bluebolt

I installed the Windows XP Professional x64 operating system on a Samsung 970 Pro NVME SSD drive using an ASRock X99 Extreme4 motherboard. Really easy the second time. Download Kai Schtrom's driver here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/nvme-for-windows-2003-server/files/ Download KB932755 here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=11619 Download AOMEI Backupper Standard here: https://www.aomeitech.com/download.html Use diskpart in Windows 7 x64 to create the aligned partition on, and format, the NVMe drive (the Windows 7 OS must have an NVMe driver installed, or diskpart will not be able to see the NVMe drive). Use Device Manager in XP x64 to install Schtrom's driver, which makes the NVMe SSD available as a storage drive -- and the XP x64 operating system as such now includes the NVMe driver. Run the storport hotfix. Use AOMEI Backupper to clone the XP x64 disk to the NVMe disk (remember to align the partition). Reboot into the BIOS and set the NVMe drive to boot first. I don't know whether Kai Schtrom had Windows XP 64-bit in mind when he wrote his driver, but for those of you running that OS it does present the potential for significant performance improvement, to say the least.

The system now consistently boots timely: the solution was to enable Intel SpeedStep in the BIOS. I disable SpeedStep for Windows 2000 and am nonplussed that the combination of SpeedStep/Disabled and XP x64/NVMe would affect boot reliability, but it does in this setup. Disabling Hardware Prefetcher and Adjacent Line Prefetcher didn't sit well with me because of the performance hit it caused, so it's nice to be able to run with those features enabled now. Current tests are with the Intel 760p Series 1TB NVMe (SSDPEKKW010T8X1). Default voltage for the i7-6950x CPU is 0.976 V. This motherboard has integrated overclock settings up to 4.0 GHz, at which ASRock sets voltage at 1.241 V (according to CPU-Z). I was able to manually raise the clock to 4.3 with no other changes, and low temps. So it seemed a couple of more clicks would be easily attainable with increased voltage, but alas (in my admittedly limited testing), 4.3 was a hard wall. Top-line CrystalMark scores include one lucky shot that cracked the million barrier, establishing, at least, that the gauge doesn't break there:

Sticking it in and twisting it, as the saying goes. Makes you wonder what's next, showing up at your house?

I don't know about AVG 2015 or AVG with XP x86. As for now, google "AVG Free XP" and the first result is this: https://www.avg.com/en-us/windows-xp-antivirus#pc which looks like this: which downloaded, installed and ran fine on my XP Pro X64 test bed, and currently looks like this: and is accessing the internet normally:

I tested Windows 2000 Professional with the following hardware: ASRock X99 Extreme4 LGA 2011-v3 motherboard Intel i7-5960x processor G.SKILL F4-3000C15Q-16GRBB RAM I took an earlier HFSLIP package from tomasz86, which includes Unofficial Update Rollup v11-w20130323, and used nLite to integrate blackwingcat’s custom chipset software and 8.9 AHCI driver, and to make the ISO, which I burned to CD using Nero 7.11.10.0c. I ran Unofficial Update Rollup v11-d20141130 and .net frameworks 1-4 (11142014) from tomasz86, used BWC nVidia 353.06 drivers for the graphics card, and enabled PAE mode. Here is a screenshot to demonstrate the first full-fledged test install: I guess blackwingcat’s chipset software names at least 100 system devices (which is that many fewer yellow question marks in Device Manager). I tried blackwingcat’s PRO2Kv2 and PRO2K v3 drivers for the LAN (it’s an Intel i218v, I think) by extracting the files and directing Device Manager to the extracts using Windows Update, but it can’t find a driver or says the OS is not supported, so I still need to figure that out, and maybe some other stuff. I realize that most computerists would just assume that it's not possible to install Windows 2000 Professional on the X99 platform, and moreover, find it quite unfathomable that anyone would want to, but for the record it's actually really easy the second time.

True -- I remember that one. It may depend on what particular application or benchmark is run, since W2k Pro is not hyperthreading aware (whereas XP, which is hyperthreading aware, seems better "across the board" with HT enabled).

Update: Moved to the Intel i7-6950x processor, which apparently uses the same container driver. Works great. The operating system is the same as post 1, except I'm using the newer .net framework package from tomasz86 12252016, and for the graphics card I'm now using BWC's nVidia 359.06 for the video and 355.6 for the audio. HFSLIP_2000 with 7.6 AHCI driver also installs and runs well. I'll test more with that later, but in the meantime here's how 8.9g AHCI from Blackwingcat and UUR from tomasz86 perform with Physical Address Extension: This is the highest CrystalMark score I've reached--oddly enough with hyperthreading enabled--higher even than 64-bit XP on NVMe.

I ditched AVG shortly after that, when they started pushing their "Zen" program, and I've never missed it. I've been extremely pleased with BitDefender, but I can't find the old version download online, so if I hadn't kept mine I don't think I could install on new builds. It pays to hang on to some of that stuff.

For XP, there is still AVG Free, and also BitDefender (though requires old installer). (And Microsoft Update still works for Windows 2000 Professional.)

Really? That is great news--and it sounds pretty definite! I'll contact the relevant media outlets, etc., to make sure everybody knows. I can hardly wait for tomorrow.

per harkaz January 15, 2018: Of course we can hope for that final and definitive version of SP4, but as there has been no "reliable and smart KernelEx project" developed, the best we can reasonably expect is a post-SP4 update pack/post-SP4 live installer.

Yeah, I just meant it dry, for a laugh, sorry if it came across otherwise.

I tested a Western Digital WD Black SN750 NVMe SSD WDS100T3X0C. It would not boot reliably even with hyper-threading disabled, and not at all with HT enabled. You can tell there will be trouble with the boot speed when this screen, rather than passing within a few moments, just scans and scans: So I went back into the BIOS and disabled "Hardware Prefetcher" and there was a great increase in boot reliability (I also disabled "No-Execute Memory Protection" as that seemed to help, too): So right now, the machine is booting much better with hyper-threading enabled, though either mode remains hit-and-miss on the WD NVMe drive, performing normally here: The Samsung 970 NVMe drive is no longer available for testing, so I can't re-check that, but disabling Hardware Prefetcher has helped a lot. I plan to test a different NVMe drive in a week or two.

@Mathwiz don't be ridiculous. These are technical forums, people don't do that here. @glnz the simplest way to move those 61 years of accumulated emails is to just use pencil and paper and a little transcription time; then simply re-construct the data manually.

XP still seems fresh as a daisy compared to the wilting goutweed that is Windows 10.

Never heard of SugarSync, but judging from that link they don't know which way is up.

That sounds good; I always overprovision, although some people consider it passé. I read a recent paper put out by Intel regarding their latest SSDs, and it showed they last longer with a 10% overprovision, and even longer at 20%, which I use. I figure why not, unless yours will be a big OS and you can't spare the space.

I was referring to the System Reserved Partition, but maybe I misremember. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/technet-magazine/gg441289(v=msdn.10) https://www.howtogeek.com/192772/what-is-the-system-reserved-partition-and-can-you-delete-it/

@TrevMUN Assuming you're using NTFS file system, your only concern with Windows XP x86 or x64 is creating an aligned partition. Once that is done, the subsequent formatting and OS install can be handled by XP. Probably lots of tools can do this, here's one way to go about it, off the top of my head... Use diskpart in Vista repair disk or Windows 7 to create the aligned partition (the offset). Hook up your SSD to the Windows 7 computer, open command prompt and enter "diskpart.exe" without the quotes. Enter "List disks" and identify your SSD. If it is, for instance, disk 1, enter "Select disk 1". Then enter "list partitions" and it will list the existing partitions on that SSD (or say that there are none, if the SSD is new or blank). If it lists a partition, enter "delete partition" and it will acknowledge the deletion. Then, for example, enter "create partition primary align=1024 size=90000" to create a 90GB partition. Diskpart should acknowlege the creation of your partition, and you're done. You're ready to install XP on that partition, including formatting. (The reason for using diskpart with Windows 7 is that Windows 7 OS Disk Management will include an extra header partition peculiar to Windows 7, and botch an XP installation). I use a little tool called AlignScript/SSDalign after the fact, to verify that the partition is properly aligned.

Does this concept pertain as well to Dynamic Disks? I'm trying out software RAID for the first time, and I'm concerned about whether volumes will be aligned, or need to be.

When total writes to the drive exceed the size of the drive, some bad math comes in to play, something like a quadrupling of every new write, and when new writes exceed the size of the drive again (happens faster, of course), then the math gets worse, something like x16 for every new write operation, filling the SSD even faster, the SSD becoming slower and slower all the while until it finally grinds to a halt, so to speak. Strictly speaking it's not the formatting per se that causes the problem, it's the creation of the partition. Windows XP can format an existing aligned partition, no problem there. (EDIT: although from what jaclaz posted, using FAT32 there would still be a problem).

It's ironic how people decry the older operating systems like W2k Pro as outdated, yet can't even trust newer Windows 7 or Windows 10 systems far enough to let them update. These days, generally speaking, lots of new stuff sucks--because people take it for granted that new stuff is better. From that presumption, lazy thinking ensues, and movement replaces progress. So, although we still "go," we go backwards instead of forward. Windows illustrates the regression.

Sometimes I get the OS to boot normally with hyperthreading enabled by introducing some change in the BIOS settings (such as enabling Fast Boot), so in one such instance I took the opportunity to benchmark. Hyperthreading enabled: As usual, XP performed better with HT enabled; too bad it won't stick. I haven't been able to get a grip on the inconsistency--seems like with hyperthreading enabled it should either boot normally, or not. To be clear, the setup always boots--I have not experienced a single blue-screen or failed boot in weeks of testing. It's just a matter of whether hyperthread mode boots and runs at normal speed (which is to say, very fast), or hundreds of times slower. I hope to test a new setup with a different NVMe drive in a few weeks.

I don't know the solution, but I also have noticed this.

Online installers for AVG Free and Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit worked fine just now. Both appear to be running nicely.