Windows vista extended kernel iso

The «best» version is entirely subjective. The best advice I can give you is to try each of them and see what you like most.

Going in chronological order:

Vista’s interface sports a similar DWM to Windows 7, it’s UI and style of navigation is more similar than not. There are some XP-like elements kept around, though. The taskbar, chiefly. Then smaller details like the true Classic Control Panel, QuickLaunch by default, etc. Subjectivity comes into play here, but I do prefer Vista’s bolder and more colorful take on Aero as compared to 7. The drawbacks, however: It’s not as compatible as 7 with newer software and hardware. The software list is closing between the two with Vista closing that gap with each kernel update, but it’s still a WIP, and there’s the matter of hardware compatibility. Vista does not play particularly well with Intel 4th gen (Haswell) and above. I’ll let @win32 @Ximonite provide a more thorough explanation regarding this in due time.

Windows 7 is very similar to Vista. I used this OS on the daily for 6 consecutive years, and longer than that intermittently. It’s quite similar to Vista, although I find its defaults to be a bit subpar. Furthermore, its window manager is sluggish in comparison. It has quite a feature rich theme engine and can be extended on, but making more than surface level visual changes to its interface requires tinkering about with system files. Overall, I find it to be a step down from Vista, but not enough to really compromise the user experience. It’s perfectly good enough to use it without making any changes to it, and some surface level tweaking can make it quite bit more ergonomic. (eg 7+TT, enabling the QuickLaunch bar). It’ll run a bit more software than Vista can, but not overwhelmingly so if you’re not a gamer. Hardware is another matter entirely, however. Given that you mentioned owning an i7 4770, Vista can be ruled out for that particular device. 7 is the obvious choice there.

Windows 10. Well. If you lock down enough, disable its automatic updates, remove the annoyances such as Defender, and so some surface level tweaking to improve the interface some (eg. Open Shell), then it too is a decent experience. You’ll have the added perk of having an even more compatible system on the software front, but I don’t feel it’s too considerable as of now.

While not on your radar, I actually quite prefer Windows 8.1. It does require a bit of tweaking to make it as ergonomic as Vista or 7, but it doesn’t really resist user changes either. Being in a relatively fixed state now makes it rather safe to update as well if any customizations are applied. It has quite a comprehensive theme engine that can be patched in memory to run unsigned theme, it handles said theme resources more like Vista and contains most visual resources within the themes themselves, in contrast to 7. There’s the issue of Metro, but so few system settings applets actually rely on it when you rid yourself of the Start Screen. I’ve counted two, user settings, and bluetooth. The latter of which I don’t even use, as I have quarrels with bluetooth. I do realize having to tweak an OS into a sane state, however little the effort required, does not bode well with some. 10 has a menu by default, but a mediocre one so Open Shell/Classic Shell or similar is a must regardless

My advice? Well as stated above, try each of them. Maybe you’ll find one fares better on x machine than the other. I think you mentioned owning 7 machines earlier? Well that’s 7 possibilities there, and 7 to try 7 on (this may be fate)

There’s no magic synthetic test that will reveal the ideal OS for your hardware. They’re all int he NT 6.x family, and they all perform similarly as far as raw performance goes. The best one depends on user preference. Happy house hunting!

Unofficial Windows Vista x64 Extender Kernel step by step installation guide

All the credits for the Extended Kernel go to @win32, not me.

Disclaimer: I take absolutely no responsibility for any damage to your PC (or laptop or whatever) caused by following/misfollowing this tutorial. Backup everything before continuing.

Special thanks to @winvispixp for guide improvement suggestions.

List of Vista-unsupported programs that work with the extended kernel

version 03092023 (current):

Note: for best stability it’s recommended to go for the October 2022 version (10192022) and only install 64-bit files (see step

Preparations:

1.       Prepare a .7z extracting program (for  example 7-zip).

2.       Prepare Ubuntu or Linux Mint installation CD (for method 2 and uninsallation).

3.       Update your Vista to 2017 EOL version (especially install sp1,sp2 and the platform update).

4.       (Optional) You can install some server 2008 updates if you want. List of compatible updates by @LiptonAcer

5.       (Optional but highly recommended) Install KB4019478 — D3Dcompiler-x64 update, .NET Framework 4.6.1 and 3.5, DirectX June 2010 redistributable and all the Visual C++ redistributables 64 and 32 bit.

6.       Install SHA-2 Server 2008 updates in the following order: KB4039648-v2,KB4493730, KB4474419.

7.       Backup your original files.

8.       Extract the vistaexkernsetup_03092023.7z file (or vistaexkernsetup_10192022.7z if you are installing October 2022 version) into any folder you like (later called folder X).

Method 1 — Automatic installation

Method 1 involves using the Installer. If you are facing some problems, use alternative installer by @Bizzbob or method 2 instead. If you don’t want to install 32-bit extended kernel, use method 2.

1.       Copy your original kernel32.dll located in %systemroot%\syswow64, rename it to kernelol.dll and put the new file in syswow64

2.       Run the setup.exe as administrator. (These steps do not apply to @Bizzbob’s installer)

3.       Follow the instructions on your computer’s screen.

4.       Make sure that files like kernel32.dll are present in %systemroot%\system32. If they are not, use method 2.

5.       Reboot the computer.

6.       Repair file permissions.

7.       Congratulations, enjoy

Method 2 — Manual installation

Method 2 involves using the Ubuntu live CD. The reason why we use Ubuntu and not another windows installation is because Ubuntu doesn’t support NTFS file permissions and thus ignores them completely making file replacing much easier.

1.       Launch cmd.exe as administrator and run the following command without quotes: “bcdedit /set {current} nointegritychecks yes”.

2.       Insert Ubuntu installation disk Either CD or USB (AKA live CD).

3.       Reboot into the Ubuntu live CD.

4.       Choose: “Try Ubuntu”.

5.       On the top bar go to: Places\Computer. (This may differ depending on version of Ubuntu you have).

6.       Locate folder X and copy all the dll and exe files from the folder X (EXCEPT setup.exe and files, that have filename ending with .wow64) to yourpartition:\windows\system32, click replace when prompted (make sure you have a backup).

7.       If your Vista is UEFI, do the same for winload.efi.

8.      (Optional) Move all the .wow64 files from the folder X to a different directory and remove .wow64 from their name, than copy them to yourpartition:\windows\SysWOW64, click replace when prompted (Right now 32bit extended kernel is in a very early stage of development, so personally I don’t recommend it for daily usage).

9.       Shut down Ubuntu and boot Windows.

10.     Repair file permissions.

11.     Congratulations, enjoy

Method 3 — Redirection

If you don’t want to replace your system files, you can make specific programs use extended kernel dlls instead of vanilla Vista ones using local redirection. Unfortunately  this method doesn’t let you run most of the new applications, that file replacing would do (for example there is a problem with exe files that spawn from another and many other).

1.       Apply the DLLredirectionenabler.reg.

2.       For each application you want to run with the extended kernel, do the following:

3.       For exefilesname.exe create an exefilesname.exe.local folder.

4.       Put files from folder X in the exefilesname.exe.local folder.

5.       Congratulations, enjoy

Repairing file permissions

Automatic tool

If you visit system32 after the installation you will probably notice that permissions for extended kernel files look like this:

Obviously letting “Everyone” to modify your core system files causes a serious security issue so it is necessary to restore the default file permissions pattern:

Картинка с сайта: msfn.org

The owner should be: “nt service\Trustedinstaller”.

Example:

1.       Locate %systemroot%\system32\kernel32.dll

2.       Open properties and under security tab click “Advanced”.

3.       Make sure that “Include inheritable permissions from this object’s parent” checkbox is disabled.

4.       Close the advanced window and click “edit”

5.       Remove “Everyone” and other account that are not in the default pattern.

6.       Add  “Users” and “Administrators” accounts and set permissions for them to match the default pattern. The names have to be in your language. Look at other system files if you don’t know how to spell the words.

7.       Add “SYSTEM” account and set permissions for it to match the default pattern.

8.       Add “nt service\Trustedinstaller” account and set permissions for it to match the default pattern. They are different this time.

9.       Click “OK”.

10.   Open properties and under security tab click “Advanced” again.

11.   Under  “Owner” tab click “edit” than “Other users or groups”.

12.   Enter “nt service\Trustedinstaller” without quotes.

13.   Click “OK”.

14.   Congratulations!

Do the same for other files:

If you have installed only 64 extended kernel than you have to restore file permissions only in system32 for the following files that you have replaced:

• ci.dll
• dwmapi.dll
• kernel32.dll
• ntdll.dll
• ntk32.dll
• ntoskrnl.exe
• ole32.dll
• powrprof.dll
• shell32.dll
• user32.dll
• uxtheme.dll
• winload.efi
• winload.exe
• api-ms-win-core-fibers-l1-1-0.dll
• advapi32.dll
• dxgi.dll
• dxgiext.dll
• api-ms-win-core-synch-l1-2-0.dll
• API-MS-WIN-CORE-WINRT-ERROR-L1-1-0.dll
• API-MS-WIN-CORE-WINRT-ERROR-L1-1-1.dll
• API-MS-WIN-CORE-WINRT-L1-1-0.dll
• API-MS-WIN-CORE-WINRT-STRING-L1-1-0.dll
• api-ms-win-shcore-scaling-l1-1-1.dll
• bcrypt.dll
• shcore.dll
• userenv.dll
• useren0.dll
• kernel33.dll
• jobsrv.exe
• gdi33.dll
• gdi32.dll
• dwritent60.dll
• dwritent10.dll
• DWrite.dll
• api-ms-win-core-memory-l1-1-6.dll
• api-ms-win-core-memory-l1-1-5.dll
• api-ms-win-core-fibers-l1-1-0.dll
• api-ms-win-core-delayload-l1-1-1.dll
• api-ms-win-core-delayload-l1-1-0.dll

If you have installed 32 bit extended kernel than you also have to restore access rights in syswow64 too (for the following files that you have replaced):

• kernel32.dll
• powrprof.dll
• ole32.dll
• shell32.dll
• user32.dll
• uxtheme.dll
• dwmapi.dll
• ntext.dll
• powrprof.dll
• shellnew.dll
• ntk32.dll
• miscstubs.dll
• ws2_33.dll
• ws2_32.dll
• user33.dll
• shell33.dll
• shcore.dll

These are the final names for those files, remember that some of them have to be renamed during the installation as described in the guide.

Optional Extended Kernel components

d3d12.dll — This is DirectX 12 for Windows 7. You can copy it to system32. It does not work on Vista, but can be useful for Windows 8 users.

Windows 7 Media Foundation Platform — This is needed for video codec support in some programs like Firefox. Making the Windows 7 mfplat system wide by installing it causes problems with Windows Media Player and Dremscene, so it’s recommended to use redirection method instead:

1.       Apply the DLLredirectionenabler.reg.

2.       For each application you want to run with the Windows 7 mfplat, do the following:

3.       For exefilesname.exe create an exefilesname.exe.local folder.

4.       Extract the mfplatsetup.7z and copy all the dlls it contains to the exefilesname.exe.local folder.

5.       Congratulations, enjoy

378.66_Vista and 398.11_Vista — Modfied Nvidia drivers for Vista. More details: https://msfn.org/board/topic/184056-breakthrough-p2-new-pascal-special-microsoft-nvidia-driver-port-for-vista-x64/

Windows Version Spoofer

Version spoofer allows you to fool programs into thinking that you are running a newer version of Windows!

1. Create an empty file called «osver.ini» (without quotes) in the %systemroot% folder.
2. Put contents of the template below in your file.
3. Adjust the template depending on your needs.

Template:

[Path to an exe file]
Commandname=1 

[Path to another exe file]
Commandname=1 

[global]
Commandname=1

List of supported commands:

Enabled (this one is always needed)

MajorVersion

MinorVersion

BuildNumber

CSDVersion

PlatformId (2 is used to indicate that the OS is Windows NT. 1 represents 9x and 0 represents Win32s)

to spoof Windows 7 sp1, use:

Enabled=1
MajorVersion=6
MinorVersion=1
BuildNumber=7601

Windows 8.0

Enabled=1
MajorVersion=6
MinorVersion=2
BuildNumber=9200

Windows 8.1

Enabled=1
MajorVersion=6
MinorVersion=3
BuildNumber=9600

Windows 10 (the build number depends on the Windows 10 version, that you want to spoof)

Enabled=1
MajorVersion=10
MinorVersion=0
BuildNumber=19044

Windows 11 (the build number depends on the Windows 11 version, that you want to spoof)

Enabled=1
MajorVersion=10
MinorVersion=0
BuildNumber=22000

Example:

[C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe]
Enabled=1
MajorVersion=6
MinorVersion=1
BuildNumber=7601

[global]

Common errors

List of Vista-compatible programs that don’t work with the extended kernel.

Windows Sidebar (resolvable):

1.       Apply the DLLredirectionenabler.reg.

2.       Create a «sidebar.exe.local» folder in %programfiles%\Windows Sidebar\ .

3.       Copy your backup ole.dll to the «sidebar.exe.local» folder.

4.       Congratulations, enjoy

CPU-Z (old Extended Kernel version) — https://msfn.org/board/topic/183046-guide-vista-extended-kernel-installation/?do=findComment&comment=1207488

Kaspersky antivirus — https://msfn.org/board/topic/181612-wip-windows-vista-extended-kernel/page/112/

VirtualBox (as a host) — VirtualBox checks if system files were signed by Microsoft. (it is called «hardering»)

Windows Live Photo Gallery (only if you install 32-bit extended kernel)

Feel free to report other programs.

How to uninstall the extended kernel?

Method 1

1. If you used Method 1 durning installation, the dlls were automatically backed up as [nameofdll].dll.bak. You just need to delete the extended kernel dll and then change the name of the vanilla one (delete the .bak extension; it should look like [nameofdll].dll after)
2. Repair File permissions

Method 2

1. Follow the Method 2 steps, but instead of copying extended kernel files, put your backup files back in system32 (or SysWOW64 if you are uninstalling the 32bit extended kernel)
2. Repair file permissions.

Method 3

1. Alternatively, file replacement can be done using Windows Vista PE.
2. Boot from CD or USB
3. Choose your keyboard layout and on the next screen click «Repair my Computer» and choose CMD.
4. You can use 7-Zip or Notepad’s «save as» dialog as GUI
5. Put your backup files back in system32 (or SysWOW64 if you are uninstalling the 32bit extended kernel)
6. Repair file permissions

Old versions

Edited October 12, 2023 by TSNH

Main Extended Kernel Installer

The latest version of the Vista Extended Kernel was released on March 9, 2023.

Revision 2 includes a stable version of the User Profile Service, preventing any problems with the service when using the Extended Kernel on newer patch levels (2020+).

Download all necessary prerequisite updates here before installing.
Failure to do so may render your system inoperative!

The SHA checksum for the installer package named vistaexkernsetup_03092023_rev2.7z is:

6C1095AF0376DE8B75C335B82C91E524E369E46F

Main Download

MEGA Mirror

Yandex Mirror

Media Foundation Update Installer

The latest version of the Media Foundation Update was released on November 23, 2020.

The SHA-256 checksum for the installer package named mfplatsetup.7z is:

CFA956D44CC71153C5BE8766AAC4DF321B2F6B1B26DAC762A8DB6BFEB5E0D26A

Main Download

MEGA Mirror

Yandex Mirror

Modified NVIDIA Driver, version 378.66

This driver package is compatible with most GTX 1000 series GPUs except GT 1030, and is considered stable.

The SHA-256 checksum for the installer package named 378.66_Vista.7z is:

80a686b47d900f508022ad6b8dba9aa89bb2583652dfb9b6598fd5fdef23ad9c

Main Download

MEGA Mirror

Yandex Mirror

Modified NVIDIA Driver, version 398.11

Newer driver with support for GT 1030 and OpenGL 4.6. Full compatibility is not assured at this time.

There are presently conflicts with some other hardware such as NICs. If your system boots up to a frozen «orb»,
uninstall this driver in Safe Mode and replace with 378.66.

The SHA-256 checksum for the installer package named 398.11_Vista.7z is:

a95f91fcb7dbee3dd06f7ddc1da8f57575bfc346e24d0a80d8eb6bc8b4713457

Main Download

MEGA Mirror

Yandex Mirror

Modified Intel HD Driver, version 9.17

Modified driver package for Intel HD 4000 series integrated graphics by Ximonite.

Full support for OpenGL 4.0 features, among other optimizations are included in this package.

The SHA-256 checksum for the installer package named IntelHD_9.17.10.4459_Vista.7z is:

D14085FD20F4250A6830D45C41CA82C2A1C3D47B

Main Download

MEGA Mirror

Yandex Mirror

Modified AMD Catalyst Driver, version 15.6 (beta)

Modified driver package for AMD Radeon cards up to R9 series.

This driver is considerably more stable and performant than the antiquated 13.12 driver Vista users were officially served.

The SHA-256 checksum for the installer package named AMD_Catalyst_15.6_Beta_Windows_Vista.7z is:

C33212565B102BB7EDD1054AD39FDFD4DF2BC9FC

Main Download

MEGA Mirror

Yandex Mirror

Visit the file directory to see all download options.