On 2/6/2024 12:31 PM, knuttle wrote:
I have a tablet that came with Windows 8. When W10 came out I updated it to W10, About the 2nd or 3rd version of W10 the tablet would not update.  I have been able to use the tablet by keeping it off of the LAN, so as not to fight the update
hassle.
If I reinstall W8 on the tablet, since Window 8 is on longer supported, will the W8 insist on being updated?  ie can I use it as I would like with out the hassle of fighting to keep it from going into an update.
The Windows install-only keys no longer work
(that's for anyone "playing" with W8.1 out there).
An install-only key, is the kind of key you use
while test-installing the OS, and works for the
grace period. To license, you replace the key
in that case, with the real key, within 30 days
or whatever. Well, that convenience-key, no longer works.
Your 8.1 tablet is perfect, since the BIOS stores the
license key for you, in ACPI MSDM table. This means the
installer should run and not be cranky. Whereas if I
run the W8.1 today... it will be cranky (I tested this
some months ago). This works, as long as your tablet *shipped*
with W8.1 or W8.0 -- if you added W8.1 after Vista was
there, then the BIOS has no key stored in it. In such
an unlikely case, you'd need Produkey or MagicJellyBean,
to save the key for later.
This should work great on your tablet -- not grief like
i was getting when I tested.
*******
You would install W8.1, then go find the WSUSOffline
Win8.1 collector program, and "build a folder of update files".
I've done this for WinXP and Win7 for example.
What the WSUSOffline is famous for, is the team who works on it,
they know how to patch Windows Update so it works again.
So it won't spin in circles. They will take account of the
transition from SHA1 to SHA2 signing for example. It can take
as many as five applications of "UpdateInstaller.exe" to finish
the job (as the OS needs to reboot after a chunk is done).
WSUSOffline has two phases:
1) Collection phase. It downloads 10GB of files from microsoft.com .
The web site the software is on, is NOT providing update files.
If Microsoft stops offering KB1234567, you are screwed.
2) Install phase. You go to the collection folder, and there
is an installer script. This is what you run, to bring
Windows 8.1 mostly up to date.
https://download.wsusoffline.net/
https://download.wsusoffline.net/wsusoffline120.zip
Name: wsusoffline120.zip <=== bag full of scripts :-)
Size: 6,507,097 bytes (6354 KiB)
SHA256: 4D6A2EE08864E8F6338D71B2A8627038073DB5FC5C2BE9424E00C50C20A38FB2
Double click UpdateGenerator.exe
Select "Legacy Windows"
Windows 8.1 / Server 2012...
x86 Global X64 Global <=== likely this one, tick the one you need
Here is a picture.
[Picture]
https://i.postimg.cc/DZynJgmv/wsusoffline-V120.gif
Whatever folder you collect in, make sure there is enough
room for 10GB of updates. It uses "wget.exe" to fetch
stuff and store it in the collection folder in the picture.
Note that this is NOT the end of the story. What this
gives you, is a secure minimal set of updates, and if you
start Windows Update, three minutes later, a list of the
remaining updates will be presented. Since some users have
a fetish about certain items, not everyone wants the entire
set of updates to be installed. That is why most of the time,
just the security ones are going in. You still need to do
some additional amount of updating.
Some OSes are broken out of the box. You will never be
able to fix them on your own. WSUSOffline does sufficient
work, to "unbreak" things. The WSUSOffline Vista collector,
used to work fine... but Microsoft found a way to break it,
and this is something that can no longer be fixed (SHA2
signed WSUSSCN2.cab).
Example of a troublemaker, needed for update purposes
A Vista collection script, may not work properly with a modern one.
Name: wsusscn2.cab
Size: 1,111,509,078 bytes (1060 MiB)
SHA1: 12B95910090FEC44D6D8E5EA53363C4E0C73FEE8
I expect the Win8.1 adventure should be a reasonable one.
You're perfectly welcome to just use Windows Update in the
freshly installed OS for your own self. The above recipe
helps for certain cases. Maybe W8.1 doesn't need this
sort of thing. But now you know what one of the handy packages is.
It's too bad that a collector made in 2014 for Vista, no longer
works.
Paul
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