Depends on the magnitude of the update. For stuff like a .net update, obviously not building an image.
No not defender. Even in late W10 installs (I have no experience of W11 on MSMG, I just use server 11 which is mostly clean by its own). Defender likely behaves differently than other crapware, because in Server it's meant to be uninstalled directly from the GUI. Say you can't (officially) uninstall cortana, even on servers
Game explorer is to browse for games in microsoft store? Cmiiw U only play solitaire? Well i think it is save to remove if u dont login to microsoft store to update ur apps. AAD broker plug in and Account control use to login to microsoft store to update apps.. cmiiw @MSMG @inTerActionVRI I dont play games, i dont update apps, i dont even use internet during installation setup. Which still bother me, i cant remove cloudexperiencehost and some dlls in client.cbs folder @MSMG didnt answer me how to remove them from install.wim
Currently I'm doing an in-place update every 6 months or so. Not so paranoid about "windows security updates" each month. Cheers.
If you are just using Toolkit to add updates or remove components, then you can copy the latest uploaded Toolkit.cmd file to Toolkit folder and ToolKitHelper.exe + ToolKitHelper.exe.config files to Toolkit's Bin folder. If you need updated .NET 4.8/6/7, PowerShell7, VC++ and other 3rd party packs then ii may take time since each pack or set of packs are created on clean Windows installation in VM for each OS.
Yes, the GUI was delayed due to personal issues, right now have resumed the development. Will soon update about its development.
Removing CloudExperienceHost breaks the OOBE last stage, and it is required for Windows Store. Removing UndocDevKit breaks the About page in Settings -> System section. Removing Client.CBS also removes Input App, Screen Clipping and can cause issues with Windows 11 Start Menu.
Had checked with Windows 10 in VM removing the NCSiUwpApp breaks the Network Connection status in system tray. Disabling the NoActiveProbe reg value fixed the issue. Code: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\NetworkConnectivityStatusIndicator] "NoActiveProbe"=dword:00000000 And, Yes have fixed the issue with WebView2 Runtime component, now it removes the shared files in Secure Assessment Browser too.
@MSMG I'm trying to create an iso which works with the most recent "Moment 2" update. I downloaded the compatible ISO using UUP. Downloaded 3 recent CUs and installed them using WHD method (I put them all in the same folder and did it at once, did I do something wrong. I DIDN'T integrate the 50-ish mb .Net updates since I thought windows will update them and I couldn't see much mention of them in this thread). It gave me a few errors about duplicate or missing files found but then installed the rest. Applied source, loaded source, removed components and yada yada. Booted into windows and everything works but the updates didn't really get integrated (it still gave me a prompt to download most recent CUs and I did), which in turn brought back the infamous explorer crash/blinking on latest version of windows. Is it related to my removed components or me integrating updates wrong in some way? I've been struggling with this for quite a few days now. Thanks for creating this amazing tool.
You won't have a working Windows Store anyway since you have the option to delete other stuff that's also required. But actually, do you have any plans on including the possibility of using unattended installation? Seems like it shouldn't be any trouble yet the toolkit doesn't have that very useful feature, as far as I'm aware. I don't think this is an issue on all versions though. I had no problem with that whatsoever on 19044.1288. Why not add the ability to remove Input App and Screen Clipping? Seems like the point of the toolkit, no? At least for windows 10.
are components that interlinked? is it not possible to remove individual components? removeing the input app by it's self would that not work? Majid
@MSMG It's a while I think to ask for this... I wish an option to get MSMG operate not on a mounted WIMs but on a mounted VHD[X] I mean, personally I never use the ISO for a fresh install. I just deploy the image (once) to a VHD[x] (and make it bootable). Then I keep a copy of such file. When I need a new VM I just copy such disk in the right place and start a new vm When I need a new OS on baremetal, I just copy the VHD to the right place, and add it to the bootloader So using MSMG implies a lot of unneeded steps that could be avoided if MSMG had a option to operate on say X:\ (and possibly a option to deploy the current WIM on X:\) I think that It would be relatively straightforward to add these options, and few checks to avoid meaningless operations on such scenario (like APPLY/Discard changes) What do you think?
an app that we won't name here, bit of the old nt, how doo they remove individual components? I even note that 32 bit versions of the components are removible? is this a difference in component removal techniques? I've always been fasinated. Majid
It's a good idea. But before capturing or try to apply the image of an Index you will need to clean up folders and temporary files and use a Dism Commit-Image. So I think saving and using the Apply-Image is the best option. You have to consider whether the time wasted committing or saving is the same and I don't know if it's possible to Apply the image directly from a mount point. You also have to see the templates for creating the VHDX, in BIOS and UEFI, and mount them to be able to apply the mountpoint (if possible) or the saved index.
No, You're operating directly on vhd, there is no commit/discard or whatever. Any modification is made in one step, there isn't any undo chance. But if you do something wrong just unmount the vhd (which is instantaneous) and overwrite it with another copy and remount it (which is instantaneous as well). No time wasted waiting for apply, discard. wim mount/unmount and so on. Capturing it in a WIM is an option, but usually an unneeded option, ISOs in 2023 make sense just for inplace upgrades, for everything else is faster, to skip the ISO thing at all. Sure. But keep in mind that MBR VHDs are bootable w/o any problem even if placed in GPT physical disks. So they are fine for most cases. In case you really need a UEFI VHD, is straightforward (and fast) to convert a MBR one using mbr2gpt.exe (which is present in any recent W10 installation) So no need for complicate "IF" structures. Just a single option "Press #2 to convert your MBR virtual disk to GPT" would be more than enough.
I think I understood, but I didn't see the point. It would be as if you treated a mounted vhd partition as if it were a mount point for a wim image. But then, it would not be possible to get the data from an image, as the Toolkit does. You would have to make a script to mount the windows registry HIVES on that partition and get all the data. I think integrating updates and using ToolkitHelper to remove components would be possible. But you have to keep in mind that each ToolkitHelper is only compatible with SPBuild .1 and currently supported. Thus, if the installed build is not supported, problems will occur. Perhaps if it were possible to remove the previous updates and treat the windows installation as if it were a SPBuild .1... Man, this looks pretty complex and full of problems. But a dedicated script would have to be made for that. @Bira made a script that I think cleans up updates already embedded in a wim Image. I'm not sure. Only him to confirm.
Still dont know how to remove CloudExperienceHost after installation, it makes me frustated....aaarrrgghhhhh