Kinda wild to see how much can be taken out of Windows. I am tempted to try to make a modification/update to the preset for Windows 10 Enterprise as a test. I am more forgiving to certain components. Anyways, here is what I am trying to keep:
1) Bluetooth, Wifi, Network Discovery
-----A laptop will be the test machine. Wifi is necessary. Using bluetooth controllers is wanted.
2) Microsoft Store and Account
-----Even though Steam is primarily used, a few games like Halo MCC or Minecraft require a Microsoft Account login to use Xbox Live services. It looks like Uplay and Battle.net may need something else? I don't really like those clients however. How much of the Xbox apps/components are even needed? Is Xbox Core needed?
3) Compatibility with streaming services.
-----Ex. Watching Netflix via Firefox.
4) Compatibility with communications programs.
-----Ex. Discord calls.
5) Access to certain Windows tools/programs.
-----SFC scannow, safely remove devices, snipping tool, control panel, disk management, task scheduler, event viewer, print-to-pdf, standard printing functionality. group policy, registry. Probably missing some. Disk management has been used to check for working drives though I suppose Diskpart is the same thing, but without a UI. Event viewer is useful for chasing the odd driver glitch or game crash, though I am on the fence about keeping it.
------Is there anything important that breaks if the Windows Feature Experience Pack - Desktop is removed? Can the individual components be installed as needed? AccountsService seems like it may be related to Microsoft Accounts.
6) Any components that games may need.
-----Not too knowledgeable on this part. Reading through the forum suggests that Speech Recognition, Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer (Legacy) may be needed for a few games? And UAC or UX Consent being gone may cause some issues?
7) VPN compatibility
8) Compatiblity with the offline version of Office
9) Windows Update
-----Is the medic service even needed? Unless someone can convince me to not use this. I get the gripe over WU, but it makes it easy to keep up with security updates and the rare missing driver (I tend to manually install most drivers).
I have managed to find a few of these in this thread, but it is time consuming to parse through all 50+ pages so if anyone has any tips or consolidated info, I would greatly appreciate it.