Table of Contents

Windows 7

Windows 7 was released in 2009.

ISOs

Windows 7 Updated v5 → updated windows 7 by K4sum1
Se7en L1te → built on top of Windows 7 Updated v4 (2020-01 base), highly optimized, x64 only, around 6 GB

Web browsers

For stable needs, Firefox ESR 115 is the official latest supported version.
https://github.com/Eclipse-Community/r3dfox also exists for a newer version, however the ESR is generally enough.

Activation

Best choice is probably MAS since EZWind whatever doesn’t work with UEFI.

Office

To deploy Office 365 on windows 7 with Office Tool Plus:

  1. Copy and extract Office C2R v2002-12527.22286
  2. Select Implementation, Installation files → choose sources
  3. Add languages and required products (Excel, Powerpoint, Word)
  4. IMPORTANT: For installation module, choose Office Tool Plus. Regular office deployment tool will exit with kernel32 error on windows 7.

FIXME Install codec pack for playing videos in powerpoint presentation

Steam

See https://blog.lightwo.net/steam-client-downgrades-survival-kit.html for how to use steam past its expiration date.
Take note that some games don't work on windows 7. You can try the extended kernel: https://github.com/i486/VxKex works for some games, make sure to spoof win version.

Tweaks

Disable the Search process for better performance.

Virtualization

GPU Passthrough

See https://forum.mattkc.com/viewtopic.php?t=188 for a promising guide on how to do this.

Acceleration

FIXME for virtualbox, use vboxmanage setextradata "win7" "VBoxInternal/Devices/vga/0/Config/VMSVGA10" "0" to fix 3d accel bugs

VMware Workstation is good for having Windows 7 hosts under Linux. Some kind of 3D hardware acceleration is supported, mostly use it for Office, sometimes it's a bit buggy though.

To test hardware acceleration under Office I usually go through the dreaded “Terorism.pptx”. It features a lot of 3D effects and transitions, including an embedded video that can't be played without some form of 3D acceleration. A VM that passess this presentation without problems is usually okay for 3D and network (youtube videos).

If the network doesn't work after an update, try restarting.