Windows 7 or XP up to date T61 ISO's?

[PurpleMelbourne]

Hello all,

Hypothetically speaking and all that... I'm wondering if anyone who knows what they are doing has gone to the trouble of putting in the tender loving and care to construct a T61/P Windows 7 ISO which is up to date with hotfixes etc?

Over on the RyanVM forum there was a wonderful job done by a Greek medical student who goes by the name Hakaz who build an unofficial XP Service Pack 4 oven an 18 month period during his spare time while he studied medicine (feeling dumb yet?). He had assistance of a number of security experts so they built the best XP ever which continues to pull updates from the POS version of Windows for the next couple of years. I'd love to see a T61 version of that as I don't have the skills or tallent to do it myself.

I know that he was also doing some stuff with Windows 7, but he finished up with that and it went offline before I had a chance to grab it. An up to date optimised for the hardware Windows would be a lovely thing to start with as base.

So my question is, are there any such constructions floating about?
Or perhaps someone feeling inspired to make a T61 specific version checked over to see there aren't any extra backdoors other than the ones placed by NSA, CIA, MI5, GCHQ, etc...

If there were to be such unicorns running around in the wild. Where would one be most likely to see such a creature?

[Thinkpad Maniac]

Hello, I am not sure that you need a customized specific version of XP for the T61. Instead you can use two methods to get something very close. The first method is to use the Lenovo recovery discs for the T61 for XP to restore the laptop to factory condition, and then do all of the XP updates by yourself, and update the drivers. The good thing about this method is that when it's set up, it works right away, i.e. you don't have to download and install the drivers for the sound, the video, the WiFi, the Ethernet so you can connect to the internet, etc. That is, even if the drivers are all out of date you can at least use the laptop in a basic way, and on its own to update. The other upside to this is that XP self activates. The downside is that it'll take hours for all of the updates to install. Then you would have to install the mods yourself so that XP would get the updates for the embedded versions of XP, etc, and of course if you wanted a trimmed down version of XP you would have to do that yourself by disabling services etc.

The other method to do this would be to use a clean XP disc, but of course you would have to activate XP yourself. You can use a program such as nlite to slipstream all of the updates, and drivers to the XP disc. This will not create a recovery partition like the recovery discs, however the advantage is that you can put all of the updates and drivers on there so you wouldn't have to update too much after installation. Then you would still have to go into XP and manually enable the POS version of Windows updates.

For Windows 7 it is much the same case, except there are no Lenovo recovery discs for Windows 7 for the T61, but there are Lenovo recovery discs for Windows 7. The first option would be to install your own version of Windows 7 with a valid key. You could similarly slipstream any updates you want to the disc. If you don't have a Windows 7 licences you can use the other method, there is a trick you could use to activate Windows 7 by modifying your BIOS. Luckily for the T61 there is a Middleton' modified BIOS available that changes a SLIC certificate to the necessary value so that a Lenovo Windows 7 recovery disc will self-activate. So if you flash this BIOS onto your T61 and then use a Lenovo Windows 7 recovery disc (without the applications and drivers specific to the T61) it will self-activate. Unfortunately you cannot slipstream updates onto the Lenovo recovery discs, so you would have to manually install the updates (and driver) after the OS installation.

These would be your best options for an (updated) specific to the T61 XP installation, or Windows 7 installation.

Hope that helps.

[TPFanatic]

With either Windows 7 you will need to apply some patches to the Windows Update service to download updates in a timely manner. It takes about 12 hours (good time) for me to download and install all the updates, not including recommended updates. Without the patches WU will never find updates and eat all your resources.

You might experience a very slow Windows Update scans during last few months. It takes several hours to finish checking for new updates. There is a fix KB3161647 released. It is included in June 2016 update rollup for Windows 7 SP1 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 (KB3161608) that's delivered as optional update.

Make sure KB3020369 is already installed before installing the KB3161608.

It has resolved the issue for me.

[axur-delmeria]

Another alternative is the Windows 7 SP1 Convenience Rollup Update, though I'm not sure if it contains only Security/Important updates, or if Optional updates are included.

Download link for 64-bit version

Download link for 32-bit version

[micrex22]

With either Windows 7 you will need to apply some patches to the Windows Update service to download updates in a timely manner. It takes about 12 hours (good time) for me to download and install all the updates, not including recommended updates. Without the patches WU will never find updates and eat all your resources.

And don't forget to run the scripts to remove the useless and unnecessary telemetry updates:
https://gist.github.com/xvitaly/eafa75ed2cb79b3bd4e9

@echo off
echo Uninstalling KB3075249 (telemetry for Win7/8.1)
start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3075249 /quiet /norestart
echo Uninstalling KB3080149 (telemetry for Win7/8.1)
start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3080149 /quiet /norestart
echo Uninstalling KB3021917 (telemetry for Win7)
start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3021917 /quiet /norestart
echo Uninstalling KB3022345 (telemetry)
start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3022345 /quiet /norestart
echo Uninstalling KB3068708 (telemetry)
start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3068708 /quiet /norestart
echo Uninstalling KB3044374 (Get Windows 10 for Win8.1)
start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3044374 /quiet /norestart
echo Uninstalling KB3035583 (Get Windows 10 for Win7sp1/8.1)
start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3035583 /quiet /norestart
echo Uninstalling KB2990214 (Get Windows 10 for Win7)
start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:2990214 /quiet /norestart
echo *Uninstalling KB2952664 (Get Windows 10 assistant)
rem start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:2952664 /quiet /norestart
for /L %%i in (1,1,13) do start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:2952664 /quiet
echo *Uninstalling KB3045999
wusa /uninstall /KB:3045999 /norestart /quiet
echo *Uninstalling KB2919355
wusa /uninstall /KB:2919355 /norestart /quiet
echo Uninstalling KB3075853 (update for "Windows Update" on Win8.1/Server 2012R2)
start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3075853 /quiet /norestart
rem echo Uninstalling KB3075851 (some improvements to Windows Update Client)
rem start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3075851 /quiet /norestart
echo *Uninstalling KB3083325
wusa /uninstall /kb:3083325 /quiet /norestart
echo *Uninstalling KB2902907
wusa /uninstall /kb:2902907 /quiet /norestart
echo *Uninstalling KB3015249
wusa /uninstall /kb:3015249 /norestart /quiet
echo *Uninstalling KB3012973
wusa /uninstall /kb:3012973 /norestart /quiet
echo *Uninstalling KB2922324
wusa /uninstall /kb:2922324 /norestart /quiet
echo *Uninstalling KB3088195
wusa /uninstall /kb:3088195 /norestart /quiet
echo *Uninstalling KB3093983
wusa /uninstall /kb:3093983 /norestart /quiet
echo *Uninstalling KB3093513
wusa /uninstall /kb:3093513 /norestart /quiet
echo *Uninstalling KB3042058
wusa /uninstall /kb:3042058 /norestart /quiet
echo *Uninstalling KB3083710
wusa /uninstall /kb:3083710 /norestart /quiet
echo *Uninstalling KB2505438
wusa /uninstall /kb:2505438 /norestart /quiet
echo *Uninstalling KB2670838
wusa /uninstall /kb:2670838 /norestart /quiet
echo *Uninstalling KB3072630
wusa /uninstall /kb:kb:3072630 /norestart /quiet
rem echo Uninstalling KB3065987 (update for "Windows Update" on Win7/Server 2008R2)
rem start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3065987 /quiet /norestart
rem echo Uninstalling KB3050265 (update for "Windows Update" on Win7 - installs a new Group Policy object that enables you to block Win10 upgrades)
rem start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3050265 /quiet /norestart
echo Uninstalling KB971033 (license validation)
start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:971033 /quiet /norestart
echo Uninstalling KB2902907 (description not available)
start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:2902907 /quiet /norestart
echo Uninstalling KB2976987 (description not available)
start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:2976987 /quiet /norestart
echo Uninstalling KB2977759 (compactibility update for Windows 8.1)
start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:2977759 /quiet /norestart
rem echo Uninstalling KB3102810 (update for "Windows Update - slow and high CPU usage occurs")
rem start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3102810 /quiet /norestart
echo Uninstalling KB3112343 (Windows Update Client for Windows 7)
start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3112343 /quiet /norestart
echo Uninstalling KB3135445 (Windows Update Client for Windows 7)
start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3135445 /quiet /norestart
echo Uninstalling KB3123862 (Windows Update Client for Windows 7)
start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3123862 /quiet /norestart
echo Uninstalling KB3081954 (Telemetry Update for Windows 7)
start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3081954 /quiet /norestart
rem echo Uninstalling KB3139929 (MS16-023: Security update for Internet Explorer: March 8, 2016 / Get Windows 10 update for MSIE???)
rem start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3139929 /quiet /norestart
echo Uninstalling KB3138612 (Windows Update Client for Windows 7)
start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3138612 /quiet /norestart
echo Uninstalling KB3138615 (Windows Update Client for Windows 8.1)
start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3138615 /quiet /norestart
echo Uninstalling KB3150513 (Compactibility Update (another GWX) for Windows 7/8.1)
start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3150513 /quiet /norestart
echo Uninstalling KB3133977 (buggy update)
start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3133977 /quiet /norestart
echo Uninstalling KB3173040 (end of free upgrade)
start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3173040 /quiet /norestart
rem echo Uninstalling KB3139923 (Another GWX for Windows 7/8.1)
rem start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3139923 /quiet /norestart
echo Uninstalling KB3173040 (Another GWX for Windows 7/8.1)
start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3173040 /quiet /norestart

[RealBlackStuff]

But before anybody applies this, please read the comments on Github after that .CMD file text!

[PurpleMelbourne]

That list is very helpful

BIOS update in my T9300 powered T61p left Windows 7 dead and unrecoverable. Presumably lack of activation encountering SLIC 2.1 had something to do with it. As I don't have physical discs, I downloaded T420 Windows 7 to try. No joy.
Burnt to USB, but it hung at the Preparing drive stage for hours without any progress. I'm guessing it lacks the drivers for the older T61P. Or it doesn't like booting off USB, but I don't have burnable DVD's to try it with.

So now I'm wanting to try and update those Recovery discs to support T61P and with current updates.
Here's the tools that I have for the job:
Lenovo T420 Windows 7 SP1 Recovery disc ISOs - 0A44006_1 - 0A40707_2.1 - 0A40733_2.2
WinToolkit_1.5.4.9
WHDownloader_2.2
Windows7_Rebase_1.1.30.1

Can anyone tell me anything I need to be aware of?
If I can get this right and anyone else wants a copy then I'd be happy to torrent it

[4uk4a]

Hi

I think you need to try the ThinkPad_SL410 recovery disc

https://goo.gl/dIVcnJ

Admin note: Google short URL above leads to piratebay site! Use utmost caution when downloading / using any software from this site.

[PurpleMelbourne]

I think you need to try the ThinkPad_SL410 recovery disc

Excellent! Thank you for the critically valuable tip!
Downloading now at 80KB so hopefully i'll have it in a couple of days

[BigT0ny]

Excellent tip 4uk4a! I just tried the SL410 recovery discs and they worked great on my T61 board. I just had to uninstall a bunch of bloat and install a fingerprint driver but it's activated fully, I've just got to install some Windows updates now.

[RealBlackStuff]

Since that SL410 was a link to the Piratebay, you may want to do a VERY deep scan for malware!

And if you fancy a Torrent, please read this: https://www.howtogeek.com/197542/the-4- ... n-windows/

[BigT0ny]

Since that SL410 was a link to the Piratebay, you may want to do a VERY deep scan for malware!

That's a very good idea. I scanned the install files with Windows Defender and Malwarebytes, all clear. I did a full scan within the newly installed OS with MSE, I'll install Malwarebytes on it tomorrow and see if it picks anything up.

[PurpleMelbourne]

This SL410 Restore is working nicely
Lots of updates to do, perhaps more than usual because of the Vault 7 / WannaCry ransomware hitting the globe?