Guide: Optimized Image

hello, I wanted to write about a subject that I was wondering about, to give an example, let's say we downloaded a default windows, if we activate the tweaks file you have given here, will it have an NTlite effect or should we run these reg files on NTlite format? and i'm just saying this for a gaming computer
 
The guide I wrote here takes you through literally every single step, so you don't really have to know anything about computers to end up with your very own custom Windows 10 for gaming, or even just for everyday office use. It uses NTLite to integrate the tweaks into the image, so that all you need to do is just install Windows with this custom image and no further tweaking is needed (except installing drivers which depends on what hardware you have).

This guide will give you a substantially slimmed down Windows that is competitive with all the other custom versions on the internet. I built this image for myself, and I was using it every day since January of this year without issue, while putting it together. If you want to take it a step further, you could even combine this guide with other XML presets to further strip things down.

It will probably take about 4 hours, give or take, to go through this guide from start to finish if you're new to NTLite or tweaking in general. If you need help on installing Windows and drivers you can find a guide on that over here:
https://www.ntlite.com/community/index.php?threads/guide-installing-windows.2986/
 
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kboudini said:
Hi, why you don't use pro / do I can use it but use your optimisation ?
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The only real benefit Pro has over Home is that it has the actual group policy management user interface, and a few more policies work on Pro that don't work on Home, but since I try to avoid using group policies anyway it doesn't matter much to me. Pro also has marginally more bloat than Home does, since it has a few extra features added in. Everything that works on Home should also work on Pro, so yes you can use the guide on your Pro edition.

kboudini said:
And does this work for french version ?
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This part I do not know, because I'm unsure if Windows automatically converts registry keys into the language the user has set. I'd wager it will work though otherwise it would be talked about more often. It would be really easy to test and you could find out in one minute by installing a single English registry key, reboot, and see if it takes effect or not.
 
any idea how to disable this feature that Windows keeps installing nvidia drivers even I uninstall them through DDU ? I want to make a clean installation with the newest drivers but after restart its installing old drivers :/
 
I was still searching for a way to get the forced driver updates disabled too. All of the dozen or more keys I found on the internet that allegedly do this don't work on Home edition that I've tried. Even pausing Windows Update still doesn't prevent it from forced driver updating which is nonsensical.

My current workaround is to install Windows with internet unplugged, then install drivers and so long as the drivers aren't super old Windows won't force them to be updated when connected to the internet. Alternatively, you can integrate the drivers into the image using NTLite.

I'll check into the last few replies and see if they work on Home edition, then add the solution into the next guide update.
 
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zielonsky said:
Will this registry do the same for me ?...
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I finally got around to testing this today, and on Windows 10 21H2 Home edition zielonsky's key actually stops Windows from automatically installing the Nvidia display driver!

I was pulling my hair out looking for this fix, as the internet is absolutely filled with a crap ton of bad/outdated alternatives to this, even reliable sites like TenForums and other tools are all sorts of wrong for later W10 versions, including Microsoft's own documentation. I find this to be the case just about everywhere though when it specifically comes to anything related to Defender or Windows Update, almost all those tweaks on the internet don't work for 21H2 and/or Home edition because they either apply to non-Home editions only, or didn't get updated when Microsoft changed a lot of these keys in the 1607 version and beyond.

For example, Googling will come up with a dozen or more settings with all sorts of paths and keys like these:

"ExcludeWUDriversInQualityUpdate"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\current\device\Update
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PolicyManager\default\Update
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsUpdate\UX\Settings
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate

None of them apply to the combination of W10/21H2/Home though. The one that did work is what zielonsky posted, which I think he pulled from NTLite:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DriverSearching]
"SearchOrderConfig"=dword:00000000

I have only tested this on my desktop at the moment, but to verify if it is a surefire fix I still need to try it on a clean install by integrating the key using NTLite, and also on my laptop too which has a lot more drivers that Windows Update tries to download, and see if this key continues to work in these scenarios. Unfortunately not all keys "stick" when integrated, because Windows overwrites them during Windows Setup and/or OOBE, so here's hoping this one doesn't suffer from that. After I'm done testing I'll add this tweak into my guide (link) on Windows Update.
 
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Hellbovine said:
"ExcludeWUDriversInQualityUpdate"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate
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This is for Windows Update not to update already installed drivers.

Hellbovine said:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DriverSearching]
"SearchOrderConfig"=dword:00000000
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This is for when the driver is not installed do not search for drivers and install using Windows Update.
1670568755711.png
 
AeonX said:
This is for Windows Update not to update already installed drivers.
Click to expand...
Okay interesting, I will test that too then. I'll try to install like a super ancient display driver as well as one that isn't WHQL certified then run task scheduler and see if I can get WU to overwrite my driver, etcetera. This is rather obnoxious that when you pause WU it doesn't just pause ALL updating, instead it's only pausing part of it.
 
I shared a .reg on discord to completely disable the driver update or driver installation by windows update, there is one more tweak included that can make a difference "PreventDeviceMetadataFromNetwork"

Code: 
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; Disable Include Drivers with Windows Updates
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate]
"ExcludeWUDriversInQualityUpdate"=dword:00000001

; Disable Driver Searching in Windows Update
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DriverSearching]
"SearchOrderConfig"=dword:00000000

; Disable Driver Searching in Windows Update (Group Policy)
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DriverSearching]
"SearchOrderConfig"=dword:00000000

; Disable Device Metadata from Internet
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Device Metadata]
"PreventDeviceMetadataFromNetwork"=dword:00000001

; Disable Device Metadata from Internet (Group Policy)
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Device Metadata]
"PreventDeviceMetadataFromNetwork"=dword:00000001
 

Attachments

  • Disable-Driver-Update.reg
    1.8 KB
"SearchOrderConfig" does not have a match in the UI in Windows 10, in Windows 7/8.1 it did.
1670643243631.png

"ExcludeWUDriversInQualityUpdate" is new in Windows 10 and only exists as group policy as far as I know.
 
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