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Last versions of software for Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008


WinClient5270

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On 3/22/2017 at 4:51 PM, 2008WindowsVista said:

Oops! I felt like I was forgetting something... Fixed that!

That's unfortunate to hear about WSUS offline... Added to the list in a new (Third party system utilities) section. I also thought to put in the last version of Classic Shell for Vista, too. Thanks again for your help! 

A side note... the amount of (ongoing) supported browsers on Windows Vista is getting shorter too, sadly :unsure:

Thank you for creating the topic!

I am not certain why I forgot about Classic Shell. It could be because I have not used it with Windows Vista in a while. Thank you for adding it to the topic, as it is a very powerful and unique program.

I noticed that with the browsers as well. I do not necessarily understand why Windows Vista is treated so poorly by Microsoft and other companies. It makes little sense considering that it is a major version with significant technical underpinnings. Not only that, Microsoft put a lot of effort into it, what with "Longhorn" and all. Disappointing.

I do have additional programs / utilities for you.

Disc burning or mounting software:
Alcohol 120% ($$$; CS)

IMGBurn (FREE; CS)

MagicDisc (FREE; CS)

MagicISO ($$$; CS)

Roxio Creator NXT 3  ($$$; CS)

WinCDEmu (FREE; CS)

Google software:
Google Earth (FREE; CS)

Picasa 3.9 Build 141.259 (FREE; CS)
Google discontinued support for Picasa on March 15, 2016.

Microsoft software:
Exchange Server 2010 ($$$; CS)

Image Composite Editor 2.0.3 (FREE; CS)
The Microsoft Research page states that it is compatible with Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2); however, the download page does not. Nevertheless, I can confirm that 2.0.3 works with Windows Vista. Released in 2015, version 2.0.3 integrates with Windows Live Photo Gallery 2011.

Network Monitor 3.4 (FREE; CS)
The last version of the Microsoft Network Monitor, which is compatible with Windows Vista; it was succeeded by the Message Analyzer in 2012, which is incompatible with Windows Vista.

Office 2010 Filter Packs (FREE; CS)
Installs Office 2010 IFilters so that content within Office 2010 files can be indexed and searched for even when the productivity suite is not installed. It is useful for those who either do not want or do not have Microsoft Office.

PowerPoint Viewer 2010 (FREE; CS)

SharePoint 2010 ($$$; CS)

Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel (FREE; CS)
Allows users to mount ISO files.

Visio Viewer 2010 (FREE; CS)
Allows users to view Visio files in Internet Explorer. Requires Service Pack 2.

Word Viewer 2010 (FREE; CS)
Note: Word Viewer 2010 will no longer be available for download and will no longer receive security updates by November, 2017.

Edited by Werewolf
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On 3/22/2017 at 8:27 PM, Werewolf said:

Thank you for creating the topic!

I am not certain why I forgot about Classic Shell. It could be because I have not used it with Windows Vista in a while. Thank you for adding it to the topic, as it is a very powerful and unique program.

I noticed that with the browsers as well. I do not necessarily understand why Windows Vista is treated so poorly by Microsoft and other companies. It makes little sense considering that it is a major version with significant technical underpinnings. Not only that, Microsoft put a lot of effort into it, what with "Longhorn" and all. Disappointing.

I do have additional programs / utilities for you.

Disc burning or mounting software:
Alcohol 120% ($$$; CS)

IMGBurn (FREE; CS)

MagicDisc (FREE; CS)

MagicISO ($$$; CS)

Roxio Creator NXT 3  ($$$; CS)

WinCDEmu (FREE; CS)

Google software:
Google Earth (FREE; CS)

Picasa 3.9 Build 141.259 (FREE; CS)
Google discontinued support for Picasa on March 15, 2016.

Microsoft software:
Exchange Server 2010 ($$$; CS)

Image Composite Editor 2.0.3 (FREE; CS)
The Microsoft Research page states that it is compatible with Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2); however, the download page does not. Nevertheless, I can confirm that 2.0.3 works with Windows Vista. Released in 2015, version 2.0.3 integrates with Windows Live Photo Gallery 2011.

Network Monitor 3.4 (FREE; CS)
The last version of the Microsoft Network Monitor, which is compatible with Windows Vista; it was succeeded by the Message Analyzer in 2012, which is incompatible with Windows Vista.

Office 2010 Filter Packs (FREE; CS)
Installs Office 2010 IFilters so that content within Office 2010 files can be indexed and searched for even when the productivity suite is not installed. It is useful for those who either do not want or do not have Microsoft Office.

PowerPoint Viewer 2010 (FREE; CS)

SharePoint 2010 ($$$; CS)

Virtual CD-ROM Control Panel (FREE; CS)
Allows users to mount ISO files.

Visio Viewer 2010 (FREE; CS)
Allows users to view Visio files in Internet Explorer. Requires Service Pack 2.

Word Viewer 2010 (FREE; CS)
Note: Word Viewer 2010 will no longer be available for download and will no longer receive security updates by November, 2017.

Thank you for all your additions and links! Added them to the list, of course. 

Too bad there aren't any more ONG browsers to add... If you ask me, the all-around best browser for Vista at the moment would be Pale Moon. It's based on Firefox, but is totally independent of any decisions/code changes that Mozilla makes, so it's exempt from the recent decision to pull the plug on XP and Vista support. The UI is also much more pleasant than the australis UI in modern versions of Firefox. I spoke with the head developer around a year ago, and he had no reason to drop support for Vista, but if you ask me, they did sort of mistreat XP users by totally dropping support - before even Mozilla. However, one could argue that XP is a totally different platform to develop for vs. Vista+, so it does make sense (at the application level) to keep supporting Vista over XP, but I think they should've at least waited until Mozilla dropped support and perhaps provided some sort of "security updates only" solution for XP users (much like Mozilla, Opera, and Slimjet has). But I do respect them for continuing to support Windows Vista and hope they support it for as long as they're able.

If you want/need Chromium, Opera 36.x and Slimjet 10.x are great options, as each continue to receive security updates and support modern web standards just as well as the latest versions. Slimjet 10.x actually has features that are lacking in newer Chromium versions, such as support for Java, silverlight and all those NPAPI plugins... The only issue is, some sites are starting to drop support for Chromium 50.x (which SJ 10 is based on), but Slimjet 12.x (based on Chromium 53) should help with that, at least for a period of time. 

Like I said before, I expect Vista to become about as usable as vanilla Windows 2000 within the next 5 years, unfortunately. I highly doubt anyone is going to create "unofficial" updates to help with compatibility, due to the sheer fact that Vista is so hated. Hell, even an unofficial Service Pack 3 containing all Vista updates released since SP2 (2009) would be very convenient so we could skip having to run Windows Update a million times and spending countless hours dealing with the broken mess that it has become, but I don't see it happening any time soon... I just don't have the knowledge to take on such a project myself, or I would make it happen :(

Edited by 2008WindowsVista
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22 hours ago, 2008WindowsVista said:

Thank you for all your additions and links! Added them to the list, of course.

I am grateful to be doing so, as no topic for Windows Vista existed when I used to visit the site.

22 hours ago, 2008WindowsVista said:

Too bad there aren't any more ONG browsers to add... If you ask me, the all-around best browser for Vista at the moment would be Pale Moon. It's based on Firefox, but is totally independent of any decisions/code changes that Mozilla makes, so it's exempt from the recent decision to pull the plug on XP and Vista support. The UI is also much more pleasant than the australis UI in modern versions of Firefox. I spoke with the head developer around a year ago, and he had no reason to drop support for Vista, but if you ask me, they did sort of mistreat XP users by totally dropping support - before even Mozilla. However, one could argue that XP is a totally different platform to develop for vs. Vista+, so it does make sense (at the application level) to keep supporting Vista over XP, but I think they should've at least waited until Mozilla dropped support and perhaps provided some sort of "security updates only" solution for XP users (much like Mozilla, Opera, and Slimjet has). But I do respect them for continuing to support Windows Vista and hope they support it for as long as they're able.

I would not put too much faith into the developers of Pale Moon in regards to Windows Vista if they terminated support for Windows XP before Mozilla did. One could argue that, in spite of no new features with the latest release, Mozilla has treated Windows XP users better than the developers of Pale Moon.

22 hours ago, 2008WindowsVista said:

If you want/need Chromium, Opera 36.x and Slimjet 10.x are great options, as each continue to receive security updates and support modern web standards just as well as the latest versions. Slimjet 10.x actually has features that are lacking in newer Chromium versions, such as support for Java, silverlight and all those NPAPI plugins... The only issue is, some sites are starting to drop support for Chromium 50.x (which SJ 10 is based on), but Slimjet 12.x (based on Chromium 53) should help with that, at least for a period of time.

Thank you for the information.

22 hours ago, 2008WindowsVista said:

Like I said before, I expect Vista to become about as usable as vanilla Windows 2000 within the next 5 years, unfortunately. I highly doubt anyone is going to create "unofficial" updates to help with compatibility, due to the sheer fact that Vista is so hated. Hell, even an unofficial Service Pack 3 containing all Vista updates released since SP2 (2009) would be very convenient so we could skip having to run Windows Update a million times and spending countless hours dealing with the broken mess that it has become, but I don't see it happening any time soon... I just don't have the knowledge to take on such a project myself, or I would make it happen :(

I agree with you in regards to usability; the bad situation is made worse in that nearly all significant web browsers no longer support Windows Vista. I feel that a web browser is probably the most important operating system application, at least from a third-party perspective. Who would want to use an operating system that could not browse the Internet?

In regards to Service Pack 3, I share your sentiment, but does WSUS Offline not largely solve the update issues? While their installation can still take a long time, updates do not require user attendance with WSUS Offline if automatic reboot and recall is enabled. In my experience it has also addressed the "Checking for updates..." error that has plagued the operating system.

Edited by Werewolf
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I've been a Windows Vista fan since day one and i never absolutely never had any problems with it. My first Vista PC was actually a laptop! It was a HP Pavilion dv6000 and it ran the OS just fine. Sure, RTM was kinda buggy but since SP2 it's just like Windows 7.. just better. Yes, i'm still using Windows Vista today, even though my current PC is meant for modern OS like Windows 8.1/10.

Most of the modern games released in 2013-2015  run just fine on Vista but since Windows 7 got the DX11.1 update and game developers just started to use this instead, vista is no longer capable of running it. Which is sad because theoretically it could be possible to backport the DX libraries but since no one cares about it.. it might never happen. 

Now we have to find out (or maybe someone already found out) how to get server updates on vista (using Windows Update) since it's still suported until 2020. I already tried using the server version as a workstation which was fine for the most part but some programs like Steam and other game launchers have problems with the builtin web browser.

web browsers are also a big problem on Vista because developers treat the OS like XP now. 

Edited by GTAGAME
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3 hours ago, Werewolf said:

I would not put too much faith into the developers of Pale Moon in regards to Windows Vista if they terminated support for Windows XP before Mozilla did. One could argue that, in spite of no new features with the latest release, Mozilla has treated Windows XP users better than the developers of Pale Moon.

You're probably right about that... Vista does have the advantage of being of the same kernel revision as Windows 7, 8.x, and 10, however, making it an easier target platform to develop for... We'll just have to wait and see.

3 hours ago, Werewolf said:

I agree with you in regards to usability; the bad situation is made worse in that nearly all significant web browsers no longer support Windows Vista. I feel that a web browser is probably the most important operating system application, at least from a third-party perspective. Who would want to use an operating system that could not browse the Internet?

Yep... This is a problem that Windows 9x users are running into at the moment I believe. I'm pretty sure Windows 2000 (with @blackwingcat's extended kernel) will run Firefox 52.x ESR though, which is pretty interesting. Without the community's help though, Windows 2000 would still be stuck at Firefox 10.x ESR/Firefox 12.x, and I'm afraid Vista will probably hit that same wall (with Firefox 52.x) and will remain stuck there, perhaps for good... 

3 hours ago, Werewolf said:

In regards to Service Pack 3, I share your sentiment, but does WSUS Offline not largely solve the update issues? While their installation can still take a long time, updates do not require user attendance with WSUS Offline if automatic reboot and recall is enabled. In my experience it has also addressed the "Checking for updates..." error that has plagued the operating system

Yes, that is true. However, it'd be nice to have an "all-in-one" solution like a Service Pack or rollup. Wouldn't it still most likely reduce the time needed to get a Vista system up-to-date compared to what we have now? 
 I've also had an issue with Vista where the Windows Update service hangs (at random) while trying to use WSUS to install the updates , and I have to end up stopping WSUS, manually restarting the Windows Update service, and then running WSUS again to get the updates to continue installing, otherwise the update installation window hangs at "Searching for updates...". It could be a problem with just my system, but it's still annoying nonetheless. WSUS is still a great solution though, and definitely beats dealing with Microsoft's total careless and negligent attitude towards Vista. 

...In other news, the topic just hit 10K views! Good to know that people are getting use out of the list. 

Edited by 2008WindowsVista
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29 minutes ago, GTAGAME said:

I've been a Windows Vista fan since day one and i never absolutely never had any problems with it. My first Vista PC was actually a laptop! It was a HP Pavilion dv6000 and it ran the OS just fine. Sure, RTM was kinda buggy but since SP2 it's just like Windows 7.. just better. Yes, i'm still using Windows Vista today, even though my current PC is meant for modern OS like Windows 8.1/10.

Most of the modern games released in 2013-2015  run just fine on Vista but since Windows 7 got the DX11.1 update and game developers just started to use this instead, vista is no longer capable of running it. Which is sad because theoretically it could be possible to backport the DX libraries but since no one cares about it.. it might never happen. 

Now we have to find out (or maybe someone already found out) how to get server updates on vista (using Windows Update) since it's still suported until 2020. I already tried using the server version as a workstation which was fine for the most part but some programs like Steam and other game launchers have problems with the builtin web browser.

web browsers are also a big problem on Vista because developers treat the OS like XP now. 

I used Vista until I built an Intel Haswell-based machine, and that caused me to have to stop using it as my primary OS... For whatever reason, Vista totally bugs out when attempting to use the OS on Haswell and newer architectures from Intel, with all kinds of weird symptoms like random services failing to start, intermittent failed boot attempts (Interactive logon process initialization has failed), and the decline in third party application support wasn't helping either. I do keep Vista on my AMD FX 8320 based system, and it works flawlessly there (dualbooted with Server 2003 R2).  I'm actually curious to know how Vista would handle running on AMD's new Ryzen architecture, but I don't have access to such hardware at the moment so I'm not able to test it.

I actually quite enjoy running 8.1 here though - I have it tweaked to my preference with a nice looking Vista UI and the system runs fast and stable. 8.1's UI is annoying out of the box, but Classic Shell fixes that. It's easy to customize and tweak, and I feel like I'm in control of my system. I can't say I'd feel the same if I were running Windows 10, though... XPclient's brilliant rant should tell you all you need to know about Windows 10 ;)

As for getting Server 2008 updates installed on Vista, I think it's possible. However, perhaps using WSUS Offline to download the Server 2008 updates would be a better solution than trying to "trick" Windows Update into fetching for Server 2008 updates. @JodyT uses it to download Server 2012 updates for his Windows 8.0 RTM system, or at least at one point he did before @greenhillmaniac created a convenient update repository on MEGA. I might try creating something like that, assuming Server 2008 updates actually do work on Vista... here's hoping...

Edited by 2008WindowsVista
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6 hours ago, 2008WindowsVista said:

As for getting Server 2008 updates installed on Vista, I think it's possible. However, perhaps using WSUS Offline to download the Server 2008 updates would be a better solution than trying to "trick" Windows Update into fetching for Server 2008 updates. @JodyT uses it to download Server 2012 updates for his Windows 8.0 RTM system, or at least at one point he did before @greenhillmaniac created a convenient update repository on MEGA. I might try creating something like that, assuming Server 2008 updates actually do work on Vista... here's hoping...

If you'd like I can also create a Server 2008 updates for Vista repository on my Mega account... :rolleyes:

I think it will be more useful for Vista users, since 8.0 users have the Monthly Rollups, whereas Server 2008 still delivers updates the old fashioned way (that is, seperate KB for each update).

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4 hours ago, greenhillmaniac said:

If you'd like I can also create a Server 2008 updates for Vista repository on my Mega account... :rolleyes:

I think it will be more useful for Vista users, since 8.0 users have the Monthly Rollups, whereas Server 2008 still delivers updates the old fashioned way (that is, seperate KB for each update).

If you could do that (if the updates work in Vista), it would be much appreciated! My internet upload speed sucks, so... Thanks, lol. 

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23 hours ago, 2008WindowsVista said:

If you could do that (if the updates work in Vista), it would be much appreciated! My internet upload speed sucks, so... Thanks, lol. 

I'm wondering if anyone has an inkling as to whether May 2017 patches from Server 2008 will work on Vista.  I would think the situation be completely parallel to Server 2012 patches on Windows 8.

It's less concerning to me because the way I've configured Windows 8, my desktop looks very much like Vista (perhaps more like Windows 7 with the classic taskbar), but I also have a Quick Launch Bar.  But I can notice a DEFINITE speed improvement of Windows 8 over what Vista gave me.  And everything still works :)

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Server 2008 updates work on Vista. They should work in May also, why not. It would be great to maintain the updates list in Excel or something like this, to take care about superseded and new updates, etc.

I had an idea to modify tokens.dat file to make WU updating manually. But modification of the tokens.dat screws the system hardly, I think. It messes with components related to the specific version licensing.

Or maybe just update to W7, but I don't have any need to, since Vista is sufficient for me.

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7 hours ago, sanszajnrege said:

Server 2008 updates work on Vista. They should work in May also, why not. It would be great to maintain the updates list in Excel or something like this, to take care about superseded and new updates, etc.

I had an idea to modify tokens.dat file to make WU updating manually. But modification of the tokens.dat screws the system hardly, I think. It messes with components related to the specific version licensing.

Or maybe just update to W7, but I don't have any need to, since Vista is sufficient for me.

Which updates in specific did you try? 

On 3/26/2017 at 10:50 AM, JodyT said:

I'm wondering if anyone has an inkling as to whether May 2017 patches from Server 2008 will work on Vista.  I would think the situation be completely parallel to Server 2012 patches on Windows 8.

It's less concerning to me because the way I've configured Windows 8, my desktop looks very much like Vista (perhaps more like Windows 7 with the classic taskbar), but I also have a Quick Launch Bar.  But I can notice a DEFINITE speed improvement of Windows 8 over what Vista gave me.  And everything still works :)

I believe that security updates will work, but anything beyond that might not... There are a few Server 2008-exclusive updates that don't work on Vista, such as Powershell 3.0 for Server 2008, and there's a whole separate version of the Platform Update for Server 2008 that won't install under Vista (not applicable to your OS). Also, Microsoft Security Essentials doesn't show any EOL-warning prompts under Server 2008 as it does under Vista, so I'd say that the situation may not be 100% parallel to the Server 2012/Win8 situation... It all depends on if MS utilizes version/edition checking in the .msu files, and I won't be surprised if that is the case. If so, Vista users might be out of luck :unsure:

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12 minutes ago, 2008WindowsVista said:

Which updates in specific did you try? 

I believe that security updates will work, but anything beyond that might not... There are a few Server 2008-exclusive updates that don't work on Vista, such as Powershell 3.0 for Server 2008, and there's a whole separate version of the Platform Update for Server 2008 that won't install under Vista (not applicable to your OS). Also, Microsoft Security Essentials doesn't show any EOL-warning prompts under Server 2008 as it does under Vista, so I'd say that the situation may not be 100% parallel to the Server 2012/Win8 situation... It all depends on if MS utilizes version/edition checking in the .msu files, and I won't be surprised if that is the case. If so, Vista users might be out of luck :unsure:

Well the Vista/7 x64 MSE install worked on XP x64, so there's always hope.  But even Security updates would be good enough.

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18 hours ago, 2008WindowsVista said:

Which updates in specific did you try? 

I believe that security updates will work, but anything beyond that might not... There are a few Server 2008-exclusive updates that don't work on Vista, such as Powershell 3.0 for Server 2008, and there's a whole separate version of the Platform Update for Server 2008 that won't install under Vista (not applicable to your OS). Also, Microsoft Security Essentials doesn't show any EOL-warning prompts under Server 2008 as it does under Vista, so I'd say that the situation may not be 100% parallel to the Server 2012/Win8 situation... It all depends on if MS utilizes version/edition checking in the .msu files, and I won't be surprised if that is the case. If so, Vista users might be out of luck :unsure:

I tried only one, but if you look at the files at Microsoft Catalog, they are the same for Vista/Server 2008, so yeah it has got files for both client and server.

You're right, if they delete the client files from cab inside the msu, our only hope is to switch tokens.dat to Server 2008, so it is nothing more than using Server 2008 (without MCE for example).

If they didn't remove the client files from updates for 8/2012, they shouldn't do that in Vista/2008. You know, Server 2008 gets only security updates, so it is not edition specific.

Apparently the applications are checking some licensing values. I'm not a hacker, so I can only guess, but there is a Kernel-ProductInfo entry in tokens.dat which specifies edition (e.g. 1=Ultimate, 7=ServerStandard).

We have to just wait, it's only few days remaining. ;)

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Additional Microsoft software:
Remote Desktop Connection 7.0 (FREE, CS) (x86) (x64)
Backports features of RDC from Windows 7 to Windows Vista. Requires at least SP1 to be installed.

Hardware identification and temperature management:
SpeedFan (FREE, CS)
The latest version is 4.52. Support ongoing.

Office suites:
Ability Office ($$$, CS); Ability Office Professional ($$$, CS)
The latest version is 6. Uses the Scenic Ribbon.

Corel Office ($$$, CS)
Uses the Office 2007 Ribbon.

PDF viewers:
Corel PDF Fusion ($$$, CS)

Remoting:
Team Viewer 12 (FREE, CS)
Support ongoing as per system requirements. Free for personal use; business use requires purchase of license.

Screen recording software:
CamStudio (FREE, OS)
The latest version is 2.7.2, released on October 19, 2013.

ScreenToGif (FREE, OS)
Listed as compatible with Windows Vista, though requires .NET Framework 4.6.1. As a result, the program may not support Windows Vista for much longer. The latest version is 2.7. Uses a subpar implementation of the Ribbon.

Security:
Sandboxie (FREE, CS)
Support apparently ongoing; however, site lists both Windows XP and Windows Vista as "legacy operating systems," thus support may be terminated at any time.

Video/photo editing software:
ACDSee 17 ($$$, CS)
Last version to support Windows Vista as per system requirements.

ACDSee Pro 7 ($$$, CS)
Last version to support Windows Vista as per system requirements.

ACDSee Video Studio ($$$, CS)
Last version to support Windows Vista as per system requirements.

ACDSee Video Converter 4 ($$$, CS);  ACDSee Video Converter 4 Pro ($$$, CS)

Corel PaintShop Pro X7 ($$$, CS)
Last version to support Windows Vista as per system requirements.

Edited by Werewolf
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Yeah i hope that the Server 2008 Security updates will work on Vista. I have a Server 2008 Standard key and i already used it as a Workstation, but some programs like Steam have problems with the builtin Web Browser which constantly shows the "..stopped working" error.

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