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Microsoft Download Center Archive

193 points by luu 10mo ago

MPSimmons 10mo ago
PowerToys (https://legacyupdate.net/download-center/powertoys https://legacyupdate.net/download-center/powertoys) used to be on my "first software to install" list on a new machine. Between Tweak UI and Deskman, you could _almost_ get a minimal X Windows-like UI. Get those set up and add on LiteStep (http://litestep.net/ http://litestep.net/) and you were pretty much good to go, with the exceptions of the kernel, network stack, and CLI toolset, of course.
- chungy 10mo ago
  Wow, somehow I entirely missed that Windows XP versions were made. I relied pretty heavily on the Windows 95 PowerToys when I used Win95. Deskman seems like it'd be awesome.
  - wormius 10mo ago
    They still make it. Tons of great utils for Win10/11 (I'm off of 11 cuz fuck that noise, but when I was on win10 I used it). Here's the link to the current version for modern systems: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/ https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/
- squarefoot 10mo ago
  The memories! Back in the day I couldn't install XP anywhere without bringing at lease TweakUI and CmdHere, and probalby some others I've forgotten.
- FinnKuhn 10mo ago
  PowerToys still is on my "first software to install" list even in windows 11 as it adds so much useful features such as peek.
  - xeonmc 10mo ago
    For me the very first to install on any new Windows system is winget instal git.git -i and tick the option to add all the GNU coreutils to make Windows usable. I can then git clone my repository of setup scripts to configure the rest of the system unattended.
  - vondelphia 10mo ago
    D&D a playbook from Atlas/Revi and your good to go.
- piokoch 10mo ago
  http://litestep.net/ http://litestep.net/ - worth to go and check this website. This is internet we used to have. Simple page, no crap, JS, etc., loads immediately and then stays in the cache. Download link starts... download, instead of showing some "engagement" screens, asking for email, login with whatever account in the social media one has. If we wanted to discuss this software, well, there was a forum for this. No need to create account in Discord, Twitter, Facebook, and so on.
  - c0balt 10mo ago
    Also doesn't scale on my mobile screen and the headings on the right are almost unreadable due to low font size. Missing HTTPS is a also a nit. Could probably be all done with CSS but wasn't done for a long time
socalgal2 10mo ago
This is great! But, it feels like it's only a matter of time before it changes ownership and everything is re-bundled with malware. It sucks that I can't get old downloads but it would be nice if they came from official sources. I don't have a solution. But looking for old drivers etc, mostly leads to bad sources.
- JohnTHaller 10mo ago
  Legacy Update has been well-supported for over 3 years and takes donations via Github (11 current, 61 past sponsors) and Patreon (where you can sponsor up to $80 to fuel Adam's 3D printing addiction). I recommend it to our PortableApps.com users who are on older operating systems and use it in my virtual machines for testing our releases. I'm hopeful it'll stay as is for a while.
  - Imustaskforhelp 10mo ago
    Hey its awesome but regarding donations since I actually wanted to talk about it. But can you please look at adding yourself/Download Center archive to liberapay too as I was hoping to find liberapay. You mention having kofi being the lowest prices but I think Liberapay has no fees other than payment processing and is itself an non profit and funded via donations. Maybe then you would have "too many options to donate" but I think liberapay can be a good option to have honestly imo and I am interested to hear your thoughts about it. Also I wanted to download windows 7 iso to run a simpler thing on my pc but Microsoft being shitty removed the download link of it and everything so great to see your project, Going to bookmark it right now and thank you!
    - embedding-shape 10mo ago
      OpenCollective is another good alternative, that use the same means to fund themselves as they're offering projects to use, compared to the GitHub/Microsoft way of doing things.
      - Imustaskforhelp 10mo ago
jamesdhutton 10mo ago
Genuine question, not being sarcastic: why would someone want/need these downloads?
- deleted 10mo ago
  [deleted]
- hsbauauvhabzb 10mo ago
  I have a legitimate need to replicate systems that are sometimes very legacy for security research (apps that sit on top, rather than the os itself). Building stuff like a base Windows XP image is easy enough, but sometimes system updates are required - even stuff like iirc tls1.2 isn’t supported in IE6
  - hsbauauvhabzb 10mo ago
    I’ll also add: games and nostalgia.
- dbcooper 10mo ago
  There's a tool for blocking selected driver updates that still works on Windows 11. Very handy.
  - bialpio 10mo ago
    Out of curiosity, what's the name of this tool? Your comment made me wonder if it's possible to reimplement it as FOSS.
    - dbcooper 10mo ago
      wushowhide.diagcab
- NetOpWibby 10mo ago
  Installing Acid Pro 6 requires Visual Studio Redistributable packages the Microsoft no longer has available. At least, last I checked.
pabs3 10mo ago
Another archiving attempt for the Microsoft site: https://wiki.archiveteam.org/index.php/Microsoft_Download_Center https://wiki.archiveteam.org/index.php/Microsoft_Download_Ce...
- kirb 10mo ago
  Our data for 2020 comes from this. (The remainder comes from other snapshots on Wayback Machine from various times)
zerr 10mo ago
We need something similar for Windows 7 games, Calculator and WordPad.

193 points by luu 10mo ago

PowerToys (https://legacyupdate.net/download-center/powertoys https://legacyupdate.net/download-center/powertoys) used to be on my "first software to install" list on a new machine. Between Tweak UI and Deskman, you could _almost_ get a minimal X Windows-like UI. Get those set up and add on LiteStep (http://litestep.net/ http://litestep.net/) and you were pretty much good to go, with the exceptions of the kernel, network stack, and CLI toolset, of course.

chungy 10mo ago
Wow, somehow I entirely missed that Windows XP versions were made. I relied pretty heavily on the Windows 95 PowerToys when I used Win95. Deskman seems like it'd be awesome.
- wormius 10mo ago
  They still make it. Tons of great utils for Win10/11 (I'm off of 11 cuz fuck that noise, but when I was on win10 I used it). Here's the link to the current version for modern systems: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/ https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/
squarefoot 10mo ago
The memories! Back in the day I couldn't install XP anywhere without bringing at lease TweakUI and CmdHere, and probalby some others I've forgotten.
FinnKuhn 10mo ago
PowerToys still is on my "first software to install" list even in windows 11 as it adds so much useful features such as peek.
- xeonmc 10mo ago
  For me the very first to install on any new Windows system is winget instal git.git -i and tick the option to add all the GNU coreutils to make Windows usable. I can then git clone my repository of setup scripts to configure the rest of the system unattended.
- vondelphia 10mo ago
  D&D a playbook from Atlas/Revi and your good to go.
piokoch 10mo ago
http://litestep.net/ http://litestep.net/ - worth to go and check this website. This is internet we used to have. Simple page, no crap, JS, etc., loads immediately and then stays in the cache. Download link starts... download, instead of showing some "engagement" screens, asking for email, login with whatever account in the social media one has. If we wanted to discuss this software, well, there was a forum for this. No need to create account in Discord, Twitter, Facebook, and so on.
- c0balt 10mo ago
  Also doesn't scale on my mobile screen and the headings on the right are almost unreadable due to low font size. Missing HTTPS is a also a nit. Could probably be all done with CSS but wasn't done for a long time

socalgal2 10mo ago

This is great! But, it feels like it's only a matter of time before it changes ownership and everything is re-bundled with malware. It sucks that I can't get old downloads but it would be nice if they came from official sources. I don't have a solution. But looking for old drivers etc, mostly leads to bad sources.

JohnTHaller 10mo ago
Legacy Update has been well-supported for over 3 years and takes donations via Github (11 current, 61 past sponsors) and Patreon (where you can sponsor up to $80 to fuel Adam's 3D printing addiction). I recommend it to our PortableApps.com users who are on older operating systems and use it in my virtual machines for testing our releases. I'm hopeful it'll stay as is for a while.
- Imustaskforhelp 10mo ago
  Hey its awesome but regarding donations since I actually wanted to talk about it. But can you please look at adding yourself/Download Center archive to liberapay too as I was hoping to find liberapay. You mention having kofi being the lowest prices but I think Liberapay has no fees other than payment processing and is itself an non profit and funded via donations. Maybe then you would have "too many options to donate" but I think liberapay can be a good option to have honestly imo and I am interested to hear your thoughts about it. Also I wanted to download windows 7 iso to run a simpler thing on my pc but Microsoft being shitty removed the download link of it and everything so great to see your project, Going to bookmark it right now and thank you!
  - embedding-shape 10mo ago
    OpenCollective is another good alternative, that use the same means to fund themselves as they're offering projects to use, compared to the GitHub/Microsoft way of doing things.
    - Imustaskforhelp 10mo ago

jamesdhutton 10mo ago

Genuine question, not being sarcastic: why would someone want/need these downloads?

deleted 10mo ago
[deleted]
hsbauauvhabzb 10mo ago
I have a legitimate need to replicate systems that are sometimes very legacy for security research (apps that sit on top, rather than the os itself). Building stuff like a base Windows XP image is easy enough, but sometimes system updates are required - even stuff like iirc tls1.2 isn’t supported in IE6
- hsbauauvhabzb 10mo ago
  I’ll also add: games and nostalgia.
dbcooper 10mo ago
There's a tool for blocking selected driver updates that still works on Windows 11. Very handy.
- bialpio 10mo ago
  Out of curiosity, what's the name of this tool? Your comment made me wonder if it's possible to reimplement it as FOSS.
  - dbcooper 10mo ago
    wushowhide.diagcab
NetOpWibby 10mo ago
Installing Acid Pro 6 requires Visual Studio Redistributable packages the Microsoft no longer has available. At least, last I checked.

pabs3 10mo ago

Another archiving attempt for the Microsoft site: https://wiki.archiveteam.org/index.php/Microsoft_Download_Center https://wiki.archiveteam.org/index.php/Microsoft_Download_Ce...

kirb 10mo ago
Our data for 2020 comes from this. (The remainder comes from other snapshots on Wayback Machine from various times)

zerr 10mo ago

We need something similar for Windows 7 games, Calculator and WordPad.