Download Windows Vista K with SP2 integrated

Windows Vista service pack 2 provides many security fixes and brings performance improvements to the good, old Windows Vista operating system. Download the ISO file using the magnet links below:

• magnet:?xt=urn:btih:9fbe9250a1f61eec15c8e84c61bd1bc6d37e1394
• magnet:?xt=urn:btih:ffdb4ab6a9e7beb45b9ae191478a10bf20c101c6

Windows 7 Boot Floppy For OEM Activation

Although floppy diskettes are now obsolete and has become a thing of the past, they can be quite useful when Windows 7 or Windows Vista need to be activated. Floppy diskettes can only hold 1.44 MB of data, but that's enough for holding tools necessary for Windows activation. The floppy will contain MS-DOS system files, GRUB4DOS and tools to soft-mod the BIOS. Unfortunately, new and recent computers don't have floppy drives. Still, we can work around without a floppy if we use a USB flash drive or a bootloader, such as syslinux. Get the floppy image here.

• win7boot.flp

The bootable floppy runs a small program that artificially inserts OEM SLIC signature into BIOS for the purpose of Windows activation before booting into Windows. There are 3 utilities included in the floppy.

• loadslic.exe
• softmod.exe
• grub.exe

Loadslic and softmod do the same job of loading SLIC into BIOS. Softmod loads a file named SLIC.BIN into BIOS, but loadslic contains a SLIC code in itself. If you want to change the OEM SLIC loaded by loadslic, you have to hack the loadslic binary with a hex editor. The AUTOEXEC.BAT file by default runs softmod, but you can edit AUTOEXEC.BAT to have it run loadslic. The following is AUTOEXEC.BAT contents:

@ECHO OFF
SOFTMOD
GRUB

Get the SLIC file for your computer and save it as SLIC.BIN. Then, create an empty file named WIN7 in C:\BOOT folder. This file is used to tell GRUB which partition you want to boot. The following is MENU.LST contents that Grub uses to find and boot Windows.

timeout 0
default 0
fallback 0
hiddenmenu

title Windows 7
find --set-root /boot/win7
chainloader /bootmgr

Finally, write the floppy image to a floppy with Winimage and restart the computer. If you don't have a floppy, use another bootloader, such as syslinux, to boot from the floppy image. Once you get into Windows, use slmgr to activate Windows.

slmgr -ilc oemcert.xrm-ms
slmgr -ipk XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

Install GRUB4DOS and Use loadslic command to Activate Windows 7/Vista and Server 2008/2011

One of the activation methods available for activating Windows is by using the mechanism called “System Locked Pre-installation” (also known as SLP).

This method is widely used on computers and hardware sold by OEM manufacturers. Microsoft has come up with this scheme to allow hardware vendors to mass-produce and sell computers with Windows pre-installed. Computers that are activated using SLP method each have a vendor-specific signature embedded in the BIOS, called SLIC (software licensing description table).

To use the SLP method, the computer must have a special BIOS that has OEM SLIC signature. The SLIC signature is unique for each OEM computer-manufacturer. You may be tempted to flash the BIOS with a SLP-enabled BIOS, but it is not safe and may break the computer system or make it unbootable. There are safer alternatives, and the most widely used artificial SLP activation method is by using a special version of GRUB4DOS patched with loadslic command. The patched GRUB4DOS is able to allow SLP activation for Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2011 and Windows Server 2008 (available here).

• OpenLoader.rar

First, use bootlace.com under DOS to install GRLDR bootstrap code to MBR. Alternatively, you can use install-mbr command under Linux to install generic MBR code to MBR. The reason for doing this is because the MBR code installed by Windows doesn't allow booting from non-Microsoft bootloader.

Then, with 7-zip (or WinRar or Winzip), copy the SCRIPTS folder from inside the OpenLoader.rar package to C:\Windows\Setup. Right-click on GRUB.CMD, and run it as Administrator. Upon reboot, a standard Grub4Dos menu is displayed with boot options. In the menu, you can choose one of several SLIC codes from major computer vendors. After choosing one and booting Windows with software-modified OEM SLIC BIOS, you should be able to activate Windows by using the slmgr commands like this.

slmgr -ilc oemcert.xrm-ms
slmgr -ipk XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

Using the slmgr script requires the Administrator privilege. Open the Command Prompt (cmd.exe) as Administrator and type the above commands. Replace oemcert.xrm-ms with the actual digital certificate for the hardware vendor listed in your BIOS. And type the actual 25-digit OEM key in place of XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX.

My Windows Vista/7 Power Settings

Here are my power settings on Windows Vista or Windows 7. I find the default setting annoying or inadequate, especially the Start menu power button triggering sleep.

• Lid Close Action
  
  • On Battery: Sleep
  • Plugged in: Do nothing
  
  
  
• Power Button Action
  
  • On Battery: Hibernate
  • Plugged in: Hibernate
  
  
  
• Sleep Button
  
  • On Battery: Sleep
  • Plugged in: Hibernate
  
  
  
• Start menu power button
  
  • On Battery: Shut down
  • Plugged in: Shut down
  
  

Vista Installation Annoyances

This post will eventually have a collection of tips for resolving issues when installing Windows Vista. Some of them are based on my own experience with Windows Vista installation, but I'm going to add useful advices I found on the Internet.

Partition your hard drive before booting Vista DVD

I think it's good to partition your hard drive first before going ahead with Vista installation. There are many partitioning tools, for example, GParted, Acronis DiskDirector and the forsaken PartitionMagic. My favorite is GParted. Because Vista leaves a little space at the beginning of the hard disk after installation, this may create a problem when you later move or resize your Vista partition.

Screen goes blank while Vista DVD is booting

This happened to me when I tried to install Windows Vista on my old computer with an LCD monitor. The screen went blank while there was no hard disk activity. However, when I punched the Caps Lock on the keyboard, the LED for Caps Lock switched on and off. So I knew the Vista DVD booted okay but Vista was'nt recognizing the monitor yet.

So I reset the PC. As soon as the Vista DVD began loading, I held down the F8 key until a black-and-white Advanced Boot Options menu appeared. I highlighted the line saying Enable low-resolution video (640x480) and pressed Enter. Then, Vista successfully booted into a nice Installation screen with large characters.

Vista doesn't recognize my hard disk

This happened to me when I tried to install Windows Vista on a hard drive that's connected to a PCI IDE controller — Promise Technology Ultra 100 TX2. Obviously, Vista couldn't recogize the IDE controller. So I had to download the driver and save it on a USB flash. Then, I plugged the flash drive in and told Vista to load the driver. After Vista successfully loaded the driver for my IDE controller, Vista could see my hard drive and install onto it.

Related Posts

• Using GParted To Create Dual-Boot Vista Partitions
  

OEM SLIC tables for Windows Vista

I was researching the activation scheme behind Windows Vista OEM computers. Computers with pre-installed Windows Vista have a special license embedded in their ACPI BIOS, called SLIC table. This kind of a hardware-based activation scheme was designed to prevent software piracy. Nonetheless, there's a way to create a SLIC table in the BIOS with the help of software. This method is sometimes called SoftMod or just Vista Loader.

Using the SoftMod method, one can insert the SLIC signature of a certain hardware manufacturer into the BIOS and apply a copy of a license file (*.xrm-ms), then have Windows Vista activated. The first SLIC code that was leaked widely belongs to the (infamous) ASUS notebook manufacturer. After ASUS, more and more SLIC codes have been discovered and exploited.

Obviously, using a SLIC code that's spread and used widely makes it vulnerable to Windows updates that are designed to defeat circumventive measures against software activation. Therefore, uncommon SLIC signatures are better than the common ones. Vista Loader 3.0.0.1 includes OEM BIOS emulation codes of the following vendors:

• AMD
  
• AMD64
  
• Acer
  
• Asus
  
• COMPAQ
  
• Dell
  
• Emachines
  
• Fujitsu-Siemens
  
• Gateway
  
• Hewlett-Packard
  
• Intel
  
• Levono
  
• Medion
  
• NEC
  
• Packard Bell
  
• Samsung
  
• Sony
  
• Toshiba
  

Among these vendors, MEDION seems to be the most obscure one. Anyway, I found more vendor SLIC codes by downloading AMI_SLIC3_20080419.rar.

Multiple Windows Installation

When the Vista Loader — also known as SoftMod or OEM BIOS emulation — is installed in a system with multiple Windows installations, Windows probably won't boot except the one in the first NTFS partition because the Grub4Dos code in the grldr file installed by the Vista Loader by default boots the first NTFS partition. In this case, you should uninstall Vista Loader from every Windows partition and then reinstall Vista Loader into a separate FAT logical partition. GRUB4DOS or pure GRUB will be used to load OEM BIOS emulation code into memory and then execute instructions in the menu.lst file to boot Windows in NTFS primary partitions.

To use multiple Windows installation, Grub4Dos and Vista Loader should be used together. This duo can be installed on a floppy or a bootable USB flash. The following is the contents of a menu.lst file used with Vista Loader.

timeout 0
default 0
fallback 1

title Vista Loader
map --mem (hd0,0)/vstaldr.img (fd0)
map --hook
chainloader (fd0)+1
rootverify (fd0)

title Windows Vista
find --set-root /bootmgr
chainloader /bootmgr

Related Posts

• Downloading Windows Vista ISO
  
• Using GParted To Create Dual-Boot Vista Partitions
  
• Resizing a Windows Vista partition with ntfsresize
  
• Fixing a Vista Boot Problem
  
• Activating Windows Vista with Vista Loader 3.0.0.1
  

Fixing a Vista Boot Problem

Error: Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart

I restored a partimage backup of Windows Vista. The backup was originally made from the partition /dev/sda2, but I deleted /dev/sda1 and created a new partition at /dev/sda1 with the same size as the backed-up partition. Then I restored the backup on /dev/sda1.

Upon reboot, Windows Vista couldn't start. Instead I received an error:

A disk error occurred.

Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart.

After many attempts, I finally fixed the problem. Here I show how I did it:

1. Put your Vista installation DVD into your DVD drive and restart your computer. When you see the message "Press a key to boot from DVD", press any key.
   
2. When the Install Windows screen appears, click Repair your computer.
   
3. You may see Vista automatically trying to detect a boot problem and fix it. When a boot problem is detected, you'll get a dialog with a choice to fix the problem or ignore it. Just cancel and close the dialog.
   
4. You'll be shown a window with many repair options. Open a command prompt.
   
5. Type the following commands. It is assumed that Windows is installed in C: Replace C: with the correct letter if it's different:
   

   chkdsk C: /f
   C:
   bootrec /FixMBR
   bootrec /FixBoot
   bootrec /ScanOs
   attrib -r -s -h c:\boot\bcd
   del c:\boot\bcd
   bootrec /rebuildbcd

   
   
6. Restart your computer and see if Vista can start.
   

Error: Winload.exe is missing or corrupt

Windows failed to start. A recent hardware or software change might be the cause. To fix the problem:
1. Install your WIndows installation disk and reboot.
2. Choose your language settings, click Next
3. Choose "Repair your computer"

File: \Windows\system32\winload.exe
Status: 0xc0000225
Info: The selected entry could not be loaded because the application is missing or corrupted

This problem occurs when the UUID of the NTFS partition is changed after resizing or moving the Windows partition with GParted or Acronis Disk Director. This problem can be easily fixed if you have a Windows install DVD. Put the Windows install DVD in your CD-ROM and Reboot your computer. Select “Repair your computer” and cancel Automatic Repair. Open a Command Prompt and type the following commands:

C:
bcdedit /enum /store C:\Boot\BCD
bcdedit /store C:\Boot\BCD /set {bootmgr} device partition=C:
bcdedit /store C:\Boot\BCD /set {default} device partition=C:
bcdedit /store C:\Boot\BCD /set {default} osdevice partition=C:

Tweaking Windows Vista for Slow PC

Is Windows Vista only for fast and powerful computers? Not really. Technically, Vista can run on old computers with a CPU as slow as 800MHz. But Vista runs sluggish on old computers. For those old and slow computers, there are some ways to improve the speed of Vista, as explained below.

Stop unnecessary programs from running or starting.

Don't use the Windows Sidebar. This program is unnecessary and graphics-intensive program that slows your computer down. You can easily disable it from starting.

Disable UAC

Disabling UAC may dramatically speed up Windows Vista.

Disable Windows Theme

If you don't need fancy Windows themes, you can change your theme to a plain one or disable the Themes service altogether.

Test Driving Taiwanese Windows Vista (Chinese Traditional)

Taiwan is being overshadowed by the monstrously growing mainland China today. However, its cultural heritage is as rich as mainland China where it originated. The authenticity of the traditional Chinese scripts used in Taiwan and Singapore should not be overlooked in favor of the simplified Chinese used in the mainland China. If you are studying Chinese or do business with Taiwan or the mainland China, you may sometimes come across Chinese versions of Windows Vista.

I installed Taiwanese Windows Vista to see what it's like. Since I have almost no knowledge of Chinese, it was like guesswork most of the time. Often I had to rely on my experience with English Windows Vista. But as times went on, I learned the meaning of some Chinese characters naturally. It is such an enlightening expererience to use Taiwanese Windows Vista.

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Installing Korean Windows Vista

Due to the Korean cultural expansion and popular k-drama, there's an increasing number of people interested in learning the Korean language and Korean culture. If you are one of those people who study Korean, you may as well try Korean Windows Vista. ISO images of Korean Windows Vista DVD are available on the P2P networks with the filename X12-59647 vista.rtm.kor.iso. Once you download and install it, it's quite adventurous and fun using the Korean version of Windows Vista.

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• Downloading Windows Vista ISO
  

Cleaning Up Windows Vista

This post will eventually be a collection of tips on cleaning up and trimming Windows Vista.

Emptying the Recycle Bin

Emptying the recycle bin is the easiest and most common way for people to clean up Windows. Even if you don't, Windows will automatically remove the oldest trash from the recycle bin when it fills up.

Deleting Temporary Files

As you use your computer, Windows and applications save temporary files in the folder dedicated for temporary storage. These temporary folders are given the variable name %TEMP% or %TMP% — in most cases, %TEMP% and %TMP% are identical. Ideally, applications are supposed to remove temporary files after they finish their jobs, but sometimes they forget to remove temporary files. Thus, once in a while, you have to remove temporary files yourself.

To remove temporary files, follow the following steps:

1. Open the Explorer — the default file browser in Windows. You can do so by opening My Computer, My Document, My Pictures or My Music.
   
2. Type in the address bar %TEMP% and press Enter.
   
   
   
3. You'll be taken to the temporary folder, typically C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Local\Temp. Remove any temporary files and folders existing inside that folder.
   
4. If %TEMP% and %TMP% are different, also do the same for %TMP% folder.
   

Cleaning Up VirtualStore

With strict User Access Control (UAC) in effect, Vista places user-generated files in the VirtualStore folder when a program wants to save something in the restricted area of filesystem. Type %APPDATA% in the address bar of the Windows explorer. Then, descend to Local/VirtualStore. Note that not everything there should be deleted as some of them are user settings.

Deleting Windows Updates

Windows updates are necessary to make Windows Vista secure and efficient. However, after updating Windows, some update files are left over and take extra space. The following steps delete these left-over update files.

1. Open the Start menu, right-click Computer and select Manage.
   
2. In the left pane, expand Service and Applications and select Services.
   
3. In the right pane, select Windows update service and stop the serive.
   
4. Open Computer in the explorer and go to C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution
   
5. Go to the DataStore folder and delete all files and folders there.
   
6. Go back and change to the Download folders. Remove all files and folders there.
   
7. Restart the Windows Update service.
   

Using GParted To Create Dual-Boot Vista Partitions

Have you ever wished to have multiple Windows installed on your computer? Having a multi-boot system has many applications, such as:

• Set up one Windows system for your work or school, and set up another Windows system for your family and kids, all in one single computer
  
• Use one Windows installation for your sensitive data, and use another installation for gaming and the Internet
  
• Set up multiple Windows for different languages, for example one for English and another for Spanish
  
• Try different Windows versions, one for Vista, one for XP and another for Windows ME.
  

In order to set up multiple installations of Windows in a single computer, you need to slice your hard drive into several partitions using a partitioning tool such as GParted. Get a GParted live CD and boot your computer with it.

Partitioning Advices

Here's what you need to know about multiple Windows installation:

• One primary partition must be set up with Windows Vista or XP and set active. This partition will be used to boot itself and optionally other Windows partitions, primary or logical.
  
• If multiple primary partitions have Windows installed, then only one of them should be active and the others should be hidden.
  

GParted in Action

Once you booted GParted live CD, launch GParted.

In most case, you'll see a Windows partion (type ntfs) as the first primary partition. If you need to resize it to make space available for the second Windows partition, you can use GParted, but I recommend you to use ntfsresize.

Now hide your existing Windows partition by right-clicking it and choosing Manage Flags.

Clear the boot flag and set the hidden flag. Then click Close.

Click the unallocated area and click New on the toolbar. Create new Partition dialog appears on screen. Set the size in the New Size box, create it as a Primary Partition and make it ntfs. Click Add.

Look at the GParted window and make sure the new hard disk layout is okay. Click Apply on the toolbar.

A confirmation dialog appears. Click Apply.

If everything goes well, a dialog appears saying All operations successfully completed. Click Close.

Right-click the newly created NTFS partition and select Manage Flags from the right-click menu. In the Manage flags window, only set the boot flag and click Close.

Quit GParted. Put your Windows installation DVD into your CD-ROM and reboot.

Downloading Windows Vista ISO

Microsoft often releases samples of its flagship programs to its MSDN members. Among the software samples released to MSDN members are a series of Windows Vista editions. Some of these copies are leaked to P2P networks like BitTorrent or eDonkey. Below is a list of Windows Vista ISO images including those released to MSDN members:

Language	Filename	32-bit Links	64-bit Links
Chinese Traditional 繁體中文	tw windows vista x86 dvd X12-59649.iso Windows Vista x86 32位元系統繁體中文正式授權製造商裝機版.ISO (2,577,250,304 bytes)	1
English	Windows Vista All-in-One RTM build 6000.16386.061101-2205_x86Fre_Client Lrmcfre_En_DVD.iso (2,678,614,016 bytes)	1, 2
	Windows Vista English Service Pack 2 6002.18005.090410-1830_x86fre_Client_en-us-FRTMCFRE_EN_DVD.iso	1
Korean 한글	Windows Vista X86 DVD X12-59647 vista.rtm.kor.iso (2,591,459,328 bytes)	1

Related Posts

• Tools for Downloading Stuff from the Internet
  
• Resizing a Windows Vista partition with ntfsresize
  
• Using GParted To Create Dual-Boot Vista Partitions
  
• Installing Korean Windows Vista
  
• Test Driving Taiwanese Windows Vista (Chinese Traditional)
  

NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 M64 Driver for Windows Vista

I decided to install NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 M64 for use with Windows Vista because the on-board graphics chip didn't work so well. Like many old video cards, Windows Vista doesn't include a driver for NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 M64 cards. So I've tried many different versions of NVIDIA unified drivers. Finally I found the one that works perfectly with Windows Vista.

You should install NVIDIA ForceWare version 72.14 to be able to use an NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 M64 video card with Windows Vista. Download it HERE.

This driver is not certified for Windows Vista. Therefore, you should manually install the video driver. First, download and install the NVIDIA ForceWare 72.14. You may be asked to restart the computer. Just do so.

Once your PC restarts, open the Start menu, right-click Computer, and select Manage.

In the left pane, click Device Manager. In the right pane, expand the Display adapters section, right-click Standard VGA Graphics adapter and choose Update Driver Software.

In the pop-up dialog, choose Browse My computer for driver software and indicate the folder where you unpacked the NVIDIA graphics driver. You'll get a warning that Windows can't verify the publisher of the driver. Just ignore the warning and go ahead with the installation. You may have to restart the PC again.

Voila, your NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 M64 video card may be a bit old but it still works OK with Windows Vista!

Disabling the Sleep Mode in Vista

With the default Vista power settings, pressing the Start menu power button will put the computer into a sleep mode. After newly installing Windows Vista, opening the Start menu will show the power button in amber yellow. This means clicking the power button will put the PC into the power-saving sleep mode instead of turning it off completely. The sleep mode saves the current state of the computer in memory, turns down the fans and keeps the PC quiet until you press a key or move a mouse.

But don't you find it annoying? I do. I want the PC turned off completely when I click the Power button. The following steps show you how to change Vista power settings so that clicking the Power button will turn off the PC:

1. Click or press the Windows Logo button to open the Start menu.


2. Click the Control Panel.


3. Click System and Maintenance.


4. Click Power Options.


5. Click Change plan settings under the current preferred plan (by default, Balanced).


6. Click Change advanced power settings.


7. When the Power Options window appears, click the plus sign + next to Power buttons and lid to expand the section.


8. Click the plus sign + next to Start menu power button.


9. Change the Setting from Sleep to Shut down.


10. Click OK to change the power options and close the window.

Intel 845G Driver for Windows Vista

I salvaged an eMachine T1742 from an e-cycling dump. Someone had pried out the memory and hard drive from the unit. So I had to plug in new ones to set up a new PC. Then, I installed Windows Vista Home Premium Lite CD.

Windows Vista didn't recognize Intel 845G/845GL graphics chipset, so installed the driver for generic Standard VGA Graphics Adapter instead. After searching the Internet, I found the driver for Intel 845G/845GL graphics that can be used with Windows Vista. Just go to the Intel website and download the latest driver for Intel 82845G Graphics Controller. This chipset is outdated and in the archived drivers section. Get the Windows XP Professional driver for Intel 82845G Graphics controller.

Download the ZIP file (win2k_xp14103.zip) instead of the .EXE installer. Unpack it somewhere on your computer. Open the Start menu, right-click Computer, and select Manage.

In the left pane, click Device Manager. In the right pane, expand the Display adapters section, right-click Standard VGA Graphics adapter, and choose Update Driver Software.

In the pop-up dialog, choose Browse My computer for driver software, and indicate the folder where you unpacked the Intel 82845G graphics driver.

If you get a warning that the driver is not digitally signed or authentic, just ignore the warning and go on with the installation. You may have to restart the PC.

One caveat with the driver is that the display may appear too bright at each boot time. Just adjust the Gamma, brightness and contrast settings in the Intel 845G control panel.

Windows Vista Home Premium Lite CD

You want to try Windows Vista but you can't try it because your computer doesn't have a DVD drive. In this case, you can download a CD edition of Windows Vista with eMule or aMule. Burn the ISO file with InfraRecorder, CDBurnerXP or any other cd-burning tool. It takes less space to install and runs slightly quicker than a DVD version.

Compared to the full DVD edition, the CD edition lacks some major features. For example, it doesn't have many drivers so you'll hassle with driver installation from the start. It also lack international language support, Windows Mail, Windows Photo Gallery Viewer among other things. Yet, all this lack of functions makes Vista leaner and faster.

There's one critical flaw with this edition whereby you can't rename a folder. No fix or workaround has been found yet.

Once you've installed Vista, you can activate Windows Vista with Vista Loader

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