MrMaguire

Lookin' good so far. I don't know what you prefer for a media player and codecs. I use K-Lite Codec Pack. I've discovered that anything newer than version 10.6.0 will not work properly. And even with version 10.6.0 I have to use Media Player Classic Home Cinema version 1.7.3.45. Anything newer than that will just crash when opened. I haven't experimented with VLC. Maybe somebody could chime in on the subject. Another thing: I haven't gotten Adobe Reader to install. I've tried a few versions including the latest, and they all refuse to install on Windows 2000 with the unofficial updates. I even tried extracting the setup.exe to reveal the actual programme setup file, and running that in Application Compatibility Launcher had the same effect. They all complain about not being supported on Windows 2000 32-bit with Service Pack 4. I suppose something like Foxit Reader will work, I haven't tried it. I actually use a really old version of Adobe Acrobat, which is natively supported on Windows 2000. In case you don't know already, Pale Moon is basically a modified distribution of Firefox made by Moonchild Productions instead of Mozilla. It's based on the various Extended Support Releases of Firefox, but it has the older user interface. All (if not most) of Firefox's add-ons work with Pale Moon. For some reason certain add-ons like Adblock Plus will require being reinstalled if you move your application data from Firefox to Pale Moon. Just FYI: The latest version of Malwarebytes works on Windows 2000. If you plan on using SpeedFan, version 4.51 (latest) does not recognise any temperature sensors or fans on Windows 2000. I'm using 4.49 at the moment which does work perfectly. 4.50 may work, I haven't tried it. This problem exists with the January 3rd, 2014 release of Unofficial Update Rollup.

You need an archive manager. WinRAR and 7zip both work. Once you get the files extracted into a new folder, go into the "Update" folder and run "Update.exe" to start installation. For the January 3rd release, it will complain about shell32.dll being in use. You'll need to open Task Manager and stop the explorer.exe process, then click retry, and installation should continue as normal. Download the full version of the Firefox setup.exe file. Don't download the "stub" that downloads the rest of the setup files when you run it. That won't work on Windows 2000. When you get Unofficial Update Rollup installed, you'll notice a new programme in the start menu under accessories. "Application Compatibility Launcher". You'll use it to run setup.exe files, basically fooling them into thinking they're running on Windows XP, allowing you to install the software, that otherwise would refuse to install. You'll open the Application Compatibility Launcher programme (which will be a command prompt window), then you'll drag and drop the setup.exe file for any given programme (say Firefox) into the window and press Return/Enter on the keyboard. Then setup should run as normal. When finished you can choose whether or not to save the compatibility settings for that particular file. "Yes" or "no". I usually choose no. Unofficial 2010 release of DirectX 9.0c ported from Windows XP. Windows 2000's version of DirectX 9.0c is apparently outdated, and fellow forum user BlackWingCat decided to port the 2010 release of DirectX for Windows XP to Windows 2000, to enable Windows 2000 to play some games that require the newer version of DirectX. One example game being Rigs of Rods. You can download it here. Install it after Unofficial Update Rollup: http://www.mediafire.com/download/x2yeb075t1a42oa/dxJun2010w2kb.exe I hope that all made sense. If you have any more questions, leave them here and I'll answer them in the morning. For now, I'm going to sleep.

That's the January 3rd, 2014 release. Assuming we're seeing the same thing. It's in the format d20140103 Daily release, 2014, January, 3rd I should probably mention the different types of Unofficial Update Rollup releases. There's stable, weekly and daily. The stable releases are (as the name implies) tried and tested, and you should be OK using them. The daily releases are not tried and tested, and may subsequently have issues that haven't been discovered. Though those daily releases do offer the most functionality, and using them and reporting problems helps Tomasz86 and others fix the issues in new releases. As far as I understand, weekly releases are somewhere in the middle.

I definitely meant January 3rd. Where are you seeing January 4th? Unofficial Update Rollup should be the last update package you install. Since it will replace the most files, thus adding functionality. The other update packages are cumulative packages containing all sorts of stuff from Windows Update and from Microsoft's web site, including hotfixes by request.

How exactly are you formatting the drive? Did the parts come in already?

I don't think it does matter.

Yes, Unofficial Service Pack 5.2 would be exactly that. Unfortunately work on it has not progressed in a while. Slow formatting a 500GB hard drive takes a long time. I've done it exactly once and never again!

Here's the unofficial Windows Imaging Component: http://www.mediafire.com/download/kf35jkx969njl8p/Windows2000-UU-WIC-x86-ENU.exe And the two files you'll need for Windows Update to work: Root Certificates: http://www.mediafire.com/download/72kcnkkbg68b5jj/rootsupd.exe Windows Update Agent: http://www.mediafire.com/download/7zrml853737zdye/WindowsUpdateAgent30-x86.exe

Part of the functionality that the Windows Imaging Component offers is the ability to show thumbnails in Windows Explorer, and that's what I use it for. Windows 2000's own Windows Imaging Component is apparently a little bit too old to work with K-Lite Codec Pack, and I think Irfanview. This is the thread I was referring to: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/158916-guide-to-installing-and-updating-windows-2000-professional/But the one you found is interesting. There's another thread in the Member Contributed Projects forum about Unofficial Service Pack 5.2 for Windows 2000. Tomasz86 hopes it to be the replacement for all of these smaller update packages.

So far I've found that Wi-Fi and Windows 2000 don't mix, but that's just my experience.

Yeah, you can do that. The whole point is to avoid Windows 2000 taking hours and hours to format the drive, when Windows XP or newer can do it in 10 seconds. Then you just install Windows 2000 on the existing partition without changing it. Is Windows Update necessary. Honestly, I'm not sure. Tomasz86 recommended to somebody on his web site that they should install USP5.1, then run Windows Update. By the time you install USP5.1 and Update Rollup 2, Windows may well be as officially updated as it needs to be. I've modified a few system files to change the way Windows looks and acts. I was just listing off what I do when I install Windows 2000, as an example. You don't need to replace those files, unless you're interested in changing the logon screen, splash screen, logoff dialogue and a few other things like I have. WIC is Windows Imaging Component. I mentioned it previously in this thread. Windows 2000 will give you the option to automatically set up a user account using the registered name given during setup, and will set the system to automatically log onto it. I ignore this and continue with the Administrator account. This is because I like my user account to be set up properly, using a different username and full name. Basically it's just me being pedantic. If you're not as fussy as me, you needn't worry.

For my Windows 2000 installs I: - Pre-format the hard drive as NTFS (Since Windows 2000 doesn't have quick format) - Install Windows 2000, then drivers - Install Unofficial Service Pack 5.1 - : http://www.mediafire.com/download/zb83886fwndbmc1/usp51.zip - Run Windows Update and install everything (May need the newest Windows Update Agent and root certificates for this to work) [There's a thread here about getting Windows Update to work] - Install Update Rollup 2 - : http://www.mediafire.com/download/n53jiauxb0kqnig/Windows2000-UpdateRollup2-x86-ENU.exe - Install Unofficial Update Rollup (For now I'm using the January 3rd, 2014 release, since I've been having issues with the current (?) November 30th, 2014 release) - : Can be found in Tomasz86's download archive: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0Bw_nt4aAJIoPOUZpTFJHckdPMVE&tid=0Bw_nt4aAJIoPWWNBay13dTlXOWs#list - [install my custom msgina.dll, explorer.exe, shell32.dll and ntoskrnl.exe from the recovery console] - Install Unofficial Add-ons (such as the aforementioned WIC) - Set up a user account - Install my software and copy my application data for Firefox, Pale Moon and Thunderbird Some of those links are for Mediafire. I uploaded those files there, just so I could get to them easily. Plus it's nice to keep a copy available in case time and lack of interest make Tomasz86's copies disappear.

Sweet. Intel used to make good motherboards. With 4GB of RAM and that graphics card, you should get some pretty good performance out of that Pentium 4. Sure, Firefox 29 (or even 39, lol ) and the latest flash player will work just fine. Just make sure to download the full version of the setup file, and run it in the Application Compatibility Launcher from the start menu, otherwise setup will complain that you're using an unsupported OS. Java 8 will also work, and so will Mozilla Thunderbird if you use that. There's also an unofficial 2010 release of DirectX 9.0c ported from XP, so if you're the gamer type, you might have some success with that too.

Yeah, I think so. A few 4.0GHz models are listed on Wikipedia, but they don't have any Intel model code thingies (SLxxx), so I assume they don't generally exist. I hear the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo is good for the money. I have Windows 2000 running on a 3.0GHz Prescott, and so far it seems quite snappy.

Woah. I hope you've got a decent heatsink!

In that case I'd recommend Apache OpenOffice. It's free and the latest version still works on stock Windows 2000 SP4.

Welcome to MSFN, Jessie. If you install the Unofficial Service Pack 5.1, Update Rollup 2 and Unofficial Update Rollup, Firefox 39 should work, Pale Moon 25.5.0, Flash Player 18.x should work. I would totally advise against installing Office 2007. I've had nothing but problems with it. And uninstalling it basically rips Windows 2000 to shreds... I would recommened Office 2003 with the compatibility pack. I'm not sure about iTunes, since I hate it. Other software I'd recommend includes: Irfanview (image viewer, since 2000 doesn't have one), Microsoft User Profile Hive Cleanup Service (UPHClean) (Since Windows NT5.x sometimes doesn't unload user registry hives properly), and the unofficial Windows Imaging Component that Tomasz86 has in his download archive (Windows2000-UU-WIC-x86-ENU.exe) (Since Windows 2000's own WIC is a bit outdated).

When I try to connect to my network, WSC Guard tells me that it "Failed to connect with network". In fact, there's only one secured network here that it seems like it will connect to, and that one uses WPA-PSK security mode. I checked my router settings, and it's set to use both WPA/WPA2-PSK with TKIP and AES encryption.

I'd rather not change my encryption key if I can help it. The Buffalo ClientManager3 actually worked! But soon after successfully connecting, it promptly disconnected and complained about my Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG not being a Buffalo product. WSC Guard seems very promising, but I think I'm missing the WPA Supplicant that was mentioned in the linked thread, since as-is it seems to recognise secured networks as unsecured.

Thanks for the suggestion. WPA Assistant looked like the perfect suite until it complained that my wireless encryption key isn't long enough, and then refused to connect to my network... Yes that is what I mean by a wireless client.

Thanks for the suggestion. I did try the Atheros client and unfortunately all of the options are grey'd out.

If I may be so bold. Microsoft as a company is being run into the ground... What is it that they don't understand about Windows' use in an environment where security, productivity, the classic theme and active directory matter? Windows 7 is fine for now, since it caters to all of those needs quite nicely. But once its support cycle completely runs out, where do these customers go? They have nowhere to go. Windows 8 is not suitable for such an environment, and Windows 10 definitely is not going to be... They need to go backward to progress forward. Not to when Windows was unproductive because of a inadequate interface. Ahem, Windows 3.1. Go backward to when Windows was split in two: consumer and professional. i.e: Windows OS X 10.x (Consumer crap), and Windows 2015 Professional (Professional). with proper service packs, the classic theme and all, and nothing less.

I don't know which thread you're reading, submix8c. But it's obviously not this one. I'm not at home right now, so I can't provide driver and other such details. And yes, the GMA 950 is sharing some of the system memory. 128MB, I think. Of course, that would have absolutely nothing to do with either the onboard audio, or the Wi-Fi.

OK, after hours of stutter-free audio playback, I'm sure that there is a driver conflict. I'm also sure that the Intel wireless driver is responsible. It's interesting that it didn't affect the test installs, and pretty much all installs that I've had on this laptop in the past 4 years. I suppose I'll look into the different drivers that I've used, and go from there. Maybe I'll end up swapping the Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG for something Broadcom based.

Alright, so after the successful testing yesterday, I let the laptop sit at idle overnight, and this morning I come back to no wireless and stuttering audio... Something screwy must be going on with the drivers, and I'm not sure what. I've had problems with drivers conflicting before on an IBM ThinkPad and causing issues. In that case, the Intel LAN and WLAN drivers were conflicting, and causing the WLAN to be extremely intermittent. So this time, I've disabled all wireless radios on the laptop (it has Wi-Fi, bluetooth and 3G - the BT and 3G drivers aren't actually installed and never have been on this installation), and I'm performing the same YouTube test to see if the audio starts to stutter. If it doesn't, then I'll know that there is some conflict in the drivers. If it does, well, I'm out of ideas for now. Oh, I forgot to mention in my last post that I did uninstall the nVidia driver, which is the only one that needed changed.