tomasz86

I have updated my site today! I have replaced all the remaining links with direct URLs . The only remaining non-direct URL is 890830 (Malicious Software Removal Tool) which is updated monthly and I kind of doubt if it even still works in Windows 2000. I should probably check it and remove from the list if that is the case.

Just a quick update on the topic . I finally upgraded both devices to Windows 10 (really did a fresh installation) on the last day of the free upgrade period. I will probably just use the OS although I must say that the learning curve on the 8" tablet after using Windows 8.1 for all that time has been very steep. As far as touch only goes, Windows 8.1 felt much more natural with all the swiping, etc. Windows 10 is usable but feels kind of clunky when used without a mouse or a keyboard. The former just felt much more fluid, and the tablet mode in Windows 10 is somewhat annoying, limited and glitchy with some desktop applications that do not like to be maximized. Also, I really wonder what is the reason to hardcode the taskbar colour to black only in the tablet mode?

Thank you for all the engagement although in case of the HFSLIP package I think it will be better to limit it only to official M$ files. At the moment the package strictly follows my website when it comes to the updates included, and is also compatible with vanilla Windows 2000 (without any unofficial updates). For the time being I would prefer to keep it this way as only by doing so I can guarantee wide compatibility. Although I and many other users here are very open to the unofficial kernel, etc. there are still cases (like servers and such) where unofficially modified files are not welcome. I believe that it is still very useful to have such a basic package with all the official updates (and other compatible official M$ files / components) that can be used in any Windows 2000 configuration. On the other hand, UURollup is where this kind of modified files belong to. However, as @jaclaz pointed out, I tend to be quite conservative as far as adding new files goes. Even excluding all the external factors (like me being busy, etc.) I have never been very quick to update packages like UURollup simply because there is always very high risk of bugs and other system incompatibilities. In a situation where Windows 2000 is not used by many people any more, and only a few people make unofficial packages we always should test every new file thoroughly before installation, and especially files that have been modified since any potential issues may lead to broken systems. In other words, both the risk and the responsibility are very high. This does not mean that I am opposed to new files / components that could improve the system. I just believe they need to be tested very well before adding them to any larger unofficial package. Creating a separate addon may actually be a good way to test the files first! I personally have not used / tested the non-destructive method thoroughly but could you just check whether the 48-Bit LBA support is even enabled? Please follow https://support.microsoft.com/kb/305098 and let me know what the EnableBigLba is currently set to. As for the USB ports, I believe all of them should be intercompatible. I think I myself even used a USB 3.0 external drive with a computer that only had USB 1.1 ports before. I only had to use a USB Y-cable to make it work .

I am happy that you like it :) I hope I will be able to find an easy way to solve the performance issues without having to e.g. split the tables into multiple pages, etc. As far as the HFSLIP-FullPack is concerned, at the moment it has been strictly following all the changes made to the site itself. I always try to update the package simultaneously so you just need to check the change log on the website for everything. In case of the current release, I only added the hotfix (listed in the change log) that could not previously be slipstreamed. My plans for now are to change all the remaining indirect URLs to direct links. I am also considering adding (actually re-adding) the .NET Framework 1.1 and 2.0 addons created by OnePiece. Although these are unofficial updates in a strict sense, what they really are are just official M$ installers and updates repacked and merged together, i.e. the files themselves are unmodified. My .NET Framework combined installer is a completely different story as 1) it is not an addon but rather an SFXCAB archive, 2) it cannot be slipstreamed, and 3) it requires the BWC kernel to work. On the other hand, the OnePiece's addons are intended for Windows 2000 and do not require any unofficial modifications to work. Apart from these addons, there are also a few other unofficial updates which simply install official M$ files that are otherwise not available for Windows 2000, and I am considering (re)adding those to the lists too. As far as the other unofficial packages go, and especially the packages which overwrite original system files with unofficially modified versions, they are covered by UURollup and/or the BWC kernel so I have no plans to (re)add them to the updates lists. I hope I will manage to update the UURollup itself later. I also really need to have a look at the newly released XP POSReady updates as I am sure that some of them can be applied to 2000 too.

I am very sorry for the 3 year delay but I have finally examined the hotfix and updated the information on how to slipstream it. Please check my website for details.

I have updated my website again! All hotfixes should now be available to download through direct links! There are still a few normal updates with indirect links left which I am going to change in the near future but all the rest is direct now . There are a few other changes too so please check the changelog. I have also been experimenting with the rendering. You may see a blank screen for a few seconds when loading the Updates Lists page but the whole page should be loaded quicker than before, especially in browsers such as Chrome, IE and the old Opera 12. On the other hand, the situation is still very bad in Firefox, and quite slow on mobile too . The site is downloaded pretty quickly but requires a lot of CPU power to render. PS I have uploaded a new HFSLIP-FullPack archive too! Unfortunately, redirecting is not possible as the site is completely static so I can only rely on basic HTML, CSS and JS.

Another big update to my site! I have replaced most of the hotfix URLs with direct links (check the changelog for the list). I have also simplified the code (but only just a little bit) and fixed some cosmetic / visual issues. Now the site has really become heavy... It will load slowly so please be patient... The problem is not to download the site (~ 250KB with gzip) but to render the HTML. Strangely enough the old Opera 12 seems to be the fastest when it comes to rendering large tables with a lot of content, and Firefox seems to be the worst. I am going to work on the performance once I finish replacing the remaining non-direct URLs.

I have found a way to construct direct URLs to hotfixes without actually requesting them through the M$ website! First of all, the basic Windows 2000 hotfix URL scheme is http://hotfixv4.microsoft.com/Windows 2000/sp5/filename/2195/free/fixid_langcode_i386_zip.exe There are three important values here: "filename", "fixid" and "langcode". The "filename" differs for each hotfix while the "fixid" differs for each language within that hotfix. The "langcode" goes together with the "fixid". To give a simple example, let us have a look at 820227. Open the request webpage and then view its source code in your browser (usually available in the right click menu). Then search for "hfList". You will find a long list of values for each operating system, language, etc. the hotfix is available for. In order to create a direct link for the ENU version of 820227 you need to find this part: fixid:'132359',product:'Windows 2000',language:'English',langcode:'ENU',platform:'i386',release:'sp5',filename:'PKG46402' out of which you only need fixid:'132359',langcode:'ENU',filename:'PKG46402' which you can copy and paste to the original link which now becomes http://hotfixv4.microsoft.com/Windows 2000/sp5/PKG46402/2195/free/132359_ENU_i386_zip.exe This is all there is to it. The link actually works and is identical to the one you will (should? maybe may if you are lucky...) get in the e-mail sent by M$ (which I cannot receive for some reason). The only other value you may need to change in the URL is the "sp5" which will be different in case the hotfix is older than SP4. Otherwise you only need to look for the three values mentioned above and leave the rest intact. I do not know if anyone will find this information useful but it will definitely help myself grab all the direct links without dealing with the buggy hotfix requesting process.

You definitely need to have the unofficial kernel installed before using the .NET Framework combined installer because the .NET 3.5 and 4.0 components will not install and work properly without it. At the moment I usually recommend going for the BlackWingCat's kernel instead of UURollup because it is much newer. However, in your case (a business setting) it may be actually better to go safe and try installing UURollup-v10 first as the package is stable and less intrusive for the system comparing to the newer ones. Please remember though that UURollup requires a fully updated system meaning SP4, IE6SP1, Update Rollup 1 and all other official updates released between 2005-2010. I also highly recommend doing a full system backup before installing any of the unofficial packages. You should also take into account that some .NET 3.5/4.0 features may still not function in Windows 2000 even with the unofficial kernel but you will never know for sure before experimenting with it yourself.

This is what I often get when trying to open any hotfix link: In such a situation the link sometimes works after refresh or when opened in another browser. I do not know what is the reason but I do know that I had no such problems in the past. It has been like this for at least a few months. I have also not experienced any similar issues with other websites, including other M$ sites. Even if I finally manage to reach the proper hotfix request site and apply for the files, the e-mails never come . I will probably have to check whether it only happens when using my home Internet or also in other places. Edit: I do no think it is my connection because the exact same problem is happening in Tor Browser. Edit 2: I have found a way to construct hotfix direct URLs without actually requesting them by e-mail (details here).

The M$ hotfix download system used to work well in the past but seems to have a lot of problems now... The site itself often does not load at all (this does seem to be browser dependent as I have not seen the problem in IE). Also, I have been unable to receive any e-mails with hotfix URLs when using my main e-mail addresses (GMail and also another provider) but did receive them when I just used a temporary e-mail address.

The HTML file itself is actually not that big when downloaded (just 200KB) as long as gzip is enabled (which will be unless you are either using an ancient browser or some kind of proxy or a security software that blocks it). I think the problem lies in rendering of the content which consists mainly of many lists (like the language files and lists of files for each update, etc.) that are nested in tables. All of this likely requires a lot of CPU power to render the site. I always try to test the site in different browsers. From my observation, it performs very nicely in Chrome, decently in IE and surprisingly well in the old Opera 12 too. However, Firefox (and all other Gecko based browsers) seems to be struggling with rendering so much that it even bogs the whole system down for a few seconds :/ I also have an old Android phone (Nexus S) where I check the site and even there it is not that bad (loads in less than 5s) when using the default system browser but if I try to use Firefox on the phone then it is over - you have to wait at least 10-15s for the site to even start showing up on screen. Of course I am talking about the Updates page as the other pages are very lightweight. Right now I myself almost never use Firefox to browse the updates lists because it is so slow (despite it being my main browser ). The problem is that the situation will be getting worse and worse as I keep converting more and more updates to direct links. At the moment I am thinking of hiding and displaying each table on demand as doing so should at least speed up the page initial load. I may also simplify the HTML markup a little bit. The ultimate solution would be to implement some kind of automatic pagination of the content but this is both beyond my skills and would also require a much more complicated infrastructure to work.

I have just updated my website. This is a very important update as I have finally replaced all general M$ Update Catalog links with direct URLs to the files (for all languages). This way they can be downloaded quickly with any browser and the Wayback Machine will be able to archive them too. One problem is that with all these links the website has been quickly gaining weight . While I am trying to do as much as much as possible to keep the load time and performance good, it may still work slower than before. Just let me know if there are any problems. Now I am going to do the same with all the hotfixes and replace their links with direct URLs too. It is unknown for how long M$ is planning to keep the hotfix download infrastructure working...

I am pretty sure that M$ is already not very happy about the whole Download Archive project, etc. so it is probably better not to tease them more with these tiny icons . Replications of the original M$ logos are fine though. I have, in fact, searched for free icons of the 2K Server logo but could not find anything, thus I decided to use the current icons.

Thank you for all the kind words and support! I appreciate it a lot Just a quick update today. I have further updated the website code and layout, and have been steadily replacing the general M$ Catalog links with direct URLs. This is critical as only then the Wayback Machine will be able to archive them. Could you give any examples of the 'retro' looking icons? It is difficult to guess what kind of icons you exactly have in mind from the explanation alone . I am open to any good ideas on how to improve both the site and everything else related to Windows 2000 . The one thing which is good about the current icons is that they are consistent and available for free (as long as there is a contribution note) while some of the previous ones (the XP and 2K Server icons from M$, to be specific) were not. This does not mean though that they cannot be changed in case there are better alternatives!

I have and probably should... It is always that I have too many things to do, and I am not good when it comes to multitasking and concentrating on all of them simultaneously. I am also not good at writing this kind of detailed guides I am seriously considering doing something in this matter though since I am probably one of the few people remaining active in the community (not as much as I would like to but still...) who have enough experience with Windows 2000 to do it. Also, there are not (and, to tell the truth, have never been) many detailed guides available and those which do still exist are heavily outdated. Apart from the unofficial updates, I would like at least to provide some how-to on slipstreaming with HFSLIP and using latest software in Windows 2000.

I hope you have not installed UURollup on top of just the SP4 (with no other official updates) because this will definitely lead to serious issues. UURollup requires a fully updated system which means at least SP4, IE6SP1, Update Rollup 1 and all official updates released between 2005-2010. This is the minimum, and I do not test UURollup in any other environment. I would suggest to reinstall Windows using a fully updated source. You can prepare it by either downloading all the updates listed on my website and integrating them with HFSLIP 2000, or by using the HFSLIP-FullPack (English only) package where all the updates are already included.

Not a joke at all! I have been downloading Windows 2000 updates to get direct links (using URL Snooper for that) from the Update Catalog. IE6 really seems to work best, probably because the site was likely written for this particular browser.

What is wrong with the Update Catalog? It may be a little clunky but it is still probably the fastest method to download the updates. Just add all of them to the basket and then download at once! PS. The catalog seems to work best with IE6. This is not a joke . I have had problems with it in IE11 under Windows 7, but it is working flawlessly in IE6 under Windows 2000.

I have just updated my site! I have added DirectX 9C Gaming June 2010 to the updates lists and also updated the visuals a little bit. It should now scale better to larger displays. I have also replaced the icons which should look much better now. I have also started to replace the general M$ Catalog URLs with direct links. This way the updates can be downloaded with any browser (not just IE) and also the Wayback Machine should be able to index them (so we will be able to download the updates from the Machine even if M$ decides to remove the files from its servers). I am planning to replace the hotfixes' links later too. The whole process is very time consuming so I am going to do it gradually. Please let me know if there are any issues or if something does not work . PS. I have also updated my HFSLIP package. It is called "HFSLIP2000-FullPack.7z" now and is available in the USP5 folder in the Download Archive.

The solution was already provided above but there is also an alternative method which is to use portable versions of the software. I use both Firefox and Thunderbird from PortableApps and update them using the PortableApps installer. This way there is no need to touch any configuration files.

I just wanted to wish you good luck (and offer support if there is anything I can help with)! Although Windows 7 is still well supported by M$ right now, this project may become vital once the official support and the official updates are not there any more. If possible, please make the rollup multilanguage so that it can be used in any language version of Windows 7 (this should be much easier to do in NT 6.x than in NT 5.x).

Unfortunately, no package for manual installation is available right now and I am against using the old Gurgelmeyer installer as it includes the buggy USB drivers! I am more concentrated on slipstreaming everything with HFSLIP 2000. If you want to update your existing system, you may want to try the LightAlpha263's "repair" method (but remember to back everything up!) Still not good, but at least it is not getting worse. Thank you for asking anyway! I should be able to update my site this week, and this time also add a few new updates to the list.

It seems OK now .

If you have enabled either /PAE or /3GB (or both), try to disable them. Being able to use more RAM and more CPU cores is really the only noticeable difference between this particular version of 2K and Professional (in home environment, that is). Are you sure that the environment is identical to the one you used Pro in? Try to disable (uninstall) as much as possible to see if the problem persists in a bare-bones state too. Is there anything suspicious in the Event Viewer? There is a nVIDIA display driver in my download archive. Could you try to replace yours with this one? I had the same graphics card before and used it with Windows 2000 without any issues.