Does Microsoft still provide old updates and activation for reinstall?

Megahertz07 · 25 May 2023

BamaInArk said:

That Dell link shows as unavailable for me. ???

One of those hundreds updates had a bug and it bricked WU.
Microsoft Update Catalog

SIW2 · 25 May 2023

If you want to install virgin win7 you would then need to manually install one update first before windows update works. KB3138612

Download Windows6.1-KB3138612-x64.msu

Download Windows6.1-KB3138612-x86.msu

Some drivers and things like mse virus definitions are sha2 signed and require the sha2 update to have been installed.

The original filerepository included in virgin win7 installation media does not have usb3 or nvme and some of the net drivers are well out of date.

In addition, the bootable wim files ( boot.wim and winre.wim ) also do not include those.

Even if you understand how to manually integrate the appropriate updates and drivers into all the wim images, it is much easier to use the link I posted earlier Update your Win 7 installation media

Volume Z · 27 May 2023

Megahertz07 said:

One of those hundreds updates had a bug and it bricked WU.

This DELL article used to address an issue that has been fixed years ago. It worked for fixing a later, ongoing issue as well by suggesting an Update Client released 2014 or newer.