Testing New Windows 10 with our tools

As you can see, our LastOS menu sorting is inadvertently at the top due to it's use of - and the Kazz is all within the 2nd section after symbols... Of course it's still only one level deep (as showing the Transcoders with the Encoding apps in the root of the - Video section (it has no sub sections anymore)

but SetupS installed without issue and I have made a start on a full re-write of the tweaks we'll be including (so far it adds My Computer to the desktop and Autoruns + MyUninstaller to it's context menu.

This time I'll leave in the quick access links as they are here to stay now and I don't want people to learn the new defaults and mine be different to what they learn (when it's so simple to tweak this or close the Folders section manually once (it sticks).

So far the new Beta is buggy as hell, but if it were perfect it would be the final already .

-More soon-

 

Due to the Win 10 Notification center keeping a history of notifications I was able to finally see what ppApp SetupS Regenerating was getting stuck on, as such I examined the app and discovered that it was due to Freezer using $TempDir within his RunWait86 function, but the only time that variable is set is when an app has shortcuts, I changed it over to use the root of temp (@TempDir) which is never blank and a delete line to the cleanup routine to empty it from there. This fixed the issue I have had since we added dual arch support many years ago.. it used to get stuck waiting for a file to be created in a path that will never exist, so I am happy with that being fixed finally

 

You're not kidding... Even after the KB update it was pretty bad. I installed it live yesterday and at some point the start menu (and the Cortana thing in the taskbar) became unresponsive. So I did a restore of a backup point and it stayed the same. Then, the usb stick I had written the Win10 iso content to (and from which I installed) became corrupted in Win10. So I tried to boot from it and there it was also showing up corrupted. So I ended up going back into Win10 and writing a lite Win7 I made and installed from that. I had also forgotten to backup the iso (it was on my desktop as I downloaded it) so I would have to download it again. Given my experience, I think I'll wait for the next build Also, I noticed the new icons. Interesting but sort of cartoon-y. The Computer icon would have been nice in the Flintstones

 

I've been laughing at the icons since I seen them, no way will I be leaving those alone in my mods, they are so bad that I would rather use windows 2000's 16 color icons over these 4 to 8 color icons that are ultra wide to look at (meaning they'll push hard against the text or they'll have to increase the space needed - reducing the data per page, I hate everything about the design changes so far.

I turned off my search, but I do know if your copying larger things in explorer, or trigger a start menu action it will force a re-scan of the .lnk's to generate the All Apps list, this causes Start and Taskbar to be unresponsive and if you happen to do something to interrupt or change the content mid scan it'll bust and leave you with a dodgy OS.

I am treading lightly in my Win 10, but not having the ability to use a PIN to login is starting to get to me (I have a complex password). I was happier in 8.1 but I'll stick it out as I want to help them iron out the bugs and not expect them to do it all themselves (seeing as they wont be getting paid anything from me for many years, I own a 8 license, so this laptop I have will be the one I use for quite a while).

 

Well, that's noble

So far I have not found anything as fast, responsive, and stable as my Win7 builds. I do like some of the new features for Win10 so I'll definitely consider it to upgrade. Win8 is just a mess and I don't see what it does well.

 

By far the best tweak I have applied so far is reverting to the old start menu:

Code:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced]
"EnableXamlStartMenu"=dword:00000000

This will allow sub folders and lets you manually resize the start menu to any size (not just full screen or auto).

 

I upgraded LastOS to be named different things:
CosmOS 7.3 (Windows 7 v3 x64 & x86)
AwakenOS v8.1.1 (Windows 8.1 x64)
Last10 (Windows 10 x64 TH1)

These are the Warez kinds of releases, the tools we work on here at LastOS.org are not warez and can be used and developed by anyone (open sourced), years ago when I started modding I would get heaps of feedback and interest, but as I kept it all open sourced everyone was able to take what they needed and learned how to make it all work best for them. At the same time I had more kids and lost the free time to expand on things myself, so apart from ssWPI, SetupS and our collection of App's to use with ssWPI it all fell into the abyss of time and were forgotten.

 

If you like the "Last" look and feel, you can use a "standard" Win7 install, install your latest drivers, and then use SetupS and ssWPI to install the LastOS tweaks and sorting methods, and of course ssApps and ppApps, and tweak your services based on BlackViper's suggestions (check this out - http://www.thewindowsclub.com/smart-a-utility-for-tweaking-windows-7-vista-xp-services for an easy way to do that). You can end up with a stable and responsive OS that you can customize to your liking. Doing the install via USB is definitely the fastest way as you already know. Finding an install source that already has as many of the updates already integrated as possible is the key to a speedier install. Using an SSD to install to with as much RAM as you can find will help make your result the best experience.

 

Hi John M,

Well, I do maintain my LastOS-style Win7 builds (I've also made a LastOS Win10 LTSB). However, though I use LastOS builds, in conjuction with that I exclusively run "lite" versions of Windows these days. You can make a lite Windows by using a tool (NTLite is the best) to drastically reduce the size of Windows. So for my LastOS7 I made a lite version -- image size around 1gb rather than 4gb -- and I've done the same for Win10. So yes, I use LastOS builds, but I use that in conjunction with "lite" Windows images.

With Win7, perhaps it's not installing properly due to USB drivers missing (?) because if you have a motherboard with USB 3.x and you install it via a USB3 port, it may cause problems. Not in my case anyway, because I've started using a Win8.1 boot.wim (the part inside the .iso that Windows boots from) inside the Win7 image; this allows you to a) use a boot.wim with newer, integrated drivers, and b) it allows you to compress the install.wim (the Windows install image inside an .iso) by converting it to an install.esd, which is smaller. So, for example, when I convert the lite Win7 x64 install.wim I use that is 1.2gb, when I convert it to install.esd it becomes around 700mb. For the LastOS10 image I maintain this is already built-in, as it of course already has a newer boot.wim and it therefore supports all that from the get-go.

I must say I'm glad you've shared your enthusiasm regarding LastOS images and reported your user experience. As LiveFreeDead (Glenn) pointed out, not many people give good feedback like you have, so it is much appreciated. Well, welcome to the club

 

The builder I have is a cmd file with most of the work being manual within VM prior to a sysprep, so the only way to build upon windows 10 is using other peoples tools to do so, even my version of Windows would need to be converted back out of ESD back to WIM, so makes it unusable for non advanced modders, I reverted most of my modding to run from AutoUnattend.xml and all be post install, so you wont really find any tools as such - just free knowledge if you need a hand to do something and can't find answers anywhere.

-EDIT-

when I mention Tools in the title I meant the SetupS and ssWPI ones and Settings + LivePE related tools, not a Win 10 modding tool as such.

 

I have (after discovering a HDD from a previous laptop in the cupboard)
LastXP v12
LastXP v13
LastXP v21.1.1
LastXP v22
Secure Open XP
CosmOS v7.3
Awaken v8.1.3
Last10
LastOS Linux
Cyvoc v0.1.4 (Linux)

What I would like to have a copy of myself is LastXP v17 as it looked pretty interesting to watch on YouTube as I'd forgotten how it looked, what I included, I'd even forgotten that ssWPI used to have a full screen fadertainer instead of just the icon.

I had burnt off a few LastXP v9 CD sized builds but never kept one for myself, so people in Tasmania may have access to even older builds.

As for including pictures of ssWPI and the end results, we used to do that on the forums we'd release the builds on, so people could see before downloading. I remember building up a webpage in the past with info about the tools but now we only have the basic one we made in 2013 (http://www.lastos.org/index.html) it has very little information. I do remember deleting a huge chunk of LastOS.org when I quit modding for 12 months, that had quite a bit of info but was also filled with reports of bugs that had long been repaired etc. We did used to have a themes thread for ssWPI, but only 3 people ever made themes and eventually it was stagnant for over 12 months and that is usually my cut off date for when I delete it - I am not in to archiving as the future or updated things are what I feel is important and so I reduce clutter.

The other non OS related stuff I have is:

EMUlation_Pack_Refresh2.iso - ssWPI used to pick/launch roms in their associated emulators with screenshots and descriptions given.
Free_MGP_Vol_1.iso - All the free games from the previous MGP packs
Jenkat Games 01.iso - Free games from the site but with the ads removed and ssWPI to install/launch them.
Jenkat Games 02.iso - As above.

http://www.jenkatgames.com/

----------------

I'd once made a builder for linux called Novo Builder, it was able to make an up to date OS with a few clicks, but Linux users + modders are even quieter then Windows modders, so I abandoned it, SetupS and ssWPI were fully compatible with Debian based linux up until the start of 2015 when I no longer used linux in my house (so it may still work but I don't know),

--------------

Finally I do have a version of ssOSModder (which is a OS modder), but only with a Windows 8.1 preset, I no longer have any Windows 7 modding builders (even though we have made 3 of them for Win 7).

So I am not sure what you'll find online, I did keep a small footprint online with my yearly clean out rule.

 

You're quite welcome. I neglected to mention that the approach also works after using other tools or methods to mod or liten the OS as you see fit, such as Glenn and Trouba do. Many folks have very good success trimming their OS, and making the install source smaller and including necessary drivers always make the install go quicker and smoother. I was just trying to say that if you weren't comfortable doing any of that, you could still achieve a pretty good result by merely doing your tweaks post install.

I'm glad you are continuing to enjoy your Last experiences, regardless of the version of the OS they are based on.

 

@LFD,

If you're interested, I found copies of these:

LastXP v20.1.1
LastXP v21 (Kay's Core)
ppApps Installer & ppApps v1-Nightwolf81(Jul.2007)
Best of EMUlation Pack v1 (Feb.2007)
​

I'd definitely like to get that "EMUlation_Pack_Refresh2" you'd mentioned finding. I didn't realize there were other EMUlation Packs. I mean, "Best of" and v1 kind of implied there were others (or more to follow) -- it's just that I never encountered any of them.

I had come across two disks marked "LastXP v17" and "LastXP v17.2.2 (cvrle77)" -- unfortunately, they were RW's that'd been over-written with some TV shows

Also, I have all the original MGP's 1-10:

Mega Game Pack 1 (Jan.2007)
Mega Game Pack 1 (Apr.2007)
Mega Game Pack 1 (Aug.2007)
Mega Game Pack 1 (Jan.2007)
Mega Game Pack 4 ppGames (Nov.2007)
Mega Game Pack 1.23 ppGames of MGP's 1-3 (Jan.2008)
Mega Game Pack 5 ppGames (Jun.2008)
Mega Game Pack 6 ppGames (Sep.2008)
Mega Game Pack 7 ppGames (Feb.2009)
Mega Game Pack 8 ppGames (unreleased)
Mega Game Pack 9 ppGames (unreleased)
Mega Game Pack 10 ppGames (unreleased)
​

And finally, my own small contribution:

Mega Game Pack: LucasArts Adventures, Reloaded (Jul.2009)
​

The following is more directed @bp:

On a related note, earlier this week (yesterday?) "harkaz" at RyanVM.net released his (final) Windows XP unofficial SP4 (v.3.1 LOL) but it's nowhere to be found. The Google Drive source lists all the related files except "WindowsXP-USP4-v3.1-x86-ENU.exe". Since you frequent RyanVM (and are a heavy poster there as well), you didn't happened to grab a copy of that by any chance while it was still available, did you?

Edit: Maybe nevermind. Perhaps he took it down while he's uploading v3.1a to fix that T13 glitch.
​

Note: magnets provided upon request

 

I'll update the Emulation pack in the next week or two and upload it or share the torrent, no need for you to get the unreleased v2 as it will not take much to update all the Emulator cores, I will probably keep the old ssWPI as the installer/launcher tho as it will be a fair bit of work to add Emulation detection to the ssWPI v14 re-write.

I really only want LastXP v17 for a look at the choices as to me it looked like the most professional build - even though it had cartoony graphics, I'd like to figure out why the style appealed to me, as for the rest I'll send you a PM about it.

 

I didn't get SP4 yet, but yes, I think he took it down while he's uploading v3.1a. But might he change it again to 3.1b if he chooses to implement Acheron's suggestion on how to install .NET "correctly" during Windows Setup @ T13 - http://www.ryanvm.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=140735#140735???

 

The only two versions of LastXP I can seem to put my fingers on are:
LastXPv22.iso -- 4,689,559,552 bytes
LastXP_v22_SOX.(Secure.Open.XP).iso -- 1,728,641,024 bytes

I thought I had others but ...

 

Yes, I saw that too. I thought that'd be cool to have .NET already up-to-date on a fresh install. If so, it'd be worth the wait (again).

 

Good to see smart people are still getting around problems like that, it's funny looking back at the XP modding stuff now as I didn't understand .inf very well back then and now it's just like a basic xml file without the line tags (just section tags in square brackets), I still don't know why people would actually want to run XP for modern dot.NET 4 apps tho, the runtimes themselves are mostly bloatware and shouldn't really appeal to XP users anyway lite C++ apps should be more preferred. As for the lack of x64, I don't know if I could go back ever again to a x86 OS especially when PC games are often 10GB+, imagine how long it would take to uncompress that on a x86 OS with controllers that were not designed to take advantage of multiple cores or threaded memory usage.

The whole XP appeal should subside once your hardware is SSD, USB 3, 8GB ram, Dual Core x64 chip - or anything above these specs, not to mention the Network issues with sharing to your newer OS's and the lack of stable WiFi drivers for most new hardware. If I still had the same PC I had when I modded XP, yeah I'd still love to use it too

- Rain/Thunder starting up again, I gotta shutdown my hardware again.

 

I used to be in the habit of burning every iso to disc back then (LOL) so I'm pretty sure I have like 10's and 10's of LastXP Vxx.x laying around. Every now and then I come across some discs. Of course, a good number of these will be personal mods (walls and icons and apps and updates and tweaks).

Funny how nostalgia works, because having even a Sandy Bridge PC with a 21" flat panel monitor as I have, it's not really conceivable to run XP on that, let alone on anything newer. I tried once, but soon noticed the XP UI is really not made for higher resolution screens; the taskbar and other elements get tiny, and there is no way to scale it properly. So to run XP, I can also only see that feasible on older systems and I think most if not all those parts have been used in repairs for other people's PC at the time. Still, every now and then I have this idea like, what if I had a dedicated PC in that room to do certain tasks Then I consider the unlikelihood of that, and my mind goes like, "but if there is a zombie apocalypse, and we have to scrape parts..." and that is as far as that goes Still, those were the days