I'll be buying a new computer...

[zedd151]

David, there are many sites that offer info about how to:

remove preinstalled 'Metro Apps', which are useless.

Add exclusions (files, directories or folders) to Windows Defender scan list

What settings/registry entries need to be changed to permanently disable 'telemetry' collection and transmission to MS.

Plus a myriad of other 'fixes' for Windows 10. As well as there are programs dedicated to do at least parts of these tasks, as well as an update blocker program (which I don't use). One just needs to google for the information.

I don't think it is kosher to redistribute the OS. I'd rather not face the wrath of MS legal department, just in case they might frown on such activities. 

In my spare time, I will still be trying to get Windows 7 onto the desktop and working at least reasonably. 
The main issues with that were:
USB wifi was not detected - no ability to get drivers off the internet while the computer is connected.
USB mouse - the mouse moved veerrryyy slowly. One foot of mouse movement = 2 to 3 inches of cursor movement, for example. Even after adjusting mouse properties to the fastest setting.

I dread having to tweak anything in the BIOS, as that can result in disaster.  But might it be needed...

[stoo23]

@daydreamer

curious how many cores this server is on?

The VPS, Is configured with;
2 x Virtual Dual core CPU's @2700 MHz with 4gig ram and a 60gig NVME hdd
Running on:
AS -1125HS-TNR | 1U | A+ Server | Products | Supermicro
1U Hyper with 12 hot-swap 2.5" NVMe/SAS/SATA bays and 3 PCIe 5.0 x16 slots
https://www.supermicro.com/en/products/system/hyper/1u/as-1125hs-tnr

The actual units Our VPS is running on use AMD EPYC 9354 CPU's, which have 32 Cores.
 

The 'Host' server tech suggested;

"We don't use a high core count, because we can't get enough hosts on one machine to use it. Higher core count means higher ram and higher nvme count and becomes inefficient"

[NoCforMe]

OMG!!! You mean more isn't always better? Who woulda thunk it?

[daydreamer]

OMG!!! You mean more isn't always better? Who woulda thunk it?

Imagine 32 bit max 3.8 GB ram and starting with single thread program require x 100 megabytes and try improve it to use 192 cores: 3.8 GB / 192 = tiny 20 MB ram for each thread
20 MB program is from dos days or when win 95 was new

[TimoVJL]

That AMD CPU is for servers, not for normal OSs.
Check what WMWare is for.

[zedd151]

Imagine 32 bit max 3.8 GB ram and starting with single thread program require x 100 megabytes and try improve it to use 192 cores: 3.8 GB / 192 = tiny 20 MB ram for each thread
20 MB program is from dos days or when win 95 was new

Okay, lets have a coding competition using that scenario.
You go first, Magnus. 

  just kidding, of course.

To be back on topic, I have located and downloaded a driver package from Dell for the i7 desktop PC for Windows 7!!!!. I will be playing around with it later today. Just yesterday, I received 3 brand new 500 GB mechanical hard drives (13 bucks each!!)  one of which I will be using for my Windows 7 experiments/tests, so as not to disturb the Windows 10 hard drive in any way. Seems the combination of UEFI/GPT hard disk+Windows 10  'security features' doesn't like when the user monkeys around with partitioning that hard drive and installing another OS on it. Or I am missing something to make everything harmonious. (Another story for another day)

I will backup the BIOS settings before I play around with trying to get Windows 7 up and running... I may need to make some changes to the BIOS to use an MBR disk, rather than an UEFI/GPT disk.

I am debating on keeping one of the older computers, for use in Windows 7/Windows xp compatibility testing. Yes, I will be reinstalling Windows xp on it.    I had briefly used Windows xp on it a year or so ago, so I know it works there. (In a limited capacity, that is) Otherwise those two old computers are relegated to the scrap heap.

Stay tuned.... 

[greenozon]

That AMD CPU is for servers, not for normal OSs.
Check what WMWare is for.

who knows... maybe in 2-3 years it'll be bare minimum for home PC?

check out the video
they used Windows for iT!

[zedd151]

Well... continuing with my endeavor to install Windows 7 on the new i7 computer.  I mounted the Windows 7 image. Used a tool to insert all of the drivers from Dells Windows 7 driver pack for this model PC into the mounted image. Then I saved that image as 'install.wim' same as what is in the widows 7 installation ISO file.

So far, so good. I resized the C partition to leave 30 GB partition in which to install Windows 7 onto. All good still.

Then I made a USB drive with the Windows 7 installation files. All good.
I ran Windows 7 'setup.exe' to commence installing Windows 7 on the newly created partition. Everything seemed to go well. It rebooted a couple of times to finalize the installation.

A boot menu popped up after POST, showing both Windows 7 and Windows 10. Great! 

Okay, so I boot into Windows 7. I noticed a couple of things right away. The background image not appearing. Only a black background. Then I noticed I have no right click context menu on the desktop to change the display resolution or desktop background. I changed the resolution by going to control panel. Ok fine.
I go to "System" and see that I have 3 days left to activate. Ok. No license, only trial version.
I go to task manager and see that 8 cores are shown, which I know is wrong.

The USB wifi adapter is not compatible with Windows 7 apparently. No wifi. I tried installing the driver for Windows 10, but if course didn't work. Kind of expected but was worth a shot.

So, I figured I would boot into Windows 10, and do some research online..... drumroll here .....

Windows 10 boots up, but only partially. No desktop icons, right click unresponsive (can't get into task manager to see what the issue might be), and explorer seems 'frozen' or "stuck on stupid". Grrrrr!

I rebooted Windows 10 into Safe Mode, and came out onto the porch to have a smoke. Hopefully it will be all booted up (fully) by the time I go back inside. 

None of the OS tools that I have, deal with UEFI, which is part of the problem. None of the old tricks/hacks to get an OS up and running quickly work.

Anyway, I am now going to ditch any further efforts getting Windows 7 to work on this machine. I should have simply continued to make Windows 10 more to my liking. (I still have several things to do, before I am 100% satisfied with it).  More details to follow....


A few moments later...
Nope. Explorer is still unresponsive in safe mode.
The only thing I can think of is maybe Windows defender is scanning each and every tidbit on all on the partitions... don't quite know for certain. I am doing a couple things in Windows 7 first. But when I am done, I will let Windows 10 continue whatever it's doing, maybe some time tonight it will finish and start acting 'normal'. I don't think that Windows 7 install messed with anything on the Windows 10 partition, but something surely is 'off' since the Windows 7 installation.

Anyway I have a few ideas to get Windows 10 at least, to work properly.    ... those didn't work....

Later:
Windows 10 is currently trying (I think) to fully boot up.... I'll let it simmer for a while... next step is to plonk in the backup... while removing the Windows 7 partition and BCD entry for it.

[NoCforMe]

Then I noticed I have no right click context menu on the desktop to change the display resolution or desktop background. I changed the resolution by going to control panel. Ok fine.

[...]

Windows 10 boots up, but only partially. No desktop icons, right click unresponsive (can't get into task manager to see what the issue might be)

I know this is but a small part of your overall problem, but that (the lack of right-click responsiveness) drove me up the wall too when I installed Windows 7 initially.

Fortunately there's a solution to this: High Resolution Enterprises' X-Mouse Button Control. It's the first thing I install so I can get the goddamn right-click context menus to work, for things like changing the monitor resolution through Control Panel.

[zedd151]

Lol about the mouse... but I don't think that would help my case here. There's nothing wrong with the mouse - under normal circumstances.
Anyway, I have decided to make a Windows 10 installer USB the same as I did for the Windows 7 install. That should take care of any issues that the Windows 7 install apparently caused for Windows 10.

I will use a brand spanking new 500 GB hdd for Windows 10, initially.
There is a partition on the ssd with GB's of stuff that I need to keep intact.
Installing Windows 10 to the ssd might cause unwanted issues. To be safe, I will do a proper clean install of Windows 10 including drivers. Once that is done, I can then install my custom Windows 10 on top of it, with all my programs, settings, modifications, etc.  intact. It will take a little time, but is the only sure-fire way of getting the computer running normally.
Previously...
When I rebooted back into Windows 10, explorer remained unresponsive, even after a full hour. I could not open task manager, command prompt, never mind opening explorer to the drive list. 

No more screwing around with these UEFI/EFI based drives. MBR seems no longer usable on 'modern' hardware. Dammmit!

[zedd151]

After dragging my feet for several hours, I started Windows 7 back up again.
Lo and behold, the mouse works correctly, the background image is correct now.

When I ran WinRE (Windows Recovery Environment) trying to fix Windows 10, apparently it fixed Windows 7 instead. ?!? I dunno for sure, but Windows 7 is working now. Still though, the USB wifi is not working for Windows 7... I have a new plan... why not use the wifi card from one of the old computers...??....!!! They work, even with the in-house drivers. I'll take a look to see how involved is the disassembly... and installation into the new box. Everything else seems to work for Windows 7 on this box, so why not? With exception to the slight oddity of showing 8 CPU cores in task manager, that is. I can live with that.

I am preparing Windows 10 for a proper clean installation as I write this.

All I want for Christmas is both Windows 10 and Windows 7 working exactly how I want them to work. At least I am back on the 'right track', as it were.       

Now if I can convince the new box to also install Windows xp, I'll be a very happy camper.     Well, realistically I know that xp will not run on it. Nice dream, though.

[zedd151]

Okay, so I got the Windows 10 install finished...  Um, since I ran it from inside of Windows 7 - which itself was running fine - the Windows 10 installation had overwritten Windows 7, rather than giving me the option of exactly where to install it. Arrgg! There was a huge empty partition just for Windows 10! I had formatted the old Widows 10 out of existence.
 Well, if that werent bad enough, since the drive letter of the Windows 7 installation was 'E', Windows 10 kept 'E' as the drive letter.    Not quite what I wanted.
At least Windows 10 is running fine now. But I am once again, "Windows 7-less".

I am tired of playing with this. I will continue this madness tomorrow, to get everything as it should have been  before I started my tinkering. 

[sinsi]

Install Windows 7 UEFI
Install Windows 10 UEFI onto a different "partition"
Fart around with the Boot Configuration
Dual boot!

[zedd151]

Fart around with the Boot Configuration

Yes, I know the whole routine and the way things are 'supposed to work', but somewhere along the lines I always seen to fubar something in the process.    More 'me only' issues.
I have now Windows 10 on Drive C. It is from the backup I made on the laptop. Everything I need is in this version already. I removed the laptop drivers, and installed the driver pack for this machine. Easy peasy. Well, not very easy but doable.  Drive C - Windows 10 Home is perfect!
Now to plop down Windows 7 back into the partition where I had it originally.  This will be from a working backup of my old box. It has verything I need on it already. I just have to clean out the old drivers, and put in the Windows 7 driver pack for this machine.
I am becoming an old pro of sorts at these sort of OS wranglings. Was easier when using MBR, rather than UEFI. Most of the OS/hard disk tools I have, don't know how to work well with UEFI. And can really screw things up, as I have learnt.   

[zedd151]

I have both Windows 7 and Windows 10 working fine now. It just took a little patience, persistence, and some double checking before proceeding with each step. Both are showing "C:" as their respective drive letters, the way it ought to be.
The first time around, I rushed everything, which led to the "unbootable" scenario. I think, or missed some intermediate steps, etc.