@ceo54 Lets start calling the things with the proper name The DNS service is the server part that provides the service, in windows machines it is just called DNS, but you can find it only in Windows Sever machines(and some embedded SKUs), you can install non MS DNS services (if needed) The client part "talks" with the DNS service that provides the NAMES<-->IP translation to the applications and the OS itself is called DNScache in Windows. Both of them can make use of the host file as well, given in the early Internet days the host file was the only way to translate names in to IP, there wasn't any DNS service at all at the time, because the host file was just populated with few hundreds of entries (universities, research centers, military installations...) When the Internet started growing the host file alone became impractical, hard to maintain and slow, so the whole DNS concept was introduced. Given that, for historical reasons the host file is still a thing, and it still has the precedence over the DNS everywhere, with an exception, which is what we are talking about. Some MS related host entries are purposely ignored in windows
Do you believe that future Windows versions want go even further ? Microsoft technicians aren't stupid and they know that people are commonly blocking their tracking servers via hosts. They also know that people are disabling Windows Update, so they invented WaaSMedicSvc service which automatically restores Windows Update to function again. Luckily WaaSMedicSvc can also be disabled what my script does. But corpo technicians seems to be fighting with users all the time. It is their operating system, we are just using it (like a service). In the past, when you bought software it was really your. Currently, you own nothing.
BTW, is pretty easy to have a bulletproof host file even in windows, even w/o using a separate Rasberry PI box or alike. Just use OpenWRT inside a virtual machine, (not many people are aware that openwrt is available also in x86 and AMD64 flavours), it provides the internet connectivity to the VM, then connect the the host machine (and the rest of your network) to the internet via such VM. Its a free solution, it takes less than 200MB of ram, and the needed virtual disk is incredibly small by today standard. Everything can be easily controlled via a browser, or if you need more advanced things, using the command line via SSH, just like you would do using a real external router/firewall. There is even a legacy build which can run in very old Pentium 2 class machines
I am having trouble getting Office 365 to work properly. Mainly, OneDrive won't even start. Should it be able to run on this version of windows? Or, Have things been removed to prevent it?
OneDrive is normally integral part of operating system, but it is intentionally removed from it (and also disabled via GPO) by my script. If I left OneDrive, my entire work would be rather pointless. Anyway, the script will never be suitable for everyone. I cannot satisfy people with conflicting goals. PS. But you can modify the script and reenable OneDrive if you want it.
For me, setting up virtual machine just for hosts/DNS is over-bloated solution. I would prefer Acrylic which seems to be very light and works on every Windows, starting from 2000.
Virtual Machine is complicated by itself. It may be easy to use, but its internals aren't simple. I prefer the old good rule KISS (Keep It Stupid Simple) which have never failed me. And some question arise: Does OpenWrt contains virtual machine specific drivers or hardware emulation is used ? How it affects CPU with and without native virtualization support ? And 200 MB of RAM seems to be a little, but we are talking here just about simple hosts file. PS. I still use OpenWRT on my Banana BPI-R2 router and I really appreciate it. But I am not sure that I would like to virtualize it on Windows. Virtualization is good for me, when it is well tailored and well integrated into the host OS, just like Microsoft Windows Linux Subsystem. Oracle VirtualBox is not that solid (not that good integrated) and it is worse than old MS VirtualPC 2007 once was.
Please, that's not an argument. You're using a system that relies on a nanometric scale electronics, running on billions of transistors, on top of that the SW you use relies on millions of lines of code, coming from thousands of coders over a 50+ years timeframe. A code that isn't understood directly but is compiled by a compiler written by other (fallible) humans, and... I can continue for a couple of pages, but you get the point. If you don't like things that are complicated in their internals you have to move to a desert island and limit yourself to some fishing and chats with a Wilson ball The point is that IT *IS* complicated, simplicity is usually referred to the ease of use, maintainability, coherence of the UI, documentation. And from that point of view VM are exactly what you're talking about: KISS. Even MS itself has a notable example of what we are debating in the last few messages. And that example is WSL WSL v.s. WSL2 to be more precise. WSL in this analogy is Acrylic, WSL2 is a specially crafted virtual machine, and they are going full steam with the latter because it proved to be easier to use/maintain/evolve Last but not least, if you are using a Hyper-V feature (and with latest W10/11 likely you are), the main OS *IS* a virtual machine, while the bare metal OS is Hyper-V. If I remember correctly the basic install comes with Virtualbox related things, while for vmware you have to install the open-vm-tools (to manage automatic shudown/suspend/restart, and a couple of drivers if you intend to use the VMXNET3 virtualized network card (over the stock emulated Intel e1000). Something that can be done from the GUI or using a simple command like ipk install open-vm-tools VMware used to work well since the end of last millennium using what they call binary translation, you can still run a (32bit) vmware VM w/o accessing the dedicated features, while keeping good performances. Something very useful if you need both VMware and Hyper-V, given Hyper-V takes over the HW accelerated features. Virtual box can run w/o HW acceleration as well until the version 6.0.24, with some additional limitations (no APIC support), so the VM can run only on single core CPUs. VirtualPC can run w/o HW acceleration as well but there is no known way to use it on 64bit W10 hosts. You need a 32bit W10 host or W8.1 or older OS if you want to use a AMD64 host (I never tested OpenWrt on VPC for obvious reasons) Don't get me wrong 200MB is what I usually dedicate to such VM to leave it some room, but really something like 80MB can be more than enough. We tend to forget the numbers, but In 200MB I run a virtualized Server2003R2 Which acts as domain controller + RAS + OpenDHCP server + few other things. This is what's happening right now (Hyper-V machine) In a time where a single web page opened can consume 1GB, looking for a full blown Windows Server asking for 181MB of memory seems pretty ridiculous. Virtualization can be used in a huge number of cases, some of them don't require any kind of the integration level you're talking about. OpenWrt is one of such cases, you interact with it with a web browser (or as a power user via SSH). On the other hand you may need to use a VM for something very different (say you need to use Autocad 2000 or IE6 on XP) in that case the integration of VMware is just perfect in 2023 as was used to be 15 years ago, and VBOX isn't that bad either. You can even use them in what VMware calls "Unity" and VBox calls "Seamless mode" that works just like the XPmode in W7. Even Hyper-V which used to be traditionally not well tailored for such scenario, is getting better on each Windows release
Ok, so our entire activity is pointless here. Why to slim down Windows or Android, when is is so complicated bla bla bla? Why to fight with spying in Windows, when we are tracked everywhere else (phones, electronic money, electronic ID, cameras on the streets etc)? Why to use some slim Calculator which needs kilobytes of RAM to do its job, when you could use soyware which do the same with hundreds MB or several GB of RAM usage. RAM is cheap, so no problem. Anyway, we are all crazy here and we are doing pointless things. Maybe, you are right. No, it is big no. You are comparing things that are incomparable. It is impossible to create true WSL without resorting to some sort of virtualization or you will end up with something not much better than CygWin or Linux Wine, what will be only partially compatible with the original. And WSL virtual machine is very well integrated to the host OS and generally bug-free, surely way better than Oracle VirtualBox. Microsoft has done good job here. Using Virtual Machines that neither 100% solid nor well integrated, just to do relatively simple taks is like running Notepad or Calculator created as WebPage and bundled with entire Chromium engine. Some people like such cows, but I am not such guy. Sorry. 1. You will break digital signature. 2. Some security software (or Windows itself) will consider your system as compromised/hacked/infected. 3. Your system could work incorrectly in unpredictable way. 4. Windows will try to restore original file whenever it can (defender, update, system file protection, etc). 5. It is entirely unnecessary, because there are better and effective solutions (when you disable services, they will not connect to Windows Update, no matter whats dnsapi.dll contains). These are very ugly hacks and I will never resort to them. If I were forced to choose, I would definitely prefer that Virtual Machine with OpenWRT than such hacks.
Amazing project, especially for VMs because storage and memory footprint is so slim (0.9 gb ram cold boot and slightly under 10 gb storage). No need for windows AME which is outdated and literally ripped out system files or sketchy tiny10/11. I had only one issue with setting up an SMB drive, however I got it easily fixed by running net use Z: \\192.168.x.x\folder in the command prompt. Installing scoop and windows terminal was also a breeze.
All in all, yes. We win some battle in a lost war, that doesn't prevent to be proud of the won battles. But what that has to do with the point? The point is that VMs are a simplification, even when they lead in more used resources, which is not this specific case. It's not that any analogy that proves your point is debatable and mine correct, is a wrong analogy. I respect your personal preference, but if you try to sell that for a fact I have something to say. That's all WSL1 or WINE have nothing to do with virtualization, WSL2 IS virtualizzation. Period. Well, aside that I'm almost sure you don't know how to get the full potential of VBOX, isn't required to be captain obvious to understand that MS can do thing that an external company can't. But I still don't understand why are you talking about the integration here, no level of integration is needed for OpenWrt, period It's a freaking mini Linux specialized in networking, it's not Photoshop or a Media Center Said the guy, who don't like wrong analogies....
Surely you cannot meet the needs of all users and you don't have to. Your tool is really very good and you give your best to help people out and explaining things. Even further you have an open ear for the users of your wonderfull tool! I am not necessarily concerned with telemetry. Telemetry is not bad at first, but unfortunately it is very often misused for wrong purposes, from not so good human (or not human) beings. I also find it a mess that so much user data is collected without getting anything back. M$ makes money from us users data when we buy the OS, they make money if they can optimize their software based on our data, they earn money by passing our data on to other companies and so on... I think M$ should ask us useres what data exactly we would like to share and, above all, they should stick to it. In addition, users should get something back, either in the form of money or another real value! I just want a little of my freedom back. The right to modify the software I own and the right to have choices which Applications/Features gets installed out of the box with the OS and which Data I'm willing to share! I have nothing against MS Store, even further I would prefer to not remove it and maybe I would buy Programs from M$... But as long as M$ wants to tap data from me, show me ads and revert back settings I made in my OS, without having received my explicit approval... Better to wipe it from my System and buy the Software I want in other places... I have 3 Devices with a license for Windows 10 Home, I don't want to install another Windows Edition and activate it with 3rdParty Activators, cause it would be not legal! And why should I do this when I already own 3 Licenses? HomeUsers are not allowed to tweak more in-Depth security settings, cause there is no GroupPolicy Editor! M$ give HomeUsers no choice to prevent or to choose witch Telemetry data is wanted to be shared, thats why I love your tool! It makes it possible to strip down a HomeEdition of Windows 10 to the bare minimum and harden the configuration for advanced security, with ease! Greetings...