diff --git a/gui.bat b/gui.bat
index b24afe1..74034b9 100644
--- a/gui.bat
+++ b/gui.bat
@@ -7,8 +7,14 @@ call .\venv\Scripts\deactivate.bat
 
 :: Activate the virtual environment
 call .\venv\Scripts\activate.bat
+
+:: Update pip to latest version
+python -m pip install --upgrade pip -q
+
 set PATH=%PATH%;%~dp0venv\Lib\site-packages\torch\lib
 
+echo Starting the GUI... this might take some time...
+
 :: If the exit code is 0, run the kohya_gui.py script with the command-line arguments
 if %errorlevel% equ 0 (
     REM Check if the batch was started via double-click
diff --git a/gui.ps1 b/gui.ps1
index d2ce6fb..47e69ac 100644
--- a/gui.ps1
+++ b/gui.ps1
@@ -7,8 +7,13 @@ if ($env:VIRTUAL_ENV) {
 # Activate the virtual environment
 # Write-Host "Activating the virtual environment..."
 & .\venv\Scripts\activate
+
+python.exe -m pip install --upgrade pip -q
+
 $env:PATH += ";$($MyInvocation.MyCommand.Path)\venv\Lib\site-packages\torch\lib"
 
+Write-Host "Starting the GUI... this might take some time..."
+
 $argsFromFile = @()
 if (Test-Path .\gui_parameters.txt) {
     $argsFromFile = Get-Content .\gui_parameters.txt -Encoding UTF8 | Where-Object { $_ -notmatch "^#" } | Foreach-Object { $_ -split " " }
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index d11825b..5b26ce8 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ easygui==0.98.3
 einops==0.7.0
 fairscale==0.4.13
 ftfy==6.1.1
-gradio==5.0.1
+gradio==5.4.0
 huggingface-hub==0.25.2
 imagesize==1.4.1
 invisible-watermark==0.2.0
diff --git a/requirements_pytorch_windows.txt b/requirements_pytorch_windows.txt
index aed2e8a..a328eb2 100644
--- a/requirements_pytorch_windows.txt
+++ b/requirements_pytorch_windows.txt
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
-torch==2.4.1+cu124 --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu124
-torchvision==0.19.1+cu124 --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu124
-xformers==0.0.28.post1 --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu124
\ No newline at end of file
+# Custom index URL for specific packages
+--extra-index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu124
+
+torch==2.4.1+cu124
+torchvision==0.19.1+cu124
+xformers==0.0.28.post1
+
+-r requirements_windows.txt
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/requirements_windows.txt b/requirements_windows.txt
index d4e2d3c..0836535 100644
--- a/requirements_windows.txt
+++ b/requirements_windows.txt
@@ -2,4 +2,5 @@ bitsandbytes==0.44.0
 tensorboard
 tensorflow>=2.16.1
 onnxruntime-gpu==1.17.1
+
 -r requirements.txt
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/sd-scripts b/sd-scripts
index 5fba6f5..8549669 160000
--- a/sd-scripts
+++ b/sd-scripts
@@ -1 +1 @@
-Subproject commit 5fba6f514a0792851149ed1a7071070ee35cbeca
+Subproject commit 8549669f89ed05bb7ce0bf774a7c5589dc15df35
diff --git a/setup-3.10.bat b/setup-3.10.bat
index 6b887f5..f5f746a 100644
--- a/setup-3.10.bat
+++ b/setup-3.10.bat
@@ -13,6 +13,9 @@ call .\venv\Scripts\deactivate.bat
 
 call .\venv\Scripts\activate.bat
 
+REM first make sure we have setuptools available in the venv    
+python -m pip install --require-virtualenv --no-input -q -q  setuptools
+
 REM Check if the batch was started via double-click
 IF /i "%comspec% /c %~0 " equ "%cmdcmdline:"=%" (
     REM echo This script was started by double clicking.
diff --git a/setup/setup_common.py b/setup/setup_common.py
index 9d08522..b85af77 100644
--- a/setup/setup_common.py
+++ b/setup/setup_common.py
@@ -158,16 +158,16 @@ def install_requirements_inbulk(
         log.error(f"Could not find the requirements file in {requirements_file}.")
         return
 
-    log.info(f"Installing requirements from {requirements_file}...")
+    log.info(f"Installing/Validating requirements from {requirements_file}...")
 
-    if upgrade:
-        optional_parm += " -U"
+    optional_parm += " -U" if upgrade else ""
 
-    if show_stdout:
-        run_cmd(f"pip install -r {requirements_file} {optional_parm}")
-    else:
-        run_cmd(f"pip install -r {requirements_file} {optional_parm} --quiet")
-    log.info(f"Requirements from {requirements_file} installed.")
+    cmd = f"pip install -r {requirements_file} {optional_parm}"
+    if not show_stdout:
+        cmd += " --quiet"
+
+    run_cmd(cmd)
+    log.info(f"Requirements from {requirements_file} installed/validated.")
 
 
 def configure_accelerate(run_accelerate=False):
@@ -649,7 +649,7 @@ def run_cmd(run_cmd):
     log.debug(f"Running command: {run_cmd}")
     try:
         subprocess.run(run_cmd, shell=True, check=True, env=os.environ)
-        log.info(f"Command executed successfully: {run_cmd}")
+        log.debug(f"Command executed successfully: {run_cmd}")
     except subprocess.CalledProcessError as e:
         log.error(f"Error occurred while running command: {run_cmd}")
         log.error(f"Error: {e}")
diff --git a/setup/setup_windows.py b/setup/setup_windows.py
index 38c6e7b..bb8cdbe 100644
--- a/setup/setup_windows.py
+++ b/setup/setup_windows.py
@@ -123,12 +123,13 @@ def install_kohya_ss_torch2(headless: bool = False):
     # )
     
     setup_common.install_requirements_inbulk(
-        "requirements_pytorch_windows.txt", show_stdout=True, optional_parm="--index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu124"
+        "requirements_pytorch_windows.txt", show_stdout=True, 
+        # optional_parm="--index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu124"
     )
     
-    setup_common.install_requirements_inbulk(
-        "requirements_windows.txt", show_stdout=True, upgrade=True
-    )
+    # setup_common.install_requirements_inbulk(
+    #     "requirements_windows.txt", show_stdout=True, upgrade=True
+    # )
 
     setup_common.run_cmd("accelerate config default")
 
diff --git a/setup/validate_requirements.py b/setup/validate_requirements.py
index 497b44e..725836f 100644
--- a/setup/validate_requirements.py
+++ b/setup/validate_requirements.py
@@ -177,11 +177,17 @@ def main():
     # Install required packages from the specified requirements file
     requirements_file = args.requirements or "requirements_pytorch_windows.txt"
     log.debug(f"Installing requirements from: {requirements_file}")
-    setup_common.install_requirements(requirements_file, check_no_verify_flag=True)
-    log.debug("Installing additional requirements from: requirements_windows.txt")
-    setup_common.install_requirements(
-        "requirements_windows.txt", check_no_verify_flag=True
+    setup_common.install_requirements_inbulk(
+        requirements_file, show_stdout=False, 
+        # optional_parm="--index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu124"
     )
+    
+    # setup_common.install_requirements(requirements_file, check_no_verify_flag=True)
+    
+    # log.debug("Installing additional requirements from: requirements_windows.txt")
+    # setup_common.install_requirements(
+    #     "requirements_windows.txt", check_no_verify_flag=True
+    # )
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
     log.debug("Starting main function...")
diff --git a/venv-r/Scripts/python.exe b/venv-r/Scripts/python.exe
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8655d9d
Binary files /dev/null and b/venv-r/Scripts/python.exe differ