i know this not 1 of the ordinary posts but thought maybe someone got some info and can help me in this screenshot is a Win10 PE now i want to reduce the size of this Win10 PE that is inside boot.wim (boot.wim size is 333MB) as showing in this screenshot this is the size of the files inside the boot.wim english language , no network , only programs that are showing on desktop and same similar type of programs will be used in this WinPE 10 so no browsers or any players just some managing and fixing programs that will be inside the WinPE i want to know how can i identify the useless files that aren't used and can be deleted , but i don't know how can i do that i used NTLite and Winreducer to clean some files like Extra languages folders , not used fonts , winsxs i know there are files that can be deleted , because i arranged the files in system32 by size and deleted 3 dll files that are around 30MB that was related to internet explorer and edge and because they were dll so they weren't compressed and made big difference in size the final size i reached after deleting as much as i can with NTLite and winreducer and some few files by hand is 333MB if you know any discussion around this topic anywhere or any tool/program that could help me i would be glad i know there are some professionals here that's why i'm asking just in case some one knows a place where this is discussed or anything that could benefit me have a good day
NTLite is a great tool for doing this. i have a preset for my 11 22621 PE to settle down from 431mb to 286mb . everytime i create anew PE including some tools i use its size differs. pl do some research on your PE & i am sure result will be flawless.
you are right i think i will try more with NTLite and winreducer again , i still didn't work on removing useless drivers like Network drivers
small question about startisback but kinda complicated in this screenshot it's a win10 pe with startisback there is 2 programs linked in the startmenu i want to remove the link after going to it's source file and deleting the shortcut the link didn't disappear but as you can see it became blank pressing right click on the blank shortcut shows an option "unpin this shortcut from the this list" also this is a winpe so i need modify it from inside the boot.wim i tried looking in the registry to find the link but i couldn't find anything maybe because i used the search there is no startmenu layout.xml inside shell because there is no shell folder i tried looking in the default user registry (NTUSER) but couldn't find it maybe it's there but i'm dum if you got any idea or suggestion i would pleasured to try it PS:i tried going to this location in registry HKEY_Current_User -> Software -> Microsoft -> CurrentVersion -> CloudStore -> Store -> Cache -> DefaultAccount , and i didn't find cloudstore so this solution didn't work have a good day
my suggestion is to use only one tool on PE either its winreducer or NTLite for support from dev. if we use multiple tools then dev of one tool will be unable to support us. pl dont touch drivers section | only componets | settings | scheduled taska | autologgers |will be the best option to tweak. but its ok if you want to go much more deep inside & will share something related to drivers or others i havent done then i will learn something more from you .
i use a pirated version from NTLite and not the last version so actually i can't get support from dev also winreducer developers sometimes goes deeper that's why sometimes i prefer but most of the time it causes unexpected errors that's why i use it with care anyway i found out there is many ways of creating win10 pe , using a tool like Win10XPE and create a winpe from a microsoft windows iso , or using a 3rd party program that generates it on it's own like AOMEI PE or lazersoft (didn't try this lazersoft) i only used AOMEI PE and it's kinda good anyway for each way of creating winpe has it's advantages and disadvantages , didn't try them all so i can't judge any of them i know that deleting drivers is very hard because 1 wrong driver deleted and the winpe wont boot on some PCs , and i wont find out until the problems happens
i'm just gonna leave the answer just incase someone looking for something similar first i arranged the files by size in system32 and delete some of the big files that has no functionalities in my winpe like browsers , network related DLLs i had an old pirated version of NTLite that and luckily my winpe is old version of windows 10 and i checked to remove all components that i don't want then i used winreducer and checked all of it's components on it's taps and just didn't check what will break the winpe and don't make it and what i need in the Winpe i deleted all unused fonts that doesn't affect the programs or my plans for this winpe then i used same NTLite that i mentioned to remove the Network Drivers because there is no network in my winpe lastly i arranged files in system32 by name and kept going in them to find the files that has no functionalites in my winpe to delete them like Network , wlan ,lan , winmigration lastly i removed the programs that were added by the program that created this winpe and started looking for the best small sized pirated programs very importantly is to keep testing after each removal of a file of number of files to make sure no BSOD or errors the result is 199MB boot.wim that doesn't contain any programs at all as showin in the screenshot i know there could be more files to be deleted , but i'm not that pro to know them and afraid to break it also the process of finding these files is kinda exhausting and boring have a good day
Thank you . i havent gone that much deep inside a 22621.1 PE via NTLITE mine PE size is reduced to 286 mb Edit : Sorry I was not known that i have already said about main & reduced size in second post to OP
i found out that size depends on what your winpe supports , like if you have network in it so it's gonna be bigger as for my case i know for what purpose i need it so i know what i need and what i don't need so i just kept trying to find the files of the stuff that i don't want , TBH it's very exhausting and boring because most of the time when i delete some files and then test in VM i find it BSOD or AOMEI backupper crashes with an error conclusion AOMEI backupper is a tough program that requires some dll files in system32 and doesn't run without them anyway i'm sure it differs from winpe to another , also each program creates different winpe
i use normal boot files that are in any windows 10 ISO i'm planning to replace the default boot.wim on a modified windows 10 ISO with that winpe to make multi purpose ISO some sort of a fixing/maintenance and installing windows 10 ISO btw the bigger the size of the boot.wim the longer it takes to boot up , that's why i worry about size because my modified windows 10 ISO is actually some sort of superlite so size matters also i have tested it fully on a real PC by installing the windows using the winpe then using the programs that i'm planning to add to this winpe to make sure there is no errors anywhere as i haven't done this before and probably no how to tutorials to do that
Thanks very nice. Are you planning to add shell explorer to create pe with graphical user interface. pl share with me final boot wim when your project is almost complete
by saying ''shell explorer'' you mean the normal windows 10 file explorer ? because i don't know what is shell explorer as it's my first time to see this word anyway this is a screenshot of it in the VM oracle box if you mean file explorer then it's already in the winpe i'm still planning to do some small modification to remove the library folders from explorer (photos , videos etc folder) remove recycle bin as it has no use at all remove quick access from navigation bar as it's already useless i'm going to remove them so they don't distract the user and think they are the folders of his installed windows or whatever he misunderstand also so he doesn't put any files in them thinking it will be transfered to his the windows that will get installed from the same ISO i try to reduce any distractions or useless stuff showing in the interface as i don't want to any of the users to something causes them to lose data or get distracted
Great yes i mean explorer. i think you already know how to do those modifications. very easy task to capture regedits on Live session then merge that captured registry file to offline boot wim . i was doing all this in yr 2019 with username Disk2019 on a i o - w a r e forum.
exactly also editing programs like NTLite , winreducer contains alot of these edits that you can do simply using it without having to do this whole procedure but still some registry edits has to be done manually as you described specially if it's for a 3rd party program anyway tell me if there is an email or discord ID that i can reach you directly to send you the link after i upload it because i think they don't allow any home modified ISOs or anything similar i'm sure you gonna make a good usage of this winpe
Pl use pvt msg on this forums to contact me privately . i am forwarding a msg to you to start a conversation in private . thanks a lot my dear friend.
i want to know what is the process that occurs when i install startisback like what files get replaced in my system files , what gets added the screen goes back for 1 sec that means there is some files in system that gets replaced also putting these the registries inside HKCU/software/startisback and the installed files in program files (x86) doesn't make it work that means there is something that gets replaced or cmds initiated if anyone knows it's procedure of installing i would be glad to know also if someone knows a program that might help me track the process down in a VM or real machine to know what happens in the installation that would be good conclusion i just want to integrate it in an Install.wim because i don't want to install the whole windows and sysprep it have a good day