Windows 7 Lite Builds - SFT

Zidane24 · 12 Nov 2009

gregrocker said:

I spent all last winter vLiting Win7 to see if it could run faster on old boxes with 528 ram and low CPU.

What I found is that there is no appreciable difference in bare bones Vliting than Basic or Ultimate. Low ram or video shuts down aero by default so that is handled. Then the services which are normally shutable - security center, defender, firewall, updates, etc - simply do not yield back enough performance gains to do without them. They are infinitely more optimized in Win7 than Vista.

The only way I made appreciable gains at recovering RAM is to cut down my gadgets and strip my AV down to Avast, run with Defender and Win Firewall.

This was hard to swallow, but it represented dozens of vLite attempts and successes, and every possible service config: Vlite to the bones, Basic, Starter - the only need is to get it on a netbook. Ultimate will default as low as any other when on 528 ram, low CPU.

That is the story of ZLite...I made build after build...but none of the builds felt better than a clean install...

SausageHacker · 12 Nov 2009

7Slimmer (currently 0.2) seeks to bring W7 to the smallest size while preserving the most functionality. I am aware that slim installs have limitations- my network printer will not work at all- and add + remove Windows components usually will not work.

Because of these obstacles, my new direction is towards an optimized, rather then stripped down, installation. The ideal image is x64, EN-only, Home Premium, no Speech, Tablet PC, Media Center, etc. Basically the huge things are taken out and that's it. Services are are tweaked up... many programs like WinRAR and MS Office are pre-installed. The ISO size is irrelevant, because functionality and universal support is the main focus. On the other hand, this 'ideal' build is faster and lighter than a stock W7. The ISO may be same, or even greater, than original, based on what programs you pre integrate.

I recognize that many people still want a reallllly small x86-64 install, and I will branch 7Slimmer to fit both categories.

cruzer · 28 Dec 2009

SausageHacker,
Regarding the "ideal" setup using 7slimmer that you mentioned, do you have any specs on average performance improvements vs. standard install that could be expected? For example what is the idle RAM usage after the initial install?
Thanks.

Zidane24 · 28 Dec 2009

cruzer said:

SausageHacker,
Regarding the "ideal" setup using 7slimmer that you mentioned, do you have any specs on average performance improvements vs. standard install that could be expected? For example what is the idle RAM usage after the initial install?
Thanks.

If I may...I might recommend that you take this post over to the MSFN forums (under the vLite section) as SausageHacker and all the other people involved in the "7Lite" scene are working on it there...

This should guarantee that you get a response from him...

Type in vLite and MSFN into Google...it is a series of links afterwards

logicearth · 28 Dec 2009

cruzer said:

what is the idle RAM usage after the initial install?
Thanks.

What is the idle RAM usage? Well I can tell you that is meaningless. Idle RAM usage is just that, IDLE it is of no concern.

Zidane24 · 28 Dec 2009

logicearth said:

cruzer said:

what is the idle RAM usage after the initial install?
Thanks.

What is the idle RAM usage? Well I can tell you that is meaningless. Idle RAM usage is just that, IDLE it is of no concern.

+1 to logic...the days of conserving RAM and the myth behind it are over

SausageHacker · 29 Dec 2009

No problem I'm still here

In regards to RAM usage, I have gotten usually a lower impact on the slimmed installs. This is because many hooks are removed, and more services are gone (I have gotten 140 MB one time :P)

However, like other people have said, idle RAM is almost irrelevant unless your computer is pre-2k. In fact, the more RAM is allocated, the faster and 'snappier' the computer will feel when you want to access a program. As long as you have 1 GB or more of DDR or higher RAM, don't worry.

The main goal of this project is most likely to lighten the load on the hard drive, as well as installation media. (Actually, I almost always implement a ton of reg tweaks so that after I install, my performance is maxed out.)

yro · 30 Dec 2009

Hellow guys, whats up?

(sorry about my english here. im not too good with this language and i dont like to goggle the words. try to read it with care).

I made an windows 7 ultimate x86 lite edition with vlite (only vlite) and i have an iso with 1.3gb.

The OS is running faster than the original one.

I remove some features, i disable some services and, after installation, i made some tweaks.

The OS is running faster and using less ram and less cpu.

I can not upload the ISO (internet sux here). So tell me. How can I show you my job? I wanna show it for the people who like vlited editions and show how it can be simple with some cautions.

chrysalis · 30 Dec 2009

I plan to do a custom installation disc but wont use the same approach as I did with XP.

XP I used to integrate hotfixes, drivers and remove a few features.

With windows 7 I will just integrate my reg tweaks, integrate sysinternal and nirsoft apps, gpuz and cpuz. Then leave it at that.

SIW2 · 30 Dec 2009

Post up the .ini file

yro said:

Hellow guys, whats up?

(sorry about my english here. im not too good with this language and i dont like to goggle the words. try to read it with care).

I made an windows 7 ultimate x86 lite edition with vlite (only vlite) and i have an iso with 1.3gb.

The OS is running faster than the original one.

I remove some features, i disable some services and, after installation, i made some tweaks.

The OS is running faster and using less ram and less cpu.

I can not upload the ISO (internet sux here). So tell me. How can I show you my job? I wanna show it for the people who like vlited editions and show how it can be simple with some cautions.