Content Delivery Manager vs Automatic installation of sponsored apps

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RussF

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I've seen on videos that removing the Content Delivery Manager from Components stops bloatware apps from loading, but also stops the random lock screen images, which if probably the only cool thing about the CDM. In Settings, I see an option to disable the "Automatic installation of sponsored apps". Is this identical to removing the CDM or would it by any slim chance just disable the bloatware, but keep the lock screen images?

Edit...And how is it different from Automatically install suggested apps?

Russ
 
That setting only blocks auto-install of some W10 partner apps, but doesn't prevent 3rd-party Suggested Apps from being pinned to the W11 Start Menu.

Instead you want to add this reg file to Post-Setup (Before logon):
Code: 
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ContentDeliveryManager]
; BingWeather, Candy Crush and etc.
"SubscribedContent-314559Enabled"=dword:00000000

; My People Suggested Apps
"SubscribedContent-314563Enabled"=dword:00000000

; Occasionally show suggestions in Start
"SubscribedContent-338388Enabled"=dword:00000000

There isn't an official doc on what each Subscribed Content channel provides, for obvious reasons, since users would immediately block them. You'll need to find someone who's reverse-engineered the full list. By not disabling the other subscriptions, you'll continue to receive Wallpaper and other regional data feeds.
 
You're mislead, Lock Screen images shouldn't be affected by removing CDM.
The only removed component that affect that is:
Lock Screen Backgrounds.
 
francis11 said:
You're mislead, Lock Screen images shouldn't be affected by removing CDM.
The only removed component that affect that is:
Lock Screen Backgrounds.
Click to expand...
No. You're allowed to use Spotlight images for both Lock Screen and desktop wallpaper.
This is separate from the handful of static backgrounds which are included in every copy of Windows.

Configure Windows spotlight
Windows spotlight is enabled by default, but you can customize it to meet your organization's needs. There are several options to configure Windows spotlight.

If you need to configure a device for a single user, go to:
  • Settings > Personalization > Background. To change the background image to Windows spotlight, select Windows spotlight from the Personalize your background drop-down menu
  • Settings > Personalization > Lock screen. To change the lock screen image to Windows spotlight, select Windows spotlight from the Personalize your lock screen drop-down menu
Click to expand...
 
Thank you Garlin for explain - but it still require OP to use a licensed NTL to accomplish.
 
The reg key method for blocking individual feeds has always existed outside of NTLite.

How to Turn On or Off Showing App Suggestions in Start in Windows 10
How to Turn On or Off Suggested Content in Settings app in Windows 10
How to Turn On or Off Showing My People App Suggestions in Windows 10
Remove Social Apps

What NTLite offers for a licensed user is the quicker method of entirely removing CDM so you don't have to bother with reg keys. But I've always warned that you will lose Spotlight wallpapers in the process.
 
Just keep System Apps/ Windows Feature Experience Pack - Desktop, which hold Desktop Spotlight.
 
francis11 said:
You're mislead, Lock Screen images shouldn't be affected by removing CDM.
The only removed component that affect that is:
Lock Screen Backgrounds.
Click to expand...
My terminology was lacking, but garlin is correct, Spotlight is what I want to keep.

francis11 said:
- but it still require OP to use a licensed NTL to accomplish.
Click to expand...
You are making assumptions - I have a license because I believe a person should be compensated for their hard work.

garlin , as I was musing over the reg file you gave me, I was wondering why you specified to add it to post-setup-before-logon rather than to add the file to the registry section of NTLite, since the keys were HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. Those should not be user dependent. Then, fortunately, you posted links to the sources of your information (thank you) and I discovered that the keys that they all point to are in HKEY_CURRENT_USER. Your instructions to place it in post-setup now make sense, but you have a typo in your reg file. It happens. Nevertheless, I truly appreciate your help.

Russ
 
For some reg keys, there can be two forms. HKCU is your personal preference, it's linked to your user profile. But if there's multiple user accounts, each person has their own values. More often, a new user will inherit the HKLM version of a reg key when an account is created.

Content Delivery Manager works in the background, caching feeds data for everyone on the system. By the time you apply HKCU in Post-Setup, it's a little too late and first-time user provisioning allows it to pin content to the desktop.

That's why I suggested trying HKLM instead to prevent this ahead of time.
 
That makes sense. I only started investigating it when I discovered that there is not an existing ContentDeliveryManager section in HKLM. In that case, I should be able to put the reg file in the Registry section of NTLite, correct? If not, why do you recommend Post-Setup?

Here are a few more I found:
Now, If I can find a way to turn off the constant harassment to upgrade to Win 11. Fortunately, the vast majority of our devices won't support it, and the users never got the prompts. However, that's what I'm doing now with NTLite, replacing all those devices with upgraded hardware, but we don't want to go to Win 11 yet. I've already had one engineer with a newer device "accidentally" upgrade because he didn't see the fine print, "Keep Windows 10 for now". Sigh.

Russ
 
When you add a reg file, it can be applied on several screens.

1. Registry screen integrates your reg file into the offline image. HKLM keys get added to the Windows system hives. HKCU keys get added to Default User's NTUSER.DAT.

The consistent problem for modern W10/11 is HKCU keys added here don't get inherited by new user profiles. This appears to be some provisioning detail that's not well documented. Your keys are likely clobbered.

2. Reg files can be imported in Post-Setup (Before logon). This works for HKLM, but fails for HKCU because "Current User" isn't you but the SYSTEM identity. There's no point importing HKCU keys here.

3. Reg files can be imported in Post-Setup (After logon). This works for both HKLM, and HKCU. But notice we're after logon, so newly changed keys don't always have impact on the current session. For example, you may have to kill/restart Explorer or the Desktop. Or logout/logon.

After your Start Menu is pinned, changing your CDM's preferences won't unpin the existing app icons. You will need to experiment to find out which combination works best.

If you want to block the W10 to 11 migration attempts or reminders, apply this reg file on every PC:
Code: 
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate]
"ProductVersion"="Windows 10"
"TargetReleaseVersion"=dword:00000001
"TargetReleaseVersionInfo"="22H2"
 
garlin said:
1. Registry screen integrates your reg file into the offline image. HKLM keys get added to the Windows system hives. HKCU keys get added to Default User's NTUSER.DAT.

The consistent problem for modern W10/11 is HKCU keys added here don't get inherited by new user profiles. This appears to be some provisioning detail that's not well documented. Your keys are likely clobbered.
Click to expand...

I'll take your word for it, but I'm still a little confused. I thought newly added users inherited the settings from the Default User, not the Local Machine as you stated above. Plus, from the NTLite Registry screen itself:
1722451358361.png
So are you saying this is a bug of some kind, either in NTLite or Windows itself?

Thanks for the Win 11 info. I found it online about 2 minutes before I received your reply, so it's good confirmation.

Russ
 
No, it's some bizarre Windows new user provisioning problem. NTLite will do the right thing, and add your HKCU to the Default User's hive. You can mount the offline image, and confirm the changes are present by manually loading NTUSER.DAT.

Now install Windows. Check Default User's NTUSER.DAT again. Check your new user profile. Oops, what happened?

MS is doing something different, but it's not clearly documented why it does this, or what's the correct way to provision a non-domain profile.
 
Is this Windows Feature Experience Pack used to install Appx from outside the store? Why is it normally kept in profiles? (Win10 22H2)
 
Windows Feature Experience Pack (Client.CBS) was added to W10 2004, to provide new W10/11 desktop features like the Start Menu, Taskbar, Windows Hello and Spotlight.

Later releases include built-in apps like Get Started (the new one) and Windows Backup. Client.CBS apps are part of Client.CBS, so you can't remove them individually. For W11 24H2, Client.CBS has expanded to multiple MicrosoftWindows.Client packages.

DesktopAppInstaller is the feature that installs Appx packages outside of Store. This is unrelated to Client.CBS.
 
garlin said:
Windows Feature Experience Pack (Client.CBS) was added to W10 2004, to provide new W10/11 desktop features like the Start Menu, Taskbar, Windows Hello and Spotlight.

Later releases include built-in apps like Get Started (the new one) and Windows Backup. Client.CBS apps aren't separate from Client.CBS, so you can't remove them individually. For W11 24H2, Client.CBS has grown into multiple MicrosoftWindows.Client packages.

DesktopAppInstaller is the feature that installs Appx packages outside of Store. This is unrelated to Client.CBS.
Click to expand...
does this include those icons on the taskbar like news and interests, chat?
 
News & Interests (Web Experience) and Teams (Chat) are separate Appx packages. Most packages are single-function, but Client.CBS manages several different apps under the same package.
 
garlin said:
News & Interests (Web Experience) and Teams (Chat) are separate Appx packages. Most packages are single-function, but Client.CBS manages several different apps under the same package.
Click to expand...
Secure to remove Windows Feature Experience Pack (Client.CBS)?
 
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