM just last night, installed Windows 7 Professional from SP1 media with nothing else, then installed those 4 updates manually, then rebooted and checked for updates and it took all of 2 minutes to find what was necessary to install (like 247 updates) and that's on an i7 quad core laptop using hard drives (still no SSDs for me). I can't say it'll go any faster or slower for you or anyone else, just saying those 4 updates installed while you're offline as noted and it should work fine.
 
Tiberian said:
Your best course of action is to create your own ISO, and I just wrote a guide last night for someone else which you can find here (I didn't give the thread the title you see below, mind you):

Windows 7 SP1 Fully Patched 1 hour

It's up to you to do it or not but I personally wouldn't trust any ISOs posted online by anyone else - I know that sorta-kinda flies in the face of making your own ISO using something you get from someone else but for me personally, having done that so many times (and I've used the System File Checker in Windows 7 to verify that every file is solid and has the necessary Microsoft digital signatures without issues), it's second nature to create a new ISO for myself once a month, takes a few minutes and it's done and I can use that ISO (moved to an 8GB USB stick, of course since it's larger than I can burn on a DVD5 and I don't use dual layer DVD media) to install a completely updated Windows 7 as of the time the update pack happened to be released (and it doesn't have any of the Windows 10 related bullshit, updates, nagware, forced updates or the retroactive telemetry either).

As for using Windows 7, what I discovered as of today is that if you install Windows 7 SP1 clean and stop at that point - meaning you have no updates past the original SP1 files - you need to install 4 updates which will resolve most if not all of the delays and slow updating but you must download these updates manually, disconnect from your Internet connection entirely and then install them - if you're online when you attempt to install them they will try to grab other files in the process which breaks the actual update purpose. I know it sounds fucked up and it is, so thank Microsoft for that - just remember to download them manually to your machine, disconnect, install the updates, reboot, then get back online and hit Windows Update and see what happens:

KB3102810
KB3138612
KB3145739
KB3153199

I tested those on a VM just last night, installed Windows 7 Professional from SP1 media with nothing else, then installed those 4 updates manually, then rebooted and checked for updates and it took all of 2 minutes to find what was necessary to install (like 247 updates) and that's on an i7 quad core laptop using hard drives (still no SSDs for me). I can't say it'll go any faster or slower for you or anyone else, just saying those 4 updates installed while you're offline as noted and it should work fine.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I will definitely save that but to be honest it looks a bit more complicated than you say it is (not a critique). Considering I am getting the SSD today I am likely more inclined (for right now) to just use my Win7 DVD to install the OS and then update to the point that SP1 has just installed and then disconnect the internet and install those four updates manually then reconnect the internet and go along with updating the PC using Windows Update. I am thinking I will be doing this process again on another HDD (fresh installing Win7) so I will give your guide a try to make a USB thumb drive with Wn7 SP1 Fully Patched, but for now that guide looks like it would push my comfort level a bit far. Thanks though! Love your comment and guide.
 
I've had good luck just installing Win7 w/SP1 and then adding the latest Windows Update client patch. I didn't even use the other ones, I just install the most recent one and got the patches very quickly that way. Installation on an SSD is fast.
 
Tiberian said:
Your best course of action is to create your own ISO, and I just wrote a guide last night for someone else which you can find here (I didn't give the thread the title you see below, mind you):

Windows 7 SP1 Fully Patched 1 hour

It's up to you to do it or not but I personally wouldn't trust any ISOs posted online by anyone else - I know that sorta-kinda flies in the face of making your own ISO using something you get from someone else but for me personally, having done that so many times (and I've used the System File Checker in Windows 7 to verify that every file is solid and has the necessary Microsoft digital signatures without issues), it's second nature to create a new ISO for myself once a month, takes a few minutes and it's done and I can use that ISO (moved to an 8GB USB stick, of course since it's larger than I can burn on a DVD5 and I don't use dual layer DVD media) to install a completely updated Windows 7 as of the time the update pack happened to be released (and it doesn't have any of the Windows 10 related bullshit, updates, nagware, forced updates or the retroactive telemetry either).

As for using Windows 7, what I discovered as of today is that if you install Windows 7 SP1 clean and stop at that point - meaning you have no updates past the original SP1 files - you need to install 4 updates which will resolve most if not all of the delays and slow updating but you must download these updates manually, disconnect from your Internet connection entirely and then install them - if you're online when you attempt to install them they will try to grab other files in the process which breaks the actual update purpose. I know it sounds fucked up and it is, so thank Microsoft for that - just remember to download them manually to your machine, disconnect, install the updates, reboot, then get back online and hit Windows Update and see what happens:

KB3102810
KB3138612
KB3145739
KB3153199

I tested those on a VM just last night, installed Windows 7 Professional from SP1 media with nothing else, then installed those 4 updates manually, then rebooted and checked for updates and it took all of 2 minutes to find what was necessary to install (like 247 updates) and that's on an i7 quad core laptop using hard drives (still no SSDs for me). I can't say it'll go any faster or slower for you or anyone else, just saying those 4 updates installed while you're offline as noted and it should work fine.
Click to expand...

You've probably seen Paul Thurrott's article about the Convenience Rollup, but an interesting thing was that he posted direct links to the two versions of the CRs, no IE necessary:
He also noted that he'd been told that KB3102810 and KB3083710 were necessary to get the Win7 updater unstuck; I notice you listed the former but not the latter.
 
pendragon1 said:
try this page: Windows 7
Click to expand...

I'd LOVE for that to work but when I input any of my Keys the only language options I get are non-english. And before you ask, my keys were bought from Newegg in America, OEM versions of Windows. No clue why I can only select Korean for the key I am currently dealing with.
 
Not sure if you're into torrents but, you can find the necessary ISOs at this link which provides .torrent files to download them (and turn off your ad-blocker if you can before visiting, the guy has been providing that service for a while now and may end up closing it because he's not getting any help from those people hitting the site with ad-blockers enabled - nothing fishy going on, he's providing a service and it's worth a few tiny banner ads IMO):

Microsoft DigitalRiver Mirror

You/'d be looking for en_* ISOs obviously for English, and you'd want to get the "u" version of whatever edition you're interested in (Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate). The "u" version is the last official posted SP1 media ISO that Microsoft released a few years ago. And of course verify the checksums after the download - the checksums posted on that page for each ISO are identical to the ones posted at MSDN for each ISO so, these files he's providing are untouched, they are the real deal so they are about as safe as they can be considering.

evilsofa:

Never seen that other update you mentioned, all I would make use of personally are the 4 KB numbers that I've used myself to alleviate the slow glitchy crap Microsoft is causing (my personal opinion so take it as such). Will look into it with some research, however.
 
evilsofa said:
You've probably seen Paul Thurrott's article about the Convenience Rollup, but an interesting thing was that he posted direct links to the two versions of the CRs, no IE necessary:
He also noted that he'd been told that KB3102810 and KB3083710 were necessary to get the Win7 updater unstuck; I notice you listed the former but not the latter.
Click to expand...

I had not read that article yet, thank you! Yeah I have found those direct links, but it is always great to get them again. As for the update you wrote that I didn't list, I actually have this one instead:
Windows Update Client for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2: March 2016 -- KB3138612. It is just a newer version of what you wrote.
 
Tiberian said:
Not sure if you're into torrents but, you can find the necessary ISOs at this link which provides .torrent files to download them (and turn off your ad-blocker if you can before visiting, the guy has been providing that service for a while now and may end up closing it because he's not getting any help from those people hitting the site with ad-blockers enabled - nothing fishy going on, he's providing a service and it's worth a few tiny banner ads IMO):

Microsoft DigitalRiver Mirror

You/'d be looking for en_* ISOs obviously for English, and you'd want to get the "u" version of whatever edition you're interested in (Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate). The "u" version is the last official posted SP1 media ISO that Microsoft released a few years ago. And of course verify the checksums after the download - the checksums posted on that page for each ISO are identical to the ones posted at MSDN for each ISO so, these files he's providing are untouched, they are the real deal so they are about as safe as they can be considering.
Click to expand...

Awesome! I will most definitely download the Windows 7 Pro 64-bit (SP1). Exactly what I am looking for. I have never slipstreamed, but I imagine that is what people are doing now with the rollup right? Taking Win7 ISO on a USB, slipstreaming in the rollup and its prerequisite and then maybe a few other things so with that USB they can fresh install Windows 7 and it be almost entirely up to date?

(Also, is it possible to download the ISO from the site you linked and then remove the ei.cfg file so it actually becomes my choice when installing Windows in regards to which version I want?)
 
Glanced over that article by Thurrott and found nothing of interest for me, the fact that I make my own ISO using that UpdatePack alleviates pretty much every single issue people are having but of course that process ain't for everyone. It's just easier for me to do it that way and it's done in about 1-1.5 hours which is nothing compared to an entire month of time really, it just integrates in the background while I'm watching a movie or whatever and I don't even think about it anymore. I keep the previous install.wim in that TempUpdatePack folder on my hard drive and just push the newest UpdatePack .exe to it and let 'er rip once a month and it's done.

Anyway, Thurrott makes it sound like that process he went through is a nightmare and it's not, it's just time consuming and what with Microsoft's breaking shit constantly with Windows 7 it just requires vastly more time than necessary. simplix has made it easier for people to get themselves a fully updated install.wim for use but again it's not for everyone. I made that guide to be as thorough as possible but it's still up to the end user to decide if it's for them or not.

When compared to the sheer amount of updates required to download from Windows Update and all the bullshit going on, I can't personally think of or recommend any other course of action if you're intent on using Windows 7 as myself and many many others will continue to do in spite of Microsoft's best efforts to completely FUBAR things as often as they can.

As for the post you just made, I don't slipstream as the term is commonly used (from XP days), but I am doing an integration using the UpdatePack mentioned in that guide I wrote. That's my only course of action at this point, and it's the only method I recommend personally.

Once you have the ISO (verified by checksum so you know it's accurate) you can delete the ei.cfg file in the \sources directory using a tool like PowerISO or UltraISO or whatever allows you to do ISO editing. Personally I don't edit the ISO itself - my original SP1 u ISOs are complete and untouched always: since I know I'll be transferring the ISO to a USB stick (using either the Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool that Microsoft created or sometimes Rufus depending on the situation) and then just delete the ei.cfg from the \sources directory on the USB stick itself which is probably easier for some folk than editing the ISO file directly.
 
NathanP2007 said:
I had not read that article yet, thank you! Yeah I have found those direct links, but it is always great to get them again. As for the update you wrote that I didn't list, I actually have this one instead:
Windows Update Client for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2: March 2016 -- KB3138612. It is just a newer version of what you wrote.
Click to expand...

Hm, the "Update Replacement information" section for KB3138612 states "This update doesn't replace a previously released update", while that section for KB308710 states "This update replaces update 3083324." There's more third-party info about what KB3138612 is here.
 
SFB:

Neat tool there with that ISO Download one, practically brand new (just released a few days ago) so that could prove useful to many people (I've already got those ISOs safely stashed in multiple locations as already noted) but thanks for sharing that info just the same.
 
There are links to the direct downloads of the specific rollup installers (32 and 64 bit) in this very thread in post #6 above, no IE needed at all.
 
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