1025 replies to this topic

[alacran]

My dear alacrán, a misunderstanding again, this time on my part. it is not that I do not use the original isos as u and wimb indicated, I have been using and testing them for the past couple of weeks. the impression u get is due to my post-debloat and post-reduce attempts to "keep everytning together" working as usual, which leads me to add the dlls proper of any of my favorite apps that would not work otherwise. this of course alters the originality of the vhd as u conceive of it. among these files there might be one or some that services.msc relies on in order to work. and this possibility can be extended to who knows how many other cases - in my opinion, this is where the confusion lies. anyway, i'll try and do as u say, and keep a copy of a fresh debloated and reduced original for testing. i will also have to use the fresh editions of windebloat and winreduce, as everytime one comes in I always "amend" it with my scripts (still with the same intent as above only). from now on I will try the fresh editions without cnanges or additions. 

 

Wrong.

 

You have to make a fresh installed 10x64 2004 VHD, but WITHOUT apply Win_Debloat and Win_Reduce. And create a base WIM file of it. (10x64-Base.wim)

 

Latter you install that base WIM file into a new LZX compacted VHD (10-Test.vhd), and you make a copy of it (10-Test - copy.vhd), and you run the new versions of Win_Debloat and Win_Reduce (on 10-Test.vhd) to check how it works.  And every new Win_Debloat and Win_Reduce release, just delete 10-Test.vhd, and make a new copy of 10-Test - copy.vhd and rename it to 10-Test.vhd, where you will run this new released versions of Win_Debloat and Win_Reduce, this way you are always running your test in a fresh just installed version.

 

I suggest to Keep Win_Debloat as it is released, but in Win_Reduce you can edit the Custom_Command.cmd and add only the two lines related to XXX user, and keep this CMD file to copy to every new version of Win_Reduce, until a future new updated version of that file becomes available.

 

This way all our test will be consistent and we will be able to reproduce each other findings.

 

And for now I suggest you keep your VHD used for every day tasks, to your last known good version, and don't introduce changes to it inmediatelly, better wait some reasonable time until all this new and possible future changes and features added are fully tested and confirmed to work fine in all of our 3 scenarios (yours, wimb's and mine), maybe twice a year is a good time as Win updates.

 

Of course if you are interested in testing also Win11 you can do same thing.

 

alacran

[antonino61]

thank u ever so much for the tips - very helpful and insightful. now, in order for me to get my head together, though (the base copy to consider for every test I have understood it to be 10-test - copy.vhd, to be copied to a fresh 10-test.vhd every time a new version comes in), can I skip the wim stage and shrink the first 10-test.vhd by compact /c /s /a /i /exe:lzx "i:\*"? I have found no better coimpression than this, but if u say it is important to shrink it by vhd_wimboot and obtain a wim file, i will do so.

 

btw, when I say 10-test.vhd, I mean with all drivers set up. is that correct or shall I not install anything?

[alacran]

Better do it with VHD_Wimboot from the first installed VHD to be consistent with the way wimb and myself do it, and install it now LZX Compacted, you have to do it only once. And latter just keep a copy of the newly installed VHD made by VHD_Wimboot, (before running the first test), that you can re-copy and rename (if required) after deleting the previous version used in previous test, and then no need to re-apply it every time you will run a new test.

 

EDIT: Also it may be easier if you keep the copy with its original name in a separate folder, and when needed just re-copy it back to previous location overwriting previous version.

 

And this way we can make the best possible comparatives of the results.

 

alacran

[antonino61]

1) ok for lzx.

btw, do u guys have the suspicion that if something goes wrong, it is due to some file or folder being unduly compressed? 

 

2) answer to what u consider the final base 10-test.vhd (all drivers installed and/or what else / what not) still pending.

[alacran]

There is nothing pending see following quote from this post:

 

 

So your configuration is different ....  It seems I read this several times before.

 

No matter how many times you repeat fresh installed, only with default Win video driver, there is always some mess with his own specific preferences/changes, hardware drivers and favorite programs and games installed, etc.

 

@ antonino61

 

The main idea of this topic is to think in general use, applicable to any user of a fresh installed OS.

 

I really can't understand how difficult is for you to have a Win 10 2004 SEPARATE VHD (you could name it 10-Test.vhd) fresh installed, only with default Win video driver, no Pagefile or Hibernation, to only run and test Win_Debloat and Win_Reduce_Trusted and don't use it for every day use, or add anything else, to avoid confusions and wasted time. I think a 5 years kid can understand this.

 

alacran

 

If other drivers are not mentioned is because they are not required, let Win10 use its own internal drivers, for this testing environment STOP thinking in your own personal hardware and start thinking in general use.
 

alacran

[antonino61]

do u mean to leave all yellow question marks on my device manager panel, most of which concerning cpu and chipset and peripherals? I will do as u say if u say so. there is more to it than just the nvidia/basic display adapter dilemma (many items on the end of install stage here stay uninstalled, at least judging from the question marks). shall I not care about it? less work for me. 

[alacran]

For testing pourposes it is fine as it is, it is the way my testing VHD is, I have 2 or 3 yellow question marks, but nothing vital as the OS into the VHD is able to boot fine.

 

The way Device manager panel looks now in your just installed VHD, is the way it would look on your PC, if you were booting from a USB device and the VHD was installed in any other PC, and like if you were using it as portable.

 

Of course if you want to conect to Internet to activate with your previous ID for long term use (not just for quick testing pourposes), your will need to install the drivers for yor internal devices, to let your PC to be recognized as same ID.

 

Better disconect, shut off or ignore all peripherals, anyway if you prefer to install ChipSet and all other internal drivers it is up to you, but keep default Win video driver.

 

alacran

[antonino61]

ok I will install all but video driver

 

now one glitch concerning custom_command.cmd 

 

it will no longer delete subfolders, never mind zerobying.

 

I will now try your original version with rmdir and createnew listed

 

and see what I can do (safe to replace, I mean).

[alacran]

now one glitch concerning custom_command.cmd

 

It is working fine here, remember it is part of Win_Reduce_Trusted and that program is for offline reduce an attached VHD.

 

Only add the 2 lines related to XXX user, replacing XXX with the user name in your VHD. Do not add any other additional lines.

 

alacran

[antonino61]

???? 

I have added about a 100 and it worked until yesterday,

wonderful automation

of course I am sure of what to take out.

why just 2 lines

it it is 2 lines only I will do it manually.

[alacran]

 

why just 2 lines

 

Don't you remember the starting idea is testing the wimb's programs as they are?

 

Of curse you are free to do whatever you want. (As you usually do).

 

But if you can't follow instructions, I'm not going to waste my time anymore.

 

alacran

[antonino61]

sorry, I thought u meant the program did not take any more entries, not that I had to do it 2 by 2 to suit ur way of going about. no prob, I will do as u say, for ur tests.

[alacran]

JFYI

 

 

Update Download:  from wimb GitHub  -    Win_Debloat-41  and  Win_Reduce_Trusted-61

 

- Win_Reduce - Added Remote Regedit as Tool for Mini 10/11 VHD developed by alacran

 

Your TK_Remote_Regedit.reg does not make the entries in the Registry.

 

I made some modifications to Run Remote Regedit tool as TI from your VHD post:

 

 

EDIT: Added a new TI link, added new Remove_Remote_Regedit.reg, edited README_FIRST.txt file to include changes, and Remote_Regedit.reg was edited trying to make it more compatible with Win_Reduce_Trusted program made by wimb.

 

The idea was to make the REG file more look alike to the \Win_Reduce_Trusted-61\Win_Reduce\Add_Registry\TK_Photo_UserChoice.reg file.

 

Then I tested using the following content into the TK_Remote_Regedit.reg:

Spoiler

 

 

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\TK_SOFTWARE\Paraglider]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\TK_SOFTWARE\Paraglider\Runscanner]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\TK_SOFTWARE\Paraglider\Runscanner\Regedit.exe]
"HKCU"="Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Applets\\Regedit"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\TK_SOFTWARE\Classes\exefile\shell\Run with Runscanner 2\command]
@=hex(2):22,00,25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,\
  00,25,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,52,00,\
  75,00,6e,00,73,00,63,00,61,00,6e,00,6e,00,65,00,72,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,\
  00,22,00,20,00,2f,00,74,00,20,00,30,00,20,00,2f,00,73,00,64,00,20,00,2f,00,\
  61,00,63,00,20,00,2f,00,6d,00,2b,00,20,00,2f,00,79,00,20,00,20,00,22,00,25,\
  00,31,00,22,00,00,00
 

 

 

It didn't work and the Keys were not created into the VHD Registry.

 

But I noticed that no matter those Keys are not in the Registry, Remote Regedit and Remote Regedit TI links work fine and are capable to offline load the selected Registry.

 

So I start thinking it is very possible we can omit the changes in the Registry of our VHDs, as so far Remote_Regedit seems to be working fine here without the changes, of course this could need a few more tests.

 

alacran

[wimb]

Your TK_Remote_Regedit.reg does not make the entries in the Registry.

 

I made some modifications to Run Remote Regedit tool as TI from your VHD post:

 

 

Thanks and OK, I will implement the changes

[wimb]

Update VHD_WIMBOOT_Trusted-66  and UEFI_MULTI-63

 

Download:  from wimb GitHub  -   VHD_WIMBOOT_Trusted-65

 

Download File E = Encrypted PassWord = bootwimb

 

Update Manual:   VHD_WIMBOOT.pdf

 

- Changes are needed to make correct the Boot Entry for WinPE WIM Applied Flat in VHD when WinPE is made from Microsoft ADK

 

In case WinPE is made from ADK then the earlier for 10XPE used tagfile \sources\recovery\RecEnv.exe does not exist so that we need another way to detect WinPE

 

Detect WinPE made from ADK or 10XPE by Reading HKLM\SYSTEM\Setup key from Registry

 

SystemSetupInProgress = 1 corresponds to WinPE

SystemSetupInProgress = 0 corresponds to Normal Installation

[wimb]

It didn't work and the Keys were not created into the VHD Registry.

 

But I noticed that no matter those Keys are not in the Registry, Remote Regedit and Remote Regedit TI links work fine and are capable to offline load the selected Registry.

 

So I start thinking it is very possible we can omit the changes in the Registry of our VHDs, as so far Remote_Regedit seems to be working fine here without the changes, of course this could need a few more tests.

 

 

I can confirm that indeed the keys are Not created with old or new version and that Remote Regedit seems to be working fine without the Registry entries for Remote Regedit.

[wimb]

I can confirm that indeed the keys are Not created with old or new version and that Remote Regedit seems to be working fine without the Registry entries for Remote Regedit.

 

Update Download:  from wimb GitHub  -    Win_Reduce_Trusted-61

 

Issue is solved. In File_List folder there is file Add_Registry_files.txt that controls which .reg files are Added to Registry of Mini-10x64.vhd

 

\Add_Registry\TK_Remote_Regedit.reg was not yet on the List and so it was not processed !!   But now it works. Thanks alacran for reporting the issue.

 

Add_Registry_files.txt

; Adjust to your needs - Only rules with leading backslash and ending with .reg are used - Wildcards like * and ? are Not allowed
;
; Fix Win10x64 Registry for using external VLC Player on location Y:\VLC\vlc.exe
;
\Add_Registry\TK_VLC_Fix_Y.reg
\Add_Registry\TK_Photo_UserChoice.reg
\Add_Registry\TK_Remote_Regedit.reg
; \Add_Registry\TK_Wub_Fix.reg
 

[antonino61]

gee. now I know why alacrán was at pains trying to understand me when I talked about other hardware. I was referring to windows 11, and did not remember win10 not showing any question mark in device manager, as it has found everything at the end of install. I took good care not to install nvidia (left basic display). now setting out to do as I was told last night. so, in a bit.

 

1) I now have 10x64-Base.wim: 4gb

2) I now have 10-Test.vhd: 4.8gb used space

3) I now have its copy too

4) just debloated (svbus automatically installed properly)

5) just reduced (1.5gb)

6) well, I could never imagine how beautiful it was to see all configured stuff on desktop (some I would not use, but the majority are very handy indeeed!!!) 

7) now I would like to know for the first time, where I can go from here in order to make my favorite stuff work.

8) Attaboy alacrán!!!

[wimb]

What you should do after booting with your 10-Test.vhd then use WinNTSetup to Export your Non-Microsoft drivers

 

 

- In WinNTSetup > Local Windows Installations > Drivers > Export Drivers folder of your Fresh Installed Win10_21H2_x64

 

Accordinfg to VHD_WIMBOOT PDF Manual use WinNTSetup to Export your Drivers so that you can use that Drivers folder next time in WinNTSetup - See also

 

 

1. Disconnect Internet LAN Ethernet cable - Start up with Windows 10 x64 Or 10XPE and Start WinNTSetup x64 - Load WinNTSetup_Inst-10.ini

...

5. Select Unattended Install - Select unattend\Win7-10-Select.xml - Local Account Vx64W - Select to Add Drivers from earlier Export folder

 

 

== 

 

Quote from here:

 

 

My Fresh Installed Win 2004 x64 Captured and Applied by VHD_WIMBOOT in 7 GB VHD is always as spare copy available,

 

so that simply Copying 7 GB VHD gives me a Fresh and Clean Source VHD. It is done in less than 15 seconds ....

 

[antonino61]

it takes me about as much time to install anew, without the risk of burocratic (eg, oem16 instead of the oem17 expected) incompatibilities. thanx anyway. what really puzzles me is drive-y and the need of it.

[alacran]

Drive Y is a very small partition located outside of the VHD in our internal HD or removable USB device (2.4 GB in my case), it is LZX compressed (and its used size in my case is only 1.45 GB) where I have:

 

CCleaner Portable

FirefoxPortable

LibreOfficePortable

System_Info

TeamViewerPortable-15

VLC

And Portables folder, into it I have all my personal collection of portables.

 

Also PStart folder is into Y drive, it contains PStart.exe and PStart.xml, this XML file is something like a data base used by PStart.exe to list and to let run the portable programs I want to run, that can be located into any of the files in Y drive, and it is very useful.

 

Of course I also created in the VHD desktop, links to directly run CCleaner Portable, FirefoxPortable, TeamViewerPortable-15, and VLC.

 

EDIT: CCleaner Portable is not realy needed, (my Clean CMDs replaced it), but I have used it mainly during my tests to locate certain files that are now included in the Clean CMDs.

 

EDIT-2: Forgot to mention Drive.y file is also into drive Y, it is a tag file used by Set Drive-Y link on destop (that runs Documents\Utilities\Drive-Y\Drive-Y.cmd) to identify the drive and then set its drive letter as Y

 

alacran

[antonino61]

i have all portables located on a normal drive.

[alacran]

gee. now I know why alacrán was at pains trying to understand me when I talked about other hardware. I was referring to windows 11, and did not remember win10 not showing any question mark in device manager, as it has found everything at the end of install. I took good care not to install nvidia (left basic display). now setting out to do as I was told last night. so, in a bit.

 

1) I now have 10x64-Base.wim: 4gb

2) I now have 10-Test.vhd: 4.8gb used space

3) I now have its copy too

4) just debloated (svbus automatically installed properly)

5) just reduced (1.5gb)

6) well, I could never imagine how beautiful it was to see all configured stuff on desktop (some I would not use, but the majority are very handy indeeed!!!) 

7) now I would like to know for the first time, where I can go from here in order to make my favorite stuff work.

8) Attaboy alacrán!!!

 

I'm glad you finally followed the instructions to create a Mini-10x64.vhd (v2004).

 

As you mentioned SVBus driver installs very fine on a fresh (10 v2004) installation in VHD.

 

About your favorite stuff, keep it pending for now, as you really have your other VHD already configured to your preferences for the every day work, for now just think in use 10-Test.vhd for testing pourposes as there is still work in process to improve it.

 

alacran

[antonino61]

well, 10, not 11, but that was already discussed. 

now a caveat for all, I guess, there are still leftovers (I hope just leftovers) of edge in the registry, I am getting rid of them.

ok to improve it, always work in progress for 10-test.vhd

as for my favorite stuff (i do not consider my copy of 10-test-vhd closed to experimentation) there is some piece of software that does not work, but it is even better (found replacement).  

 

for the rest I am glad u r glad.

[antonino61]

well, after a day's testing (well, 2 half-days). in which I compared alacrán's way with mine, I do not see that much difference in size. yet, I will do as I pledged in the first place and follow alacrán and wimb's instructions at least as regards "general testing". what comes out from "private testing" which I consider helpful in a generalizing sense, I will submit to the attention of both of u. one thing I have come across that I wanna share with u concerned the failure of one of those programs that needs dll additions in system32: it crushed even with its dlls. so I sensed that something was funnily wrong, I remembered once using tweaking.com windows repair that made it magically work by re-registering the dlls (about 600 of them). so I decided to run my 

FOR %1 IN (*.DLL) DO REGSVR32 /S %1

from a windows\system32 command prompt. and the magic was done this time as well. now I do not know what the magic is about, but do u think this can be replicated to other cases, and in other folders (syswow64? to name 1) as well, so much so that it would be handy to include in debloater or in reducer as part of, say, alacrán's package?