After updating a Win 7 x64 ISO all games in the Features section are disabled - what caused this?

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Pozidriv

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I updated a fresh Win 7 x64 ISO using NTLite. The goal was to get a more updated ISO to use as the foundation for further tweaking. I did some reading about the various way people have done this (I just wanted it updated as of Jan. 2020), and tried doing it with the minimal number of patches. I installed the following updates in this order...

KB4490628: 3/2019 Servicing Stack update

KB4474419: SHA-2 update

KB2670838: 3/2013, Platform update for Windows 7 SP1 [needed to integrate IE 11?]

KB2841134: IE 11

KB2999226: 10/2015, Update for Universal C Runtime, 1MB. [didn't know if this was needed as it's apparently replaced in the Convenience Rollup]

KB3125574: 5/2016 Convenience Rollup

KB4536952: 1/2020 Servicing Stack update.

KB4534251: 1/2020, IE 11 Cumulative Security update.

KB4534310: 1/14/2020 monthly rollup

KB4534314: 1/14/2020 security update

I've never used IE so I wasn't going to bother with it, but I read somewhere that it's an integral part of the OS, and updating it updates parts of the OS as well, so I included it. I literally installed each of these updates separately and reloaded the image after each one. Everything went smoothly and I didn't get any errors... but when I opened the new ISO for tweaking I came across this problem with the games and other things in the Features section. I didn't remove anything in the Components section - everything has a checkbox next to it. I went ahead and installed the ISO and everything seems fine, and no Event Viewer errors. It's a minor inconvenience, but I'd like to have access to the games, but I have no idea why this happened. Thoughts?

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certain games such as Internet Backgammon and Internet Checkers as well as Electronic Program Guide for Windows Media Center are scheduled to be discontinued in January 2020. I can only assume, seeing there is no ntlite preset (with login details and key removed ), that the last set of updates for windows 7 ( january 14th 2020 ) disabled them. I am no expert on windows 7, but someone else here can shed more light with their knowledge.
 
Interesting, thanks. There was no preset, i just installed the ISO as is. I was actually only interested in Freecell and Spider Solitaire. Maybe I should try patching again and stop with the December 2019 monthly rollup and see if that makes a difference?
 
that is all i can think of, i'm pretty sure someone else here can help more regarding 7, but i know they ended all support 3 years ago for it
 
Thanks, I'll see who else chimes in. I don't know if it matters, but I just checked and the game files are present in the \Windows\winsxs folder.
 
pretty certain games are all disabled on 7pro updated to end of life and also on end of extended support.
 
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Thanks, I wasn't aware of that. Pro is indeed what I was using and didn't even realize it. I must have loaded it by mistake at the beginning of my session. If I was going to levy any complaint against NTLite, it would be that you can't resize the font or column spacing in the UI.
 
Disabled does not mean removed. You can enable features but need to apply in NTLite and reload the image to show as enabled. Although integrating updates will create pending operations so you might only see the enabled games/features after the first boot.

All features disabled in Win7 are kept in the image (in \Windows\winsxs folder) only hard links in other directories are removed. This makes sense as you have the option to enable it again. So you don't get any size reduction when disabling features. To have size reduction you need to remove the corresponding component.

I checked and Windows 7 Professional SP1 ISO without any update has games disabled by default. Ultimate and Home Premium have the games enabled. I believe that Pro and Enterprise come with this disabled because they are editions aimed at companies.
 
If you are not worried about size reduction then disabling features is the next best thing. I wish ms would add more things to features, its handy to have one master updated(captured) image and enable or disable during setup depending on your requirements.
 
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I think that features on demand in Windows 10/11 is the best of both worlds, you can disable it (in this case the feature is completely removed) freeing up space but you have the possibility to enable it again whenever you want because windows downloads it on demand. Linux has been doing this for years.
 
As long as FoD's can be downloaded then added to an image later prior to capture/or integrate im fine with that but i dont like the linux "have to be online" to update, soon as i put a system online i dont class it as safe, windows wins in that regard.
 
Yes you can download the FoD's packages and add this. About Linux, if I'm not mistaken at least Debian has DVD ISO's with all or most packages so you don't need internet to install them. I think openSUSE too.
 
Thanks for the help on this, but I ended up redoing everything with a Home Premium ISO. Since the games were disabled and not removed completely I did some googling, but the solutions offered didn't work universally for whatever reason(s), and they didn't work for me. When I tried using "Turn Windows features on or off" I got error messages, so I scrapped everything and started over.
 
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