Missing Brave Browser Updates for Win 8.1/7 ? My Full VM Guide for Getting Brave updates on Your Win 8.1/7, Now with Speedy Performance Improvements

CTE Refers to “Click to Expand”(Please note that For this post, CTE is optional to read)

At first, while i seen... CTE

At first, while i seen the news about brave browser/chromium ending support, i was posting excessively about this topic here on this community but then overtime i stopped posting about it as i convinced myself to live with it…

Now im posting it again as i was recently thinking about the Question which im about to ask now.

I have Never used Virtual machines because i never felt the need to use it… But Now Since browser support (109) will be be ended on Feb 7, 2023, i am looking forward to use it for the first time and wanted to see for myself that if there would be an alternative way to keep getting all of the future updates for brave browser on the same machine(while my main OS continues to be my favorite Win 8.1…)

I was disappointed with the fact that the browser which i use will no no longer receive updates but then after few days i was like meh its okay, we’ll live without it… this mindset has been in place for the past 3 weeks until today where it started to get boring for not attempting to do anything new to improve/overcome/circumvent the situation…

Before attempting to do this(VM Environment) which i have never done before, i thought it would be wiser to get advice from others and possibly tips and guides aswell…

I’ll Start by saying this, im not going to use the factory version of Windows 10 and add stress to my 10 year old hardware as running the heavily bloated Win 10 as well as Win 8.1 together on the 10 year old hardware will end up heating the machine, So in an effort not to give heavy workload for the processor and keep it cool, i’ll use the custom phoenix os instead.


i want this performance and cooling as much as possible(after installing the Win10 on VM in my PC)
xx
Win 8.1 is God of eliminating heat without any expensive cooling setup(Feeling sad for all of the Win 8.1 Engineering team where most of them left the company, Great talented humans with horrible luck :frowning_face: )

Even the Controversial Start menu will look much better... CTE

Even the Controversial Start menu will look much better than 10 and 11 if we put meaningful effort to customize it

Why not win11 custom os? because nvidia dont offer drivers to gtx 770m for Win11… Still using old hardware due to the 3d support(New computers, Smart TVs and graphics cards dont offer support for native 3d support anymore…)

Didn't Expect Microsoft to get to a level ... CTE

Didn’t Expect Microsoft to get to a level where the company will become a reason to prevent me from buying new hardwares(due to the fact that all these new hardwares manufactured with a motive to not support older operating systems which inturn tells us Microsoft would be the reason)

Most of the bloating and privacy issues of Win 10 and 11 can be circumvented by various techniques, Even most of the stubborn processes can be stopped but the main problem for me is taskbar design and icons… all these newly replaced icons and taskbar design are not good… Customization exists on win 10 and 11 but they are not great, it would have been cool if we could setup taskbar looks of win 8.1 and all of the Win 11 icons to Win 8.1 with a single click inside the personalization settings page but Microsoft currently isn’t cool enough to offer this…)

So this above shown custom based win 10 is the only option right now for me to try, im completely fine if this plan is about to fail but i just wanted to try as trying doesnt hurt

please answer the following questions if you have extensive knowledge about VM, Windows and Brave browser.

  1. Have you understand what i was talking/asking about ? Do you think performing this above illustrated techniques will help me to use updated version of the brave browser using VM and also keep the main Win 8.1 os for general PC usage ?
  2. How does download works on brave browser while its used on VM ? Currently i dont use “C” drive for downloads, i have ported external hdd for this purpose… Can the same also be achieved if the browser is used on VM ?
  3. Will the Brave Sync feature work properly between a VM and local machine where two different versions of windows is used?
  4. In rare case scenario which i wont get into it easily, if i were to use the media creation tool and upgrade the pc from win 8.1 to 10, will the brave browser’s data can be used exactly from the state where we left off before i upgraded to 10 from 8.1 or should i start over by syncing again?
    Even trusting brave sync is a nightmare… what if the sync code’s last word gets changed during upgrade :thinking:
Brave team please be cool enough.... CTE

Brave team please be cool enough to tell us how often the sync code gets changed… Maybe you should add a timer on brave sync page to let us know when the code is about to be changed, Even better, allow me to completely opt out, i dont want privacy or security, the thing which i want the most is reliability!

These are not meant to be rushed but its good to be prepared for the worst… knowing that this method will work will give me a sense of relief.

Even if this VM method fails, this is something which i’ll be looking forward in the future to try…

Finally it seems like DIY or you’ll never get an answer…

SO DIY is on the process…

Installing Windows 10 phoenix lite os using VM on Win 8.1

i will update here while the installation process gets finished…

and will provide guides as well, so anyone who loves beautiful win 7 and 8.1 can do the same…

Finished installing the OS and successfully tested both Windows 10 and 11(for 2 days continuously) on a machine that runs Windows 8.1 which is 10 years old… I tested it and the result is Success

i will post a detailed guide soon.

Here is the guide on how to get latest version of the brave on Windows 7 and 8.1

Step 1

  1. Install VirtualBox and Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable 2019 package

Step 2

Load the Phoenix OS ISO

  1. Launch VirtualBox and Select Machine → New

  2. Load the ISO and Select → Skip unattended Installation and Click Next

  3. Set UP RAM and Processors, Recommended to set 5 processors and atleast 9 GB of RAM

  4. Click Next, and Set HDD space

  1. Click Next and Click Finish, Now Power up the VM

  1. Install the OS as you Normally would do, For these OS Variants, you dont need to go through various setups such as Microsoft account creation, Microsoft sign-in, privacy setup… You’ll be directly landed on the desktop page… Start the install and come back after 30 minutes and you’ll be directly landed on the desktop.





After this, you’ll be directly landed on desktop, the setup will perform a restart though


the OSes which i have shared, W10 is ultralite build and W11 is updatable build.

After Installing Windows.

  1. Activate the OS
  2. Increase your screen resolution (i discovered this a little bit late but im sharing it here so you can enjoy a high definition experience early)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w03nH_6Ky-Y
  3. Launch PowerShell as Admin
  4. Run this Command as you see on Image

    Don’t interrupt the Process

    A new GUI will be shown

    Select Brave and Click the Start Install button
    wait for a few seconds

while you launch brave and go to the “About” Page, there will be a problem…

To fix this error, Go to brave.com, download the setup file and uninstall the brave which is installed using powershell…

To Make sure Brave is the only browser installed in your system and edge is not hiding somewhere, disconnect the internet and uninstall brave

you’ll be able to confirm this via survey link prompt…


Although you can install browsers using the “Extras Folder” which is provided by this custom os developer, i did this way to have brave browser to be installed first.

Install the brave using Brave browser setup file and the issue will be gone



ezgif-4-838cc8362d

Here is windows 11 task manager, you can expect an even less windows process count and much more improved performance if you install an ultralite build and disabling even more windows processes by running services.msc

Comparison of Windows 8.1 and 11 process count where the host computer is win 8.1

You need to do the same steps for W10 too(if you wish to install 10 instead of 11)

this should be the last result

this should have an even lesser windows process count as it is an ultralite build

this should be the best ultralite build due to 100% no bloatware and no tracking!
W11


W10

look at the memory usage of W10 running on VM

Launching W10/11 on VM in full screen and using the brave browser on it just feels as same as using on W8.1. only difference is cpu usage is spiking up while playing any videos, so the purpose is limited only to general browsing such as forums, blogs, communities…etc… another issue is scrolling is little bit slow, not too slow, i would just say it is not as smooth as windows 8.1 and i guess this is due to the program running on vm and cpu is doing everything on its own… i really wish there should be a way to integrate the GPU drivers of host computer to the installed os but sadly this option doesnt exist

Now it’s time for theming

  1. open your gmail and copy the mega download link which i shared at the start of this reply and send the mail to your own email address or save it as “draft”
  2. Now, Open the Brave Browser, open your gmail, open the mail or draft, go to the mega download folder link and download the windows 8.1 icon pack and install it

Screen wil go white during install process and this is normal


Now Remove the annoying Notification icon on the taskbar.

Follow Sebastian’s Guide and remove it

This icon pack will also completely change the looks of windows File Explorer Bringing back the beautiful HDD icons and library icons of file explorer
im sharing W10 testing image because windows 11 file explorer’s left navigation pane is messed up

This is bad… this also should be a reason to not upgrade to 11


just compare both of the left navigation areas, everything is organized neatly on W10, W8.1 and W7, seeing the way how things are organized in W11 gives me headache and tabs feature should be optional but currently the scenario seems to be forced, i dont like it, will wait for a utility to disable it as it ruins the elegance of file explorer’s ui.

classic and tweaked right click menus



+classic control panel

classic start menu

Black theme

Windows 7/8.1 taskbar effects restored using start is back

ezgif-5-3b8518d688

you can customize the start menu button using the start is back program if you want the white windows logo back, just import it from the mega download folder

System Properties Page

Start button size improved

Final touch and improvement

these two OSes are still my backup plan only as improvements need to be made to get the Windows 8.1’s device eject icon, wifi icon, volume icons… im actively looking for it to get done,i f you do know a program which can change it, please let me know until then im going to use win 8.1 as default and power up vm every once in a while for cross referencing if in case i face an issue on the windows 8.1.

MEGA Download folder has been updated with new files

Update: So I just noticed i am starting my DAY 1 without brave updates on My Win 8.1 and as Expected, the updates works on my VM Guest OS which i installed it on my Windows 8.1

See image for understanding, The image includes both brave browser running on Win 8.1 without updates and brave browser running on W11 with Chromium 110 updates being added/applied(See the Windows Processes count aswell both Win 8.1 task manager and Win11 task manager included)

NEW Updates!

Fixes for Better Performance.
Scrolling issue has been FIXED and Improved.

Follow this Guide(You’ll miss out on animations, But think about which is more worth sacrificing, Would it be the animations or your Favorite Windows 8.1/7 ?)

If you think Windows 8.1/7 is much more worth than Win 11 and animations, follow this guide, it will not only fix the scrolling issue on the Windows 11 running under VM Environment, but it will also Boost your System Performance and reduce the Stress on your CPU… You SHOULD take measures to take care of the CPU friend because GPU wont be Supported due to lack of drivers and tech support…

Here is the guide

Step 1

Go to Brave://flagson your OS Which is installed on VM

  1. Search for Smooth Scrolling and Disable it. Restart the Browser to see the effects

This will disable some animations and improve CPU performance. Make sure to not have too many extensions actively running aswell…

Also, Make sure to actively monitor the memory usage on your host computer…

I have chosen to add 10.5 GB of RAM for the OS installed on VM, but for this Reflection OS, during the setup, i think 6 GB is Still good, if you do not have more ram, try installing the OS with 6GB setting and while you’re using the OS, control opening too many tabs all at once…

Here is the memory usage on Win 11

Task Manager

This should be your idle use case after performing all of the tweaks on this guide.

Alright, Let’s Get back to the Guide.

Step 2

Search for(type in) Mouse in Start Menu

Now Click “Choose how many lines to Scroll with the mouse wheel”

Step 3

Change the Value to 10(these settings are recommended for VM Environment mostly)

Step 4

Now Search for “ScrollSpeed Chrome Extension”

Click on the very first link and Install this extension

Step 5

After Several testing, for the VM use case Environment, the recommended factor is 1.57
See the top right area on the above image

This will enhance the scrolling experience while the animations are being disabled and will provide more accuracy while you scroll through pages.

Step 6

The developer of the Custom OS has not FULLY tweaked the services running in the background, he sure does turned many services to manual and disabled many service but that CAN be improved a lot.

Search for Services.msc

Make Sure ONLY THESE Services are RUNNING, Click and Zoom the image for better view.

YOU MUST Disable all these Services shown in the next image to boost SYSTEM Performance and REDUCE CPU Stress for VM ENVIRONMENT

Double click on the Service, Stop it and choose “Startup type” to Disabled, Click Apply and Restart the W11.

If you NOTICE other services running, Make Sure to SET it to MANUAL, DO NOT disable it. AGAIN, i’ll repeat, follow the above suggestions only for VM Environment.

i have not noticed about the CLIPBOARD Support earlier, SO it seems like Once you set the option to bidirectional, you can easily transfer files between HOST Computer and OS Installed in your VM, JUST DRAG AND DROP

Also if you dont want to use the powershell method, you can use this method to install brave browser setup file by downloading the setup file to host computer first and dragging and dropping the setup file to your installed W11 OS in VM.
I Suggest downloading smaller files casually on your VM(drag and drop them to host computer after end of each session) and use your host computer to download larger files (by getting the url from the OS installed on VM).

I have notified both of the developers about the problems which i have right now, hopefully the situation improves…

Enjoy USING WIN 8.1/Win7 and Catch up with all of the updates for brave browser on the VM Environment, i know this is not the right way to use but consider the beauty of WIN 8.1/7, their performances and the boot time of this W11 reflection OS after you perform all these tweaks, its incredibly FAST.

Also, Win 8.1 is the undisputed KING to keep the computer cool most of the times even without any aggressive cooling setup, one of the main reason why i love Win 8.1

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So, IT’S NOT that bad to use it this way… i JUST want to say that I’m absolutely hating the new file explorer on WIN 11, it’s Lack of customizations/grouping on the left navigation pane and the top panel brings android looks… im actively looking for ways to bring the looks of Win8.1/10 on explorer to the latest win 11 update but no success yet…

Another reason for not updating the Reflection OS Build is that, i lost motivation to update it because the new Win X-Lite Builds have this new file explorer…


Image Source : XDA developers

I think Old School is always Super…


i dont understand why Microsoft doesnt respect the classics and tainting these new android looks on PC’s file explorer, people should be given choice to restore old explorer… After knowing that i can get all of the Win 8.1/7 icons, performances of win 8.1 on these community builds of Windows 11, i think this modern FILE Explorer will be one of those main things which will hold me back from upgrading to Win 11 Fully. Nothing wrong in Microsoft doing and trying something new but it scraps away the older ones which people used to love it, a big tech with no emotions…

Currently, im also monitoring this, will wait for more updates to see if this software manages to get back the older looks fully

Very informative and interesting if only to show set up of a VM.- thanks.

However my old Win 7 laptop (more than 10 years) only has 2 GB Ram and the motherboard will only take a maximum of 3…
So 9GB for a VM, even say on a new machine with 16GB, seems very high to me. Is there any particular reason why you selected this number? You obviously have RAM to spare…

The only reason is to ensure there is maximum stability and making sure to possibly avoid a memory crash.

For ultralight builds at this level of extreme debloating, even 5 gb would still be good as system on idle state consumes only 850 mb to 950mb for this Xlite reflection build…

I also changed my use case, previously i planned to use win 11’s brave chromium 110 version most of the time but then i decided to continue using brave browser on win 8.1 even if its not updated and launch Win 11 only if i encounter some problem on windows 8.1

For now, the win 11 build just kind of exists on my win 8.1 as VM and brave browser has not yet given me a reason to launch VM

Ad blockers and shields are working perfectly. BLOCKED over 2.3 million ads and trackers across 4 different profiles so far which i have on win 8.1

Main Profile

other profiles



For the next 3 years, the browser and most of the websites would be working fine with just minor inconvenience, but after then, not sure, future definitely doesnt look good, let’s see if future version of windows has a nicer ui and speed like win 8.1/7

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