Trimming down W7HPx64 with RT7lite and DISM

[CSSguru]

Hi,

NB: This is not a thread discussing or advocating piracy or illegal actions, though it may initially appear so. Quite the opposite in fact.

I recently installed Tiny7, a stripped-down version of Windows 7 Ultimate x86. Turns out it allows me to run games at significantly greater frame-rates than my normal Win 7 Pro x64 install. However, it has several drawbacks:

1) I don't actually own a Win 7 Ultimate license. I do own a Win 7 Pro x64 license and a Win 7 Home Premium x64 license, however.

2) It comes from da interwebz, so could conceivably contain hidden nasties.

3) It doesn't seem to be compatible with quite a few of the updates available through Windows Updates, such as Internet Explorer 9

4) It's 32-bit, which renders much of my 8GB RAM on my Mac mini and much of the 6GB of RAM on my Mac Pro useless.

As a result, I've decided I'd like to create my own "Tiny7" using 64-bit copies of Windows for which I own legitimate and genuine keys. I'll need some help, though…

I have the list of changes made by the original Tiny7 "creator":

REMOVED ITEMS PART 1/3:
DISM

With DISM the following packages were REMOVED:

Hyper V Common Drivers, Hyper V Guest Integration Drivers, Anytime
Upgrade Results, Backup, BLB Client, Business Scanning Feature,
Clips In The Library, Client Wired Network Drivers, Common Modem
Drivers, Printer Drivers, Tuner Drivers, Win Ocr, Gadget Platform,
Group Policy Client Extensions, IIS Web Server Add On, IIS Web
Server Add On 2, Indexing Service, IE Troubleshooters, Links,
LocalPack AU/CA/GB/ZA/US, Mobile PC Client Sensors, Optical Media
Disc, PeerDist Client, Printing XPS Services, RasCMAK, RecDisc SDP,
Sample Content Ringtones, Secure Startup, ShareMedia Control Panel,
Shell HomeGroup, Shell Inbox Games, Sidebar Killbits SDP, Snipping
Tool, Sticky Notes, Terminal Services Command Line Tools, Terminal
Services Misc Redirection, Terminal Services Publishing WMI Provider,
Terminal Services Remote Applications Client, Terminal Services USB
Redirector, Terminal Services WMI Provider, Windows Media Player
Troubleshooters, WMP Network Sharing Service, XPS Foundation Client,
Networking MPSSVC Rules Ultimate Edition.

___________________________________

REMOVED ITEMS PART 2/3:

DELETED DIRECTLY FROM MOUNTED IMAGE:

About 550Mb was removed from:
Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\

About 585Mb was removed from:
Windows\winsxs\

These items were: Printer Drivers, Modem Drivers and Camera Drivers.

Other miscellaneous items were removed like the contents of the
Recovery folder and certain folders from the Web folder.

___________________________________

REMOVED ITEMS PART 3/3:
vLite

In vLite the following items were REMOVED:

(vLite "Last Session.ini" is included in the sources folder)

REMOVED - [Accessories]
Accessibility, Inbox Games, Premium Inbox Games, Mobility
Center, Speech Support, Windows Sidebar and Gadgets.

REMOVED - [Drivers]
Diva Server, Modems, Scanners, TV Tuners.

REMOVED - [Languages]
Chinese, Japanese, Korean.

REMOVED - [Multimedia]
Media Center, Music and Video samples, Sample Pictures,
Screensavers, SideShow, Sound Recorder, Windows Media
Codecs, Windows Media Player.

REMOVED - [Network]
Connect to a Network Projector, Internet Information
Services (IIS), Remote Desktop and Assistance, Remote
Desktop Client, Simple Network Management Protocol
(SNMP), Simple TCPIP services, Telnet Client, Telnet
Server, TFTP Client, Windows Collaboration, Windows
Mail.

REMOVED - [Services]
Diagnostics, Error Reporting, Offline Files, Remote Registry,
Routing and Remote Access, TPM Base Services, Windows Search.

REMOVED - [System]
BitLocker Drive Encryption, Crash Dump Support, Digital
Rights Management (DRM), Help, IMAPIv2 Burning Support,
Manual Install (Setup.exe), Microsoft Message Queue (MSMQ),
Natural Language, Parental Controls, Performance Counters,
Reliability and Performance Monitor, Remote Differential
Compression, Security Center, Software Quality Management
(SQM), Sync Center, System Restore, Tablet PC, Windows
Defender, Windows Easy Transfer, Windows SAT (Performance
Index).

I guess my first question is: can I use RT7lite instead of vLite? My second question is: can I combine this process with the slipstreaming of as many updates as possible (≥ SP1)?

Ta

 

[logicearth]

You are better off not doing this at all. Removing this stuff does not improve performance, the simple fact of having a clean install with no crapware is what allows it to perform better then a system that has been used and filled with crap.

 

[CSSguru]

You are better off not doing this at all. Removing this stuff does not improve performance, the simple fact of having a clean install with no crapware is what allows it to perform better then a system that has been used and filled with crap.

It's an interesting point, but I'm afraid it's off-topic. I'm happy to continue a discussion on your point in PMs, however. EDIT: I don't seem to have a PM capability. I would kindly ask you to refrain from posting in the same vein on this thread again, so as not to de-rail it further. Thanks

In the meantime, could respondents please assume that my initial assumption about this being a way to improve frame-rates is valid and correct, and direct themselves to helping with the two questions I posed?

Thanks

 

[gregrocker]

We do not provide the answers you instruct. Others will be finding this thread by the thousands and we are not going to let Worst Practices prevail or even get a toehold at the top tech site on the web. Even apart from whether this "Tiny7" is an illegal bootleg, Win7 doesn't need trimming to begin with when run on adequate hardware. There is no performance to be clawed back.

We were all over Vliting Win7 beta with fat Vista fresh in our minds and learned exactly what it can yield which is zilch. It's not needed with a featherlight OS which already has turned off all Services not absolutely needed at boot, set on Manual Fast Triggers which is the genius of Win7. Every attempt caused cascading unintended consequences.

If you've found a specific need for 7liting which works for you, then it requires a resulting OS which can be activated and will Update including SP's. Let us know your progress.

Most important of all as logic has it you need a perfect Win7 install. The steps based on thousands of installs we've helped with here are in Clean Reinstall. Obviously you'd first want more than adequate hardware for your needs.

 

[WindowsStar]

We do not provide the answers you instruct. Others will be finding this thread by the thousands and we are not going to let Worst Practices prevail or even get a toehold at the top tech site on the web. Even apart from whether this "Tiny7" is an illegal bootleg, Win7 doesn't need trimming to begin with when run on adequate hardware. There is no performance to be clawed back.

We were all over Vliting Win7 beta with fat Vista fresh in our minds and learned exactly what it can yield which is zilch. It's not needed with a featherlight OS which already has turned off all Services not absolutely needed at boot, set on Manual Fast Triggers which is the genius of Win7. Every attempt caused cascading unintended consequences.

If you've found a specific need for 7liting which works for you, then it requires a resulting OS which can be activated and will Update including SP's. Let us know your progress.

Most important of all as logic has it you need a perfect Win7 install. The steps based on thousands of installs we've helped with here are in Clean Reinstall. Obviously you'd first want more than adequate hardware for your needs.

+1

 

[CSSguru]

*sigh*

Others will be finding this thread by the thousands and we are not going to let Worst Practices prevail

It's a sad fact that "best practices" are so often defended with attitudes that follow a far less stringent code.

Try to propagate more than just best computing practices, my friend. Try to propagate decent attitudes. The latter is far, far more valuable.

Well, this is obviously a dead thread. I'll accept that you've taken a dislike to something, and move along. Peace.

 

[gregrocker]

Curt dismissals while insisting we pretend your assumptions are valid are not the normal discourse here.

My points were made with a completely neutral attitude and matters of fact.

The thread is not necessarily dead. Others may have opinions on the subject at hand.