Updating Windows 10 without removed components

bird

New Member
Hello,

Due to the impending end of support for Windows 7, I am currently testing a slimmed down version of Windows 10 Enterprise, without certain apps such as Microsoft Edge and Windows Defender Antivirus (the latter will be replaced by a third-party alternative). The main reason for using the standard Enterprise version is because of Office 365 and some features that I cannot find in the LTSC branch.

I wish to ask how I can keep Windows 10 Enterprise up to date, without reintroducing the apps that I have removed with the original? Among the apps that I have removed include Microsoft Edge, but some updates, such as KB4517389, reinstalls the apps that I have removed. I discovered the problem when using Windows Update MiniTool, and I do not think that the MiniTool is responsible, as you will see below.

What I tried via NTLite:

Host Refresh route
  1. Go to the “Source” section, and load a live installation of Windows 10 Enterprise.
  2. Click “Host Refresh”, load the unedited image that I used to create the original installation image, and load the original preset that I used to create the image.
  3. Click “OK” and allow NTLite to load the unedited image.
  4. Go to the “Update” section, then download and enqueue the KB4517389, KB4521863, KB4516115, KB4515871 and KB4497165 updates.
  5. Go to the “Apply” section, then proceed to start the Host Refresh.
The refresh fails with the message “An unknown command-line option [/Auto] was specified”. When trying to run the Host Refresh image manually, setup offers to completely replace the installation (and move the old files to “Windows.old”), which I think is unnecessary.

Install Updates route
  1. Click “Install Updates”.
  2. Go to the “Source” section, and load a live installation of Windows 10 Enterprise, and the original preset that I used to create the image.
  3. Go to the “Update” section, then download and enqueue the KB4517389, KB4521863, KB4516115, KB4515871 and KB4497165 updates.
  4. Go to the “Apply” section, then proceed to apply the updates.
  5. Reboot the computer.
This route causes Microsoft Edge to be reinstalled, and also replace Firefox as the default browser.

Install Updates route, extended
  1. Go to the “Source” section, and load a live installation of Windows 10 Enterprise, and the original preset that I used to create the image.
  2. Go to the “Apply” section, then proceed to run the live installation through the original preset.
  3. Reboot the computer.
This causes the Start Menu to play up, showing two odd entries titled “ms-resource:AppName” and “ms-resource: DisplayName” (how do I switch off smilies for this post?).

At this point, I just gave up and posted a request for help on this.

Specs
  • Guest and Host: Windows 10 Enterprise (1903) x64 - Client 10.0.18362.239 (en-GB)
  • NTLite version: 1.8.0.7182
  • VMware version: 12.5.9 (7535481)
Preset file is available on request, but I don't know if the forum accepts redactions.
 
Last edited:
I'll never do such a thing again,the last Windows 10 (1809) update crashed me.
So share it with you.
If you have the same problem as me, I hope this can help you.
 
Last edited:
I am aware of the shambles that is the 1809 update. All I want to know is what the NTlite developers know about updating Windows 10 without removed components.
 
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