Essential Things to Do after Clean Windows Install

djs

• 5 min read

I finally reinstalled Windows today after I've been meaning to do it for months. I went with Windows 7 for fun. I have nothing against Windows 10, really, but I just wanted 7 for fun. A few hours later I installed Windows 10 instead.

Anyway, I decided to write down all the things I need to do to get a barely functioning (for me) install of Windows, inspired by Casey Liss.

Before wiping C:

  • Backup the entirety of C:\Users\youruser\
  • Check for save files in %appdata% cough Dark Souls 3 cough Lego Star Wars cough Minecraft cough and back them up
  • Copy Windows ISO to USB using Rufus
  • Copy drivers and preferably a Ninite installer (see below) to the USB
  • Shut down PC
  • Unplug ethernet and other peripherals that aren't necessary during installation
  • Power on PC, and boot from USB

Installation of Windows

Nothing to point out here. If the drive is over 500 GB, I recommend partitioning it to have ~200 GB for the OS, and the rest for storage.

Post-Installation

Drivers

(Preferably these will already be downloaded onto a USB or other HDD)

  • Install motherboard drivers if needed (on Windows 7):
    • LAN
    • Audio
    • Chipset
    • USB 3
  • Install graphics card drivers after internet is connected (so it can install .NET Framework and other requirements)
    • If Nvidia: uncheck Nvidia Geforce Experience
  • Reboot

Monitors

  • Enable 144 Hz on main monitor
  • Set other monitor position to be in the middle:

Monitor Positioning

Having the second screen (1080p) in the middle makes the mouse pointer move almost straight across from my 1440p monitor

For Windows 10: Disable Tracking

  • Download and run DWT
  • Check all boxes except the ones that warn you and apply

Activate

Depends on your situation, but Windows should be activated before moving on

Installing software

  • Browse to Ninite and make an installer with (preferably this installer has been done before and stored on USB or other HDD so you don't need to browse with IE):
    • Chrome
    • Essentials
    • qBittorrent
    • 7-Zip
    • WinRAR
    • VLC
    • Spotify
    • Dropbox
    • Python (2.7)
    • Filezilla
    • Notepad++
    • Classic Start (if Windows >7)
    • LibreOffice
    • SumatraPDF
    • Steam
    • Everything (if on Windows 10, you need to use a beta version in order to add network drives)
  • Reboot

Map Network Drives

  • Map M: to Media1 (Plex storage)
  • Map N: to Media2 (Plex storage)
  • Map O: to Media3 (Plex storage)
  • Map X: to Dump (NAS)
  • Map Y: to Home (NAS)

Set up Dropbox and 1Password

  • Set up Dropbox and wait for 1Password folder in Apps folder to sync
  • Install 1Password 4 (at time of writing, version 6 is horrible and doesn't work without an 1Password Account)

Set up Google accounts in Chrome

  • Go to YouTube, and log in using first account
  • Go to Gmail, and add the other account
  • Go to YouTube, and change back to the first account
  • Add bookmark titled "Gmail" and point it to https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/#inbox
  • While we're in Gmail, copy the 1Password license key and put it in 1Password

Set up WhatPulse

(If you know your WhatPulse password without needing 1Password, I would do this as soon as you get network drivers working, for accuracy's sake)

  • Install WhatPulse, cancel the WinPcap install to avoid network monitoring)
  • Log in
  • Disable "Open window at startup"

iCloud Bookmarks

  • Install iCloud Control Panel
  • Reboot
  • Sign in to Apple account
  • Uncheck iCloud Drive and Photos, but set up Chrome bookmarks

Set up other software

Google Chrome: - Install uBlock Origin - Install 1Password Addon - Visit an English website and set "Never translate from English"

Spotify: - Log in - Enable scrobbling to Last.fm - Disable Right Sidebar/Activity Feed

Steam: - Log in - Add game libraries that are present on other HDDs - Make sure Interface Language is English - Install CS:GO and GTA V if they weren't on the other HDD (but pause their downloads for now)

Everything: - Disable "Run as administrator" under settings - Under Index > Folders, add network drives - Under Keyboard, enable "New Window" shortcut to Alt+Space (to fake Spotlight on macOS)

qBitorrent: - Drag left sidebar to the left as far as possible to hide it - Right click column headers, and disable the hashtag (#) - Open Settings - Downloads: - Change default save folder to X:/Dump - Enable "Append .!qB extension to incomplete files" - BitTorrent: - Seed torrents until their ratio reaches 0.00 and then Pause Them

Filezilla: - Add connection for lambdan.se

Capture Card (PEXHDCAP60L) and AmarecTV

  • Open up Windows Audio Mixer
    • Go to Recording Tab
    • Right click Line-In and click Properties
    • In Volume/Levels tab, set volume to 6
    • In Listen tab, enable "Listen to this device"
  • Install PEXHDCAP60L Driver, version 1.1.0.142.5
  • Install x264vfw codec
  • Reboot
  • Extract amarectv310.zip
  • Install live_setup300
  • Change region settings in Windows to English/UK to prevent errors when opening AmarecTV.exe
  • Configure Amarec
    • Disable hotkeys (under Hotkey tab)
    • Enable live output under Graph 3 (Live)
      • Framerate 60 fps
      • Resize 1920x1080
      • Output Line 1
      • Apply
    • Configure Recording Tab
      • Video Compressor: Other Codec
        • Hit Update Codec List
        • Select x264vfw and configure it:
          • Preset Ultrafast
          • Zero Latency: checked
          • Rate Control: "Single pass - ratefactor-based (CRF)"
          • Ratefactor between 13 and 17, depends on your mood
          • In Extra command line box add --keyint 1
        • Apply
    • Pick capture card in Device List, and hit Device setting
      • Set up the capture card settings page to look like this, apart from the Color Range, set that to your taste: Capture Card Settings
    • Set up presets accordingly: Presets

Install and configure more software

  • Install MPC-HC x86
  • Install KatMouse
  • Install Mediainfo GUI Version
    • Open it and enable Windows Explorer integration, and set default output to HTML
  • Install Subtitle Edit
    • Restore User Dictionary and OCR Replacements
  • Install Sublime Text 3
    • Enable Explorer integration during installation
  • Install HWMonitor
  • Install MakeMKV
    • Register/enter license
    • Open up settings
      • Video Tab:
        • SemiAuto
        • Path: X:/MakeMKV (where X: is a big HDD)
      • Language Tab:
        • Preferred Language: swe
      • General Tab:
        • Enable Expert Mode
      • Advanced Tab:
        • Default profile: FLAC
        • Default selection rule: -sel:all,+sel:audio&(swe|eng),+sel:subtitle&(swe),+sel:(favlang|nolang|single),-sel:mvcvideo,=100:all,-10:swe,-sel:(havemulti|havecore)
  • Windows 7: Install Virtual CloneDrive
  • Install Air Video HD Server
    • Set it up like this: AirVideo

Set up transcode-video, ffmpeg and youtube-dl

  • Follow installation instructions here to download and install the tools: https://ryanchristensen.net/how-to-rip-and-transcode-blurays/
  • Also download Mediainfo CLI and copy mediainfo.exe to the Ruby bin folder
  • Also download youtube-dl and copy youtube-dl.exe to the Ruby bin folder
  • When trying gem install video_transcoding it is very likely a SSL error will occur, do this to fix:
    • Download GlobalSignRootCA.pem
    • Open up cmd and do gem which rubygems, and navigate to that folder
    • Go into ssl_certs folder and paste GlobalSignRootCA.pem in there
    • Now gem install video_transcoding should work

Set up cygwin/babun

  • Download babun
  • Ensure these packages/tools are installed:
    • screen
    • vim
    • ssh
    • wget
    • curl
    • nano
    • ssh-copy-id
  • Generate ssh key using ssh-keygen -t rsa and copy it to server using ssh-copy-id user@server
  • Download vim configuration from https://github.com/lambdan/config and copy it to ~
  • Install configuration files from https://github.com/lambdan/config/tree/master/babun

Set up OBS for streaming

  • Download and install OBS
  • Configure it with your Twitch streaming key
  • Configure recording path
  • Leave the rest of the settings to when you're gonna actually stream

Restore save files

  • From backup you made of your user folder earlier restore all the save files you want

Final Things

  • Pin/remove things from the taskbar to have it in this order (left to right):
    • Chrome
    • Explorer
    • Connect to RDP
    • Babun/Cygwin
    • Snipping Tool
    • Spotify
    • Steam
    • HWMonitor
    • MakeMKV
    • qBittorrent
  • Always show qBittorrent in traybar next to clock

That should be pretty much it for the essentials. After this, I will add whatever is needed whenver it is needed, things such as Origin, Uplay, Battle.net, Skype, Discord, TeamViewer, etc.