How to create your windows xp. How to create your own build of Windows using NTLite

Helpful Hints

Instruction

Download the desired operating system image from the official Windows website or third-party resources that provide a licensed copy of the OS. Also place in a separate folder the drivers and programs necessary for inclusion in the assembly in the form of installation executable files.exe. Then unpack the downloaded XP image using any archiver program (for example, WinRAR). To do this, right-click on the image file and select "Extract to", then specify the folder to place the system installation files.

Download and install the nLite utility, which will allow you to add saved software packages to the system image. Installation is carried out in accordance with the instructions that will appear on the screen after the installation file is launched.

Run the installed nLite on your computer using the shortcut that appeared during the system installation. At startup, you will see a program window in which you will be prompted to select the interface language. After selecting the "Russian" option in the drop-down list, click "Next".

Select the directory where you have the unpacked operating system image and click Next. In the list of tasks proposed for system modification, select those that you want to perform in the process of working with the image. You can enable or disable the required options. For example, if you don't have a Service Pack installation file on your system or it's already included in your image, click on the appropriate item to deactivate it.

According to the on-screen instructions, add directories that store application and driver files on your computer. After the procedure is completed, click "Next" and import the remaining files, the addition of which you indicated in the section for selecting tasks for the program.

In the Components window, select the system options that you would like to remove from the XP installation. Each of the editable parameters can be in accordance with the comments that will be provided opposite each item on the right side of the program window. After selecting the desired data, click "Next" again.

In the Automation section, select settings to make the installation process more convenient. Here you can enter your activation key, choose the name of the future user and specify the network settings. You can also import theme packs and other components not included in the previous sections. Click "Next" and, if necessary, make the necessary registry settings and disable services that you do not need. After finishing the settings, click "Yes" to confirm the creation of a modified distribution.

After the operation is completed, click on the "Create ISO" button to generate an image for writing to a storage medium. The creation of the assembly in Windows XP is complete and you can proceed with the installation and configuration of the new system.

Today, Windows 7 is the main corporate system, de facto, taking over from Windows XP. Therefore, for the system administrator, the issue of its deployment is relevant, but since the last official image was compiled quite a long time ago, the systems installed with it require a fairly large number of updates. You can avoid this if you build your own distribution containing all current system updates. How to do this, we will tell in this article.

There are two ways to get an up-to-date distribution of Windows 7: integrating updates directly into the image, and using a reference system to download and install updates.

The first method is simpler and faster, but has a serious drawback - you need to download all the necessary updates. And this, even with a list, is quite difficult to do. At the same time, there are already downloaded update sets on the network, but we do not recommend using them, since installing system components from unverified sources is a very bad idea. At a minimum, you can end up with an unstable system due to an untested or incompatible set of updates, and in the worst case, you can easily get unwanted or malware.

Using the reference system allows you to get all the necessary updates automatically, install them, check the system, and only then proceed to create a distribution. Therefore, we will consider this particular method.

Creation of a reference system

For these purposes, we recommend using a virtual machine in which we will create a guest system for Windows 7 and install the OS version for which we will create a distribution. If you want to create distributions for multiple versions or bit depths, you will also need multiple reference systems.

When the installation is complete, take your time, when the welcome screen is displayed, click CTRL+ SHIFT+ F3

This will reboot the system into audit mode, but if you managed to create a user and log in, then run the following command on behalf of the Administrator:

C:\Windows\System32\sysprep\sysprep /audit /reboot

When booting in audit mode, the utility automatically starts Sysprep, close this window, we do not need it now.

It should be remembered that the system switched to audit mode will continue to boot into it until we start again Sysprep and do not change the mode. After downloading, open Windows Update and search for and install updates.

Important! On May 17, 2016, Microsoft released the cumulative update package for Windows 7 SP1 KB3125574, which includes updates from the release of SP1 until April 2016, in order to reduce the volume of downloaded updates, we recommend downloading and installing this package manually. It requires update KB3020369 to be installed.

We reboot and again we search and install updates. We reboot and repeat this operation again until the system installs all available updates.

If your goal was only to integrate all the latest updates into the distribution, then you can stop there. However, the audit mode allows you to install a variety of software, which will also be included in the distribution. This is widely used by OEMs, we think everyone has come across distributions (usually on laptops) containing, in addition to OC, a different amount of software of dubious usefulness.

Therefore, no one bothers us to include the necessary software in our distribution kit, so as not to waste time on its subsequent installation. We usually limit ourselves to the "gentleman's set": archiver, Adobe Reader, Java, Silverlight. You can include in it the entire set of necessary software, including the office suite and other software. You should not include programs that install their own drivers and the actual device drivers in the image, since all third-party drivers will be removed at the stage of preparing the system for capturing the image. Also, you should not activate the software, this information will also be lost.

Having finished preparing the reference system, we will delete all the files we downloaded and unnecessary software (if any), special attention should be paid to cleaning the system from copies of update files, for this, use the tool Disk Cleanup:

Important! After cleaning be sure to reload system to finish working with updates, otherwise you risk getting a broken image.

Now let's prepare it for capturing an image using the utility Sysprep:

C:\Windows\system32\sysprep\sysprep /oobe /generalize /shutdown

Let's analyze the utility keys in more detail:

oobe- starts the computer in the welcome screen mode. The Windows Welcome screen allows end users to customize the Windows operating system, create new accounts, rename the computer, and perform other tasks.
generalize- prepares the Windows installation before creating the image. If this setting is specified, all unique system information is removed from the Windows installation. The security identifier (SID) is reset, system restore points are reset, and event logs are deleted.
shutdown - Shuts down the computer after Sysprep exits.

After completing the necessary actions, the system will shut down. You cannot turn it on before the image is captured. This completes the work with the reference system and proceeds to creating our own distribution based on it.

Creating your own distribution

For further work, we need a workstation running Windows 7 with installed Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK). Bit depth and version of the system do not play any role.

Installing WAIK should be straightforward and is done with the default settings.

Now let's prepare the image Windows PE to capture an image of the reference system. The bitness of WinPE must match the bitness of the reference system.

Let's open Start - All Programs - Microsoft Windows AIK - Deployment Tools Command Prompt and execute the command for 32-bit systems:

Copype.cmd x86 e:\win_pe

or for 64-bit:

Copype.cmd amd64 e:\win_pe

where e:\win_pe the desired location of the folder with the image. You do not need to create a folder first, as in this case you will receive an error that the folder already exists.

Now go to the destination folder and copy the file winpe.wim to a folder ISO\sources and rename it to boot.wim. Then copy to folder ISO from a folder C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\amd64 or C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\x86, depending on the bit depth, the file imagex.exe.

Then in Deployment tools command line give the following command:

Oscdimg -n -be:\win_pe\etfsboot.com e:\win_pe\ISO e:\win_pe\winpe.iso

The result of the command will be the image winpe.iso from which to boot the reference system.

If you did not perform additional disk partitioning of the reference system, then the capture partition will have the letter D:, and the boot disk E:, just in case, we check the team dir.

Now let's start capturing the image, since the image is created file by file, it can be saved to the same partition. Let's enter the following command:

E:\imagex /capture d: d:\install.wim "Win7_ULT_x64" /compress maximum /boot /verify

As parameters we specify to capture a disk D: and save it as an image D:\install.wim, in quotation marks we indicate our own name of the image, we also set the maximum compression, the ability to download and check the created image. After that we can go to drink coffee, this operation takes an average of about half an hour.

We reboot the reference system into normal mode and copy the created image to a PC with WAIK installed. Let's go to e:\win_pe and clean up the ISO folder, then copy the contents of the original Windows 7 disc that we used to install the reference system into.

Then we will replace the file install.wim in folder sources to the image we captured. Now you can start building your own ISO image, to do this, run the command:

Oscdimg -u2 -m -o -lWIN7ULTx64 -be:\win_pe\etfsboot.com e:\win_pe\iso e:\win_pe\Win7_ULT_x64.iso

Let's analyze the command keys in more detail:

u2-creates an image that has only a UDF file system.
m- removes restrictions on the size of the image.
o- replaces duplicate files with one copy, allows you to reduce the size of the image.
l- volume label, entered without spaces, optional parameter.
b- the location of the boot file, also without spaces.

The image is assembled quite quickly, the only thing is that with a high degree of probability its size will exceed 4.7 GB and it will not be possible to burn it to a regular DVD disc. In this case, you can use DVD9 double-layer discs, but they are less common on the market and may not be supported by all drive models. In this case, you can split the distribution into two parts, each of which will fit on a standard capacity DVD. You should also be aware of the limitation of 32-bit systems, which cannot work with wim images larger than 4 GB.

You can split the image with the following command:

Imagex /split e:\win_pe\install.wim e:\win_pe\install.swm 3000

The result will be two or more swm file with a maximum size of 3000 MB. Then delete from the folder ISO\sources install.wim and put install.swm there, after which we will build the image of the first disk:

Oscdimg -u2 -m -lWIN7ULTx64DVD1 -be:\win_pe\etfsboot.com e:\win_pe\iso e:\win_pe\Win7_ULT_x64_DVD1.iso

After that, delete install.swm and copy install2.swm to its place. It makes no sense to make the second disk bootable, so let's assemble it with a simpler command:

Oscdimg -u2 -m -lWIN7ULTx64DVD2 e:\win_pe\iso e:\win_pe\Win7_ULT_x64_DVD2.iso

Installation from a split image is performed in the usual way, starting from the first disk; during operation, the installer will ask you to change the disk:

Thus, you do not have to worry about the size of the created image, especially if, in addition to updates, it is planned to include large software, for example, the MS Office package, etc. We also recommend that before proceeding with the deployment of workstations from the created distribution kit, thoroughly check its operation on a test system.

27.11.2009, Fri, 15:11, Moscow time

Deploying an OS in an organization very often involves the use of customized assemblies that include pre-made settings, the necessary drivers and system libraries required to work with Windows. To create them, there are special tools, united under the general name Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK). In Windows 7, this product has already reached the second version and provides more flexibility for creating system installation images. How can I use it to create a Windows 7 image for company installation?

To create installation images of Windows 7, the second version of the Windows AIK is now released. In the previous (Windows AIK 1.1) version of this package of tools developed for creating installation images of Windows Vista/2008 Server, the composition of the software components responsible for integrating drivers and service packs into the final distribution kit, configuring the Windows installer, and running additional commands after installation was determined. . Here, for the first time, WIM files were used - a special format for representing images of the operating system, which is independent of hardware, and which can be edited to include modified OS distributions. Thus, for example, an IT specialist can create a WIM file for installing several editions of the OS from the same media. Accordingly, using the Windows AIK, you can predetermine the progress of all three parts of the Windows installation - the initial copying of files to disk, the creation and saving of a configuration depending on the detected hardware, and, finally, the direct installation of the operating system. Thus, it is possible to implement the scenario of mass installation of the OS on devices with the same hardware configuration, for example, on a batch of laptops (if we are talking about an OEM installation of Windows) or on the same type of office computers (for example, if the system is deployed in a heterogeneous IT infrastructure of one company ).

We start preparation

To work with Windows AIK 2.0, you will need to download the toolkit ISO image itself, which must either be burned to DVD media or mounted to a virtual drive.

The Windows AIK autorun window contains all the necessary tools

During installation, the user will see an autorun window containing several items. At this step, you can download additional software components - Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) to check the compatibility of installed programs with Windows 7; Microsoft Assesment and Planning (MAP), which allows you to analyze the possibility of installing Windows 7 in the existing IT infrastructure of the company, as well as Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) - a set of special tools that automate the system installation process. Windows AIK 2.0 can run on Windows XP SP3 and higher; .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 must be installed on the system to work correctly.

First step. Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit

The first step in preparing an image for a Windows 7 installation begins by running the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit (MAP). This tool is designed for hardware inventory and provides an opportunity to analyze the feasibility of installing the system on existing configurations of workstations and servers. Windows AIK 2.0 uses the fourth version of MAP, which includes more visual tools for analyzing the readiness of computer hardware for the implementation of Windows 7/Server 2008 R2. These include a reporting system that includes advice on hardware upgrades, reassignment of server roles that determine which computers can be installed on a hypervisor, the ability to use NAP on an organization's LAN, and so on. Such data is illustrated by preliminary calculations of savings from migrating to a new system.

Data collection is carried out in standard ways - the user launches a special wizard, sequentially specifying the settings for accessing computers, importing a list of machines from Active Directory, and so on. Upon completion, the wizard will display a report on the prospects of introducing a new OS.

Second phase. Windows AIK and DSIM

Microsoft provides IT professionals as part of the Windows AIK with a special DSIM tool that allows you to add drivers for peripheral and internal devices (both 32-bit and 64-bit), additional language packs, change the composition and number of OS components and its updates. Consider the basic principles of the DSIM system.

In addition to DSIM, enabling or disabling Windows components (such as those included with certain versions of games or additional online services) can be done using the OSSetup command line. It works with CBS and MSI files that have their own EXE installers associated with them. With its help, you can define server roles in case of customizing the distribution for Windows Server 2008 R2.

It can be used to manage the components included in the Windows 7 / Server 2008 R2 distribution image by launching it from the command line with certain parameters. For example, using /Add-Driver, you can add an INF file for a driver, including an unsigned one (if you specify the /ForceUnsigned command). In addition, DSIM allows you to include or exclude packages that include system components or OS update offline installation files from the finished Windows image. To do this, the user, through the commands /Get-PackageInfo and /Get-Features (of a specific package), can obtain information about all the functionality of certain CAB or MSU files and decide on the inclusion / removal of a particular component (or components) from Windows 7. In a similar way, the regional settings of the system are configured (translating the interface, connecting keyboard layouts, time zones) and applications installed via the Windows Installer.

Third stage. Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT)

At this stage, the user directly creates an OS image that includes drivers, service packs, additional applications, and so on. These processes take place in the Deployment WorkBench. To do this, you need to create a special directory (repository) called Deployment Share using a convenient and simple wizard. It will contain all the necessary files that will be required for further work. The next step is to launch another wizard, this time prompting you to download the installation files themselves. They can be copied both from an existing Windows installation disk, and from a separate folder on the computer, from a separate WIM file. After copying them to Deployment Share, you can add additional drivers, hotfixes and applications.

A special wizard is responsible for creating a Deployment Share

To automate the system installation process from the selected media, the user can use the Task sequence wizard (it provides several templates or the ability to create a new template that includes pre-created settings and installer operation parameters - for example, automatic input of a user name, organization name, Windows 7 serial number, login and administrator account password). In this case, the choice is to use the Standard Client Task Sequence template.

Images for installation are created based on existing distributions or WIM files

Upon completion of this operation, files with a customized pre-installation version of Windows (LiteTouch Windows PE) should be created in the Deployment Share folder. To do this, you need to run the Update Deployment Share command for this repository, which will create the necessary images - ISO and WIM files.

More fine-grained settings of the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit are set in two configuration files - BootStrap.ini (path to the repository, administrator login, domain, password, keyboard layout before entering Windows Deployment) and CustomSettings.ini (a detailed list of settings regarding automatic filling and selection of parameters during installation).

The resulting images (ISO and WIM) can be used to create a customized distribution by burning the image to DVD, or using the WIM file to further install the distribution (in this case, you must restart the Task sequence wizard, specifying Sysprep and Capture as a template).

As with Windows Vista, IT professionals can use the handy and intuitive Windows AIK toolset to create customized distributions of Windows 7. In its new version, updated components have appeared that simplify routine operations.

How to create your own reference assembly of Windows 10 - a distribution kit with the system settings made, tweaks implemented and desktop software installed? This process will be discussed in detail below, but first let's talk about the features of our own assemblies of the system.

1. Pros and Cons of Custom Windows Builds

What are the benefits of native builds of Windows? Own assembly of the system is saving time and effort when installing the system. For example, you can prepare a Windows 10 distribution kit with a standard set of programs for a circle of loved ones: a browser, an archiver, a torrent downloader, a cleaner, an uninstaller, and similar software for a wide audience will be installed with the system. The benefits compared to a regular Windows distribution are obvious, but what do we get as opposed to other ways of deploying the system? A native build of Windows, the reference image of which was created on a GPT disk, can later be deployed to an MBR disk, and vice versa. Whereas transferring the system using backup programs or disk space managers will not help when changing the style of disk partitions. Unlike the latter, the native build on the installation media will not be linked to a backup file on a non-system disk partition or removable device, nor will you need to mount a destination hard drive for Windows cloning.

Windows native builds have three downsides. The first is that the distribution kit of its own assembly will take up more space than the pure distribution kit of Microsoft. But this problem is solved by using a flash drive with a capacity of at least 8 GB. The second disadvantage is that the Windows installation process will take a little longer than usual, which is associated with the deployment of the added software. The third minus is the red tape with the creation of the assembly. The effort expended is unlikely to be justified if the system is rarely reinstalled.

2. Algorithm of actions

The process of creating your build of Windows 10 will take place in several main stages:

Creation of a reference image of the system - an ideal state of the system prepared for deployment (with the settings made and embedded software, without being tied to computer components);
Capturing the reference image to the install.esd file;
Repacking the original installation ISO image of the system with the replacement of the install.esd file.

3. Windows 10 reference image

The Windows 10 reference image can be prepared in many ways, it can be:

A well-established system with remote binding to components using the Sysprep utility (see paragraph 7 of the article);
New Windows 10 installed on a different disk partition;
The new Windows 10 on board a virtual machine.

The developed system must be thoroughly cleaned - delete files in the user profile folders, clean the Temp folders, etc. Otherwise, the distribution kit will turn out to be gigantic in size. It’s easier with new systems: firstly, the distribution kit based on them will take up less space, and secondly, during their installation, the Windows 10 reference image can be created from scratch in audit mode, a special mode of system operation without the participation of a user account. The audit mode is provided by Microsoft for the implementation of corporate settings and software by OEMs and large organizations before delivering computers to customers and employees, respectively. As a result, we will get a properly configured system with desktop software installed, at the installation stage of which you can create new accounts, set regional settings, disable options for sending data to Microsoft, etc. At the same time, the old account will not hang out anywhere.

In our case, we will create a Windows 10 reference image from scratch in audit mode using Hyper-V. This hypervisor was chosen because of its ease of use and ease of moving large amounts of data from the virtual machine to the main system. VHDX and VHD disks used in the operation of Hyper-V virtual machines are mounted to the main system using Explorer. Supporters of other hypervisors - VMware Workstation and VirtualBox - can use them. To make it easier to access virtual disk data from the host system and not mess around with guest additions, virtual machines can be created based on VHD disks. Both VMware Workstation and VirtualBox work with VHD disks.

Those who decide to create a reference image of Windows 10 on the second disk partition of a real computer for the future to help instructions on and complete.

4. Nuances with activation

The concept of a native build of Windows must be distinguished from pirated builds of the system that come activated or with an activator on the desktop. The purpose of this article is to simplify the process of installing Windows, but not to solve the issue of its activation. The reference image of Windows 10 will be created using tools that do not conflict with Microsoft policy - in fact, its own tools. And their use does not guarantee the performance of the activated assemblies of the system. Recall that Microsoft's requirements are as follows: activation of each copy of Windows, no matter what distribution it is installed from, on each individual computer. If an activated, well-established Windows serves as a reference image, in the process of removing the binding to components using the Sysprep utility, you must reset the activation (see paragraph 7 of the article).

Looking for a way to transfer activated Windows to other computers.

5. Create a Hyper-V virtual machine

So, to prepare the reference image of Windows 10, we create a virtual machine. The conditions for working with Hyper-V, the activation of the hypervisor, as well as the process of creating a virtual machine are described in detail in the site article. Only, in contrast to the example considered in paragraph 5 of this article, the choice of the generation of virtual machines is not fundamental, you can also create a machine of the 1st generation. If it is not planned to introduce resource-intensive software such as games, we can limit ourselves to the volume of the created VHDX hard disk of 50-60 GB. Well, hackneyed advice for SSD owners - the path to store the files of the virtual machine and the VHDX disk must be indicated on the HDD partition. At the last stage of creating a virtual machine, specify the ISO image, turn on the machine and start the system installation process. The latter will be different from how it usually happens.

6. Install and configure Windows 10 in audit mode

We go through the installation process of Windows 10 to the stage of choosing the type of installation and select the second option.

We will need two partitions - one for Windows, the other non-system, where the install.esd file will be saved later. We form section C from 30-40 GB.

The remaining space is given to another section.

Installing Windows.

Upon completion of the file copying stage, we do not extract the installation ISO image from the virtual machine, we still need it. At the installation stage, where you need to set the first settings, do not touch anything, just press the Ctrl + Shift + F3 keys.

Let's enter the audit mode with the connection of the hidden administrator account.

At the entrance to the system in audit mode, we are greeted by the Sysprep utility window. The utility will wait for its fate in order to remove the binding of the configured system from the components. You can start setting up the system. One caveat: Microsoft Edge does not work in audit mode, you need to run Internet Explorer to access the Internet.

As for the limits of intervention in the system, in the audit mode we can work with everything that does not apply to user accounts. We can install desktop software, change system settings, apply tweaks, leave folders or files on the desktop. But universal applications from the Windows Store cannot be installed. Like Microsoft Edge, the store does not run in audit mode. Even if the system is activated, it will not work to change the theme or other personalization settings. Installing universal apps and applying personalization settings requires a user account, not a hidden administrator.

If you need to reboot the system, for example, this is required to install some programs, this process must be carried out using the Sysprep window: you must set the values \u200b\u200b"Switch to audit mode" and "Reboot". Then click "OK".

In parallel with setting up the system, you need to do an important thing - format the non-system partition of the disk.

7. Deleting binding to components (Sysprep)

So, the reference image of the system is ready. Now we can start the process of removing bindings to components. We turn to the window of the open Sysprep utility or run it by pressing the Win + R keys and typing:

The folder that opens will contain an EXE file for launching the utility.

In the Sysprep window, set the action "Go to the welcome window (OOBE)". Check the box "Preparing for use" to reset the activation. In the shutdown options, select "Shutdown". And click "OK".

We are waiting for the end of Sysprep and shutdown of the virtual machine.

8. Create install.esd file

We check whether it is worth starting a virtual machine from the Windows 10 installation ISO image, and boot from it. We use the installation disk to access the command line. If the Windows 10 reference image was created on the second disk partition of a real computer, just go to the main operating system and open the command line there.

At the first stage of the system installation, press the Shift + F10 keys.

Using the DISM utility, we will capture the reference system image and save it to the install.esd file. But first, let's see under what letters the two necessary sections appear - the system section and the destination section, where install.esd will be saved. Enter:

In our case, the system drive is listed as D, and the non-system drive is listed as E. Therefore, the command to capture the system image will be as follows:

Dism /capture-image /imagefile:E:\install.esd /capturedir:D:\ /name:windows

In this command, respectively, in each individual case, it is necessary to replace the letters E and D with your own.

Upon completion of the operation, turn off the virtual machine. We won't need it anymore.

9. Mounting the virtual machine disk in the main system

In order for the disk of the virtual machine to be displayed in the main system, where further actions will take place, open the VHDX (or VHD) disk file of this machine in Explorer. In the context menu, click Connect.

All virtual disk partitions will appear in Explorer as separate disks. In our case, we select the last drive M, this is where the install.esd file is stored. After repacking the ISO image, the virtual disk will need to be unmounted, this is done using the "Extract" option in the context menu of any of the added virtual disk partitions.

With the newly minted install.esd file, we will replace the original as part of the official Windows 10 distribution.

10. Repacking the ISO image of the Windows 10 distribution

Many programs can replace one file with another as part of a bootable ISO image, in our case, the UltraISO program was selected for repacking. Let's launch it. Click the "File" menu, then - "Open" and in Explorer specify the path to the ISO image from which Windows 10 was installed on the virtual machine.

The contents of the ISO image will be displayed at the top of the UltraISO window. Here we open the “sources” folder and delete the install.esd source file in it. In our case, it weighed 3.7 GB. The lower part of the UltraISO window is the system explorer, here we open the mounted disk partition (or the desired partition of the real disk), which stores the newly created install.esd file. In our case, it weighs 4.09 GB. The newly made file is either dragged to the top of the window - to where the original file was, or added using the context menu.

We check: in the “sources” folder of the disk image, there should not be the original install.esd with a weight of 3.7 GB, but a newly minted install.esd with a weight of 4.09 GB.

We are waiting for the completion of the progress of the operation.

***

Now all that's left is to test your build of Windows 10 on a new virtual machine.

Have a great day!

It's no secret that most distributions of Windows, from those that are laid out on torrent trackers, are custom builds. All these assemblies, albeit conditionally, can be divided into two types. The first type includes assemblies with preserved original system components and third-party software integrated into them, the second type includes the so-called lightweight assemblies, from which a good half of the components are cut out.

It is no secret that it is these lightweight assemblies that give users the most problems.

Initially, more features are laid in Windows than the average user may need, the system, so to speak, is given to grow. And now, if a certain user wants to fasten something to his system, the components that he has not used before will even come in handy. Now imagine that this very user has a lightweight assembly installed. It is interesting to know who he will remember with an unkind word, the creator of this assembly or himself, so short-sighted, who managed to fall for the promised ease and performance Lite-systems.

So how can it be, can only use official assemblies? Not necessarily, especially if you have a low-powered computer, it's just sometimes better to do everything yourself, that is, to build a Windows image yourself, taking into account your needs. How to do this will be explained in this article. We suggest creating an assembly using the program. It is paid, the price of the home version is 40 dollars, who do not want to pay, can search the Internet, albeit not the newest, but "cured" and fully functional versions.

What is NTLite

Program is a powerful tool for creating modified builds of Windows. With its help, you can remove from the system distribution everything that seems superfluous to you, or, on the contrary, add to it something that was not originally in it. allows you to remove system components from images, disable services, set settings, integrate third-party software, registry tweaks, drivers, and updates.

Does NTLite require any knowledge from the builder? Yes. You must at least know what purposes certain components serve, otherwise you can end up with a buggy system. But this is if you are going to facilitate assembly. Integrating third party components is much less risky.

Create your own build of Windows

Assembly design takes place in three stages. The first one unpacks the Windows image, the second one configures it in the program , at the third stage, the files are packed into the installation image. First of all, unpack the installation archiver ISO-image with Windows in a separate folder. Let it be called data .

We launch , press the button "Add" and specify the path to the folder with the previously unpacked image ISO. In this case, in the program window you will see the structure of the image, in which, by the way, there can be several editions. We will work with the editor Windows 10 Pro. Click on her PKM and choose the option "Download". If the program asks you to confirm the image conversion WIM in ESD, confirm the operation. Conversion procedure (downloads) WIM or ESD The image will take some time. Upon completion of the procedure, on the left side of the program window, you will see a panel with several tabs. Let's go through them quickly.

Removing and disabling components and services

In section "Components" contains Windows modules that can be disabled by unchecking them. This includes pre-installed universal applications along with Defender, hardware support components for some peripheral devices and their drivers, multimedia modules - themes, sounds, wallpapers and more, network services and applications, such as a payment manager NFC, system components - Hyper-V, subsystem linux, character editor, shadow copying and more. Some components are locked for compatibility, which means that they cannot be removed, but can be disabled in the section "Functions". When removing components, you must be careful, carefully read the descriptions, fortunately, they are given in Russian.

In section "Functions" components that are not available for removal are disabled, for example, NET Framework. Among the modules available for disabling are office games, gadgets, working folders client, indexing and search, subsystem linux , WMC, service IIS , PowerShell 2.0 , PDF- printer and Internet Explorer , disabling which, by the way, is not recommended, as this may lead to incorrect operation of other programs.

Chapter "Settings" responsible for enable/disable various settings that apply to all users of the system, section "Services"- behind enable/disable system services. Here, as in "Components" you need to be careful not to disable an important service, without which Windows cannot even start. This is especially true for services in the tab. "Additional Services".

Integration of updates, drivers and registry tweaks

The next three tabs contain tools for integrating updates, drivers, and registry tweaks into the distribution. If you need to add, say, a new security update or a language pack, click the button "Add" and specify the path to the file CAB , MSU or EXE. The same section displays already installed packages. Everything is the same with drivers, only the driver must be unpacked, because you need its configuration inf-file. In the same way, registry tweaks are integrated into the system: press the button "Add" and specify the path to the files REG .

Personal settings and installation of third-party programs

If the assembly is created for itself, it will not be superfluous to look into the section "Automatic". Here the user's personal settings are set: computer name, localization, time zone, network settings, shell options, compression, licensing options (key installation, etc.) , setting is in progress WinPE .

If you want to integrate third-party software into the image, you can do this in the section "After installation" using the function Post-Install. There is also nothing complicated in this, just press the already familiar button "Add" and specify the path to the application executable files. The procedure for installing them will be run one by one at an early stage of installing a Windows assembly. Additionally, installation with parameters is supported, - in the field "Parameters" the necessary keys are prescribed, for example, for a silent installation.

Saving settings and packing the assembly into an image

By and large, this is all, it remains only to apply the specified settings and pack the modified assembly files into the installation image. Switch to tab "Apply" and determine the parameters of the image. When creating an assembly Windows 7 everything can be left by default if it is an assembly Windows 8.1 or 10 , you must select the image format "High Compression", at which WIM- the image is converted to ESD. After that, tick the checkbox "Create ISO".

Almost everything is ready, you can start packing. Having given the assembly a suitable name, press the button "Treatment". If Defender is enabled on your system, ask him to turn it off, so things will go faster. The time to create the assembly will depend on the number of specified operations, with most of the time it will take converting WIM in ESD (in Windows 8.1 and 10) , on average, the entire procedure takes from 40 minutes to an hour or more. Upon completion, you will receive a ready-made installation image that can be burned to a USB flash drive or optical disc.

Rushing to install the resulting assembly on your computer, and even more so upload it to a torrent or other resource, however, is not worth it. First you need to make sure that the assembly is working, for which you need to test it in a virtual machine. However, you can do without a virtual machine. If you have a free computer, use you can modify the Windows installed on it by selecting in the main window "Live Installation" and doing the same as above. True, save in a separate image ISO or ESD "live" the system will not work, but it will be possible to test it right there on a physical machine, identifying the most suitable modification options.