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If you have tried to install Windows 7 on a Surface Pro, or a UEFI-only device., you may have noticed it hangs on "Starting Windows" or gives error 0xc000000d, or you might have seen the following message: However, this article proves that it isn't impossible to achieve this. This tutorial shows you how to install Windows 7 on a Surface Pro. This tutorial is meant for the Surface Pro 1, but could work on any other UEFI-only device, which it should, but not guaranteed. INSTRUCTIONS: 1. Boot the USB. This ISO uses a Windows 10 PE, but has a Windows 7 install.wim. 2. Open command prompt by pressing "Shift+F10" 3. Type in setup.exe /noreboot 4. Go through setup normally. 5. On the command prompt, type in "diskpart" 6. Type in the following commands: sel dis 0 lis par sel par 1 (where your boot partition is) assign letter w exit 7. Open up Notepad, and click "Open" or "Save As". Enable all files to be viewed. Go to W:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot and copy the BCD file and paste it onto the Windows 7 partition. 8. Go back to diskpart by typing "diskpart" in 9. Type in the following commands: sel dis 0 sel vol w form quick fs=fat32 exit 10. Go back to Notepad, and click "Open" or "Save As". Enable all files to be viewed. Go to the USB drive, then go to the FlashBootPro folder, then copy the "EFI" folder. 11.Go to W:\ and paste the EFI folder. 12. Go to the Windows 7 partition and cut "BCD". 13. Go to W:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot and paste "BCD" on the folder. 14. Reboot. Setup should continue normally. NOTE: For some reason, Windows will NOT boot if any USB devices are connected. Any time you boot into 7, you MUST disconnect them, boot into 7, then connect them again. Wifi is integrated but doesn't work. You will need to purchase a separate USB wireless adapter. Proof of Windows 7 installed on Surface Pro 1:

You already made a topic about this question before.

Good ! Victory ! I was able to put an upvote to your post in another topic ! Here looks like I'm still blocked.

@mina7601 Btw, I'm partially involved in improving some of the designs made by others for the ViStart start menu designs. I'm also open for feedback regarding that btw.

my replacement hp elite 8300 should be here in the next week so I can get back to using older windows versions

I'm (truly) sorry to hear that. Start now and wash away the burden on those 2 strong shoulders as you are not meant to take on the troubles of the world, only your own little bubble, so maybe meditate or prayer to ask for strength and healing energy. Palms up and look up never look down, only to tie shoes lol. ....

Fix Russia's behaviour on the international arena.

What is ViStart? ViStart is Start Menu replacement that works with Windows XP or modern systems like latest Windows 10! This application is here for a long time, I remember back in 2007 it was very requested as fully working Windows Vista Start Menu with real search bar. During time ViStart evolved to version 8.1.5208 compiled 14.2.2016. After long delay was 31.3.2021 released version 8.1.5254 and Lee Chantrey decided to make it Open Source and released source code on GitHub Now I created fork 26.1.2023 with v8.1.5254 and during my testing I realized many features that I need are unfinished or missing. For example even with fully translated Language file translation in app was incomplete. 3.2.2023 I have released v8.1.5258 as my latest attempt to improve ViStart to another level. I started with my changes with my first release at 28.1.2023 with v8.1.5255 To make installation easy as possible I have created two silent installers for ViStart. One which handle application that is installed to %ProgramFiles% and one which extract skins related files to %AppData%. You need both of them to launch ViStart. These links always points to latest version it can be updated frequently than official release on GitHub. I have done various improvements to the code. Here is list of main changes, for more details see changelog. Improved translations, every visible element under Windows XP / Vista / 7 host can be now translated using Language.xml Added new context menu in "Navigation Pane" on custom items - Open, Rename and Hide Added new context menu to "Computer" - Manage and Search Added new context menu to "Computer" / "Network" / "Control Panel" - Show on desktop / Hide from desktop Added new context menu "Explore" when browsing All programs to be able open whole folder Removed ViPad context menu when ViPad is not running or not installed. No more "online" feature in context menu Realigned all items in Control Panel to make UI more clear Added new option to change Skins Rollover icons similar to Start Orb Skins settings Updated application icon with older better one from v1.6 era Non existent "Frequent programs" / "Pinned programs" loaded from settings.xml are not displayed Added 18 optional items than can be displayed in "Navigation Pane" from settings.xml Added Libraries, Downloads, Printers and Faxes, Set Program Defaults, Search support for settings.xml - Windows XP related options are set as default in settings.xml - Added Games folder support which points to %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Games - this is not dynamic and on each XP language you need to manually fix this path in settings.xml if would like to use this option - Windows Vista / 7 options Libraries, Downloads, Games, Help are commented out, you need manually fix settings.xml on other systems than XP / 2003 Added Windows XP Luna Blue, Windows XP Luna Olive, Windows XP Luna Silver, WIndows XP Embedded, Windows XP Zune, Windows XP Royale, Windows 8 Beta Concept, Windows Vista, Windows Vista 5270 Skins Added option to control "Navigation Pane" display items limit, see Windows 8 Beta Concept Skins layout.xml ViStart translations are now really unfinished as everything is now translatable. But I adapded all languages founded over internet and all of them are included. Feel free to improve current translations or provide new one! Every language have all needed strings inside to make it easy for you, translators! Brazilian Czech - 100% Dutch English - 100% French German - 90% Hebrew - 100% Italian Korean Polish Russian Spanish Turkish Download ViStart-all.exe https://www.mediafire.com/file/bgra4u1jgh02v1j/ViStart-all.exe/file ViStartSkins-all.exe https://www.mediafire.com/file/a2tw9bj6pph2my4/ViStartSkins-all.exe/file Preview Currently included Skins Windows 7 Start Menu Windows Vista Windows Vista 5270 Windows XP Luna Blue Windows XP Luna Olive Windows XP Luna Silver Windows XP Royale Windows XP Zune Windows XP Embedded Windows 8 Beta Concept Ideas and improvements that come in future releases Windows 11 support Skins SubSkins support - Skins creator can specify Skins variants, like different Start Menu size or Light / Dark mode etc. I have currently implemented these changes which were accepted by author to merge into main ViStart branch. Changelog ViStart v8.1.5258 [*]Removed broken fix for bug 2] in "No programs match the search criteria" is never displayed "No programs match the search criteria" is never displayed #10 as it caused issues [*]Removed start_button.png depency in FileCheck, now can be loaded skins without start_button.png [*]Added new option to select custom Rollover, place _rollover directory near _skins and put your favourites rollovers inside [*]Updated Language files with latest strings [*]Updated default settings.xml [*]Added support to display "Search" option in Start Menu [*]Increased settings.xml items limit to 18 [*]Added Windows 7 Rollover [*]Added default Start Orb ViStart v8.1.5257 [*]Fixed "Files" string translation doesn't work "Files" string translation doesn't work #8 - "Files" string translation doesn't work #8 [*]Fixed Bug 2] "No programs match the search criteria" is never displayed "No programs match the search criteria" is never displayed #10 - from "No programs match the search criteria" is never displayed #10, Bug 1] still remains [*]Fixed incorrect translation loading on ViStart Control Panel for "strStartViStart" and "strStartWinMenu" [*]Improved "Pinned programs" loading from settings.xml, non existent items are not displayed [*]Improved "Navigation pane" limit again. 17 items are choosable and are parsed from settings.xml, now in Each Skin's layout.xml can be specified limit which should hide items that can't be displayed. For example user preconfigure 15 items to be displayed in Start Menu "Navigation Pane" in settings.xml. But I have specified in My Skin layout.xml which will hide 4 last incompatible items when is performed Skin change. User can always break this rule when manually selecting Start Menu default items visibility. This tweak is here to improved initial skin load to avoid buttons overlap [*]Realigned almost all items in Control Panel to make UI more clear [*]Changed various English labels according to UI polishing [*]Added option to disable Splash Screen [*]Added Turkish + Polish translation created from old various finds [*]Updated all languages with all needed strings [*]Added Windows XP Luna Blue Skin, Windows XP Luna Olive Skin, Added Windows XP Luna Silver, WIndows XP EMbedded, Windows XP Zune, Windows XP Royale, Windows 8 Beta Concept, Windows Vista, Windows Vista 5270 Skin - Start buttons needs to be created, feel free to improve these Skins I'm not graphics guy. In many Skins are correct credits. For some themes I don't know from where was found original images that was touched when adapting for ViStart 8.1! [*]Added fixed connect.png to Windows 7 Start Menu roolover instead of Homegroup icon [*]Added PNGs for Printers, Downloads, Libraries and Userfolder rollover to Windows 7 Start Menu ViStart v8.1.5256 [*]Removed "Recent" word from Skins/Windows 7 Start Menu/startmenu_expanded.png [*]Removed ViStart.manifest [*]Added ViStart.exe.manifest [*]Updated application icon with older better one from v1.6 era [*]Improved "Frequent programs" loading from settings.xml, non existent items are not displayed [*]Increased limit from 12 to 17 items in Start Menu "Navigation pane" [*]Added Libraries, Downloads, Printers and Faxes, Set Program Access and Defaults support for settings.xml [*]Added new default settings.xml into main directory and RES - Windows XP related options are defaults - Added Downloads folder support (Downloads folder must be placed in CLSID {450D8FBA-AD25-11D0-98A8-0800361B1103} know as My Documents , so this is dynamic for all languages when you create Downloads folder - Added Games folder support which points to %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Games - this is not dynamic and on each XP language you need to manually fix this path in settings.xml if would like to use this option - Fixed Help and support option - Windows Vista / 7 options Libraries, Downloads, Games, Help are commented out, you need manually fix settings.xml on other systems than XP / 2003 [*]Added all needed strings to all language files. Fully translated in only Czech.xml until translators finish other languages ViStart v8.1.5255 [*]Improved translations, every visible element under Windows XP host can be now translated using Language.xml [*]Added new translatable elements into all available languages [*]Added Czech.xml [*]Added new context menu in NavigationPane on custom items - Open, Rename and Hide [*]Added new context menu to "Computer" - Manage, Search [*]Added new context menu to "Computer" / "Network" / "Control Panel" - Show on desktop / Hide from desktop [*]Added new context menu "Explore" when browsing All programs to be able open whole folder [*]Added Windows XP Luna Blue theme [*]Removed ViPad context menu when ViPad is not running or not installed. No more "online" feature in context menu [*]Removed More themes and More Orbs online buttons. No more "online" features from Settings [*]Realigned buttons on Style configuration page [*]Realigned elemens on About page and added current build visibility [*]Updated settings.xml with new defaults [*]Fixed "No skins available", if doesn't exist %APPDATA%\ViStart use current EXE dir if _skins folder exist there

How would you define "good life"? Jeez, I don't know what to say. Some heavy burden...probably nothing I would've said would be new or helpful for that matter. Understandable. In the end, they're just words, not miracles. If we could transfer our bubbles far away...I don't know. Hey, anyone else knows Globus? Eh, we can do real-life conversations without concept of "likes". Not like that anyway. Maybe ease up on react buttons (everyone, I mean). It's feeling kinda forced in recent times. I have backup of OS partition for a change, heck even 2 backups, but unsure if it works there or not. And the latest is still older backup and some things were tweaked since. Ugh, life would be simpler with everything @ default. I'll leave it for now. Guess no weather widget for me. I mean it usually works for few hours, but I don't want to use it if it'll keep crashing. I'm slow and despite messing with computers for waaay too long, I still do a bunch of things the Flintstones way. Yabba dabba doo!

thank you everyone for the input I have now gone with mediafire as my new storage and it works really well for what I need

Nope

MSFN is now being hit with "ring tone" spam. Only one that I have seen thus far.

It's not just UXP they're targeting either. This undoubtedly exterminates Discourse on MyPal 68 too, since FF didn't implement this particular bit of Googledygook until FF 71. (And correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think FF/MyPal 68 will load "legacy" FF extensions like JustOff's; so MyPal 68 is completely out of luck. At least UXP has a workaround.) What a load of, well, you know. As if they can't even make Discourse work unless they use the latest Googledygook! Explains something I've wondered about from html5test.com: Never could understand how UXP managed to support VP9 but not VP8. Turns out, it does support VP8; it just doesn't "think" it supports VP8!

Enjoy and see you tomorrow :)

well I'm off now to watch the lord of the rings with my family see you all later!

Good! What Windows version will this device have installed on it?

I'm doing this right now!

I liked your posting ( I can react to postings today ) but only because you opened up and not that you're suffering.

You're not alone, I've had similar cases happening to me on my Windows 7 days, and the only solution for such case was, as you said, nuke everything and start over.

We understand that this is frustrating for our users, but as others have pointed out, we've been hit with many posts with crypto-currency spam. They are even taking over regular member accounts to post spam. These attacks were originating in Russia so unfortunately, we had to take steps in order to prevent this from happening. This isn't just MSFN specific but other forums are experiencing this as well. The last thing we want is the board to become compromised to the point where someone causes major damage. Therefor, xper employed a few tactics to help curb these attacks. We're not blocking Russia due to anything political, because of their beliefs or current events surrounding them, it's simply to keep the board safe.

Never seen this cryptocurrency spam. Where do I look to see it, at what "correct times"?

In uBlock I've allowed whole MSFN (so two "+" and one "-") to not have website performance problems... You are suggesting that this "-" under MSFN in uBlock is against cryptocurrency spam? I have never had any problems with cryptocurrency spam. So I'm able to put "likes".

Tell us, will that "territory" include the recently occupied neighbours ? Legal explanations from a lawyer : The territory of Russian Federation was internationally recognised only in the borders of 1991. Since your Russian Federation illegally annexed territories from its neighbours, it has no recognised borders anymore.

Good to know that there's a solution for Discourse breakage. Thanks.

I would not classify this as decisive. It could be something as simple as "Installer Version A" looks for an update (via internet) and decides for itself to NOT install "Version A" but fetches "Version B" instead. DISABLE your internet connection before doing ANY install. Good Rule of Thumb because MOST installers "phone home" in some sort of way.

I've previously fixed spotify (it worked after ext kernel reinstallation), but now for example spotify gives me error 409("this app is for premium users only", if you search on google nothing shows) also tried installing spotify v0.9.14.13, and gives me error 409 but this time it says that it might be blocked by firewall (which is not), minecraft is totally offline (even if it's allowed in firewall and connected to internet). But browsers work, please i don't know how to fix this. Now i'm gonna update my ext kernel to see if it fixes anything (if not i'm gonna reinstall it) and i'll report if it fixed it. Edit: updating and reinstalling ext kernel did absolutely nothing Second Edit: Now everything works fine

What programs? (You previously posted that Spotify was working.)

For those with access to the MEGA folder, you will notice two .7z files: vistaexkernsetup_11222020.7z is an installer for the newest set of extended kernel files. Must be run as admin. One improvement in the new files is the removal of subsystem version checking, so you don't have to change Firefox's Subsystem version from 6.1. SetWaitableTimerEx has been added as well, which allows Office 2019 setup to run, but its version check is very complicated. Another function needs to be added for Office Click-to-Run components to run anyway: mfplatsetup.7z is an installer for Windows 7's Media Foundation files, which are used by recent Firefox-based browsers.

You should install WildBill's updates before installing kernelxe as it's based on those files. http://www.mediafire.com/download/vdbwx67dx34jezj/Windows2000-KB2479629-v3-x86-ENU.exe http://www.mediafire.com/download/1agd8icjjbu5s4n/Windows2000-KB2508429-v17-x86-ENU.exe I'm so excited just to have full raw input support. Just waiting for school stuff to quiet down and I will have an SSE-only test box.

This is the original version of Teardown, which uses a Windows 10 exclusive API function, SetProcessDpiAwarenessContext, running on Windows Vista with an upcoming update to user32.dll: Later versions of the game no longer use this function and as such will work normally on Windows 7, 8.x and 99.9% sure, Vista, though I have no proper way of testing DX11 games on Vista due to the age of my GPU. There are also other games known to use this function, so even though the developers of Teardown realized the demand for their games on older platforms, others may take a different attitude and force users onto the latest versions of Windows 10 to use their products. So, this will allow Vista/7/8.1 users to be prepared for such a future event. Since some interest has been shown in donations for my work, I have set up a method for users to contribute financially for this and some of my other works: https://www.patreon.com/win32

Chromium 88.0.4091.0 x64 is working on Vista now. Themes install, but I still haven't figured out webextensions.

All ~1810 functions in Vista's ntdll are exported from ntext and then forwarded to ntdll. Then I added a large code section to house RtlQueryPerformanceCounter and future functions. Only applications that call RtlQueryPerformanceCounter need to use this wrapper ATM. You can go into CFF Explorer -> Import Directory and change the entry for ntdll.dll under the "Module Name" column to ntext.dll. That can also be done with a hex editor, as the only likely reference to ntdll in the application would be in the import/delay load import tables. I just decided to compile it with the SSE2 switch. the best that VC++ offers (though it may not do much for a wrapper DLL, admittedly). Since most Windows 7+ applications probably need SSE2 to begin with, I don't see much harm in this decision.

Lots of news. I managed to work around ntdll somewhat. My ntext (ntdll with a new section and updated checksum) was successfully hooked by kernel32 through forwarded functions. But programs that call ntdll directly didn't go as well. Firefox would crash or pseudo-load hogging up several CPU threads. So I think a completely new wrapper dll that forwards to ntdll is necessary. I was almost successful in getting the Windows 7 compatibility shimming framework to work (a modified aclayers.dll that fakes Windows 7 SP1 instead of RTM and acppage.dll in particular). But the latter calls registry-related functions from kernel32 instead of advapi32. So I added them to kernel32 forwarding to advapi32 but it didn't work as it would keep forgetting the compatibility options (those reg functions are slightly different on 7 than Vista but very difficult to implement). So it may be better to modify the Vista versions of the files, but it's not that clear cut to me, unless I were to replace one of the existing compatibility options (somehow I think no one really bothers with the 2003 SP1 option).

I can't believe it's been so long since the most logical desktop UI was released. Windows NT API functions + DOS/win16 compatibility, FAT32 and basic USB support are pretty important as well. I started using Windows 98 long before I started with 95, but when I got my PIII machine, 98 was flaky beyond belief. I asked for opinions and some said that the near constant crashes were due to overheating. Then I went outside the next day. A razor-thin object hit my forehead and cut it. Turned out to be a Windows 95 OSR 2.1 CD-ROM. Used my 98FE OEM CD-ROM to boot it. And it installed with no issues. So those crashes were likely not related to hardware. My only problem was that the system would fail to boot or even be broken completely if the USB supplement was installed. But replacing the S3 Savage4 with a GeForce FX 5700 LE fixed it. I'm still quite satisfied with Windows 95, After Dark 10th anniversary edition, Office 2000 Professional and RetroZilla 2.2 (until MSFN broke in it earlier this morning due to apparent change in encryption. nice coincidence. ). I never, ever swap with 128 MB of RAM! I'd love to go back 15 or 20 years so I could run 95/98 as a main OS dual booting with Windows 2000 and not have to worry about compatibility issues. Seriously, since I dumped the Savage4, win95 has never given a BSoD or even inexplicable crashes of system executables (98SE did that to me often).

How will Tobin feel about this? There has only been one minor glitch where the title/URL/bookmark/tab bar briefly expanded when I was on YouTube. But I may have seen it before on 2012R2. Waterfox Classic 2020.3.1 is working too, but only in non-e10s mode (same as Pale Moon). I need to finish up SetCurrentProcessExplicitAppUserModelID in shell32.dll before e10s will work, it appears. I finished implementing CoGetApartmentType in ole32.dll, and it appears that dwmapi.dll is OK with stubs since the OS doesn't actually use the functions that newer Firefox-based browsers ask of that file. And there are some extra functions in user32.dll and uxtheme.dll that will be needed to make Firefox 68.9 ESR happy. More updates: K32GetModuleInformation will be added to kernel32 to accommodate SeaMonkey 2.53.x. And the thing that keeps e10s from working in Waterfox is that earlier one part of SetCurrentProcessExplicitAppUserModelID was bugged in a way similar to that of SetThreadErrorMode a few pages back. Problem is that NtQueryInformationProcess is not imported by the original Vista file, and there is no room to expand the import table (and I haven't found a good way to move import tables in x64 binaries yet). So first I tried adding NtQueryInformationProcess as a subroutine to shell32.dll. But that causes waterfox to crash with a BEX64 error (related to DEP/NX). And NtQueryInformationProcess has a syscall function in it. According to Intel 64 manual, syscall is a "Fast call to privilege level 0 system procedures". And as such, it is inappropriate for shell32 and should only be in ntdll.

https://mega.nz/file/510F0D5C#IA6TYIdyzURFlAZfGsU4XX1Q3cCyi70rfGEYe4KQlC8 OK, this one was simply taking the reg entry from Windows 10 (and removing the MUI references) since I still need to establish how the hex translates to time change date/times but it works.

Microsoft is known for its MiStakes, the biggest one of course being Windows 10, and I think accidentally revealing a premier support (now renamed Unified Support) update is certainly up there. Microsoft's Security Update ISOs from 2010 to 2013 had several Windows 2000 updates that obviously weren't meant to be publically released; unfortunately this method of update distribution ended in July 2016. Since it was released in July 2019 and is a non-security update, it probably falls into the same category as the Windows 2000 updates and wasn't meant for public release. The Unified Support sales number is 1-800-426-9400. Not sure how useful it will be though. Other than that, I found a reference to per-incident support (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4341255) but you need a M$ account to access it. For that, I guess you could say "my chain of supermarkets in Casablanca has the wrong time on their POSReady machines" and see what they could do for you, though I don't see anyone buying that.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to finish my hotfix, as I can't find the MSCF.sfx needed to finish it and I'm having issues trying to get it to install on a Windows 2000 system (no XP x86 for me). So, instead of making something with unredistributable M$ files, I just consolidated the changes into one reg file that works not only on XP, but all NT 5.x OSes (a little tweaking will bring it to 9x). I just applied it and it works - now Morocco is at UTC +1 and in Standard Time. The tzchange.dll and exe seem to be unnecessary bloat. https://mega.nz/file/B8MHwCrY#NJ9h0hroSch6eS6MhebpY7oGKIrx3OtzcWuPcoui-9U

OK, some things have changed for the better. Unless you're using Windows 2000. Teams in 360 Extreme Explorer 11.0.2251.0 does work on XP x64, and probably NT 5.1 as well, but fails on Windows 2000. Only some minor cosmetic glitches seem to occur. Stuff like conferencing cannot be tested as I don't have a webcam handy. My laptop actually can't run XP due to issues with the inbox drivers, so it looks I'm going to have to put Server 2003 to use M$ Teams. At least no VMs are necessary. UPDATE: turns out that the situation with win2k is fixable. I think I just need to get mozglue.dll (and chrome_elf.dll?) to call XP's crypto files much like my fix for Office 2007.

The new year (and decade) has just arrived in UTC -05:00 (eastern continental United States as well as Ontario, Quebec and eastern Nunavut in Canada*) I am pleased to report that there doesn't seem to be an undocumented "2020 bug" in Microsoft Windows. My Windows 95, Server 2003, Vista and 8.1 installs have successfully entered a new decade. And no mass failures of XP either it appears. *Not including northwestern Ontario communities such as Kenora and Quebec's Magalden Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence

Hi, @feodor2! It's great to have you around! Welcome to MSFN!

Yeah, instead of taking the old OS and giving it a modern look (lots of win8/10 visual styles for XP and even RP 9.7 floating around), the old OS should be updated with support for the newest hardware and win32 APIs. I want a UEFI bootloader and full GPT support in an x64 build of win2k, which I would wait in a ten-mile line to buy. But that really can't be shown off in a flashy video.

This ThinkPad T60 is the machine I end up using most of the time, because I'm seldom at the place where my desktops are located. Chipset: Intel i945PM (ICH7) CPU: Intel Core Duo T2400 1.8 GHz RAM: 2 x 1 GB DDR2-667 GPU: ATI Mobility Radeon X1300 (64 MB internal, 192 MB shared RAM) SSD: Crucial CT120BX300 120 GB SATA-III (running at SATA-I due to controller limitations) Optical: HL-DT-ST GCC-4247N DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive OS: Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional The battery died a few weeks ago (planning on getting some more), but it works good for web browsing and productivity applications. In fact I use it for web browsing while doing more hardware intensive/9x stuff on my desktops! It is also not flimsy unlike my ultra-thin Kaby Lake win10 disaster with its failing hinges!

How popular is Tim Hortons over there? Here the inner part of the cup lids is now maple leaf-shaped! They never attempted this gimmicky patriotic stuff when the company was actually Canadian-owned. Anyway, I announced that the operators of my college's cafeteria were moving away from XP in May. Indeed when the current semester started the XP box appeared to be in a state of network boot failure, presumably. They fixed everything a few weeks ago and now the cashier ignores the Windows 10 POS machine in favour of the XP one!

The best you can hope for is to use Application Verifier on the desktop client to fake Windows 7 once it starts to block XP/Vista. However, they may take the opportunity to recompile it with dependencies on DX 11.1 (Windows 8 and up, partially backported to 7) or other Windows 7-specific functions. You may still have a glimmer of hope in the former case, if these DX 11.1-specific libraries can be copied over to Vista with no dependency issues, as that's what happened to later iterations of DX9 with so-called XP-exclusive components; they work in Windows 2000 even without the extended kernel. All I can say is, keep your copy of dependency walker handy.

Many of the win10 machines at my school display this on the taskbar: Clicking on the placeholder just launches more instances of M$ Edge. And I just looked over my system restore points and found this: I don't get it. This is a Kaby Lake laptop with only Intel HD Graphics 620 so, unfortunately, I can't replace it with the extremely superior Windows XP Professional. I never really encountered bugs in Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003 or 7, but 10 is a real piece of work. Shall I go on about the win32 calculator from 7 that crashes whenever I try to convert units? Or the dark theme trying to take on the control panel? I'm on the February level of updates. Maybe I'll update next week.

Yes, I'm willing to run such a script. Anything for the proliferation of Windows 2000

All of @roytam1's browsers work with the extended kernel, as do most XP-compatible software titles, and a few smaller utilities for Windows 7 and up (Throttlestop, Acrobat Reader DC off the top of my head). The universal Boingo WLAN client supports more EAP methods than the XP SP2 native client. If you don't do DX10+ gaming or need modern MTP support, Windows 2000 still goes very far.

I see those win10 lookalikes and raise you Q4OS + XPQ4. https://q4os.org/index.html https://xpq4.sourceforge.io/ In Live CD form dumped onto a USB on a ThinkPad T60 it's not much less snappier than server 2003 on the TP's SSD.