How to make a patched Windows 7 64 bit image - with a few clicks! (32bit added)

Hi all

How nice would it be to install Windows and see this?

http://i.imgur.com/2eChU6e.png

(or very close anyway ;))

I've mentioned in passing on the forums before that I use some scripts to keep a patched Windows 7 image up to date. I'd like to share a beta with you. As far as I'm aware there are no bugs, but it would be awesome to get some feedback. If people find it useful I'll keep it up to date.
If you're the kind of person who is always helping to fix other peoples computers and reinstall Windows often, this should help you :) I often dread the Windows patching process on a TalkTalk connection when at someone elses house, so I made this.

It's mostly a one click solution, but watch the video before asking questions please!
I know there are other tools out there that do a job similar to this, but most seem to have a GUI, with minimal options. Not much use for a power use that wants to add their own commands in! I vastly prefer doing it over command line as I can easily change things and see errors as needed. In addition, you normally need separate tools - one for integrating, one for downloading updates, one for the ISO creation....this does it all in one!

A few points:

• This is designed to make a close to an up to date image. I can't catch everything as new patches come out all of the time. I'll try to update monthly.
• It's for critical updates only.
• It does not include Windows Defender and Windows Malicious tool scanner updates. These are updated too frequently for me to catch (every few days in some cases).
• All MSU windows patch files are pulled from Microsoft's servers
• The tools (DISM) are the same - pulled from MS servers (so all nice and legal! :))
• The same for the ISO - it's direct from MS and fully legal
• This will make a AIO (All In One) disk, so Home, Home Pro, Pro and Ultimate are all included if you wish!
• This is a clean ISO. No weird hacks to the image. Just a pure SP1 image patched with official Microsoft tools that's "open" for people to change.
• Speed wise you're limited by your connection speed and the integration process speed. The first you can't do anything about. The second is much faster on a SSD and super fast on a RAM Drive
• Seriously - it takes a while. Leave it overnight. You can't make it faster.
• It doesn't handle dropped internet connections well. Not a lot I can do about that.
• If I've missed an update, let me know - but be useful and grab the URL out of the WindowsUpdate.log file if you can. (Google if you don't know how)

I've made a video you should probably watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eTEYowWWzM
(ignore any comments about not having a 32bit version)

The TL;DR version for people happy with the command line is
1) If you have your own copy of Windows 7 SP1, extract it to User/Windows7_x64 (or x32 depending on version) directory.
<Launch a command window as admin and navigate to the extracted directory with the batch files in>
2) Run the 0_Windows_Setup.bat file. If you didn't extract a W7 image, this will download and extract it for you. Read and follow the instructions.
3) Run the 1_Update_one_Image or 1_Update_all_images depending on what you want.

Congrats, you'll have a patched Windows 7 image once it's done :)

As I'm sure you can imagine, this has taken a while to do. Lot's of trial and error and getting patches from logs. I've been through a lot of VM installs :D If you have any suggestions, let me know, but I'm not going to do anything that ventures too far away from a nice clean image :)

Download 64bit: http://www.information-database.com/...64bit_0.2b.zip
Download 32bit: http://www.information-database.com/...32bit_0.2b.zip

Have fun! :)

64Bit version is fully patched as of 21/10/2014
32Bit version is fully patched as of 07/10/2014

Ooh, intriguing! I'll have a look at this when I get home tonight.

The kids' machines are still Win 7 and are, unsurprisingly, the ones that get gummed up with crap all the time; often leaving me no choice but to reinstall.

Cheers!

I just realised I forgot to remove 7Zip when I uploaded it last night (sorry, was very tired and have been trying to perfect this for a few days now).
If you don't want 7Zip installed with the Windows install, simply remove the last 2 lines from Program\helpers\data\SetupComplete.cmd They should look like:

Quote:

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start /wait %SystemDrive%\ManualInstalls\7z920-x64.msi /quiet /norestart
del /F /Q %SystemDrive%\ManualInstalls\7z920-x64.msi

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Delete them with Notepad++ / Notepad / whatever and save.

It's a good example of how to do a silent install though during the setup.

Has anyone had chance to try it? Feedback?
Honestly thought there would be more interest in this!

I only just saw it and i have bookmarked it, but don't currently have a use for it!

It will DEFINITELY come in handy in the future and the work done in much appreciated :)

Haven't played with this since XP, when I used to integrate SATA/Raid drivers into the install CD, so I wouldn't need to use floppy disks.

These days I just use WSUS Offline Update for Windows/Office updates. Fetch it off the network/USB hard drive, click and go away for some coffee, while it does the work on its own.

While your solution is far more elegant, I don't think I am bothered enough to keep making new install discs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Agent

Has anyone had chance to try it? Feedback?
Honestly thought there would be more interest in this!

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That's a no; therefore no.
But yes, it is very interesting and I've certainly mentally bookmarked it. One of my major gripes with Microsoft and Win7+ is the spiralling size of winsxs folder so installing the OS with the patches slipstreamed should solve that at least up until a certain point in time. I know Microsoft released a patch for Disk Cleanup but this sound like a better solution.

I'll give it a shot but not just yet, my folks pc needs a restore as is getting a bit bloated, good work :)

Actually, I think I'm going to give it a go this weekend. I have one laptop that needs a fresh install (can't click a link without a dozen popups appearing), a desktop that could probably benefit from it, and this desktop will need a refresh soon I think.

Thanks dude :)

Gave it a shot. Very happy with it. It would be nice if it'd offer to patch up a 32bit ISO as well for the few bits of old 32bit only gear still kicking around.

Converting it to 32-bit is trivial, it's just the time it takes to sort out all of the Windows Updates (and maintain them). It's really the download links that take the time.

Maybe if I get bored one of the nights :)

WSUS Offline looks a heck of a lot better than it was a while back, so I'm going to have a play with that and see if I can link it into the chain somehow.

edit - okay, I've started work on a 32bit version. I might even make it so it's all one package. Not sure yet.

would it be possible to integrate a ninite installer into this so it would action when windows is finalizing

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Unstable Sloth

would it be possible to integrate a ninite installer into this so it would action when windows is finalizing

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Yep, easily.
Simply modify the SetupComplete.cmd file to run anything after windows has been installed. Anything you put in the "ManualInstalls" directory will be copied locally and can be run like the existing files are.
You can do it silently too, so the user doesn't even know.

You can see an example of 7Zip included. It's super simple.

Ignore me for now, redundant post :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Funkstar

If you wanted to convert this to a 32bit tool, would you just remove all the references to "_x64"?

The laptop I need to do first is 32bit unfortunately.

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HA, heck no. You need to dig out all of the correct 32bit updates for the image.

I've started work on it, but it won't be done till after the weekend I suspect.

i ran this last night. it took about 20 hours to complete! the downloading was quick but the patching took ages on quad core 2.5ghz machine. i ran the batch file from windows and just let it download an image. i haven't installed it though.

one question, what's the difference between 1_Update_one_Image or 1_Update_all_images ?i choose all images as i thought i had to run all batch files in alphanumeric filename order but realise it was just one or the other.