Windows Fresh Install

[gvlx]

My goto list when doing a fresh install of Windows: https://christitus.com/winutil-install/

First step requires another windows install and the installation ISO (windows 10 or 11?) to be able to create the MicroWin: https://christitustech.github.io/winutil/userguide/#microwin

I've been able to do a simple Win11 install _without_ a MS account....

 

[Andrew Smith]

Well done, especially with the de-bloating options!

Andrew

 

[gvlx]

Some of them surprised me: who would know how much has Adobe managed to lock into Windows?

 

[Andrew Smith]

Back in 1996 I wrote for Australian "Desktop" (publishing) magazine and back then Quark Express was the industry standard for layout software, and knew it, and charged like it knew it. Adobe had PageMaker but then brought out InDesign which every Quark loathing person in the industry quickly named the Quark Killer. Adobe never even had to utter the term - it was all done by the users who'd had a gutful.

How ironic that Adobe is now the new Quark, and has been since they started their software rental treadmill with the software subscription model.

Andrew

 

[gvlx]

One important step I always do on new Windows installs is to find the machine's driver page as it seems the old Microsoft "we now have all the drivers you need" no longer works.

Maybe there's too much innovation, faster than Microsoft can handle.

Anyway, adding a "drivers" folder in the freshly minted Windows 1X "tiny" installer is a very important step.
Some computers now have newer controllers, which require a specific driver on installation time (as it was in the time of Windows 2000).

Also, save that driver page URL on file on that folder, you might forget were it was once you have your fresh windows installation.

 

[SeanBZA]

Back in 1996 I wrote for Australian "Desktop" (publishing) magazine and back then Quark Express was the industry standard for layout software, and knew it, and charged like it knew it. Adobe had PageMaker but then brought out InDesign which every Quark loathing person in the industry quickly named the Quark Killer. Adobe never even had to utter the term - it was all done by the users who'd had a gutful.

How ironic that Adobe is now the new Quark, and has been since they started their software rental treadmill with the software subscription model.

Andrew

I remember Pagemaker when it was supplied by Aldus, and it was a superior offering over Quark, offering both speed, better layout tools and at least you could use it for hours without it crashing and losing the entire project as it died.

 

[coffeeprogrammer]

Windows has two different API groups that can help with new installs and create new fresh installs, the DISM api (which the DISM command line tool is based) and the Setup API, which can be used to to scan a set of folders and install the correct drivers. I have been slowely creating a Windows 10 22h2 install that is as clean as I can make it, my god a hate all the overflowing crap in Windows, I can't believe or understand why they add all the garbage. Windows could be so much better.

 

[Scott]

Windows has two different API groups that can help with new installs and create new fresh installs, the DISM api (which the DISM command line tool is based) and the Setup API, which can be used to to scan a set of folders and install the correct drivers. I have been slowely creating a Windows 10 22h2 install that is as clean as I can make it, my god a hate all the overflowing crap in Windows, I can't believe or understand why they add all the garbage. Windows could be so much better.

Rather than create your own stripped down distribution, maybe check out Tiny10:

What is Tiny10 (Lightweight Windows 10) and How to Install It

Learn what is Tiny10 and how to install this stripped-down Windows 10 build on low-end PCs. It removes bloatware & reduces disk space to 5GB.

beebom.com

 

[coffeeprogrammer]

The reason I had pointed out those API sets is because that is what Microsoft has provided for their operating systems, it is likely that these stripped down iso were created by using those types of APIs. You can get the DISM .h and .lib files with the Windows SDK. One thing I have not worked out is how to reduce the WIM file size, when I remove windows compounds, it is keeping the payload in the WIM file. For example, the windows 10 WIM files included .NET 3.5 for a long time, but in 22h2, .NET 3.5 payload was removed. So if you have any old applications you can't just add it with the dism command line program like you also could. I am like Steve regarding this kind of thing, Windows is a tool and I don't want candy crush, cortana, or copilot. To me, I don't care what they add, as long as I can remove it if I don't want it, maybe there will be something to copilot, but everyone should be able to remove it, including the payload.

 

[gvlx]

Rather than create your own stripped down distribution, maybe check out Tiny10:

What is Tiny10 (Lightweight Windows 10) and How to Install It

Learn what is Tiny10 and how to install this stripped-down Windows 10 build on low-end PCs. It removes bloatware & reduces disk space to 5GB.

beebom.com

I wonder if you'd get similar results with Chris Titus "MicroWin" maker.

 

[coffeeprogrammer]

I wonder if you'd get similar results with Chris Titus "MicroWin" maker.

Just guessing, but that is likely C# or Powershell, but at a lower-level is using dism among other APIs.