Guide: Optimized Image

garlin said:
The rules for disabling Defender services are clear:

1. For a live system, Tamper Protection prevents any Defender service from being disabled. Tamper Protection doesn't allow itself to be disabled by running a reg update. This is a layered defense strategy, forcing you to use the Security Center to turn off Tamper Protection.

2. By changing the Tamper Protection reg value in an offline image, Windows will allow you to disable any Defender service from running. For a live system, some users will boot into WinRE or WinPE and mount the live system's reg hive to force the change.

3. Even better is disabling both Tamper Protection and Defender services in the offline image, using a reg file. This avoids the problem entirely. Most debloating tools or scripts are written to run on a live system, and cannot do offline images.

For the reg file, read this thread:
Disable Windows Defender in Windows 11
Click to expand...
Cool, I will try reinstalling the iso. I don't remember how I managed to remove (and break) my Windows defender in my older W10 installation, but I haven't been able to redo it (as it says I have no permissions to open "Tamper protection" section).

Just noticed the "Wdfilter" one wasn't included in the tweaks from this thread. I guess that might've been why, as I've just did a reinstall (prior to seeing garlin's thread) and I wasn't able to turn off tamper protection, either. Or accessing it at all.

Specifically, the message was:
"Page not available
Your IT administrator has limited access to some areas of this app, and the item you tried to access is not available. Contact IT helpdesk for more information"

Extra note: The "TamperProtection" value in the tweak from this thread is 4, compared to 0 from the thread garlin's linked.
I wonder if that mattered?

--

If anyone feels like looking up why I need "core isolation" menu, it is for the android player "Mumu" from https://a11.gdl.netease.com/MuMuInstaller_3.1.7.0_overseas-v3.8.18.2845_all_1713335040.exe (or https://www.mumuplayer.com/update/)

The emulator itself loads just fine even without core isolation actually.
But certain games with "emulator detection" somehow won't let me use the emulator to play the game, if I can't open the core isolation menu.
(The game in question is Black Beacon)

I've tried copying registry to another device (which doesn't have defender, it can't open windows security section at all and its blank), but the game still doesn't work.
Upon being able to see "core isolation" screen, the game lets me in and doesn't ban or detect the emulator.
I have no idea why, or maybe I am missing more registries.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\DeviceGuard\Scenarios\HypervisorEnforcedCodeIntegrity]
"Enabled"=dword:00000000
"Locked"=dword:00000000
 

Attachments

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Ok, I think it wasn't actually being able to see "core isolation". Now even a new windows 10 (i installed with NTLite) won't let me, and I'm not sure what is bricking it from playing the game, lol

My old windows 10 that I "happened to unbrick" is now 'bricked" again. But thats after disabling real time protection, etc.
Only new instance of the emulator I use (mumu player 12) won't work. Old instances that already works, will still work for some unknown reason, as if the windows have blocked something on the creation of new instances.
 
garlin said:
PS script for removing those keys:
Code: 
$list = @('OverrideACSettingIndex', 'OverrideDCSettingIndex', 'ProvACSettingIndex', 'ProvDCSettingIndex')

Get-ChildItem 'HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\PowerSettings' -Recurse |? { $_.PSParentPath -match 'DefaultPowerSchemeValues' } |% {
    foreach ($Property in $_.Property) {
        if ($Property -in $list) {
            Remove-ItemProperty -Path $_.PSPath -Name $Property -Force
        }
    }
}
Click to expand...


this is a better version :


Code: 
$list = @('OverrideACSettingIndex', 'OverrideDCSettingIndex', 'ProvACSettingIndex', 'ProvDCSettingIndex')

Get-ChildItem -Path 'HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\PowerSettings' -Recurse |
    Where-Object { $_.PSParentPath -match 'DefaultPowerSchemeValues' } |
    ForEach-Object {
        $keyPath = $_.PSPath
        foreach ($PropertyName in $_.Property) {
            if ($PropertyName -in $list) {
                Remove-ItemProperty -Path $keyPath -Name $PropertyName -Force
            }
        }
    }
 
kevau said:
I tried doing this on W10 22H2 - but somehow Windows update seems to still force itself way in
Click to expand...
You and audiobabble both mentioned this and I was able to investigate it (link) recently, concluding that it's operator error via conflicting tweaks. You both use extra tweaking outside of my guide, so unless we can identify a step that is causing confusion to my readers then I'm not sure where the issue is without seeing a complete upload of all the tweaks, scripts, and tools that are being used.

MORE INFORMATION
Ideally, here's how everyone that's interested in the Optimized Image would use it. Install the guide exactly as-is, and use that for a week or more to develop a mental baseline of how the operating system behaves. Make notes of the things you would like to "fix" and write them down. After you are comfortable and familiar with the baseline, see what it takes for you to fix the things you've been noting.

If you find that I had tweaks you didn't like in my guide, simply delete the ones you dislike from the registry files and save them, then make and install a new NTLite image using the modified registry files and the operating system will go back to using the Microsoft default value for those settings. No feedback necessary if you are deleting tweaks from the files, as that is almost assuredly going to be personal preferences.

However, if people are finding that they needed to add tweaks that I didn't have in my guide, then after users are done researching and testing those tweaks they should send me that feedback, so I can test them and see if they should go into the guide for everyone to use. The whole point behind a guide like the Optimized Image, is that it is meant to be the definitive experience. In other words, the basic premise is to take all the best tweaks from everywhere and merge them together in one place, rather than everyone reinventing the wheel.

I already do 99% of what all gaming people on this forum are chasing after, they just don't realize it, because most of the people here also don't understand what these tweaks are doing, or what a tool is even installing silently in the background. Often times people are just installing the exact same tweaks I already put in this image or they're installing bad tweaks from authors that don't know what they're doing and it breaks their operating system, then they ask me to fix it which is entirely what this guide thread consists of so far and why I took a break for a while.

The only other thing I can think of, is that you guys are signing into Microsoft Accounts during Windows Setup or syncing an account later, or something of that nature which then allows Microsoft to start overriding and resetting a bunch of things through the Windows Update feature. Until I hear more information, I must assume it was conflicting tweaks at fault, since the guide works perfect for me every time.
 
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Hellbovine said:
You and audiobabble both mentioned this and I was able to investigate it (link) recently, concluding that it's operator error via conflicting tweaks. You both use extra tweaking outside of my guide, so unless we can identify a step that is causing confusion to my readers then I'm not sure where the issue is without seeing a complete upload of all the tweaks, scripts, and tools that are being used.

MORE INFORMATION
Ideally, here's how everyone that's interested in the Optimized Image would use it. Install the guide exactly as-is, and use that for a week or more to develop a mental baseline of how the operating system behaves. Make notes of the things you would like to "fix" and write them down. After you are comfortable and familiar with the baseline, see what it takes for you to fix the things you've been noting.

If you find that I had tweaks you didn't like in my guide, simply delete the ones you dislike from the registry files and save them, then make and install a new NTLite image using the modified registry files and the operating system will go back to using the Microsoft default value for those settings. No feedback necessary if you are deleting tweaks from the files, as that is almost assuredly going to be personal preferences.

However, if people are finding that they needed to add tweaks that I didn't have in my guide, then after users are done researching and testing those tweaks they should send me that feedback, so I can test them and see if they should go into the guide for everyone to use. The whole point behind a guide like the Optimized Image, is that it is meant to be the definitive experience. In other words, the basic premise is to take all the best tweaks from everywhere and merge them together in one place, rather than everyone reinventing the wheel.

I already do 99% of what all gaming people on this forum are chasing after, they just don't realize it, because most of the people here also don't understand what these tweaks are doing, or what a tool is even installing silently in the background. Often times people are just installing the exact same tweaks I already put in this image or they're installing bad tweaks from authors that don't know what they're doing and it breaks their operating system, then they ask me to fix it which is entirely what this guide thread consists of so far and why I took a break for a while.

The only other thing I can think of, is that you guys are signing into Microsoft Accounts during Windows Setup or syncing an account later, or something of that nature which then allows Microsoft to start overriding and resetting a bunch of things through the Windows Update feature. Until I hear more information, I must assume it was conflicting tweaks at fault, since the guide works perfect for me every time.
Click to expand...
Do you have any plans to create an updated guide for the latest 24H2?
 
Omni115 said:
Do you have any plans to create an updated guide for the latest 24H2?
Click to expand...
The guide introduction and FAQ explains the nuances in more detail, but 23H2 and 24H2 are only for W11, and so far I've seen nothing in news articles or tweaking communities indicating they are polished versions worthy of benchmarking. If you want to look into it yourself, use LatencyMon and compare W11, version 22H2 to 23H2 and 24H2. I've posted 21H2/22H2 benchmarks of W10 versus W11, and I don't expect those results to change in future versions, because Microsoft is adding more bloat into W11 and will do so until W12 launches.

Each new operating system has had worse gaming performance than the previous generations, because gaming is not a major focus for Microsoft, and as the Windows footprint grows so do the number of performance bugs. Microsoft only cares about telemetry and datamining nowadays, to make every shareholder quarter the best ever. The consumers and business clients aren't a substantial factor and haven't been, since XP and W7.

Until the major latency issues are fixed in W11, or we're forced to migrate, it's just not worth using for anyone that cares mostly about performance, especially gaming. I have a ton of posts on this forum that will help people figure out how to benchmark properly, so for anyone that wants to try their hand at it can use the forum search for the keyword benchmark and select my name in the member box, then read those links for tips.

On the benchmarking note, everyone that comes here asking what guide/preset is best, should go test and benchmark it themselves, because it should be obvious what's best on their computer hardware for their specific usage. So much about computers is objective, not subjective, and so we really don't need people's opinions on performance topics, since they can be verified rather easily.
 
Hellbovine said:
The guide introduction and FAQ explains the nuances in more detail, but 23H2 and 24H2 are only for W11, and so far I've seen nothing in news articles or tweaking communities indicating they are polished versions worthy of benchmarking. If you want to look into it yourself, use LatencyMon and compare W11, version 22H2 to 23H2 and 24H2. I've posted 21H2/22H2 benchmarks of W10 versus W11, and I don't expect those results to change in future versions, because Microsoft is adding more bloat into W11 and will do so until W12 launches.

Each new operating system has had worse gaming performance than the previous generations, because gaming is not a major focus for Microsoft, and as the Windows footprint grows so do the number of performance bugs. Microsoft only cares about telemetry and datamining nowadays, to make every shareholder quarter the best ever. The consumers and business clients aren't a substantial factor and haven't been, since XP and W7.

Until the major latency issues are fixed in W11, or we're forced to migrate, it's just not worth using for anyone that cares mostly about performance, especially gaming. I have a ton of posts on this forum that will help people figure out how to benchmark properly, so for anyone that wants to try their hand at it can use the forum search for the keyword benchmark and select my name in the member box, then read those links for tips.

On the benchmarking note, everyone that comes here asking what guide/preset is best, should go test and benchmark it themselves, because it should be obvious what's best on their computer hardware for their specific usage. So much about computers is objective, not subjective, and so we really don't need people's opinions on performance topics, since they can be verified rather easily.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your detailed reply. I’ve been using ntlite for the better part of the last 9 months or so, and it’s been fun experimenting and learning about windows etc. I’ve also like you and i’m sure other’s on this forum have stressed myself out trying everything possible to make my os “definitive” for me if you know what I mean chasing down my “perfect” operating system, and it’s a very viscous cycle. I really sometimes wish I could go back to just installing default windows and just rolling with that haha… ignorance is bliss.

And on the note of windows 10 vs windows 11 I understand what you mean.. I guess I just am more familiar with 11 now because I made the switch a long time ago and I just kinda feel like “it’s newer so it’s surely more optimal right” I don’t really get really deep into benchmarking to be totally honest.. I know it’s bad practice to go off of “feeling” but yeah I only benchmark optimizations on occasion.

Anyway thanks again I did wanna share something with you that I really think is very well done and open source. I’ve been using it as my “Baseline” for awhile now after integrating latest CU’s into a new iso.

github.com

GitHub - memstechtips/UnattendedWinstall: Personalized Unattended Answer Files that helps automatically debloat and customize Windows 10 & 11 during the installation process.

Personalized Unattended Answer Files that helps automatically debloat and customize Windows 10 & 11 during the installation process. - memstechtips/UnattendedWinstall
github.com github.com

It’s totally worth looking into, and I would be curious to hear what you think. It’s all documented in the autounattended.xml file there on GitHub.
 
Omni115 said:
Anyway thanks again I did wanna share something with you that I really think is very well done and open source. I’ve been using it as my “Baseline” for awhile now after integrating latest CU’s into a new iso.

github.com

GitHub - memstechtips/UnattendedWinstall: Personalized Unattended Answer Files that helps automatically debloat and customize Windows 10 & 11 during the installation process.

Personalized Unattended Answer Files that helps automatically debloat and customize Windows 10 & 11 during the installation process. - memstechtips/UnattendedWinstall
github.com github.com

It’s totally worth looking into, and I would be curious to hear what you think. It’s all documented in the autounattended.xml file there on GitHub.
Click to expand...
These answer file projects and some features of Schneegan's autounattend.xml tend to duplicate existing NTLite features, unless you're stuck on the free edition and can't unlock licensed features.

The best way to update an install image is to mount it, and directly integrate changes. Remove any features, apps or files before anything gets installed. Update registry values so they're already enabled at install time.

Now if you're lacking in proper image modding tools, the alternative is to apply those changes during the install. This is inefficient, but it's portable to any ISO since all you do is copy the unattended file to the USB media.

Most of these unattended files are ridiculously long because they're running a long list of commands, or create entire scripts from scratch by concatenating multiple lines. Where they're useful is looking for Windows or user tweaks that NTLite doesn't cover, and borrowing them to make your own reg files or tweak scripts.
 
Omni115 said:
...I did wanna share something with you...https://github.com/memstechtips/UnattendedWinstall...I would be curious to hear what you think.
Click to expand...
I add these types of things to my todo list and will eventually look into them, but it's usually tweaks I already have. As Garlin explains above, and as I mentioned recently (link1) to the users with broken images, the main problem on this forum is that most people aren't really understanding how all these tweaks function, since these scripts and tools are often duplicating the work of NTLite or a guide's author. NTLite can bake all these unattend file tweaks directly into an image, so a file like that has no real usage on a forum like this, except to glean tweaks from it.

Basically, what I do with resources like GitHub links people send my way, is exactly what Garlin said. I throw them into a Notepad++ document and extract all the stuff that I care about, such as registry tweaks, and then sort them and eliminate the many duplicates. Next, I'll go through and delete the ones I already use or dislike, and start researching and benchmarking the remaining ones. This rarely results in finding anything useful, except a few oddballs.

The reason why I don't often find valid tweaks from scripts and websites, is because most people are creating those scripts by first Googling for hours and cobbling together a bunch of other people's scripts...Well, if everyone is copying each other than none of those people are innovating or testing anything, and it's all just regurgitations. My tweaks actually work properly, because I manually captured every one of them or dug around in regedit myself, and confirmed they all individually apply to the build I'm using and aren't outdated or myths, while most people forgo that testing.

With the many struggles coming from our visitors these days, I feel like I need to keep reiterating the following advice for any readers that have landed on this reply and are frustrated or overwhelmed in their Windows tweaking. I'll explain more below for those interested.

NTLITE TWEAKING BASICS
For anyone that wants a higher performing Windows, for people that are having a hard time figuring NTLite out, or need to try something new as a change of pace to take a break from tweaking woes, I suggest they go use the built-in NTLite template of Privacy, Gaming, or Lite, and that will rip out as much from Windows as the creator of NTLite determined as being appropriate. More information on that can be found in a guide (link2) here, which explains where the vetted preset choices are for Windows 10 and 11 right now.

It would also further improve the templates if everyone was using them and submitting feedback. If enough people did that, there is a high probability that it will result in a collection of component removals that eventually can't be improved anymore. In other words, it would be the "best" removals presets, because it would be tailored with extensive testing by a large group (collaboration).

There's no need to reinvent the wheel when expert tweaking enthusiasts are at the helm and providing polished baselines to build on. Let the NTLite creator and veterans figure it out, while all everyone else has to do is go use their computer like normal with one of those templates installed, and whenever a problem arises make a post about it on the forum or report it via e-mail, so it can be fixed. Aside from that, reinstall Windows once at the start of each new year, using the latest version of NTLite and the most updated template, and follow that guidance until it's not relevant. It should be noted an NTLite license is needed to fully utilize templates.

To take it a step further in tweaking, users can apply my Optimized Image on top of an NTLite template to enhance it, or use my guide by itself to avoid troubleshooting broken things caused by component removals. Windows 10 and 11 are not like XP or W7. The modern operating systems don't behave and they aren't intuitive anymore. That's why everyone is having such a hard time, because all the knowledge of old isn't translating very well, and the generation growing up in a world limited by 140 characters doesn't have the patience or skill to do proper tweaking, so most of them fail, and it's just a reality of the time we currently live in.

This dilemma is only going to get worse, unless Microsoft rewrites Windows, and I guarantee that if the trends continue W12 won't be worth the time or will be too difficult to keep up with, even for the best tweaking enthusiasts. If that ends up being true, then I'll probably use W10 until I'm forced to migrate to W11 or W12, at which time I'll likely switch to SteamOS if Microsoft hasn't made decent attempts at fixing their mess.
 
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Hellbovine said:
I add these types of things to my todo list and will eventually look into them, but it's usually tweaks I already have. As Garlin explains above, and as I mentioned recently (link1) to the users with broken images, the main problem on this forum is that most people aren't really understanding how all these tweaks function, since these scripts and tools are often duplicating the work of NTLite or a guide's author. NTLite can bake all these unattend file tweaks directly into an image, so a file like that has no real usage on a forum like this, except to glean tweaks from it.

Basically, what I do with resources like GitHub links people send my way, is exactly what Garlin said. I throw them into a Notepad++ document and extract all the stuff that I care about, such as registry tweaks, and then sort them and eliminate the many duplicates. Next, I'll go through and delete the ones I already use or dislike, and start researching and benchmarking the remaining ones. This rarely results in finding anything useful, except a few oddballs.

The reason why I don't often find valid tweaks from scripts and websites, is because most people are creating those scripts by first Googling for hours and cobbling together a bunch of other people's scripts...Well, if everyone is copying each other than none of those people are innovating or testing anything, and it's all just regurgitations. My tweaks actually work properly, because I manually captured every one of them or dug around in regedit myself, and confirmed they all individually apply to the build I'm using and aren't outdated or myths, while most people forgo that testing.

With the many struggles coming from our visitors these days, I feel like I need to keep reiterating the following advice for any readers that have landed on this reply and are frustrated or overwhelmed in their Windows tweaking. I'll explain more below for those interested.

NTLITE TWEAKING BASICS
For anyone that wants a higher performing Windows, for people that are having a hard time figuring NTLite out, or need to try something new as a change of pace to take a break from tweaking woes, I suggest they go use the built-in NTLite template of Privacy, Gaming, or Lite, and that will rip out as much from Windows as the creator of NTLite determined as being appropriate. More information on that can be found in a guide (link2) here, which explains where the vetted preset choices are for Windows 10 and 11 right now.

It would also further improve the templates if everyone was using them and submitting feedback. If enough people did that, there is a high probability that it will result in a collection of component removals that eventually can't be improved anymore. In other words, it would be the "best" removals presets, because it would be tailored with extensive testing by a large group (collaboration).

There's no need to reinvent the wheel when expert tweaking enthusiasts are at the helm and providing polished baselines to build on. Let the NTLite creator and veterans figure it out, while all everyone else has to do is go use their computer like normal with one of those templates installed, and whenever a problem arises make a post about it on the forum or report it via e-mail, so it can be fixed. Aside from that, reinstall Windows once at the start of each new year, using the latest version of NTLite and the most updated template, and follow that guidance until it's not relevant. It should be noted an NTLite license is needed to fully utilize templates.

To take it a step further in tweaking, users can apply my Optimized Image on top of an NTLite template to enhance it, or use my guide by itself to avoid troubleshooting broken things caused by component removals. Windows 10 and 11 are not like XP or W7. The modern operating systems don't behave and they aren't intuitive anymore. That's why everyone is having such a hard time, because all the knowledge of old isn't translating very well, and the generation growing up in a world limited by 140 characters doesn't have the patience or skill to do proper tweaking, so most of them fail, and it's just a reality of the time we currently live in.

This dilemma is only going to get worse, unless Microsoft rewrites Windows, and I guarantee that if the trends continue W12 won't be worth the time or will be too difficult to keep up with, even for the best tweaking enthusiasts. If that ends up being true, then I'll probably use W10 until I'm forced to migrate to W11 or W12, at which time I'll likely switch to SteamOS if Microsoft hasn't made decent attempts at fixing their mess.
Click to expand...
I see well thanks again for y'alls detailed responses I appreciate it. I would like to somehow pull the registry tweaks from the link I posted above such as the local machine and default user settings and import them into an image, but I'm just afraid i'll miss something or mess something up is all.
 
Hellbovine said:
I add these types of things to my todo list and will eventually look into them, but it's usually tweaks I already have. As Garlin explains above, and as I mentioned recently (link1) to the users with broken images, the main problem on this forum is that most people aren't really understanding how all these tweaks function, since these scripts and tools are often duplicating the work of NTLite or a guide's author. NTLite can bake all these unattend file tweaks directly into an image, so a file like that has no real usage on a forum like this, except to glean tweaks from it.

Basically, what I do with resources like GitHub links people send my way, is exactly what Garlin said. I throw them into a Notepad++ document and extract all the stuff that I care about, such as registry tweaks, and then sort them and eliminate the many duplicates. Next, I'll go through and delete the ones I already use or dislike, and start researching and benchmarking the remaining ones. This rarely results in finding anything useful, except a few oddballs.

The reason why I don't often find valid tweaks from scripts and websites, is because most people are creating those scripts by first Googling for hours and cobbling together a bunch of other people's scripts...Well, if everyone is copying each other than none of those people are innovating or testing anything, and it's all just regurgitations. My tweaks actually work properly, because I manually captured every one of them or dug around in regedit myself, and confirmed they all individually apply to the build I'm using and aren't outdated or myths, while most people forgo that testing.

With the many struggles coming from our visitors these days, I feel like I need to keep reiterating the following advice for any readers that have landed on this reply and are frustrated or overwhelmed in their Windows tweaking. I'll explain more below for those interested.

NTLITE TWEAKING BASICS
For anyone that wants a higher performing Windows, for people that are having a hard time figuring NTLite out, or need to try something new as a change of pace to take a break from tweaking woes, I suggest they go use the built-in NTLite template of Privacy, Gaming, or Lite, and that will rip out as much from Windows as the creator of NTLite determined as being appropriate. More information on that can be found in a guide (link2) here, which explains where the vetted preset choices are for Windows 10 and 11 right now.

It would also further improve the templates if everyone was using them and submitting feedback. If enough people did that, there is a high probability that it will result in a collection of component removals that eventually can't be improved anymore. In other words, it would be the "best" removals presets, because it would be tailored with extensive testing by a large group (collaboration).

There's no need to reinvent the wheel when expert tweaking enthusiasts are at the helm and providing polished baselines to build on. Let the NTLite creator and veterans figure it out, while all everyone else has to do is go use their computer like normal with one of those templates installed, and whenever a problem arises make a post about it on the forum or report it via e-mail, so it can be fixed. Aside from that, reinstall Windows once at the start of each new year, using the latest version of NTLite and the most updated template, and follow that guidance until it's not relevant. It should be noted an NTLite license is needed to fully utilize templates.

To take it a step further in tweaking, users can apply my Optimized Image on top of an NTLite template to enhance it, or use my guide by itself to avoid troubleshooting broken things caused by component removals. Windows 10 and 11 are not like XP or W7. The modern operating systems don't behave and they aren't intuitive anymore. That's why everyone is having such a hard time, because all the knowledge of old isn't translating very well, and the generation growing up in a world limited by 140 characters doesn't have the patience or skill to do proper tweaking, so most of them fail, and it's just a reality of the time we currently live in.

This dilemma is only going to get worse, unless Microsoft rewrites Windows, and I guarantee that if the trends continue W12 won't be worth the time or will be too difficult to keep up with, even for the best tweaking enthusiasts. If that ends up being true, then I'll probably use W10 until I'm forced to migrate to W11 or W12, at which time I'll likely switch to SteamOS if Microsoft hasn't made decent attempts at fixing their mess.
Click to expand...
Oh also really quick regarding the templates.. I have tested them from time to time and the gaming template from my experience has always broke explorer. upon trying to log in for the fiorst time i'm always met with stack buffer overflow error. it's definitely something that template removes but I never took the time to figure it out. fyi I disable all compatibilities except servicing stack for my component removals so not sure which compatibility the gaming template causes the explorer stack buffer error.

Oh and I do have a License for NTlite so it isn't that.
 
Omni115 said:
...I would like to somehow pull the registry tweaks from the link I posted above such as the local machine and default user settings and import them into an image, but I'm just afraid i'll miss something or mess something up...
Click to expand...
If you aren't confident enough to figure that out yourself, how are you confident that you need to use these tweaks? Can you tell me what the appeal is, because Garlin and I just explained that the GitHub stuff is unneeded and NTLite can do it a better way, and I've already got all of those kinds of tweaks in this guide thread that you're discussing these things on. You also admit to testing things by "feel" and when taken all together, that's someone who's confused and needs direction. Please read the following in a friendly, but teasing manner, knowing that I'm facepalming :)
Replies like the above go against the logic that I'm presenting, because I just said that I already have most of these tweaks, so why not download my guide and look at those registry files instead? The difference is that I properly document all my stuff, making it easier to learn from, unlike that GitHub which has wrong or missing documentation, and uses tweaks that are bad and break things.

I don't understand where your logic and the many others with views like yours are coming from, because to me it reads as, "I don't know how to verify tweaks, but I want to install these random ones I found, even if they'll break my machine and I don't have the skills to troubleshoot that, nor will I test to see if they are helping anything." It's mind-bottling, as Will Ferrell says in Blades of Glory.

As predicted, I skimmed through that GitHub and saw that they alter power plans using two "ValueMax" tweaks, and that's not correct at all, which is a huge red flag. They also use a tweak for UAC which is known to break things and isn't the best way to turn it off. They do something crazy with Defender that I've no interest in deciphering, but I know it's hacky and wrong, because their notes say once it's disabled you have to reinstall Windows to enable it again. There's also debunked bypasses in the unattend file. All of these things indicate a lack of quality control and the possibility of other problems lurking. We all make mistakes, but bad tweaks are a knowledge and testing issue.

My eye for detail is keen and I know I will only find more problems the longer I stare at it. Stick with the NTLite tool and registry tweaks that come from reputable sources, like my guides or places like TenForums and ElevenForum instead. Keep in mind that those websites aren't always accurate either, because as patches are released by Microsoft it can change the tweaks needed, so some tutorials are now outdated.

Those websites do update the tutorials as people report issues though, like how NTLite updates its tool as users report issues here. Places like GitHub, Reddit, and YouTube don't see the same kind of activity, so they are often wrong at the time they are posted and become even more so with future Windows updates. Those places are also not where most of the tweaking experts hang out, so it's usually a Discord bro as the source, who learned tweaking from GitHub, Reddit, and YouTube, or from AI, who learned tweaking using the same.

To help prove my point, you are probably sticking with W11, but cannot articulate why. That's the real issue here with users, they don't know why they want to do the things they do, but they are sure that they need to do it...Meanwhile I'm throwing benchmarks at people proving W11 sucks and they're like, "Eh, the high latency doesn't bother me. Also, you got any more gaming tweaks?" and that's nonsense, let's be real.

Again, I mean all of this in a caring and teaching manner, I'm just throwing some sass in there too, because I've responded to stuff like this a million times now, so my sanity is telling me to make light of it or else I'll go crazy. I feel better now, thanks for coming to my TED Talk. Let me know if you have any other questions, so long as they're relevant to my guide :P
 
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Omni115 said:
Oh also really quick regarding the templates...the gaming template from my experience has always broke explorer...
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Stuff like that is expected with component removals. Whenever you see that happen, make sure you're isolating the issue to NTLite by checking that you didn't add other tweaks that might be the culprit. If it was only a template being used, come to the forum and make a new thread in the bug report (link1) section detailing how to reproduce the issue. The veterans may help you find a workaround in the meantime, while the NTLite owner investigates a fix for the tool. People that don't want to make a forum account can also submit issues via the contact (link2) form.

As a general note for all readers, under no circumstance should anyone ask this forum or NTLite to fix problems caused by outside tweaking sources, such as the infamous Tiny10 and Tiny11 ISO that gets no love here. Go ask those authors for their help instead, or just don't use their work if it's broken and you cannot figure out how to fix it on your own, because it's not our job to fix their messes.
 
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Right. I’m very familiar with ntlite actually and am pretty confident in my ability to create a good image that’s stable. I just like hearing other people’s opinions on some specific optimizations. I actually set up my image via ntlite and do my removals and settings etc, and then use the memory tech tips autounnatend, because it actually does have a significant amount of user registry and machine registry optimizationa that you can’t due in the normal ntlite gui. I know I could open up the xml into a not pad and just copy and paste the tweaks into a .reg file but it’s just not aomething i’ve teated yet. It’s just easier to use it outright as my unattended installation.
 
Poo
Omni115 said:
Right. I’m very familiar with ntlite actually and am pretty confident in my ability to create a good image that’s stable. I just like hearing other people’s opinions on some specific optimizations. I actually set up my image via ntlite and do my removals and settings etc, and then use the memory tech tips autounnatend, because it actually does have a significant amount of user registry and machine registry optimizationa that you can’t due in the normal ntlite gui. I know I could open up the xml into a not pad and just copy and paste the tweaks into a .reg file but it’s just not aomething i’ve teated yet. It’s just easier to use it outright as my unattended installation.
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Poor choice of words I guess. I know most if not all of what tweaks I do to my system. I’ve done my research for just about everything little by little over time. As far as benchmarks go I do it from time to time for testing something specific but mostly I feel like it’s more of a chore.
 
I did wanna try your guide but I just like windows 11 aesthetically i guess, and ai wasn’t sure if your guide would work correctly for 11.

I’ll stop rambling though my apologies. This is my first time posting or commenting on the forums for the most part. I do appreciate again the feedback and advice though. Maybe I will take the time to actually pull what optimizations I want from the memory tech tips project and integrate it into my own image etc. my toxic trait in all of this windows optimizations space is even though I’m having zero problems with my system I still look for problems to “fix”

Sorry for the typos I’m hastily making these replies while at work on my phone
 
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Since I have this Iso back installed, have alot of blackscreens while gaming. My PC doesn't react and I have to restart it. What could be the problem? Does anyone also have this issue?
 
warcry16 said:
Since I have this Iso back installed, have alot of blackscreens while gaming...
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That's unlikely to be caused by this guide. Instead, it's going to be an issue with a driver, overheating, game bug, etcetera.
 
Hellbovine said:
That's unlikely to be caused by this guide. Instead, it's going to be an issue with a driver, overheating, game bug, etcetera.
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The thing is, me and my wife have the same iso and the same problem. She has a completely different system than me. Drivers are up-to-date. I had this iso long time ago and hadn't this issues, now after reinstalling it the issues started. Can't be overheating because I'm monitoring it. We both have this issues in CS2 and R.E.P.O. doesn't happen to often but maybe once every 2 days.
 
Try installing a default Microsoft ISO without any customizations and it'll likely have the same problem. Also do some Googling for bug reports on those games and you'll find that other people have had the same issues too. Black screens and such are gaming 101 and aren't related to ISO customizations unless someone is doing some really hacky and bad tweaking, which you won't find in this guide.

A hard lock typically means the game and/or driver has an issue that needs patching by the developers, or there's misconfigured settings in the game's menus and shortcut, or in the Nvidia/AMD control panel. If a game crashes to the desktop it could be a RAM/pagefile issue, but other than that there's nothing my guide messes with that could cause the intermittent issue you've described, as that stuff is always related to drivers/settings/bugs. If a gaming issue was due to my guides it would occur 100% of the time, like a game would always fail to launch from the desktop.
 
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