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Vague Intention of Unofficial SP2 for Windows 7


LightAlpha263

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IMPORTANT:

 

Future updates to the project will be here: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/175706-windows-7-unofficial-update-rollup-wip/

 

ORIGINAL POST:

What tools do you use for creating an unofficial update rollup? I've decided to perhaps try at making one for Windows 7, come 2020 and it becomes unsupported. Starting out now would extremely limit the amount of updates needed to add the final product. I've looked a web.archive.org archived version of your site, and it says "Knowing that there exist no other tool I had no other choice than to begin writing my own script which could be used for merging SFXCABs. I am not a programmer and do not have any advanced skills in this field so the only way to do it was to use a batch script. I have been working on the script since 2011 with great help of people from MSFN and RyanVM.net forums. It is still not finished but does the job and I have been improving it on a daily basis. I am going to make it public later when it is ready." When will you release such a tool?

My progress so far on this endeavor was using VBScript to create the first message boxes. I'm thinking that the updater will go like this:

Welcome the user, go through licensing agreements and such, move the files to a "C:\WIN7UUR" directory, let the user select what he/she wants to install (I plan the options to be: Security Updates, Hotfixes, IE11, Unofficial Updates provided they exist, and the latest .netframework to run on Windows 7.), tell the user that once it is done that it will ask if you want to restart the computer and recommend you say "yes", and run batch files inside folders named after the updates they include (security, hotfixes, IE11, so on) that use the /quiet switch of wusa.exe to install all updates in that folder. It'll take a long time to write individually "run kbxxxxxx-x86.exe /quiet" into batch scripts over and over, but it'll work. The last update to be installed, will be in the "security" folder. The line of code will go like this "wusa.exe C:\WIN7UUR\security\kbxxxxxx-x86.exe /quiet /warnrestart", which according to what I've read, installs the update, and asks the user if they want to restart the computer.

This is the only way, I believe, that I can do this without actually making an update rollup the same way as normal. However, I have not found a VBScript command for telling the computer to execute batch scripts, select things determining what to make the script do (in this case, run batch scripts in selected folders that install updates.), and other things.

Now some may ask "Why don't I use the convenience rollup provided my MS?" to which I'll answer "It includes Windows 10 promo updates, telemetry tracking updates, and so on. It also doesn't include core features of what I want included, such as updates to IE11."

Any help on accomplishing this would be appreciated, and if you can release the tool, that would help me as to not go through this project in this method, which I am not sure is easier or harder than the one you have been using.

And of course, I hope your health improves, and that we can focus on preserving Windows 2000 too. Good luck! :)

Edited by LightAlpha263
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There are a lot of things involved in creating unofficial packages. First of all, NT4/5 and NT6 updates are completely different in structure. While I have learnt a lot about the former when working on Windows 2000 updates, I do not really know much about the latter. To tell the truth, my current skills are useless when it comes to NT6 updates.

I did use a batch script to create the old Unofficial Update Rollup 2 and several other unofficial updates. The script was written by myself with help from many MSFN and RyanVM forum members. However, it is not finished and (frankly speaking) kind of half-baked, i.e. unusable at the moment. I first need to find enough time to resume the development and only then make the script public. It would do more harm than good to release it in this state.

Now, UURollup was actually not created by a script but rather hand-coded. I was trying to modify the old script and adapt it for UURollup but it in the end did not manage to do it due to lack of time. Today it is probably too late which means that any future updates to UURollup must be made by hand.

Just a side note - I do have a separate script to create a merged .NET Framework installer out of the .NET Framework addons created by OnePiece. This script is completely different from the other one and should still be working fine (unless there have been changes in the addon structure).

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On 6/1/2016 at 3:30 AM, Dibya said:

Dude , XP/2k/2k3 uses update.exe for installing which can be easly patched and can be edited by editing a .inf file and .ver file

but incase of 7 , you need to make msu file which is impossible till now for someone rather than MS

On 6/1/2016 at 5:40 AM, jaclaz said:

DUDE? :w00t:

Really? :unsure:

All these years believing that pkgmgr (for Vista) and dism (for 7 and later) worked fine with .cab's:
https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/askcore/2011/02/15/how-to-use-dism-to-install-a-hotfix-from-within-windows/

jaclaz
 

Thanks for this all. As Dibya mentioned, I want to make a more custom unofficial service pack/update rollup. I think it will be predominantly consist of batch scripts, calling to VBScripts when needed or for graphical selection and such. The first run file will be a batch script that will run in the background throughout the whole of the updating process. The VBScripts will run to show graphical things, such as the "Welcome Screen". If will perhaps tell the user what is happening, if how to input the information wanted through the batch script, and so on.

Development for 32-bit systems is my first priority, as I can more easily test that. However, since scripts are universal, it won't be too hard to port it over to 64-bit systems such as my own. I will only release the UUR/USP when it is available across both platforms unless one side of the project is far from completion compared to another. I won't really talk about it much on this topic, since this topic is about a USP for Windows 2000, not Windows 7. Once the project reaches beta-stage, I will create a topic for it.

Thanks for all the info!

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I am completely fine with a little bit of off-topic (as long as the main topic stays intact ;)).

I just probably will not be able to help with how to create and deploy any packages for NT6+. There are other forum members who likely know much more about doing that though :).

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On mercoledì 1 giugno 2016 at 4:29 PM, Dibya said:

jaclaz , anyway exist for making msu files? Really it can help lot

NO, actually it makes NO sense whatsoever, as .msu files do not exist :w00t:.

Have you actually EVER examined a .msu file in a hex editor or have done *any* research on it? 
EVER wondered WHY EXACTLY its contents can be extracted using EXPAND.EXE (or 7-zip)?

How long would have been needed to understand how they are nothing but .cab files with a changed extension?

This info is hidden inside this Wikipedia entry, BTW:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_(file_format)
 

Now, if you are talking of making the "...properties.txt", and the .xml configuration files, and creating MSDELTA or IPD (Intra-Package Delta) .cab's that might be another thing and possibly an interesting question (as a side note and JFYI):



Though I believe :unsure: that the use of MSDELTA/IPD is just a choice by the good MS guys to "compact" the file and more traditional cab compression would work anyway.

jaclaz
 

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Dude , 7zip cannot properly extract msu .

For that  hotfixextractor which absolutely uses expand

I know they are cab since long time . Anyway that guy want to do some unofficial update pakage which will directly replace anything not packing all update in sfx type stage . He want to do something like tomasz86 and harkaz. 

What about compressing unofficial Service pack with UharC or KGB? ( Just kidding , please donot do it . It will take lot time for extraction)

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Dude? :w00t:

Contents of  a .msu CAN be extracted with 7-zip, contents of (MSDELTA compressed) .cab(s) inside .msu is another thing.

Really, besides calling people "dude", you could take some time reading what was posted before replying.

jaclaz
 

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Just a little update on the project before we return to talking about Win2K: The selection of what categories of updates to install is going to be done by VBScript. After the notice screens, it will ask "Do you want to install (update category)?". If yes, it writes "install(update category)=1" to an inf file. If no, it writes "install(update category)=0" to an inf file. The inf file is install.inf. The batch script will examine the .inf, and it will determine what the user has selected. The VBScript will also examine, and ask the user once more if that's what they want to install. If no, then it asks again what to install and writes to install.inf. If yes, the batch script uses the info in install.inf to run other batch scripts which install the updates.

That's all.

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On 6/3/2016 at 0:13 AM, jaclaz said:

Dude? :w00t:

Contents of  a .msu CAN be extracted with 7-zip, contents of (MSDELTA compressed) .cab(s) inside .msu is another thing.

Really, besides calling people "dude", you could take some time reading what was posted before replying.

jaclaz
 

DUDE, You are a guru of pograming.

If you really want actual dlls/exes then you need following steps mentioned ::

http://www.ryanvm.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10545

You can extract msu with 7zip but cannot get your desired files

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Personally I would use the more recent Kb_extractor by Niemiro or good ol' expand from MS (and I am not at all a "guru of programming"):

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/155584-windows-update-extract-update.html
 

 As you have learned by 5eraph in the thread you linked the procedure is not as straight as it could be, as said it "is another thing".

Had you missed the previous subtle hints :w00t:, this is a technical forum, its members (and particularly myself) are not your close friends or relatives, and it is IMNSHO totally inappropriate :realmad: that you call other members "dude", which is a slang, colloquial term, unsuitable for addressing people you don't know, please STOP using it to address other people (and particularly myself) besides irritating other people (and particularly myself) it serves no meaningful purpose apart showing your lack of respect towards other members (and particularly myself).

Should you have missed the meaning of the word in the English language, (actually American slang) here it is:

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dude

Of course if it is your intention to appear as an unlettered, ill-mannered yute,

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104952/quotes?item=qt0404568
 

feel free :) to insist with it, sonny :
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/sonny


 

jaclaz
 

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On 6/9/2016 at 6:28 AM, alacran said:

@LightAlpha263:

See this post please:

Ah, someone already has it going. However, as I've read, it hasn't been updated in awhile.

If I can get into contact with the creator of the ULZ to maybe move this Unofficial Update Rollup from being a ton of VBS and Batch Scripts to an actual .exe installer, that would be great.

I also checked out the Simplix pack, and see the most recent post there was from September of 2015.

I realize that there are many people in-advance attempting to make update rollups and such. I'm going to continue working with mine here, and just for customization, I'll start by downloading the Security Updates by going onto Windows Update, seeing Installed Updates, right-clicking, clicking View Details, then clicking the support link. You can usually download the updates from the support page. :o

Also, I will be creating a new topic named "Windows 7 Unofficial Update Rollup (WIP)" for future updates on this project. Link: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/175706-windows-7-unofficial-update-rollup-wip/

Edited by LightAlpha263
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