Customising Windows installs: A guide to trimming the fat

Modifying the installation image isn't considered "hacking," but rather a manufacturer-supported option. Without this facility, adding custom drivers and OEM applications would be impossible. Modifications can be made using the OEM adaptive tool, the Windows AIK package, or direct interaction with the DISM programme.

An unofficial, yet highly advanced and effective tool named NTLite allows for similar customisation. NTLite internally employs the system DISM and automatically addresses many errors, uncommon behaviours, and limitations of the Windows servicing stack. This makes it a splendid tool for personal use.

Preparing your installation media largely involves integrating drivers and removing unwanted applications. The subsequent step includes creating a preliminary default configuration for many settings. Two tasks that are no longer necessary include embedding the product key and responding to the OOBE (Out-of-Box Experience) phase questions.

Prior to Windows 10, questions regarding advertising identifiers, store settings, updates, privacy, and speech and handwriting recognition could be addressed unattended. Currently, this approach is unsupported. The technical capability still exists, but it occasionally causes side effects that, in extreme cases, may hinder logging in.

The initial step in preparing your image is downloading an installation ISO file for Windows. Microsoft recommends the Media Creation Tool for this task. However, by using the User-Agent Switcher and Manager extension in your web browser and posing as a Mac, you can acquire direct download links for the ISO. The downloaded image should be unpacked, and the install.wim file located in the directory should be linked to NTLite. Within NTLite, select the system edition you're using, such as Pro, and mount the chosen edition.

The next step is integrating updates. NTLite allows for the integration of the latest system updates as well as updates to the installer itself, enhancing the installation process by making it swifter and more stable, thus reducing the need for restarts. NTLite downloads the required updates from the Windows Update catalogue when using the “Latest updates online” option.

Following the integration of updates, incorporate drivers. Two aspects are crucial at this stage: if the USB drive is created for the same computer you're working on, and if the hardware manufacturer provides accessible drivers.

The driver installation view displays a list of devices in the computer lacking drivers in the Windows installation image. Bluetooth paired devices, VirtualBox virtual network adapters, VPN clients, and graphics cards should be ignored. Their drivers don't integrate well and are best installed separately.

NTLite doesn't offer direct, simple copying of drivers from the system to the image as a standard feature. It is a premium feature. However, this can be circumvented by manually exporting the drivers yourself. Add the folder with the exported drivers entirely to the Driver Queue section, but you'll need to manually remove several unwanted items from the list.

If you'd prefer not to rely on intuition, download drivers from the manufacturer's site. Sometimes it's straightforward — for instance, Lenovo supplies an “SCCM package,” an archive with drivers formatted for integration. Conversely, obtaining drivers from manufacturers like Gigabyte, which only offers EXE installers, involves manual unpacking.

After driver integration, remove components. Windows uses a component-based approach to the installation image. However, removing components expected by Windows Update will prevent system updates. There is one component serviced separately: APPX applications. In the Components section under the "Applications" subsection (not "System Applications"!), you’ll find a list of elements whose removal can substantially speed up the first login and lessen the time needed for background updates conducted by the system Store.

Here, frequently unused and replaceable applications like Clipchamp, Outlook, Mail, Xbox tools (Game Bar, TCUI, Identity Provider, Xbox App), Office ads, News, Photos, Teams, Weather, Power Automate, Solitaire, and Alarms can be removed. Although it's possible to remove Defender and system applications, such actions will obstruct system updates and may result in unpredictable and poorly understood compatibility issues. This feature in NTLite is primarily intended for preparing test images for specific purposes.

The final steps in preparing your individual installation USB drive involve integrating custom configurations. Determine features often enabled post-installation (such as Hyper-V and WSL) and disable obsolete ones, like PowerShell 2.0. Also, deactivate the Recall feature — though it is disabled by default and only offered on computers with ARM processors and an NPU.

Previously, one would configure UAC settings and respond to OOBE questions as one of the prominent adaptations. At present, this approach is discouraged — thus, UAC should be set immediately following installation. Nevertheless, you can configure the Taskbar and Updates and add a local administrative user, negating the necessity to work with a Microsoft account with administrative privileges.

Since entering a product key is redundant, enabling unattended settings isn't required. However, if you wish to add a key for convenience and configure keyboard layouts and language, it becomes necessary. After completing all aforementioned steps, proceed to the Apply section and reduce the image size by eliminating unused editions — it is advised to leave Boot and WinRE images intact. Opting "Create ISO" will yield your customised installation image in roughly fifteen minutes.

Such an image is no longer applicable via the Media Creation Tool. In this instance, use the Rufus program. It prepares an installer compatible with UEFI, bypasses the need to partition the WIM file by cleverly manipulating partitions, and enables workarounds for TPM and Microsoft account requirements, which might conflict with NTLite-applied settings.

Ultimately, if the laptop manufacturer offers its recovery and reinstallation mechanism, it’s often preferable to use it rather than formatting the drive. The era of manufacturer bloatware has ended — built-in recovery partitions utilise the same tools and imaging mechanisms as the actual installer, while containing an integrated driver set specifically adapted to the hardware.