ISO created in NTLite taking up a lot of space

akynxs

New Member
Hello everyone

A few months ago, I created an iso in the nlite of the LTSB version of windows with the latest updates available and the most current drivers for my hardware.

The problem is that I noticed that it was taking up too much space without installing the programs I use.

I did a test and installed the official iso, without modifications, I updated the system and the difference of use of the space was very great.

Anyone have any idea why? Is it some option that I have not cleared?
 
Hi,

ISO creation will copy all the files in the image folder, make sure the image files are in its separate folder, not in a root of some drive.

Then depends on the drivers, Nvidia is huge (300MB+ compressed).

You can try ESD compression on the Apply page - format options.

What is a big ISO in the first place, is it more than 5GB without any removed components?
 
Hi,

ISO creation will copy all the files in the image folder, make sure the image files are in its separate folder, not in a root of some drive.

Then depends on the drivers, Nvidia is huge (300MB+ compressed).

You can try ESD compression on the Apply page - format options.

What is a big ISO in the first place, is it more than 5GB without any removed components?

First of all I apologize for bad english

It is not ISO that gets large, it is the space allocated by windows after installation.

ISO Windows LTSB modified by "NTLite" + added updates + drivers = the space allocated after the installation gets very large, leaving little space on the installed partition.

ISO LTSB unmodified + updated by WSUS Offline Update (Software) + manually installed drivers (same included in NTLite version) = the space allocated by windows is smaller, having the same things.
 
I see your point.

One would think/expect that the size of final Installation would be the same for both of your experiments.

Out of curiosity, about how many GB's different are the two final installations? (You probably know that "best practice" is to have 25% of the partition free for defragging to work well.)

I don't know anything about how Win10 works. Maybe it's smart enough to do a clean up of old files/updates during install?

Also, the guys at heise are very clever - it might be that WSUS Offline does some cleaning up too. (AFAIK, it removes obsolete KB's.)

Regardless, did you try running the CleanUp feature in a live NTLite session after you finished updating everything? Or ccleaner to remove digital "debris"?
 
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@akynxs, as pmikep stated, what is the actual size difference, and did you take into account added updates and drivers?
You can always add less drivers, and clean updates (Updates page - Clean updates in the toolbar).
Or remove components you don't need, but then note the warning on that page about future updates and may need to run Host Refresh down the line (not a big deal if your own accessible machine).
 
I'd like to add another one:

After Windows setup, when installing drivers and programs Windows creates restore points which takes up a lot of drive space.

When the drive is not formatted, the Windows setup doesn't remove previous restore points.
 
I was excited because I thought that kasual had found the problem. But the OP is saying that his Windows install is larger when the drivers were folded into the build using NTLite. If Restore Points were the problem, then the 2nd experiment, where the drivers were added after install, should be larger.

In any event, ccleaner can remove restore points. So that would be one test to find out if Restore points are the problem.

Given that the size of the OP's partition seems smallish already, I wonder if Windows decided that there's no enough room for hibernation file or other cache files during a normal install? I have set my NTLite to disable the Hibernation file on install. If I forget that step, then the installation is super large.

A screen shot of the OP's partition using SpaceMonger (or the other color coded space finder utility) would be helpful to see what's taking up the space.
 
Guys, excuse me for the delay in answering.

The difference was quite large, 20 to 30gb difference.

I am creating a new iso of LTSB and I will check if it happens again.
 
Ah. Glad you found it.

I usually install large drivers (like the Nvidia) after installation. Too much stuff going on with it. (And you know about the new Nvidia Telemetry junk, right?)
 
@akynxs,
Yeah I should add a driver version filtering on the Drivers page, an option to easily trim the older drivers and integrate only the newest.
For now please do it manually, select duplicates if any and remove them from the list before Applying.

Also the latest Nvidia drivers (397+) might be doing the cleanup for you, just make sure to choose Custom - Clean install checkbox when installing it.
Then the newest driver will only remain.

Thanks for the feedback.
 
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