Guide: Optimized Image
Just thought I'd mention that there's a section near the bottom of the guide's Reg_3_Settings.reg file that pauses Windows Update for 3-1/2 years. Since the guide was written back in 2022, the dates are no longer valid. It has updates paused from July 2022 until January 2026. Well... we're there now. I edited mine to pause them from now until July 2029. You'll have to do the same if you want to use this tweak.
You can pause it until Dec 31, 2107 3:59 AM. The data type can handle a later date, but the rest of Windows stops interpreting it correctly from an overflow error.
I have a question regarding the file compression settings in the Reg_6_Other.reg file....
; Hidden > NTFS File Compression > Off
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem]
"NtfsDisableCompression"=dword:00000001
; Hidden > OS File Compression > Off
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WOF]
"ForceNoCompression"=dword:00000001
I don't use compression in the sense of right-clicking a file, folder, or partition and choosing to compress it, but do the settings above remove the capability of doing it in the first place?
The reason I ask is, the first time I used NTLite on a Win10 system that hadn't already implemented any of The Guide's settings, I tried using the different methods of "Clean Update Backup" when integrating Windows Updates and didn't have any issues. But, after integrating The Guide's reg files and installing that ISO and re-installing NTLite to use again, I got the following error when using the DISM option in "Clean Update Backup":
0x00000301 '[769] Compression is disabled for this volume.': DISM Clean update backup
After doing some searching, I ended up using "fsutil behavior set disablecompression 0" at the command prompt, and the next time I used NTLite I didn't get the compression error.
Am I correct in assuming that The Guide's compression settings were the reason for the error? What is the reason for those settings in the first place.... reducing overhead? I realize that I can just not use those settings, or create a reg file to disable them when I'm using NTLite, but I'd like to understand.
; Hidden > NTFS File Compression > Off
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem]
"NtfsDisableCompression"=dword:00000001
; Hidden > OS File Compression > Off
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WOF]
"ForceNoCompression"=dword:00000001
I don't use compression in the sense of right-clicking a file, folder, or partition and choosing to compress it, but do the settings above remove the capability of doing it in the first place?
The reason I ask is, the first time I used NTLite on a Win10 system that hadn't already implemented any of The Guide's settings, I tried using the different methods of "Clean Update Backup" when integrating Windows Updates and didn't have any issues. But, after integrating The Guide's reg files and installing that ISO and re-installing NTLite to use again, I got the following error when using the DISM option in "Clean Update Backup":
0x00000301 '[769] Compression is disabled for this volume.': DISM Clean update backup
After doing some searching, I ended up using "fsutil behavior set disablecompression 0" at the command prompt, and the next time I used NTLite I didn't get the compression error.
Am I correct in assuming that The Guide's compression settings were the reason for the error? What is the reason for those settings in the first place.... reducing overhead? I realize that I can just not use those settings, or create a reg file to disable them when I'm using NTLite, but I'd like to understand.
Hellbovine
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Whenever I've used commands like compact.exe it has no issues compressing or uncompressing files and folders. It's been quite a while since I played with these tweaks so I cannot remember all the specifics, but if you notice any lost functionality please let me know.
The Optimized Image should be applied as the last step, on top of other changes you've made to an image first. Check out the Quality Control (link1) guide, as well as the Preset (link2) guide to get a feel for this kind of information. The layers and ordering matters a lot in Windows, especially with NTLite. The basic order goes like this: integrate windows updates and process, remove components and process, add registry tweaks and process. I also went and updated the first post on this Optimized Image thread today to make a note about this.
I don't use DISM, but some Google searches reveals the registry key of NtfsDisableCompression is for sure the cause of the error. However, as mentioned before that error won't exist if my tweaks are applied after you're done integrating updates and such.
My guess is Microsoft forces compression on Windows Update files due to the heavy size of modern operating systems with all their bloat nowadays, and so when the OS cannot compress those files it throws an error rather than being coded to work either way. Google research also says that 16+ TB drives natively disable compression and it cannot be enabled on cluster sizes above 4096.
This setting is in place, because compressing and uncompressing files uses up more resources and also causes DPC latency spikes.
My guess is Microsoft forces compression on Windows Update files due to the heavy size of modern operating systems with all their bloat nowadays, and so when the OS cannot compress those files it throws an error rather than being coded to work either way. Google research also says that 16+ TB drives natively disable compression and it cannot be enabled on cluster sizes above 4096.
This setting is in place, because compressing and uncompressing files uses up more resources and also causes DPC latency spikes.
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Hellbovine
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; File Explorer > Quick access > Off (Hidden)
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer]
"HubMode"=dword:00000001
Change it back to 0, or the next time you go to reinstall Windows, just delete that tweak from the registry files before integrating them. I did not realize this also prevented future pinning, so I will look into swapping this tweak out for one that still allows pinning.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer]
"HubMode"=dword:00000001
Change it back to 0, or the next time you go to reinstall Windows, just delete that tweak from the registry files before integrating them. I did not realize this also prevented future pinning, so I will look into swapping this tweak out for one that still allows pinning.