Hellbovine
Well-Known Member
On the internet there are about a dozen Windows operating systems that have been customized and released as an ISO download. These packages are allegedly optimized for gaming, privacy, or install size. We are often asked about those creations on this forum, and the following information is a summary of what many NTLite veterans have previously discussed in other threads.
TRANSPARENCY
BAD TWEAKS
SECURITY
BUILD YOUR OWN
ILLEGAL
DISRESPECTFUL
TRANSPARENCY
Custom ISO lack transparency, which means you will not be able to figure out every tweak they have used, because much of that information gets lost once the image is converted for distribution. This makes it very difficult to further customize an image since you do not know what it contains already, and some tweaking cannot be reversed so these images will not work for everyone.
To reverse engineer an ISO, check the root directory and see if it contains an NTLite XML. If no XML exists, properly unload and exit NTLite if it is running, then run NTLite as an administrator, load the custom image, then click "Preset" from the top ribbon bar, click the small black arrow underneath the "Save" button, now select "Extract current image state" and enter a name for this preset.
After clicking "OK" the extracted XML will be visible in the right pane of NTLite, then you can right-click on it and "Edit" it to view its contents. This will display as many tweaks that NTLite is capable of identifying from the custom image. There are still countless ways the files could have been modified outside of NTLite though, which cannot be tracked, as well as the countless tweaks that NTLite doesn't recognize.
This forum does not support custom ISO downloads, contact their authors for assistance instead.
To reverse engineer an ISO, check the root directory and see if it contains an NTLite XML. If no XML exists, properly unload and exit NTLite if it is running, then run NTLite as an administrator, load the custom image, then click "Preset" from the top ribbon bar, click the small black arrow underneath the "Save" button, now select "Extract current image state" and enter a name for this preset.
After clicking "OK" the extracted XML will be visible in the right pane of NTLite, then you can right-click on it and "Edit" it to view its contents. This will display as many tweaks that NTLite is capable of identifying from the custom image. There are still countless ways the files could have been modified outside of NTLite though, which cannot be tracked, as well as the countless tweaks that NTLite doesn't recognize.
This forum does not support custom ISO downloads, contact their authors for assistance instead.
BAD TWEAKS
Custom ISO files have tons of questionable tweaks, partly because so many people continue to include deprecated registry keys from the 2000/XP era, and partly because the research people do is lacking, the testing methodology is poor, and attention to detail is not always the best. That is why transparency is important, so that someone else can verify if the tweaks used are even good or not.
The irony here, is that the authors of these images also end up adding a lot of bloat back in, by integrating and installing too many add-ons and other third party programs. Most people do not need all the .NET frameworks and C++ packages baked in, and all the other third party software is personal preference and should be left to the user to decide what to install. The whole point of a maximum performance image is for it to be slimmed down, not to install more software that causes the resource usage to rise again.
The irony here, is that the authors of these images also end up adding a lot of bloat back in, by integrating and installing too many add-ons and other third party programs. Most people do not need all the .NET frameworks and C++ packages baked in, and all the other third party software is personal preference and should be left to the user to decide what to install. The whole point of a maximum performance image is for it to be slimmed down, not to install more software that causes the resource usage to rise again.
SECURITY
Malware could be a concern, since you never know if there is something bad in these custom ISO files. While the popular ones are probably safe, it is still important to be aware of because this is one of the easiest ways to get infected online, by inviting malware in through the intentional download and install of something that is not friendly.
BUILD YOUR OWN
There is no good reason to use a machine that has mystery tweaks in it when the veterans here can build images that are equal or better, and we already have public options of those images (link) on this forum, all of which are fully transparent, legal, and we provide support too.
Custom ISO files on the internet are nothing special because their authors are still using NTLite, and most of the authors hide that fact from their audience because they want to seem like super skilled wizards that have achieved something amazing all by themselves, when really they are only doing the same work we do on this forum.
Custom ISO files on the internet are nothing special because their authors are still using NTLite, and most of the authors hide that fact from their audience because they want to seem like super skilled wizards that have achieved something amazing all by themselves, when really they are only doing the same work we do on this forum.
ILLEGAL
Distributing an ISO is illegal, and all of those ISO files are subject to takedown. There are several reasons why people get away with it for a while, and that is because their files are hosted in a country that does not respect intellectual property rights, and Microsoft does not have enough international cooperation to get them removed. Another method is to bury links in something like a YouTube, Twitch, or Discord channel, and until someone reports them it will go unnoticed. That is the real reason why you need an invite for these, to help weed out potential takedowns.
It is against the NTLite forum rules to share ISO files or links to them, and you cannot discuss anything that would directly violate the Windows license terms. You may post presets (XML) and other relevant tweaks (registry files, batch files, etcetera) to this forum, and discuss how to build a custom image, but everything needs to be transparent, with any files added as attachments directly to the post.
It is against the NTLite forum rules to share ISO files or links to them, and you cannot discuss anything that would directly violate the Windows license terms. You may post presets (XML) and other relevant tweaks (registry files, batch files, etcetera) to this forum, and discuss how to build a custom image, but everything needs to be transparent, with any files added as attachments directly to the post.
DISRESPECTFUL
NTLite is what gamers would call an "Indie developer" because it is created and maintained by one person, and is not affiliated with Microsoft. The rest of the members here on the forum are all users of NTLite, and we help it grow by teaching people how to use it, finding and reporting bugs, making suggestions, and helping the community troubleshoot their Windows and NTLite issues.
The free version of NTLite is very powerful, but in order to unlock its full potential it requires a license, and the problem with someone releasing an ISO (aside from being illegal) is that all of those people whom then download it have not paid for NTLite licenses. These people are now directly responsible for slowing down the growth of NTLite and the forum community.
It benefits everyone to help NTLite grow, because as the product improves it becomes easier to create customized operating systems, and we also report Microsoft bugs along the way too. This is a very important concept because Windows is rapidly becoming more complex with each new version that is released, and we need something as powerful as NTLite in order to wrangle these bloated behemoths of modern day.
The free version of NTLite is very powerful, but in order to unlock its full potential it requires a license, and the problem with someone releasing an ISO (aside from being illegal) is that all of those people whom then download it have not paid for NTLite licenses. These people are now directly responsible for slowing down the growth of NTLite and the forum community.
It benefits everyone to help NTLite grow, because as the product improves it becomes easier to create customized operating systems, and we also report Microsoft bugs along the way too. This is a very important concept because Windows is rapidly becoming more complex with each new version that is released, and we need something as powerful as NTLite in order to wrangle these bloated behemoths of modern day.
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