Difference of Windows PE & Windows Setup boot files & UAC Disabling

SM03

Active Member
can anyone explain the difference of Windows PE & Windows Setup boot files under the BOOT.wim file in simple language for me, I am modding the ISO via NTLite should I delete any one of them, if yes then which one?
Also, how to disable/customize the option to set the User Account Control Settings (UAC) to 'Never Notify' via NTlite
 

Attachments

  • Screenshot (120).png
    Screenshot (120).png
    6.3 KB
Most home users never use "1. Microsoft Windows PE (x64)" and it is safe to remove. What it actually does i dont know but it does advanced things. I have never used it.
2. Microsoft Windows Setup (x64) drives the setup and must not be removed.

I cannot advise on UAC settings because i have never tweaked it but i would be interested in what to set it to to "never notify".
 
Most home users never use "1. Microsoft Windows PE (x64)" and it is safe to remove. What it actually does i dont know but it does advanced things. I have never used it.
2. Microsoft Windows Setup (x64) drives the setup and must not be removed.

I cannot advise on UAC settings because i have never tweaked it but i would be interested in what to set it to to "never notify".

hey thanks for the reply, tagging nuhi hope he will shade some light here
 
I use the Administrator account for an offline non networked pc and i never get a UAC popup.
Having UAC enabled and using a standard user account for an online pc then i say it may be better to leave UAC settings as standard and just toggle it from its control panel, easier than toggling with registry settings. It maybe a pain in the bum but if it helps to keep you safe online then leave as standard or up the level a notch or 2.
 
can anyone explain the difference of Windows PE & Windows Setup boot files under the BOOT.wim file in simple language for me, I am modding the ISO via NTLite should I delete any one of them, if yes then which one?
Also, how to disable/customize the option to set the User Account Control Settings (UAC) to 'Never Notify' via NTlite
The first boot edition (flag 9), can be deleted if you won't use Windows Recovery by booting that image.
The second boot edition is needed for setup, as Clanger stated.

Note that sometimes I got an error that flag 9 edition is missing when starting setup.exe from the ISO (not booting), still haven't figured out when that happens. So keep that too if you plan on using Host Refresh or manual Setup.exe Windows Upgrades from that image.

To turn off UAC, disable the setting "Enable UAC - Filter all administrators (EnableLUA)"
 
Thanks for the heads up on UAC :).

Note that sometimes I got an error that flag 9 edition is missing when starting setup.exe from the ISO (not booting), still haven't figured out when that happens.

I have had that in the past when i remove editions, itsa real pain. :(
 
The first boot edition (flag 9), can be deleted if you won't use Windows Recovery by booting that image.
The second boot edition is needed for setup, as Clanger stated.

Note that sometimes I got an error that flag 9 edition is missing when starting setup.exe from the ISO (not booting), still haven't figured out when that happens. So keep that too if you plan on using Host Refresh or manual Setup.exe Windows Upgrades from that image.

To turn off UAC, disable the setting "Enable UAC - Filter all administrators (EnableLUA)"

So, if anyone deletes that Windows PE boot file, then the Recovery option will not be shown or use if anything goes wrong while using the OS, right

and about the UAC, can you tell us where can I found that 'Enable UAC - Filter all administrators (EnableLUA)' under which section, searched but didn't find anything, only found UAC settings under the Configuration/Settings option, attaching ScreenShot of my configuration i.e how I set up the options to disable UAC, kindly check & confirm if that's correct or anything that needs any correction in order to completely disable UAC.

Also, I have a few more customizations questions to ask

1. How to set the desktop icons view to the 'small icon'? I don't find any customization option for this on the latest NTLite version.
2. How to skip the 'Link your phone & pc' option into the Unattended OOBE/OOBX
3. How to disable the Cortana part completely, earlier in rs5 17760.1 ISO, I completely disabled all the Cortana settings while customising but still the Cortana art showed up into the Unattended OOBE/OOBX
4. How to set up the activity History options into the Unattended OOBE/OOBX

Also, how to enable dotnet3.5 by default via ntlite, is there any option to enable/integrate it since the first boot without manually download & install this after installation
Hope to get some help from you, thanks nuhi
 

Attachments

  • UAC Settings.jpg
    UAC Settings.jpg
    74 KB
Last edited:
The recovery image is named winre.wim and is located in the \Windows\System32\Recovery folder of each Windows "flavor" within the install.wim image. The WinPE part of boot.wim has nothing to do with the ability to boot into Recovery mode on an installed version of Windows...
 
The recovery image is named winre.wim and is located in the \Windows\System32\Recovery folder of each Windows "flavor" within the install.wim image. The WinPE part of boot.wim has nothing to do with the ability to boot into Recovery mode on an installed version of Windows...
But if I remove that PE part then the setup info i.e skip EULA & Language & other selection via NTLite can't be added while booting from the customised ISO hence you have to manually feed them, right?
 
Thanks for the heads up on UAC :).

Clanger can you tell me where to find that option precisely to turn off UAC? I only found the UAC option under the Configure/Settings/User Account Control (UAC) & keep the 3rd & 4th option disabled there & Elevated w/o prompt for 5th option & that's works to turn off the UAC completely as I posted the screenshot above for ref. Still, want to know about the option that Nuhi mentioned, as I can't figure that out so asking for your help.
 
With an offline pc i use the Administrator account so uac doesnt kick in, for an online pc then its worth keep in my opinion. I remember when nuhi added uac removal that uac could be removed when i bareboned 7 but it depended on users circumstances, i didnt have problems but other users did. I say keep it and if it bugs you them just use the uac settings slider so it remains quiet and turn it back up when needed.
 
With an offline pc i use the Administrator account so uac doesnt kick in, for an online pc then its worth keep in my opinion. I remember when nuhi added uac removal that uac could be removed when i bareboned 7 but it depended on users circumstances, i didnt have problems but other users did. I say keep it and if it bugs you them just use the uac settings slider so it remains quiet and turn it back up when needed.
Even after disabling via my above-mentioned method, it can be turned on anytime via the slider settings, tried & tested on latest 1809 build
 
Ive moved away from bareboning so im not up on removals anymore apart from my own default configuration.
 
Last edited:
But if I remove that PE part then the setup info i.e skip EULA & Language & other selection via NTLite can't be added while booting from the customised ISO hence you have to manually feed them, right?
Honestly, I do not know. I do not bother to remove WinPE from the boot.wim image, as the size gain is minimal compared to the overall size of the final ISO.
 
Honestly, I do not know. I do not bother to remove WinPE from the boot.wim image, as the size gain is minimal compared to the overall size of the final ISO.
yes, that's true, matter of 300 to 500mb max, but one thing I noticed that if I removed the PE part then I've to manually feed all the info at the first boot from the ISO while if I retain that I can put the info like language time & country selection, EULA skip & product key entering or skip etc into the NTLite pre-configured menu (OOBX) & then booting from the ISO directly land on the driver selection page, so that's why I keep the PE part.
 
yes, that's true, matter of 300 to 500mb max, but one thing I noticed that if I removed the PE part then I've to manually feed all the info at the first boot from the ISO while if I retain that I can put the info like language time & country selection, EULA skip & product key entering or skip etc into the NTLite pre-configured menu (OOBX) & then booting from the ISO directly land on the driver selection page, so that's why I keep the PE part.
Seems like you're confused, you can safely remove PE and use Unattended page (Enable in toolbar).
 
The recovery image is named winre.wim and is located in the \Windows\System32\Recovery folder of each Windows "flavor" within the install.wim image. The WinPE part of boot.wim has nothing to do with the ability to boot into Recovery mode on an installed version of Windows...
That was very helpful response! >:}
 
Seems like you're confused, you can safely remove PE and use Unattended page (Enable in toolbar).
Thank you all on this thread: Very useful information.

Before I make a decision to remove WinPE from Boot.Wim:

Question:

If one enables Unattended Install in an bootable ISO, is there any "Shortcut key" so that one can still access/enter into the WinPE Recovery image?

NOTE (For further research later):

I suspect that having Microsoft DART (Special WinPE from Microsoft) in the final ISO more-useful than having either WinPE vanilla in Boot.WIM ( OR having WinRE.WIM available)


 
Last edited:
Back
Top