Experience

2024 PC Setup Log

📢 This article was translated by gemini-3-flash-preview

Introduction

I recently reinstalled my OS after swapping out some drives. When I pulled out my ancient setup USB drive, the software inside was pretty outdated—some wouldn’t even run on a modern system, and for others, I’ve found better alternatives. I’m writing this article to document the software I used for this 2024 build.

Looking back, I actually started this on 2024.09.16. Life got in the way, and I wasn’t in the best state, so it took until 2024.10.02 to finally finish this post.

System

Since I’ve been using Windows 11 for a while, I decided to stick with it. My USB image was too old, so I downloaded a fresh one from MSDN itellyou .

However, I discovered that Windows now forces an internet connection during setup—you’re basically required to log in with a Microsoft account. If you don’t have internet, it’s best to use an older version (which might still allow skipping) or install Win10 first and then upgrade (lol).

2024.10.03
Today I came across two methods to skip network verification . Haven’t tried them yet, but documenting them here:

  1. Press Ctrl+Shift+F3 to skip directly and avoid creating a local user (the setup will restart on the next reboot).
  2. On the network connection screen, press Shift+F10 and enter oobe\bypassnro.cmd. The system will reboot, and an “I don’t have internet” option will appear.

Software

My setup drive hadn’t been touched in ages. Some apps are no longer in my workflow, and I’ve adopted new ones that replace old functionality. It’s worth documenting this; who knows if I’ll have a completely different set of tools the next time I reinstall (though I’m starting to prefer keeping things simple).

Office Suite

Basic Office is essential. I use Office Tool Plus for a quick and clean installation.

I only install Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.

Download Office Tool: https://otp.landian.vip/zh-cn/download.html

Launch Office Tool and run this code to install:

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deploy /add O365ProPlusRetail_zh-cn /O365ProPlusRetail.exclapps Access,Bing,Groove,Lync,OneDrive,OneNote,Outlook,Publisher,Teams /channel Current /dlfirst

Activate Office using KMS:

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ospp /inslicid MondoVolume /sethst:kms.loli.beer /setprt:1688 /act
# or use kms.03k.org
ospp /inslicid MondoVolume /sethst:kms.03k.org /setprt:1688 /act

References:

https://www.coolhub.top/archives/11

https://www.coolhub.top/archives/14

Download Tools & Cloud Storage

Thunder (迅雷): Using a lite version I found somewhere. It’s a “leech” client, but it’s still necessary for some specific downloads.

BitComet: BitTorrent client, also using a lite version. Alternatives include qBittorrent, µTorrent, etc.

Resilio Sync : P2P-based sync software, great for keeping files synced across devices.

Internet Download Manager (IDM): The gold standard for multi-threaded downloads.

115 : Good for downloading stubborn BT links. Similar to Pikpak.

Baidu Netdisk : Great if you have a subscription, a nightmare if you don’t. Pay for speed. Others like Alibaba Drive or Quark can be downloaded as needed.

Social Media

Standard stuff.

Tencent:

Telegram: https://desktop.telegram.org/

Compression Tools

I used to have a ton of these, but I only really use two now.

Bandizip : Very popular; even my school labs use it now.

WinRAR: Ancient, but some RAR files still require it for proper extraction.

Others:

  • 7zip : The most popular open-source option.
  • NanaZip : A stylized 7zip that integrates into the Windows 11 primary context menu.

Miscellaneous Tools

uTools : An extremely convenient productivity tool. It uses plugins to expand functionality. In fact, I wrote this post using its Markdown extension—not quite Typora, but very handy.

QuickLook : Quick file preview tool. It’s not perfect; I’m looking for a better alternative. The portable version requires a workaround: https://github.com/QL-Win/QuickLook/issues/1

1Password : Password manager. An open-source alternative is Bitwarden . I can’t live without a password manager anymore.

PDF Readers: Most are similar, I use whatever’s handy:

  • Foxit PDF
  • Wondershare PDFelement
  • PDF X-Change

Sandboxie Plus : Great for running apps without cluttering the system. The portable version requires admin rights every time.

TickTick : To-Do list with cross-platform sync. Sync has felt a bit sluggish lately, though.

QuiteRSS : RSS feed manager. The UI is dated, but I’m used to it. Since it’s portable, moving my feeds is just a matter of copy-paste.

Duplicate Cleaner Pro: Couldn’t find my old cleaner, so I’m using Bajian’s version. It takes some getting used to, but it works.

PixPin : Screenshot tool.

Code Tools

VS Code : Essential.

Typora : The best Markdown editor.

Git: https://git-scm.com/downloads/win

Don’t forget to config your name and email after installing. Time to update the GitHub SSH keys too.

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git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "[email protected]"

Reference: https://blog.yexca.net/archives/95

JetBrains:

Dataflare : Database management tool.

Docker

I’m totally dependent on Docker now.

Download: https://docs.docker.com/desktop/install/windows-install/

During installation, I hit a WSL Update Failed error.

Fix: Download the latest WSL version manually and reboot.

References:

https://forums.docker.com/t/wsl-update-failed/140473/3

https://github.com/docker/for-win/issues/13845

https://github.com/docker/for-win/issues/13580#issuecomment-1619667316

MySQL Docker : I use this for some local data. It’s not high-frequency, so putting it in Docker makes system migrations much easier (I thought about putting it on a server, but sometimes I’m offline).

Setup:

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docker pull mysql:5.7

Remember to map ports and set the MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD environment variable.

Blog

My blog runs on Jekyll. Reinstalling the environment is always a gamble.

Runtime:

Install Jekyll:

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gem install jekyll

Initialize:

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bundle

Well, a few plugins failed to install even after a reboot. I tried checking Installation Issues on MacOSX - Gem::Ext::BuildError but no luck.

A friend reminded me that using Docker is much better. Managing local environments is a pain; since all my other projects use Docker, my blog should too.

Following my theme installation guide , I installed the VS Code Dev Containers extension to manage the container.

In VS Code, press F1, type Dev Containers: Clone Repository in Container Volume..., and paste the Git link to my blog source.

Wait for the logs, then select the config. I chose a basic Debian system.

Update software:

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sudo apt-get update

Install Jekyll following the official guide :

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sudo apt-get install ruby-full build-essential
# Dependencies above
sudo gem install jekyll bundler

Install NodeJS:

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sudo apt install nodejs

Install dependencies:

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sudo bundle

Ignore the warning about running as root—it’s just a container.

Deploy the project:

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bundle exec jekyll s

It works. VS Code automatically handles the port forwarding, so I can view it locally. It actually feels faster than the Windows native build. Very nice.

References:

https://jekyllcn.com/docs/installation/

https://jekyllrb.com/docs/installation/windows/#installation-via-bash-on-windows-10

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/devcontainers/containers#_quick-start-open-a-git-repository-or-github-pr-in-an-isolated-container-volume

Conclusion

That’s about all I need for now. I left out some stuff I rarely use. That’s it—see ya!

Setup Software
This post is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 by the author.