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micnolmad

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Hello

I am on windows 10 home oem. That is my license. I have bought it my self and build my pc my self. The oem is not from any brand or company.

My goal is to strip my windows of pretty much everything not needed for gaming since I run linux for everything else.

What I need to know is
Can
  • windows update be completely removed so the OS stays in what ever state it is in at any given time
  • Edge be removed
  • xbox stuff
  • ntlite remove stuff from that winsxs folder that is ungodly huge for no reason
  • I do these things to my oem iso so I do a clean install?
  • windows even be used nowadays without anything we remove getting back via installs? Say I remove WU but want to install an update for like directx or .net will those installers just reinstall WU?
By removed I DO mean removed. not just hidden away. I want the actual files, reg keys, services, what ever else m$ puts in to stay out. Is that what ntlite does or are things just disabled, hidden away, locked behind permissions and so on?
 
While NTLite removes many Windows components, some may be restored when a Monthly CU is applied (because Windows is updating those same components). If the Monthly CU (or any updates) is no longer a concern, then several things are possible:

- Windows Update and its related components may be removed
- WinSxS may be removed (at the loss of not being able to run "sfc /scannow" to repair Windows file corruption)

This is an one-way trip, in order to maximize removed on-disk space. Your only recovery methods are either a full image restore from backups, or another clean install.

Edge and Xbox components may be removed by a licensed copy of NTLite.

DirectX updates for W10 are done, but if you're using .NET 6+ there's still updates that can be applied. .NET 5 is EOL'ed for updating. Considering W10 is near EOL, it's possible to create a static install image which has the last known updates, and forego any WU activity.

With WU disabled, Defender won't auto-update itself.

Using NTLite, you have the option to disable Services, change reg keys, or just completely remove a component so none of the related Services or reg keys appear in the system.
 
micnolmad said:
Hello

I am on windows 10 home oem. That is my license. I have bought it my self and build my pc my self. The oem is not from any brand or company.

My goal is to strip my windows of pretty much everything not needed for gaming since I run linux for everything else.

What I need to know is
Can
  • windows update be completely removed so the OS stays in what ever state it is in at any given time
  • Edge be removed
  • xbox stuff
  • ntlite remove stuff from that winsxs folder that is ungodly huge for no reason
  • I do these things to my oem iso so I do a clean install?
  • windows even be used nowadays without anything we remove getting back via installs? Say I remove WU but want to install an update for like directx or .net will those installers just reinstall WU?
By removed I DO mean removed. not just hidden away. I want the actual files, reg keys, services, what ever else m$ puts in to stay out. Is that what ntlite does or are things just disabled, hidden away, locked behind permissions and so on?
Click to expand...
Yes. Besides what garlin already stated, reiterating a few things from a different angle:

- you can check the tool's capabilities in the free version.
- components listed are removed, not just disabled.
For disabling, there are some Settings options on that page after loading an image.
- DirectX runtimes is independendent from WU, so you're good there. .NET integrate/enable from the start, so no need to install it after.
- Also whenever updating, tweak the ISO to your liking.
To update the host without using Windows Update or updates, you can use Host refresh (in-place upgrade to the same updated ISO).
Make sure to keep Host Refresh compatibility option enabled on the image that is being used for that purpose.
 
Thank you both very much for such a these days very competent and on the point answer.

Garlin, I grew up with ms-dos, when we had 98 and I got familiar with it and started tinkering, installing it became an almost daily affair ;)
The one-way trip is part of using windows until I get it to the state I want, kinda so that is actually what I am looking for. Since it will only be used for gaming, backups and all that is useless to me.
 
micnolmad said:
Hello

I am on windows 10 home oem. That is my license. I have bought it my self and build my pc my self. The oem is not from any brand or company.

My goal is to strip my windows of pretty much everything not needed for gaming since I run linux for everything else.

What I need to know is
Can
  • windows update be completely removed so the OS stays in what ever state it is in at any given time
  • Edge be removed
  • xbox stuff
  • ntlite remove stuff from that winsxs folder that is ungodly huge for no reason
  • I do these things to my oem iso so I do a clean install?
  • windows even be used nowadays without anything we remove getting back via installs? Say I remove WU but want to install an update for like directx or .net will those installers just reinstall WU?
By removed I DO mean removed. not just hidden away. I want the actual files, reg keys, services, what ever else m$ puts in to stay out. Is that what ntlite does or are things just disabled, hidden away, locked behind permissions and so on?
Click to expand...
I am expressing my opinions below as a customer of NTLite, a Windows and Linux system admin, and a gamer:

1) Removing Windows Update and not getting monthly CU is an excellent way of getting hacked without you even knowing it. My Debian server has seen an absurd number of unpatched zombies trying to hack in via ssh every day, all blocked by my firewall. I am afraid there would be one more zombie.

2) Edge and Xbox can be removed completely. But you say you use your PC for gaming, so what's the point of removing Xbox? Are you planning to not play Xbox-exclusive games and launches? Or just exclusive to Steam of Epic?

3) The WinSxS folder is not huge by any means (mine is just 14GB). In fact, my initial Windows installation, together with MS Office and all updated apps, consumes about 30GB of space after installation, which is less than one single game (such as Monster Hunter Rise (34GB), Nier Automata (40GB), The Witcher 3 (56GB), Cyberpunk 2077 (84GB) etc).

4) If you remove Windows Update and other built-in stuff, and you encounter issues, then the only way is to re-install, or Host Refresh via NTLite (which I consider just an "in-place upgrade" re-install with the custom ISO).

5) When a Windows component or software expects something and cannot find it during installation, the installation fails, often with cryptic errors. Just check this forum for those troubleshooting questions after people mess up (example 1 and 2).

6) I do not think Windows 10 needs to separately install DirectX or .NET for playing games. I am not exactly sure since I am on Windows 11.

So, my suggestion, as always, is to start conservatively rather than aggressively removing many components. Remove some components, save the preset, tests. Then remove some more, save the preset, and tests. Then remove further, save the preset, and tests. When you encounter issues, you always have your last workable preset standby.
 
I guess what's not always posted on threads like this:
- What is your technical background, do you understand what happens for specific Windows actions?​
- Will this image be your only Windows desktop, or you have another PC or dual-boot for daily use?​
- More importantly, do you mind making several experiments to get it "perfect"?​

If you don't fall into those categories, then removing WU and WinSxS isn't recommended.

Especially if you will end up asking non-stop questions on how to repair your installation. But I think some of these are fine, if you know what to expect before attempting them. But usually those are the last steps in a project after you figured out the other components.
 
Reporting back, from the grave :)

First of, thank you very much for your input guys.
I am still on the free version and I just want to confirm, for removing winsxs and some components I have to have the paid home version, correct? This is not on the deployed windows but iso. Or can winsxs only be removed once windows is installed?

@Annie
Thanks and you are right, these statements are your opinion and rightly so. I do agree with you that my goal is absolutely NOT recommended for the average home pc. That would reckless and just asking for trouble.

Just for clarification, my winsxs was 24gb of a 60gb ssd with appdata caches over 10gb. My drive was between 49 and 58gb even if I ran what ever cleanup I could dig up, manually deleting shader caches and what ever else years old crap leftover. I was using mklink or what ever that cmd was named to route as much cache data to my hdds but still, winsxs was the thorn in my sdds side. If ms would make it easy to have cache, tmp data on a separate drive I wouldn't ntlite, nowadays not so much with telemetry. That needs to go ASAP.

As I stated in my OP I am mostly on linux, so I don't care about my windows safety. It's solely for playing the games I can't run in linux, which frankly is almost all of them.

I want windows to be in an almost immutable state, used only, exclusively for gaming. I have zero need to protection against hacking, malware ect. Since 1999, when I got my first pc, I have only once had a virus on a windows machine. I can confidently say that my habits have kept my pc safe enough. Should I get so unlucky to get "hacked" you probably mean get a virus, I can simply put in my usb flash drive and do a clean install, after checking for outside OS viruses ofc.
 
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