Windows 7 "Keep" List

[alphaniner]

you can uninstall ALL of the media options (media center, media player and DVD maker) and you can uninstall IE8.

You can "turn off" this stuff, but this is not uninstalling.

[trala]

[...] Vlite cannot be used with 7 it barely works and SP1 means vlite will chew it to pieces since you need a different new version of the waik.

RT7Lite is all we have for now since nuhi is MIA

You can definitely use vLite on Windows 7 successfully. To make vLite play nice you'd have to sysprep a VM install of Win7 SP0 upon which you install SP1. After performing sysprep you can then capture the image via Imagex (I create the VM as a VHD using VirtualBox, so one can directly mount the VHD and do the capture via Imagex). You can then mount the captured image (the install.wim) and remove the SP1 backup files. Then you export the image (basically a re-save) to make it even smaller and you have your Win7 SP1 that can be used with vLite (whereas Win7 SP1 official cannot be used with vLite).

Sure, it may seems a bit of a hassle, but if you're interested in modifying or customizing your Win7 image you really should learn to work with MS's own tools like dism, imagex, sysprep, etc. The resulting Win7 SP1 image you make this way is actually cleaner and smaller than MS's own Win7 SP1 iso, and thus it has become the image of choice for all my personal installs.

Plus, the added bonus of using sysprep is that you can integrate non-integrable (offline) updates (such as KB2533552) with your image.

Now, I don't use vLite in extreme ways, but I successfully use this Session on my images:

; vLite preset file
;
;#Environment:
; vLite v1.2
; Framework 2.0.50727.5420
; Microsoft Windows NT 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 64-bit
;
;#Target:
; Windows 7 Professional 64-bit Service Pack 1
; Version 6.1 English (United States)
;
[Compatibility]
ACDSee / XnView
DriveimageXML
DVD Treasury
Halo 2
Hauppauge WinTV
KMPlayer
Logitech Setpoint
MediaPortal
Perfect World Client
Zoom Player
Aero Glass
File and printer sharing (Server)
Internet Explorer
Internet Information Services (IIS)
Recommended
Scanners and Cameras
System Restore
Windows Fax and Scan
Windows Update

[CustomHide]

[Components]
;# Accessories #
Accessibility
Speech Support
Welcome Center
;# Drivers #
TV Tuners-ADS Technologies
TV Tuners-ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
TV Tuners-AVerMedia Technologies, Inc.
TV Tuners-Compro Technology Inc.
TV Tuners-Conexant Systems, Inc.
TV Tuners-Creatix
TV Tuners-Hauppauge
TV Tuners-KNC ONE GmbH
TV Tuners-KWorld
TV Tuners-Lumanate, Inc.
TV Tuners-Philips Semiconductors
TV Tuners-Pinnacle Systems
TV Tuners-TerraTec Electronic GmbH
TV Tuners-VidzMedia Pte Ltd.
;# Languages #
Arabic
Brazillian
Bulgarian
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Estonian
Finnish
French
German
Greek
Hebrew
Hungarian
Italian
Korean
Latvian
Lithuanian
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese
Romanian
Russian
Serbian
Simplified Chinese
Slovak
Slovenian
Spanish
Swedish
Table Driven Text Input Processor
Thai
Traditional Chinese
Turkish
Ukrainian
;# Multimedia #
Media Center
Music and Video samples
Sample Pictures
;# System #
BitLocker Drive Encryption
Natural Language
Parental Controls
Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications (SUA)
Tablet PC
Windows Easy Transfer

[Options]
DEP (Data Execution Prevention) = Default
User Account Control (UAC) = Disabled
AntiSpyware Realtime Protection = Default
AutoPlay = Disabled
Paging Executive = Enabled
Power scheme = High performance
Power button = Default
Sleep button = Default
Control Panel - Classic View = Enabled
Show hidden files and folders = Yes
Show protected operating system files = No
Show extensions for known file types = Yes
IE Phishing Filter = Default
IE Phishing Verification Ballon Tips = Default

[Services]

[Protection]

[Drivers]

[Unattended]

[Hotfixes]

[LanguagePacks]

Using this Session it saves about 900+mb off the ISO -- this coupled with the almost 250mb I save making my own Win7 SP1 image the above-mentioned way, it saves about 1.1gb on the total ISO size. Sure, one can argue the point of cheap mass storage, but personally I find the single-layer DVD form important still (both for making backups and for creating install images for computers that don't play nice for USB installation). So the gained space is used for silent and portable apps that can be installed via an included WPI variant and so there you have an AIO install disc.

There is no limitation to the use of this Win7 image, save if you need Accessibility features, use Speech support (want your computer to talk to you), or want to install it on a Touch device. But of course images are made with a specific purpose in mind, and the purpose of my images is power usage on desktop and laptop environments.

To note: the ONLY manual insertion of files after the above vLite session is that I have to add in the Magnification.dll file, as vLite removes this file along with the removal of a certain component (other than the Snipping Tool, which I kept in -- and it will break the Snipping Tool when this .dll is absent). For some reason, listing this .dll under [Protection] in the session .ini did not prevent it from being deleted by vLite. But this is easy enough to do as you mount the image to make any such changes and/or do some additional registry tweaking by loading the reg hive, etc.

But yes, as I said a much cleaner image results from the above methods. Win7 SP1 from MS, when I unleash my 5 favorite reg cleaners on it, produces over 1500 reg errors... MS did NOT do a good job of cleaning up their image, as they basically used the same sysprep method, just less well With my images, I only get up to 200 reg entries found by these cleaners. That's not a scientific assessment, but I think it speaks volumes nonetheless. Plus, as I said, my images are quite a bit smaller as well, about 250mb for the x64 image -- and that is BEFORE using vLite on it

Anyway, I'm quiet happy being able to use vLite on Win7 SP1, as vLite truly is a great tool, made very well. I do feel sorry Nuhi is no longer working on it, but I guess that is what happens when MS offers you a job; you can't very well keep working on a tool like vLite and expect your bosses not to frown

Edited April 13, 2012 by trala

[monohouse]

trala I didn't fully understand your process, but if you managed a 250 mb install.wim, that probably puts you in first place, I am on the extreme removal side of things and so far my efforts are only able to produce about 1.3 GB install.wim 7 x64 SP1, that's after a whole process of rt7lite and then vlite 1.2 with almost everything removed in both of them, there can't be that big a difference between SP0 and SP1 can there ? if I give up SP1 and decide to use only SP0 and use both rt7lite and vlite 1.2 on it, will I get 250 MB install.wim ?

[bphlpt]

@monohouse, you misunderstood. He said "the almost 250mb I save making my own Win7 SP1", ie he was able to make his install disk almost 250mb smaller by manually adding SP1 as he described above, compared to the Win7 SP1 official disk. He did not actually say what the final size of his wim was, just that the 250 mb savings combined with his vLite removals meant he ended up saving "about 1.1gb on the total ISO size". As he stated, trala is not "on the extreme removal side of things". He listed exactly what he typically removes and why.

Cheers and Regards

[Mark7ones]

Sorry for the late...

It's been years I don't use RT7Lite or vLite, but WinReducer is still full of bugs and DISM is a nightmare.

So, for the guys, like me, who will never upgrade to W10, this is the tip of the year...

You're installations have crashed not for this or that component... but simply because you removed the screensavers... lol

Just a little bug from RT7Lite...

For those who still use vLite, well I don't have any problem (even if this app is for Vista).

It's fairly simple, you have less things to remove and it works well when it has to clean WinSxS folder.

Basically, I removed all the components marked as to keep in the first post and the setup was fine.

; vLite preset file
;
;#Environment:
; vLite v1.2
; Framework 2.0.50727.5420
; Microsoft Windows NT 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 64-bit
;
;#Target:
; Windows 7 HOMEPREMIUM 64-bit Service Pack 1
; Version 6.1 English (United States)
;
[Compatibility]

[CustomHide]

[Components]
;# Accessories #
Accessibility
Disk Cleanup
Games-Game Explorer
Games-Inbox Games
Games-Premium Inbox Games
Mobility Center
Notepad
Paint
Snipping Tool
Speech Support
System Information
Welcome Center
Windows Sidebar and Gadgets
Wordpad
;# Drivers #
Diva Server
Modems
QLogic Fibre Channel Adapter
Scanners
TV Tuners-ADS Technologies
TV Tuners-ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
TV Tuners-AVerMedia Technologies, Inc.
TV Tuners-Compro Technology Inc.
TV Tuners-Conexant Systems, Inc.
TV Tuners-Creatix
TV Tuners-Hauppauge
TV Tuners-KNC ONE GmbH
TV Tuners-KWorld
TV Tuners-Lumanate, Inc.
TV Tuners-Philips Semiconductors
TV Tuners-Pinnacle Systems
TV Tuners-TerraTec Electronic GmbH
TV Tuners-VidzMedia Pte Ltd.
;# Hardware Support #
Floppy Disk Support
Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI)
Modem Support
Smartcards
;# Languages #
Arabic
Brazillian
Bulgarian
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Dutch
Estonian
Finnish
French
German
Greek
Hebrew
Hungarian
Italian
Japanese
Korean
Latvian
Lithuanian
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese
Romanian
Russian
Serbian
Simplified Chinese
Slovak
Slovenian
Spanish
Swedish
Table Driven Text Input Processor
Thai
Traditional Chinese
Turkish
Ukrainian
;# Multimedia #
Media Center
Media Metadata Handler
Music and Video samples
Sample Pictures
Screensavers
Shell event sounds
Sound Recorder
Windows Media Player
;# Network #
Distributed File System (DFS)
Internet Explorer
Internet Information Services (IIS)
Quality of Service (QoS)
Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
Simple TCPIP services
Telnet Client
Telnet Server
TFTP Client
Windows Collaboration
;# System #
Component Cache (winsxs)
Digital Rights Management (DRM)
Disk Quota
IMAPIv2 Burning Support
Jet Database Engine
Manual Install (Setup.exe)
MDAC
Microsoft Client For NFS
Microsoft Message Queue (MSMQ)
Parental Controls
Performance Counters
Reliability and Performance Monitor
Security Center
Software Quality Management (SQM)
Subsystem for UNIX-based Applications (SUA)
Sync Center
System Restore
Tablet PC
Windows Defender
Windows Easy Transfer
Windows SAT (Performance Index)
Zip Folder

[Options]
DEP (Data Execution Prevention) = Default
User Account Control (UAC) = Disabled
AntiSpyware Realtime Protection = Default
AutoPlay = Enabled
Paging Executive = Enabled
Power scheme = High performance
Power button = Default
Sleep button = Default
Control Panel - Classic View = Default
Show hidden files and folders = No
Show protected operating system files = No
Show extensions for known file types = No
IE Phishing Filter = Default
IE Phishing Verification Ballon Tips = Default

[Services]

[Protection]

[Drivers]

[Unattended]

[Hotfixes]

[LanguagePacks]

Ah... just another tip for you... the WinSxS cleanup doesn't break Windows Update as it says... (if you keep Windows Update component naturally).

Edited December 26, 2017 by Mark7ones