Solved Kamrui AM08 Pro Mini PC will have it on Saturday

transmaster · Feb 7, 2024

That sounds like a good Idea. I always like to have a full copy of my Windows OS any way.

Winuser · Feb 7, 2024

transmaster said:
That sounds like a good Idea. I always like to have a full copy of my Windows OS any way.

Before you do I recommend that you backup the drivers first. Backup and Restore Device Drivers in Windows 11 Tutorial

transmaster · Feb 7, 2024

Winuser said:
Before you do I recommend that you backup the drivers first. Backup and Restore Device Drivers in Windows 11 Tutorial

In my endless Windows wars this has become 2nd nature. All of the drivers I have are always located outside the boot drive on secondary drive. I have several Samsung 1TB EVO SSD's but they are as much as 4 years old. A 1TB Samsung EVO is roughly $70 bucks there is nothing wrong with the older drives but I am thinking new computer, fresh new SSD. I have decided to go ahead and go to 64GB of RAM, It really isn't necessary but why not. As for the malware issue I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I am inclined to go with a fresh install. In the past I always assembled my own systems and a fresh install was SOP. One thing I do not like about included Windows is that nag screens trying to get you to subscribe to this and that. Plus if you know these Digital Demons from Hell if you have a full copy of its OS it will not give you any problems because you can defeat A Digital Demon with a format and reload exorcism.

transmaster · Feb 7, 2024

looks like I am going to continue to do what I have done for a number of years. Purchase a flash drive version of Windows 11 pro directly from Microsoft. I know I will get the real deal.

transmaster · Feb 7, 2024

And I find the Samsung EVO SSD's have been updated. So I ordered a 1TB drive.

hsehestedt · Feb 7, 2024

transmaster said:
looks like I am going to continue to do what I have done for a number of years. Purchase a flash drive version of Windows 11 pro directly from Microsoft. I know I will get the real deal.

Why would you do that when you can create it yourself for free? Are you aware that Microsoft didn't even sell Windows 11 physical media until 6 months after Windows 11 was released? That is how useless Microsoft believes the physical media is since you can create it yourself.

EDIT: Just to be 100% clear - there is NOTHING that the purchased media does that making your own does not also do. There is no difference in capabilities.

hsehestedt · Feb 7, 2024

Here is my strategy with any new PC be it a Mini or anything else:

1) Determine what the hotkey is that will allow me to select alternative boot media. On the Kamrui this will be F7.

2) Have available a boot disk for your favorite drive imaging software. My preference is Macrium Reflect. Connect it to your PC.

3) On the very first time booting the new PC, repeatedly press the hotkey noted above (F7 on the Kamrui) until you get the boot menu. Select the option to boot your flash drive.

4) Once booted, created an image backup of the system.

Congratulations! You now have a pristine factory image.

5) Boot the system normally and go through the initial Windows setup experience.

NOTE: On the Kamrui, you will find that it does not ask for a Microsoft account. It will create a local user account for you. This is good because it will limit any malware from accessing other systems. Just make sure to use a different username, or at the very least, a different password on this machine than anything else on your network.

6) Allow Windows to install all the latest updates.

7) Perform a virus scan - perform a full scan, not just a quick scan.

8) Make a backup of your drivers - you already know how to do this, so I won't repeat procedure here.

9) Perform a clean install of Windows restoring your drivers afterward. If you prefer, you can create a Windows image that has the drivers for your system preinstalled first so this would be a good time to test it. If anything goes wrong, you can reinstall your factory image.

NOTE: Kamrui provides links to downloadable drivers, but their downloadable drivers are not individually packaged drivers. It is simply an export of the drivers the same way you would do it yourself. I like to back up my drivers AFTER I have run Windows update to capture any new driver versions that Windows update may have installed.

transmaster · Feb 7, 2024

I have been away from Windows for several years. Off in the Apple orchard. I see some refresher training is on order.

transmaster · Feb 7, 2024

Right now trying to remember how to resize the screen. I am used to Radeon GPU’s costing twice what this mini PC cost.

transmaster · Feb 7, 2024

It is updated right now. After that is finished a full virus scan.

hsehestedt · Feb 7, 2024

transmaster said:
It is updated right now. After that is finished a full virus scan.

Ah, I see! You are knee deep in the process already. Very nice.

You asked about screen resizing...

To change screen settings, you can simply right-click an empty space on the desktop and choose "Display settings". Recommendations:

Leave the display resolution at the native resolution (the resolutions that says "(Recommended)" next to it. Choosing anything else looks bad on modern pixel based display technologies. Use the "Scale" option if you need to make screen elements larger or smaller.

Hope that helps!

transmaster · Feb 7, 2024

It is confirmed there is a trojan, and a back door.

Badger · Feb 7, 2024

Yesterday I received the MINIS FORUM Venus UM790 Pro Mini PC, so far so good!

transmaster · Feb 7, 2024

These 2 bits of malspyware are classic stuff used by the CCP to spy on people. Both of these exploits have been around for several years by used numerous bad actors.

transmaster · Feb 7, 2024

It is going to take several days to get this mini PC configured and loaded with my software, The screen problem is exasperating. What I have the right and left edges of the home page out of view on both sides. also the task bar at the bottom in partially hidden. On Windows Ten you could at least drag up the taskbar to see the icons there. Apparently Windows 11 doesn't do that. and the scaling control isn't helping. With the big Radeon GPU's I had there were dedicated controls for this sort of thing. I'll get it figured out. I have always hated setting up a PC. You had a nice comfortable setup which is blown out the door when something serious happens. Than there is Apple. When I powered up the Mac Studio my iPhone had a screen open, New Apple computer detected do you wish to continue with setup?. Yes, I sat back and watched as my iPhone setup and configured the Mac Studio I was gobsmacked. :star:

pparks1 · Feb 8, 2024

transmaster said:
I have always hated setting up a PC. You had a nice comfortable setup which is blown out the door when something serious happens. Than there is Apple. When I powered up the Mac Studio my iPhone had a screen open, New Apple computer detected do you wish to continue with setup?. Yes, I sat back and watched as my iPhone setup and configured the Mac Studio I was gobsmacked.

Whenever I am setting up a new box, I heavily rely on image backups that I take. I usually grab one with just the OS, patches for the OS and drivers installed. I call that my vanilla install image. I can always snap back to that if necessary.

During installs, I always keep a notepad opened and write down the steps that I take, which is always a good reminder of exactly what I did and what order I did it in.

Years abo, like back in the XP days, it seemed like a format and reinstall was something that I did regularly. Every 6 to 12 months. When doing it that frequently, it was usually still pretty fresh in my brain. These days, for example, with my current built, I built the box and installed the OS over 3 years ago, and haven't reinstalled anything since then. It just runs and is reliable. With this much time between the installs, my documentation is far more important to me.