WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha)

WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Tue 25 Dec 2012 - 11:28

REQUIREMENTS :
- Windows 8 (x32 or x64)
- All languages supported
- A genuine Windows 8 (x32 or x64) ISO
- Works with Windows 8, Windows 8 Professional and Windows 8 Enterprise
- All external software are present in the zip package, no need to download them but feel free to have a look on the "Read Me.pdf"

INSTRUCTIONS :
- Not working with Windows 7 or any previous version like Windows XP
- Not working if you're using spaces in the path folder
- Follow instructions on screen : Button "Open", Button "Mount", wait, choose components, button "Apply", wait, then Button "Save" in Wim or in an ISO
- More important instructions are in the "Read Me.pdf" file provided in the zip package

DOWNLOAD:

Direct Download Link

CHANGELOG :

* GENERAL
- Add a message when a new customized ISO has been created
- GUI Improvement ("Boot Background" move to “Customization - Appearance” tab)
- GUI Improvement ("Remove Windows PE" move to “Optimization”)
- Tip for "Network - Adobe Flash for Windows" : "Keep it if you plan to use IE10. You don't need it if you use Firefox or Chrome"
- Tip for "Accessories - Action Center" : "To keep Windows Activation GUI, select the according Preset"
- Tip for "Control Panel - Action Center CPL" : "To keep Windows Activation GUI, select the according Preset"
- Tip for "Control Panel - Performance Information and Tools" : "Break System Rating shortcut in System Control Panel"
- Tip for "Optimization - Clean Boot Wim" : "Remove all unnecessary components you selected to remove (especially Languages)"
- Tip for "Optimization - Remove Windows PE" : "Optimize Boot.wim size, delete Windows PE"
- Code Cleanup
- Update "Read Me.pdf" file to v1.01 (Add "Optimization Performance Tips" and Update "Instructions")

* COMPONENTS
- Accessories - Calculator
- Accessories - Notepad
- Control Panel - Biometrics
- Control Panel - History Vault
- Control Panel - Mobility Center
- Control Panel - Pen and Touch
- Control Panel - Personalization (Tips : "Also remove desktop context menu shortcut")
- Control Panel - Recovery
- Control Panel - Secure Startup
- Control Panel - Speech Recognition
- Control Panel - Storage Spaces
- Control Panel - Tablet PC Settings
- Control Panel - Taskbar Notification Icons Control Panel (Tips : "Break the shortcut in the taskbar")
- Control Panel - Troubleshooting
- Control Panel - Windows 7 File Recovery
- Control Panel - Windows Anytime Upgrade
- Control Panel - Windows Firewall
- Presets - VirtualBox
- Presets - VMware Player
- Unattended - Boot - Accept EULA
- Unattended - Boot - Skip Language
- Unattended - Boot - Skip Windows Operating System Image selection
- Unattended - Boot - Skip Serial Number
- Unattended - Windows - Accept EULA
- Unattended - Windows - Administrator Account (+ Password)
- Unattended - Windows - Auto Logon
- Unattended - Windows - Computer Name
- Unattended - Windows - Configure Windows Update
- Unattended - Windows - Hide Online Account
- Unattended - Windows - Hide Local Account
- Unattended - Windows - Hide Wireless Setup
- Unattended - Windows - Network Location
- Unattended - Windows - Screen Resolution
- Unattended - Windows - User Account (+ Password)
- Unattended - Windows - Work Group

* BUGS RESOLVED
- Appearance - Desktop Context Menu (Restart and Shutdown were not applied correctly)
- Multimedia - DVD-Video Playback (Breaks DirectShow filters like FFDshow)
- Presets - Protect Windows Activation GUI didn't work properly
- Resolve window “Sign In Background Colour” bug
- Resolve a bug when you want to exit and delete your ISO folder extracted by WinReducer
- Resolve a "Previous WCCF Loader" bug (= WinReducer Theme Pack was not loaded correctly)
- Resolve a x32 version bug (Administrator Rights are missing)

Cheers

Re: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Fri 28 Dec 2012 - 16:04

if all is working great this version will be released this Sunday ! cheers

Re: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Fri 28 Dec 2012 - 22:57

Great news
I wish u can fix windows search when removing natural languages in this version
1 request can u add an option to keep files like in vlite
to protect files from removing
thank you
waiting new version

Re: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sat 29 Dec 2012 - 1:23

ma7amad mash3al wrote:

Great news
I wish u can fix windows search when removing natural languages in this version
1 request can u add an option to keep files like in vlite
to protect files from removing
thank you
waiting new version

hi~~
why don't you remove natural languages use with vlite??? Surprised

Re: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sat 29 Dec 2012 - 13:35

As you could see many new components have been added and if there are no important bugs, it will be OK for tomorrow !

Re: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sat 29 Dec 2012 - 15:07

winterstorm2050 wrote:

As you could see many new components have been added and if there are no important bugs, it will be OK for tomorrow !

hi, i have a question.
in the list of new components to remove there are:
Control Panel - Speech Recognition, storage space, windows anytime etc etc
this means that 0.36 can remove all speech recognition components (gaining space on hd) or only the control panel entry?

thanks

Re: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sat 29 Dec 2012 - 15:12

Hi,

Only the control panel is removed ! (For the moment ... Wink

)

Re: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sat 29 Dec 2012 - 17:59

If you're using x32 version, please update to v0.36 (alpha) tomorrow to avoid trouble when mounting your customized ISO. See changelog for the bug.

Thanks.

Re: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sat 29 Dec 2012 - 18:32

nitchis wrote:

hi~~
why don't you remove natural languages use with vlite???

for windows 8 it vlite don't remove natural languages perfect there is some file left

Re: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sat 29 Dec 2012 - 21:15

I think I could tell you some new informations about v0.36.

I consider it as a stable release, even in alpha status, because most of the annoying bugs have been fixed, and "Presets" module works great.The new unattended module works perfectly so you could hope a complete transparent installation (except for format your drive during boot setup). It's not perfect but should be rock solid if you want to start customizing your ISO.

cheers

Re: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sat 29 Dec 2012 - 22:16

winterstorm2050 wrote:

I think I could tell you some new informations about v0.36.

I consider it as a stable release, even in alpha status, because most of the annoying bugs have been fixed, and "Presets" module works great.The new unattended module works perfectly so you could hope a complete transparent installation (except for format your drive during boot setup). It's not perfect but should be rock solid if you want to start customizing your ISO.

thanks again for your work! i consider also the 0.35 rock solid too! i made my custom iso and running on 4 pc without problems! Wink

Re: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sat 29 Dec 2012 - 22:20

You're welcome my friend ! Very Happy

Re: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sun 30 Dec 2012 - 10:48

v0.36 DOWNLOAD COUNTDOWN STARTED ! (see download link in the first post)

Re: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sun 30 Dec 2012 - 11:22

can't wait Very Happy

what about to add some new feature for unattended like skip oobe (i got this from my unattended.xml)

<RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
<Order>4</Order>
<Path>reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon" /v EnableFirstLogonAnimation /d 0 /t REG_DWORD /f</Path>
</RunSynchronousCommand>
<RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
<Order>5</Order>
<Path>reg add "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System" /v EnableFirstLogonAnimation /d 0 /t REG_DWORD /f</Path>
</RunSynchronousCommand>

and cleartype+skip start metro color background:

<FontSmoothing>ClearType</FontSmoothing>
<SystemDefaultBackgroundColor>12</SystemDefaultBackgroundColor>

and for clean option can i ask you to make a presets for VLK edition? i mean just to keep productkey.cfg

big thanks and congratulation for this amazing tool
i think that all people wanna shrink down this win8 iso, we are happy when we see new feature to remove lol!

Re: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sun 30 Dec 2012 - 11:48

infor wrote:

what about to add some new feature for unattended like skip oobe

Already done ! I'm planning many new unattended options (like IE,...)

infor wrote:

and cleartype+skip start metro color background:

Metro Color has already been added, I will add cleartype one.

infor wrote:

and for clean option can i ask you to make a presets for VLK edition? i mean just to keep productkey.cfg

You're right, I missed that, this will be added in v0.37.

infor wrote:

big thanks and congratulation for this amazing tool

You're welcome !

infor wrote:

i think that all people wanna shrink down this win8 iso, we are happy when we see new feature to remove

Re: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sun 30 Dec 2012 - 19:01

Less than 5 min.

GO GO GO !!! Very Happy

Re: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sun 30 Dec 2012 - 19:01

v0.36 IS AVAILABLE !

Re: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sun 30 Dec 2012 - 19:04

winterstorm2050 wrote:

v0.36 IS AVAILABLE !

thx

Re: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sun 30 Dec 2012 - 23:01

Thanks, Winter.
Will give it try.

Re: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sun 30 Dec 2012 - 23:03

You're welcome my friends !

Re: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sun 30 Dec 2012 - 23:13

Windows 8 of do you want to Live? I'm thinking, such as Winbulider or MultiPe.

I have Win8PE boot discs, but unfortunately the Russian language and slowly getting ready for the Hungarian translation.

I'm not satisfied with it, because it lacks the ModernUI interface, so I actually kind of like the windows7

Sorry my bad english Smile

Re: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Wed 2 Jan 2013 - 17:04

hi winreducer 8 0.36 now have all thing basic iso reducer requirement... i think now u have focus your eyes more on component remover ... basic aim of this software is reducing iso by remove component ....
cyclops

Re: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Tue 8 Jan 2013 - 7:26

Hi winterstorm2050 Wink

Thanks for your hard work at WinReducer. I've done a couple of runs with v0.36 and the results have been mostly positive. I've tried it with Enterprise and Pro ISO's with similar effect.

The Win8 Pro image I did my last session on is actually a converted Win8 Pro Upgrade image (I installed it into a VM and performed sysprep and then captured the VHD to convert the install.esd into an actual install.wim) because WinReducer of course can't work with the Upgrade images as they are contain the encrypted esd files.

However, I have found that WinReducer was not able to suppress or bypass the language selection during setup, even though I had indicated this in the unattend options, so I had to add the following into the autounattend.xml file:

Code:

        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <SetupUILanguage>
                <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
            </SetupUILanguage>
            <InputLocale>0409:00000409</InputLocale>
            <SystemLocale>en-US</SystemLocale>
            <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
            <UserLocale>en-US</UserLocale>
        </component>

That did the trick for me so now my install goes straight to drive selection in setup sunny

So perhaps you could look into this and implement it in future releases.

The last (sysprep'd) image of Win8 Pro had become 3.44gb (3.61xxxxgb), which is about 200mb larger than the Pro retail/vl download, but I think this may be because in sysprep I installed/enabled .NET Framework 3.5 so I won't have a need to install it after OS install. When I ran WinReducer on it (about 95 items total) I was able to get the ISO down to 2.66gb (2.799xxxxgb), so a good 800mb less in size.

I was able to reduce a bit more using vLite on Win7, but it allowed for Speech component removal and some other large things, but I think WinReducer will be able to do more in the future Wink

On one of my tests I found that integrating some Win8 updates via WinReducer made the final ISO a lot bigger, much more than I expected (like 600 or 700 mb). I'll test this again but for a moment it seemed like you had not programmed it to perform an export of the install.wim after integrating the updates, so that the /maximum compression switch was not applied, making the install.wim bigger than it needs to be. This may not be true, but just in case I thought I would mention it.

Thank you for you great project Laughing

Re: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Tue 8 Jan 2013 - 9:31

parapher wrote:

On one of my tests I found that integrating some Win8 updates via WinReducer made the final ISO a lot bigger, much more than I expected (like 600 or 700 mb).

Indeed, I also noticed this. To avoid that, I am integrating updates with KUC on the original files then I'm playing with WinReducer, the difference is noticeable.
note: KUC will also help you to get rid of the superseded updates providing you are not using windows updates.

Re: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Tue 8 Jan 2013 - 13:53

seiferflo wrote:

Indeed, I also noticed this. To avoid that, I am integrating updates with KUC on the original files then I'm playing with WinReducer, the difference is noticeable.
note: KUC will also help you to get rid of the superseded updates providing you are not using windows updates.

OK, so this may be the case then. Thanks for your reply. Just in case anyone doesn't know, after you commit/save an install.wim, you then need to export it to further reduce size. This example is from a batch script for Win7 which conveys the idea, which is to be applied after having committed/saved the install.wim previously:

Code:

/compress maximum /export d:\install.wim 1 c:\install_exported.wim "Windows 7 Professional"

EDIT: The Windows ADK (formerly WAIK) has some new commands for Dism, so the above export command with maximum compression would look something like this when used on a Pro image (with only 1 image index):

Code:

Dism /Export-Image /SourceImageFile:c:\install.wim /SourceIndex:1 /DestinationImageFile:c:\install_exported.wim /DestinationName:"Windows 8 Pro" /compress:maximum

Note that in this example I'm renaming the destination file so it won't conflict with the source install.wim. I haven't seen any replies from winterstorm2050 on this yet, so I really don't know how WinReducer handles update integration and if it exports/compresses the install.wim in the end. But just in case it doesn't, the ideal situation would be for WinReducer to mount the install.wim (as it does) and then after integrating updates to commit/save the install.wim to a different name (like: install_integrated.wim) and to then to the export command with compression and save it as 'install.wim' again. I'm sort of new to using Win8 and the ADK so I'm not sure exactly how Win8 behaves yet, so if WinReducer already does all this then please ignore my comments rabbit

But yeah the export with compression needs to be done as it is right in line with the whole WinReducer concept Wink

@seiferflo: I agree that it is probably safest to integrate the updates first to an image and then use WinReducer on it. Of course, whatever happens using WU from within the OS later remains to be seen, but from my experience with images on which I've used vLite, WU generally would not offer updates related to components that had been removed by vLite. Using Win7 images made via vLite I always keep a list of updates that cannot be integrated offline (because vLite removed the components needed for those updates). I'm imagining the same will be the case for images made by WinReducer, that not all updates will install because of missing components that it has removed. We might want to start a thread where people share their experience of which updates won't integrate for them.

Re: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Wed 9 Jan 2013 - 23:25

Yes WinReducer compress the image at the end of the process to save even more space !

The update integration is small and unfinished feature but I've slightly improved it in the v0.37, to avoid some integration problems on an untouched ISO.

Re: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Thu 10 Jan 2013 - 1:07

winterstorm2050 wrote:

Yes WinReducer compress the image at the end of the process to save even more space !

The update integration is small and unfinished feature but I've slightly improved it in the v0.37, to avoid some integration problems on an untouched ISO.

Thanks for the info, winterstorm!

I now think it's just the update integration making the images larger; I've been testing some more with integrating updates with Win8 and, yes, the install.wim's come out quite large even after exporting/compressing so I think it's normal.

Re: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Thu 10 Jan 2013 - 13:37

hello
I would like to ask you something: I reduced the image of my win8, but when I install it, the first thing it asks me to enter the serial for win 8: You can not delete this message?
I would like to insert it later, when the installation is complete
thanks

Re: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Thu 10 Jan 2013 - 14:52

Hi,
Is this message appear during the boot setup or at the end the installation ?
EDIT : you could read this : Link

Re: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Thu 10 Jan 2013 - 16:12

during boot setup, but i saw that if i don't touch the iso with winreducer, i haven't got this problem.

FORUM

WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30

descriptionWinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Tue 25 Dec 2012 - 11:28

descriptionRe: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Fri 28 Dec 2012 - 16:04

descriptionRe: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Fri 28 Dec 2012 - 22:57

descriptionRe: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sat 29 Dec 2012 - 1:23

descriptionRe: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sat 29 Dec 2012 - 13:35

descriptionRe: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sat 29 Dec 2012 - 15:07

descriptionRe: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sat 29 Dec 2012 - 15:12

descriptionRe: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sat 29 Dec 2012 - 17:59

descriptionRe: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sat 29 Dec 2012 - 18:32

descriptionRe: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sat 29 Dec 2012 - 21:15

descriptionRe: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sat 29 Dec 2012 - 22:16

descriptionRe: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sat 29 Dec 2012 - 22:20

descriptionRe: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sun 30 Dec 2012 - 10:48

descriptionRe: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sun 30 Dec 2012 - 11:22

descriptionRe: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sun 30 Dec 2012 - 11:48

descriptionRe: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sun 30 Dec 2012 - 19:01

descriptionRe: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sun 30 Dec 2012 - 19:01

descriptionRe: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sun 30 Dec 2012 - 19:04

descriptionRe: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sun 30 Dec 2012 - 23:01

descriptionRe: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sun 30 Dec 2012 - 23:03

descriptionRe: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Sun 30 Dec 2012 - 23:13

descriptionRe: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Wed 2 Jan 2013 - 17:04

descriptionRe: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Tue 8 Jan 2013 - 7:26

descriptionRe: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Tue 8 Jan 2013 - 9:31

descriptionRe: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Tue 8 Jan 2013 - 13:53

descriptionRe: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Wed 9 Jan 2013 - 23:25

descriptionRe: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Thu 10 Jan 2013 - 1:07

descriptionRe: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Thu 10 Jan 2013 - 13:37

descriptionRe: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Thu 10 Jan 2013 - 14:52

descriptionRe: WinReducer 8 - v0.36 (alpha) - 2012.12.30Thu 10 Jan 2013 - 16:12