Activating a Windows 7 Downgrade

This is the 3rd in a set of small articles on modification and use of Windows 7 install media:  multi-version, UEFI boot, driver injection, and downgrade activation.  The focus will be on USB flash media.

Well, 31 October, 2016 brings the end of an era.  OEMs like Lenovo will no longer be able to ship machines with a Windows 7 Pro preload.  Fortunately downgrade rights will persist.  Windows 10 Pro users will be able to downgrade to Windows 7 Pro.   (NOTE: everything I can find online says that’s the case. I can’t personally guarantee it.)

14 November 2016 Correction:  OEMs are able to ship Windows 7 preloads after 31 October if they have an inventory of previously-purchased licenses.  Lenovo, for example, still has Windows 7 machines available as of this date.  Apologies for the misinformation!

Finding Windows 7 install media may or may not be a problem, but activation can be an issue.  OEM preloads, factory media, and user-made recovery media shouldn’t need activation, but clean installs from Microsoft media will.  This will apply to clean installs on machines that originally had ‘7 Pro installed, and to first-time clean installs to machines that shipped with ‘8.x or ’10 Pro.

Microsoft’s downgrade activation is … odd, to say the least.  I’ll try for a TLDR translation here.  Links to MS documents are below.

So:  Run your install from MS media.  Use an existing – already in use – activation key for Windows 7 Pro.  That will probably fail but you should be offered a phone number to use for activation.

You have to use a legitimate key in order to get far enough into the activation process to be offered the phone number.  A made-up key will fail too early.  If you use a key that hasn’t been used before, it will be consumed by the activation, and wasted.  Probably not what you want.

My own experience in several of these downgrade activations has been interesting.  They were all on Lenovo ThinkPads.  I used the key from the battery compartment of my T420 and it just activated immediately online with no call required.  There may be something to using an OEM key from the same manufacturer as the target machine.  I can’t be sure that it will avoid the extra steps, but it has for me.

Some Microsoft documents:

Understanding downgrade rights

Downgrade rights (PDF)

 

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Windows 7 UEFI Installer on Flash Drive

This is another of a set of small articles on modification and use of Windows 7 install media:  multi-version, UEFI boot, driver injection, and downgrade activation.  The focus will be on USB flash media.

It is possible to install Windows 7 in UEFI mode, but it takes some work. Patience, grasshopper, and read on…

Why bother?  Good question.  Perhaps to take advantage of GPT drive formatting, or to co-exist with another OS that boots in UEFI mode.

First, prep a flash drive for UEFI boot as described here:  A FOB STORY: Preparing the flash drive  (TLDR: a single FAT-32 formatted partition, active flag not set.)

If you don’t already have it, go get 7zip.  It’s an incredibly useful archive manipulation tool.  http://www.7-zip.org/  You’ll also need a Windows 7 SP1 DVD or ISO.  Copy the contents of the DVD – or use 7zip to extract the ISO contents – to the prepped flash drive.  The extracted contents should look like this:

win-7-pro-64-iso-extracted-to-flash

Open the “efi” folder and create a new folder there: “boot”.

Navigate up and then down into the sources folder and find install.wim. Open it with 7zip:

win-7-pro-64-flash-install-wim-open-in-7zip

Then drill down into folders “1” -> “windows” -> “boot” -> EFI and locate the file bootmgfw.efi.

win-7-pro-64-flash-install-wim-down-to-bootmgw-in-7zip

Extract that file to the previously created \efi\boot folder on the flash drive.  (use the extract function or simply drag it from 7zip to that \efi\boot folder.)

Rename bootmgw.efi to bootx64.efi.  That’s it.

win-7-pro-64-flash-extracted-to-temp-bootx64-created

To boot the created USB flash drive: in BIOS configuration turn off Secure Boot, make sure UEFI booting and USB booting are enabled, and enable CSM (compatibility support module).

If CSM isn’t enabled the installer will boot but typically hang on the Windows + dancing balloons splash screen.  An installed UEFI Windows 7 will also hang in the same way if CSM support is OFF.

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Convert Windows 7 Install Media to All-Version

This is the first of a set of small articles on modification and use of Windows 7 install media:  multi-version, UEFI boot, driver injection, and downgrade activation.

This has been discussed extensively elsewhere, but I’m gathering it all here to document my recent experience – and maybe help a few others.

The articles will focus on flash media.  It’s almost certain that a computer that needs any of these mods will be able to boot a flash drive – and may not even have an optical drive.

To the topic…

The Windows 7 SP1 install media I have access to is single-version.  That is, a given DVD or ISO will install either Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate.  The version available is determined by the particular ISO or DVD in hand. That can be changed 🙂

The image below is a screen shot of a Window 7 SP1 Pro 64-bit ISO extracted to a flash drive by the 7zip archiving tool.  The folders and files will look the same if copied from a DVD.

7zip is free and amazingly useful.  You need it.  Get it here:  http://www.7-zip.org/  You won’t need it today if working from DVD media, but you will need it in the future.  Trust me on that 😉

win-7-pro-64-iso-extracted-to-flash

If you examine the sources folder, it looks like all four versions are there, but something restricts the media to a single version at install time.  Turns out that something is the ei.cfg file in the sources folder.  See the image below.

win-7-pro-64-flash-sources-file-list-partial-ei-cfg-highlight

The contents of this particular ei.cfg are:

[EditionID]
Professional
[Channel]
Retail
[VL]
0

Note “Professional”.

If one deletes or renames ei.cfg (to ei.cfg.OLD, for instance) the install media will offer all four versions.  Why would you want it to do that?  You have a license for one version but only media for another maybe.  You’d like to have a single copy in your kit – flash drive or DVD – but be able to install any version as needed.  The possibilities are endless…

So, copy the contents of the DVD to a flash drive or temporary workspace – or use 7zip to extract the contents of an ISO to same – and rename ei.cfg.  Hey presto!  an all version installer – or at least the files for one.

win-7-all-version-install-menu

Note: the 64-bit installer contains the above options once ei.cfg is modified.  The 32-bit version also includes Windows 7 Starter.

How to format the flash drive (or in the complicated case remake a DVD) is beyond the scope of this particular little article.  Flash drive prep is covered elsewhere on this blog:  A FOB STORY: Preparing the flash drive  (TLDR: a single FAT-32 formatted partition, active flag not set.) Either do that in advance of making the mods if working directly on the flash drive, or copy the workspace files to the prepared flash drive after making the mod.

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Fixing Windows 7 Update Hangs

Update hangs?  Boy howdy!  This has become a real nightmare. Windows Update can spin on “checking for updates…” for hours – or even days.

I (and many, many others) have run into this on new Windows 7 SP1 installs from Microsoft media, newly arrived laptops with Win 7 SP1+ preloads, and laptops and desktops running ‘7 SP1 that were previously fully updated.

The below fix was recommended to me by a wise old IT JOAT.  It has fixed all my machines and will hopefully help others.  OTOH it isn’t likely a universal fix and it takes some patience to apply.

For me Windows Update works almost instantly after this procedure.


Install  .NET update NDP461-KB3102436-x86-x64-AllOS-ENU

In an elevated command window turn off the update service:  net stop wuauserv

rename the folder C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution to …OLD

With the update service still off, install this update to the update client:  KB3138612

turn the update service back on: net start wuauserv

Install the following KBs in order, rebooting after each install.  It may be necessary to turn off the update service while doing this to keep it from hanging on “checking…”.  The update service is typically on a delayed start so it may or may not be necessary to turn it off for each install.

KB3145739
KB3153199
KB3161664
KB3020369
KB3172605

That last KB is the July roll-up.  It may be superseded by later roll-ups, and there should be an indication of that on the KB’s page.

Happy updating 🙂

25 December 2018 Update: long overdue – a Lenovo forum mod suggest the below method to get Win 7 updates running.  Looks simpler – and possibly faster – than the above.

Update servicing stack: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=46817


Then apply this: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=53332

Then retry windows update

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Miix it up: Lenovo’s Miix 700 Tablet

lenovo--miix-700-combo-pic

(Image Lenovo)

The same old boilerplate:  From time to time the nice people at Lenovo send me a gadget.  They’re handy to have around – both for my own use and when trying to help out in the Lenovo forums.  I do some testing and writing as well.  I’m not otherwise compensated, and opinions are my own.  I DO NOT speak for Lenovo

Well, another Lenovo gadget showed up the other day.  This one is a Miix 700  – my first Windows tablet.  It’s a surprisingly capable machine for a tablet.  Maybe too capable – since it encourages trying some things I’d normally attempt on a laptop or desktop.

This isn’t a review; I don’t do reviews.  This is a quick look at the tablet’s specs and features I find interesting.  I’ll also explore some things I do with most computing hardware that I get my hands on: making recovery media, accessing the tablet’s innards, SSD upgrade/replacement/performance, cloning, virtual machines, and Linux, for a start.

Continue reading

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