Do I need or want a full NTLite license?

[Hoppzan]

Honored members of the community,

The question in the title is what I'm currently pondering. I don't really have the money for this at the moment but I would like to have a conversation about it to determine if I even should once I'm able to.

My use case:

I am a bit of a tinkerer with regards to my personal system. I do like to customize the look and functionality of my operating system while keeping it slimmed down and not bogged down with features I never use, but I'd rather it not be an ongoing project with constant problem solving. Off the top of my head, I'm not able to come up with any of the new Windows features that I actually use and wouldn't be able to find a suitable substitute for. The only app I know that I need is Windows Store as some games depends on it being installed. For anything else I've always resorted to third party applications and won't mind continuing to do so. That includes: Security, backup/restore and so on.

Currently I've managed to uninstall/disable most of the features I don't use post-installation and I'm not sure what I would gain by not having those features/components being installed in the first place instead, other than satisfying my OCD with the knowledge that they were never there to begin with.

Lastly, I'm not one to use Windows Update for anything other than security updates. If I need the latest feature update for some reason, I'd much rather do a complete reinstall. Downloading the latest ISO and applying a NTLite configuration file to that is one of the upsides I can think of.

Other use cases:

I sometime fix up (as in install and configure) Windows systems for acquaintances. These people are not power users in any sense of the word really. The OS features introduced in W10/W11 are stuff whose existence they're probably not even aware of, have no need for, or are interested in using. They need a stable system that doesn't get in their way while they're browsing the internet, reading their e-mails or working with Adobe/Office products. That's mostly it even if there sometimes are rare exceptions to the above-mentioned.

Having a pre-configured, slimmed down, ISO to deploy in these cases is something I figure would save me a lot of time and boring, repetitive work. The main question here is how having Windows Update enabled might interfere with removed system components, apps, and other custom system settings.

Some direct questions:

Does Windows Update tend to break stuff or reinstall components that have been removed, or change certain system settings? I'm speaking generally here as I understand dependencies do change from time to time.

Is the risk of removing components that seem irrelevant now but later turn out to be necessary for third-party applications to install or function properly a very big concern?

Hopefully I managed to get my point across without making this too difficult to read. All questions, opinions, unrelated politic rants, are more than welcome. Thank you kindly for your attention!

 

[AeonX]

Does Windows Update tend to break stuff or reinstall components that have been removed, or change certain system settings?

Yes, as of Windows 10 version 1903 removed components are restored by updates if those components contain updated files in cumulative update, as far as I know.

Is the risk of removing components that seem irrelevant now but later turn out to be necessary for third-party applications to install or function properly a very big concern?

There is always that risk.

I know that I need is Windows Store

Honestly, if you use Store you'll need to keep most of the bloat for this to work properly and in my opinion it's best to use Windows in its standard form. You'll have to rack your brains to find out what you can remove without breaking Store apps or functionality from the Store and Xbox apps. The only safe things to remove in this case are Windows Apps (not System Apps) as they can be easily reinstalled if needed. With NTLite free you can remove apps.

I sometime fix up (as in install and configure) Windows systems for acquaintances. These people are not power users in any sense of the word really.

I learned the hard way that for those people the best thing is to use Windows untouched. You don't know what they will need and neither do they, however much they say they only need the minimum possible in the future they will need something they said they didn't need and will look for you saying that such a program does not work or asking how to do it to install this. An example: A friend of mine said he doesn't use the Store but he needed it to install iCloud.

And finally, what I can say is that to remove things you are very limited with the free version. If you are an enthusiast and like to get the most performance out of your system by tweaking and removing or disabling everything you don't use and you don't mind having to reinstall the OS if you need something that was removed I think buying NTLite is really worth it and you won't regret it.

 

[baz]

The question in the title is what I'm currently pondering. I don't really have the money for this at the moment but I would like to have a conversation about it to determine if I even should once I'm able to.

YES you need!
One less beer, one less coffee cookie, one less joint and you've got your program.
In this way, you will express respect and thanks to the creator of this program for his work and knowledge to make such software that makes the work of others easier.
Respect the work and knowledge of others because without it the world goes to the "dogs".

P.S
if you really can't afford this program, collect it
50% of the amount and I will add the rest to you.

 

[Hoppzan]

Yes, as of Windows 10 version 1903 removed components are restored by updates if those components contain updated files in cumulative update, as far as I know.

That's good to know. I'm thinking that the only way around that would be to disable Windows Update completely and then manually install security updates. That would of course require some more work to set up but it shouldn't be impossible.

There is always that risk.

Honestly, if you use Store you'll need to keep most of the bloat for this to work properly and in my opinion it's best to use Windows in its standard form. You'll have to rack your brains to find out what you can remove without breaking Store apps or functionality from the Store and Xbox apps. The only safe things to remove in this case are Windows Apps (not System Apps) as they can be easily reinstalled if needed. With NTLite free you can remove apps.

Yeah, and that risk is a bit of a concern even though I haven't encountered any issues so far, but it's worth noting that even though most of my components are disabled they do still exist on the system.

I probably should have clarified that I don't use Windows Store directly. I've never even opened it, but as far as I understand it has to be installed and available for certain Microsoft games, so that's the one system app I wouldn't remove but most of the other ones I could probably do without.

I learned the hard way that for those people the best thing is to use Windows untouched. You don't know what they will need and neither do they, however much they say they only need the minimum possible in the future they will need something they said they didn't need and will look for you saying that such a program does not work or asking how to do it to install this. An example: A friend of mine said he doesn't use the Store but he needed it to install iCloud.

As far as the work I do for others I'm inclined to agree with you. I mentioned that as a justification for getting a license more for the settings part of NTLite and not so much for the component removal. I could probably make my job easier already if I would just take the time to create some simple scripts to set stuff up.

And finally, what I can say is that to remove things you are very limited with the free version. If you are an enthusiast and like to get the most performance out of your system by tweaking and removing or disabling everything you don't use and you don't mind having to reinstall the OS if you need something that was removed I think buying NTLite is really worth it and you won't regret it.

Thank you for that. I very much appreciate both the reply and the endorsement! To use the free version is not something I was planning on other than as a trial as most of the parts I'm interested in are locked. I just switched to Windows 10 last year but I do feel I've got a pretty good handle on what's what and I'm trying to think of what other applications I could possible need, given my current use case, that would have the potential to complain about missing system components and I'm coming up short. Should my use case change in the future in a way that would force a reinstall then it wouldn't be the end of the world.

YES you need!
One less beer, one less coffee cookie, one less joint and you've got your program.
In this way, you will express respect and thanks to the creator of this program for his work and knowledge to make such software that makes the work of others easier.
Respect the work and knowledge of others because without it the world goes to the "dogs".

P.S
if you really can't afford this program, collect it
50% of the amount and I will add the rest to you.

That's very kind of you. I do appreciate the offer but that shouldn't be necessary. I don't doubt the value of the software itself as I do very much like what little I've seen so far. It's more about whether or not I would use it extensively and often enough to justify the cost.

 

[AGNET]

Yes, as of Windows 10 version 1903 removed components are restored by updates if those components contain updated files in cumulative update, as far as I know.

You can avoid having successive versions of windows components reinstalling themselves by deprovisioning the app in your registry: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/w...agement/remove-provisioned-apps-during-update

 

[garlin]

This only works for blocking re-install of Windows Apps.
It doesn't block the monthly CU update re-installing a removed component because there's a new version of the files.

 

[AGNET]

If you're using Windows Enterprise IoT, you can permanently remove the component:

Removable Packages Overview

Windows IoT Enterprise feature to assist with reducing disk footprint

learn.microsoft.com

Otherwise, you can disable the package that contains the component and windows will leave it disabled until you enable it:

Enable or Disable Windows Features Using DISM

Enable or Disable Windows Features Using DISM

learn.microsoft.com

It won't remove it from the manifest, but it won't reinstall it on successive updates (at least...it shouldn't).

 

[garlin]

Windows Features are also known as Features on Demand.

Some FOD's are pre-installed in the image, others may be downloaded later. When NTLite removes the base components supporting a FOD, that Feature disappears and can't be reinstalled without a host refresh (essentially a repair reinstall). FOD's are updated separately by WU itself, and not included in the monthly CU package.

The IoT Enterprise list looks like a mashup between what's considered optional FOD's & Windows Apps on a normal system.