Guide: Optimized Image

Hello,
I need help with the following:
I am having trouble figuring out how to set the sleep button and closing the lid to Do Nothing.
How do you disable System Restore? If you turn off Shadow Volume services, you will get an error at the sys restore tab.
How do you disable DPI scaling, or at least make the default 100%
 
Kirill said:
I am having trouble figuring out how to set the sleep button and closing the lid to Do Nothing.
How do you disable System Restore? If you turn off Shadow Volume services, you will get an error at the sys restore tab.
How do you disable DPI scaling, or at least make the default 100%
Click to expand...
This doesn't sound like it's related to my guide, so this should all be its own thread. I'm not at my computer right now, but if you are using my guide, to change the sleep/lid stuff you would edit the registry files and find the tweaks that have comments about sleep/lid and change the values. This would require some brief Googling or testing to see what the values need to change into, but it's easy to figure out.

System restore is already disabled by default on modern Windows 10 and 11 versions as far as I know, and VSS service defaults to manual as well, so I don't mess with either in the guide. DPI scaling as far as I'm aware is also disabled by default on all installs, so my guide leaves that alone too.
 
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Im using Win11 Enterprise 22H2.
Your registry entries turn things off like hibernate and fast resume, which is great. but I would also like Sleep to be off (its off in the BIOS) and do nothing for the rest.
System Restore might be off initially, but it becomes enabled later on, and will reenabling itself after major updates. The only true method to disabling that I found is via GPO.
DPI scaling defaults to whatever it wants, on some laptops it defaults to 125%, on others its 150%. If you have a 1080p monitor plugged in, it will stay at 100%. A 2.5k monitor defaults to 200% and a 4k Monitor will default to 300%. This is inconsistent, and annoying. I would like to completely disable DPI scaling.
 
You can control Power Management (PM) from GPO too - i kill sleep with following key: 381b4222-f694-41f0-9685-ff5bb260df2e.
Be aware that my key maybe don't match your goal as i also changed some other stuff in PM like turn off times for HW.
After setting your power management the way you like you can check the key to use from reg and copy it to GPO - search for PreferredPlan in Reg.
System Restore is removable in NTL in Components\ System\ "subpoint to Volume Shadow Copy" and shouldn't bother you again even from updates.
Regarding the DPI scaling, I suspect it could be due to one of two things.
Even if e.g. an Nvidia card, then WU still downloads an Intel HDI driver, after which the DPI scaling changes.
Alternatively, it could be due to the fact that several screens may be connected, e.g. flat screen, extra monitor or a projector.
 
I am testing different registry entries by themselves.
I added the ones below into the registry, and after installing Windows 11, these did not take effect.
The entries to disable fast resume, and hibernate off are working.
am I doing something wrong? is it this because its win11?

also, why does step 6 say to add those registry files after applying the image? I am adding these alongside step 3 in a separate file.


; Start > Windows System > Control Panel > Power Options > Choose what the power buttons do > When I press the power button > Shut down
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\PowerSettings\4f971e89-eebd-4455-a8de-9e59040e7347\7648efa3-dd9c-4e3e-b566-50f929386280\DefaultPowerSchemeValues\381b4222-f694-41f0-9685-ff5bb260df2e]
"ACSettingIndex"=dword:00000003
"DCSettingIndex"=dword:00000003

; Start > Windows System > Control Panel > Power Options > Choose what the power buttons do > When I press the power button > Shut down
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\PowerSettings\4f971e89-eebd-4455-a8de-9e59040e7347\7648efa3-dd9c-4e3e-b566-50f929386280\DefaultPowerSchemeValues\8c5e7fda-e8bf-4a96-9a85-a6e23a8c635c]
"ACSettingIndex"=dword:00000003
"DCSettingIndex"=dword:00000003

; Start > Windows System > Control Panel > Power Options > Choose what the power buttons do > When I press the power button > Shut down
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\PowerSettings\4f971e89-eebd-4455-a8de-9e59040e7347\7648efa3-dd9c-4e3e-b566-50f929386280\DefaultPowerSchemeValues\a1841308-3541-4fab-bc81-f71556f20b4a]
"ACSettingIndex"=dword:00000003
"DCSettingIndex"=dword:00000003
 
Kirill said:
is it this because its win11?
Click to expand...
Probably, since I helped someone recently fix a power plan issue on W11 that was related (link1). Using the "override" method is a really quick and easy way to test things like this, and there's many solutions in that post to choose from too. This is unusual behavior and I think there's bugs in W11 power plan settings, or they are prepping to implement an overhaul of it, which is likely since it has evolved substantially over time.

Windows Update is often the culprit behind things like your System Restore issue, since updates can add and enable scheduled tasks, restore components, and modify settings. The solution for people that want updates is to incorporate them into the image with NTLite, pause Windows Update, and if you want to install updates again in the future you would do them manually or use NTLite's built-in Windows Update tool. After installing updates you must use the "Remove reinstalls" feature in NTLite and/or run your registry files again to reinstall overwritten tweaks.

See if this (link2) works for your DPI problem. If it doesn't, it could be a misconfigured computer setup, since stuff like this is directly tied to the graphics card firmware and driver, monitor display profile, the physical menu settings on the monitor, the type of cord used to connect the monitor, and multi-monitor setups. I've browsed countless forum posts from people that were having lots of display problems and by examining their setup again and making sure it was all correct, they solved many odd problems.
 
Hellbovine said:
Probably, since I helped someone recently fix a power plan issue on W11 that was related (link1). Using the "override" method is a really quick and easy way to test things like this, and there's many solutions in that post to choose from too. This is unusual behavior and I think there's bugs in W11 power plan settings, or they are prepping to implement an overhaul of it, which is likely since it has evolved substantially over time.

Windows Update is often the culprit behind things like your System Restore issue, since updates can add and enable scheduled tasks, restore components, and modify settings. The solution for people that want updates is to incorporate them into the image with NTLite, pause Windows Update, and if you want to install updates again in the future you would do them manually or use NTLite's built-in Windows Update tool. After installing updates you must use the "Remove reinstalls" feature in NTLite and/or run your registry files again to reinstall overwritten tweaks.

See if this (link2) works for your DPI problem. If it doesn't, it could be a misconfigured computer setup, since stuff like this is directly tied to the graphics card firmware and driver, monitor display profile, the physical menu settings on the monitor, the type of cord used to connect the monitor, and multi-monitor setups. I've browsed countless forum posts from people that were having lots of display problems and by examining their setup again and making sure it was all correct, they solved many odd problems.
Click to expand...
Did you actually update your Guide in all these years or is it somewhere else updated?
 
CodeBro said:
Did you actually update your Guide in all these years or is it somewhere else updated?
Click to expand...
I've been getting a lot of pokes lately from threads and mail, I'm still here and active, but real life is fighting against me right now and I had to put this particular guide on the backburner. I'll explain the timeline in this reply, since I haven't had a chance to get back to everyone that has inquired.

COMPUTER ISSUES
When I started working on this image in December 2021, I was already completely burnt out from finishing a few other unrelated, but colossal sized projects and had to force myself to see the first version through, because I had to migrate all my computers to Windows 10 as I was still on XP and it finally reached a point where too much software just wouldn't run anymore. This guide was first published in August of 2022.

The setbacks I encountered while working on the second version took a long time to deal with, such as the Nvidia bug (link1) which greatly affects benchmarking and was making it difficult to see if tweaks were beneficial or not. The patches that resulted from the Nvidia thread will be positive for every Windows computer on Earth, including AMD and Intel users, but it did eat 8 months of my time trying to get it resolved. I have also been tackling other bugs that came up in both NTLite and Windows, while noting some of the big ones (link2) to the forum.

Near the end of the Nvidia bug, Microsoft released version 22H2, which was rife with major bugs that took them most of a year to squash, and the 22H2 ISO they published was broken (link3) too, which then delayed everything and ate more time. Microsoft then addressed the SecureBoot exploit (link4) which delayed things again, causing me to have to address that (link5) in all my guides.

Now, 23H2 has released and there's a lot I need to test for the newer builds, as well as hopefully being able to actually proceed with adding more performance tweaks, if the Nvidia bugs have been mitigated enough now. This also means I need the new ISO to be functional from Microsoft this time, or else I will have to change all my guides to use the Media Creation Tool or some other approach, which will delay things yet again.

LIFE ISSUES
On top of all that, real life has been tough, as many of you can relate with. The economy and politics are negatively affecting people, it's becoming too expensive to live, which means putting in extra hours, working on days off, high turnover rates, etcetera. My kids fell behind in public school during Covid (as most did), and so I've been homeschooling them which eats more time each day, but at least their scores are off the charts now.

My house also got infected with Covid this year and we have been dealing with "long Covid" symptoms, which are awful. The kitten I adopted for my kids got FIP (feline Covid) and died after having him for 6 months. That cat was amazing and loved his kids to a ridiculous degree, so it was a heavy loss. Fast forward to last week, and I was in the emergency room after vomiting blood for two days (stress ulcer).

Due to all the issues explained above, and probably more I'm forgetting, I've been spending my free time researching, answering forum questions, and working on other guides or local files, so I can continue making progress on something, while I wait for Microsoft to fix their issues and settle down. I made a note about an incoming update on the Gaming Lounge (link6) and once that is complete it will show how active I've been. A lot of the work just goes unnoticed, because I target a huge range of topics and anything that doesn't interest someone gets ignored, though I'm still doing all that work.

I hope to resume work on my image soon, but the chaos of late has made some of my projects unpredictable. I'm extremely goal-orientated, and so all of these delays are stressing me out, and it's not in my nature to abandon projects either, so I feel compelled to finish them no matter the cost. I want to iterate though, that it's perfectly fine to keep using this guide as-is and staying on W10 version 21H2 for a bit longer. There won't be any major problems until developers start dropping support for this version, which won't be anytime soon.
 
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It doesn't specify in the guide that I saw, but can I do a windows update install inside of NTlite before doing the tweaks? I could have missed it.
 
If you have a licensed copy of NTLite, you can use it to download and install Updates on a live system. You should apply tweaks last, since a monthly update might change some starting values.
 
garlin said:
If you have a licensed copy of NTLite, you can use it to download and install Updates on a live system. You should apply tweaks last, since a monthly update might change some starting values.
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I did purchase a license.

I'm making a 21H2 iso. So I can run the built in windows update installer within NTlite and then follow the guide and it will all still work?
 
Sorry, I thought you're asking about Windows Update (on a live system) from inside of NTLite. If the tweaks are done using Settings, or imported reg files then NTLite will apply them to the updated image in the correct order (after integrating updates).
 
A person cannot reasonably be expected tp always carry on with a project.
Best you can do is put your stuff out there to educate people where to look in future builds and get their own "usual suspects" lists, ie scheduled tasks, services, power management settings etc and cherry pick from other projects. I pretty much use the same working method that has been slowly adapted from XP, w7, 8.1 and 10.
 
Crystawth said:
I'm making a 21H2 iso. So I can run the built in windows update installer within NTlite and then follow the guide and it will all still work?
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The frequently asked questions answers this, but please let me know if something isn't making sense, because this topic and the related others (editions, versions, etcetera) come up often and I don't know how else to answer it anymore. I need some new members to point out the confusing bits and then I can revise it to help prevent these questions all the time.
 
Question: "Can I still use Windows Update with this guide?"

Yes, but Windows Update is paused by this guide, so you would need to manually run it. I do not recommend updates though, instead I would create a new image using this guide at the start of every year and cleanly install that, because this approach comes with a plethora of benefits, such as preserving the tweaks in the image, since updates will constantly undo that work. This guide is intended to be updated yearly for the latest Windows version, but due to the low quality state that Microsoft released 22H2, I stayed with 21H2 for now.
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This is the only part i noticed on windows update, but it doesn't specify doing updates in NTLite before making the image, which is why I wanted to make sure it was ok to do. From its wording, I took it as related to windows update post install.

Did I miss another part? I'll take another look too.
 
Wow I'm sorry to hear that man. I hope you guys feel better soon. I was waiting on an updated guide for 22H2 so I could make a custom ISO. Could I still use this guide with 22H2? Or is it still really buggy? I plan on removing a bunch of stuff.
 
Crystawth said:
...Did I miss another part? I'll take another look too.
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I think I see what's happening. I wrote that section with the idea that all the info was tied together, but upon skipping the first question and going to the bottom the reader will miss out on related information. I'll fix that this week, while looking for other places where this same situation occurs too.
 
Hellbovine said:
I think I see what's happening. I wrote that section with the idea that all the info was tied together, but upon skipping the first question and going to the bottom the reader will miss out on related information. I'll fix that this week, while looking for other places where this same situation occurs too.
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I appreciate you. I'm genuinely not sure what part i missed, I read through everything (or so I thought??) and didn't see it specifically mentioned. Thank you for taking the time to respond. I hope things in your life improve!
 
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