[blue4603]

Hi,

7Customizer is a tool for creating a customized Windows 7 installation (both 32bit and 64bit editions). It works on both English and non English installation sources. It is a vlite replacement for Windows 7 ( 7lite maybe).

Follow the development of 7Customizer on Twitter. Click here.


IMPORTANT NOTE: I was thinking that after 7Customizer is finished, I could develop a new tool. This tool is used for tweaking Windows 7 after the installation. Since I am going to put lots of tweaks in 7Customizer, it will be very easy to implement such a tool (7Tweaker sounds a good name).

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE Since this thread is now sticky it will draw more attention. It will also draw repetitive posts that reports the same problem.
Before you post in this thread: Read the first post of this thread(the one you are reading right now) first and then read the visual guide here. Then if you find a problem or bug report it in this thread.

7Customizer is still in development stages and it is still in testing phase. It is far from being a complete vlite replacement but the aim is to replace vlite.
It will need time and effort and feedback to complete it. Also, it might not work for you or crash with error. If that happens report it in this thread.

Note: This thread is dedicated for debugging and testing and discussing issues related to 7Customizer only. If you need help regarding DISM or regarding a certain problem in a driver you wish to integrate or anything that is not related to 7Customizer , you should post your problem in the appropriate forum.

Table of Content:
1. Functions and features
2. Screen shots
3. Requirements
4. Important notes
5. Other notes
6. Known bugs
7. Reporting bugs
8. Using 7Customizer in XP
9. To do list for current release
10. To do list for future releases
11. Feature that are not likely to be implemented
12. Guides
13. License Agreement
14. Version History

1. Functions and features:
The functions that are implemented and tested by me and the forum members are:
1. Languages integration (Windows UI language not the setup language)
2. Updates integration
3. Basic unattended installation
4. Driver integration
5. Tweaks
6. Services
7. ISO Creation
8. Presets
9. UAC trigger
10. Clean mount folder
11. Wallpapers integration



Implemented but still need testing:
12. Themes integration
13. Windows 7 Enterprise edition support

2. Screen shots








3.Requirements:
1. Windows Vista or Windows 7. (32 bit or 64 bit)
2. If using Vista, .net framework 3.5. (here)
3. WAIK for Windows 7 (here). You could use WAIK in any language (English,German, Italian ,...... etc)
5. Windows installation source.

To use 7Customizer just extract the files and start 7customizer.exe

4. Important notes for using 7Customizer:
1. Make sure you have enough free space (at least 5 GB of free space is recommended) in your drive where 7Customizer is located (7Customizer will warn you if the drive does not have sufficient space)
2. It is highly recommended to run the program in a folder that does not have white spaces for example, c:\7Customizer\.
3. It is highly recommended to place your installation source in a directory that does not have white spaces for example, c:\win7.
4. When choosing the path for ImageX and DISM, make sure you choose the same exe architecture (x86 or amd64) as your Windows.
eg when using Windows 7 x64 choose the ImageX located in amd64 inside the WAIK installation.
5. Always test the result in a virtual machine first.
6. It is highly recommended to use 7Customizer on an unmodified (clean,untouched .. etc) windows installation source.
7. It is highly recommended to place 7Customizer in the root folder (e.g D:\7customizer). It is not recommended to place 7Customizer in your home directory folders (e.g. Documents,Desktop,... etc).


5. Other notes:

1. The languages you integrate are not for the setup part. It is for the Windows UI.
2. The keyboard, date ,currency and time zone ,in the unattended part, are not for the setup part. They are used for the user settings after the installation is done.
3. Fill the whole information in the unattended part or the setup will fail.
4. Always integrate drivers that supports Windows 7. Drivers that does not support Windows 7 might not be integrated properly or might not be integrated at all.
5. If you face issues integrating drivers, these issues are related to DISM not 7Customizer. Do not report these issues. I can not help you with that.
6. 7Customizer does not support Windows Server 2008. I am not planning to support it. However, if I plan to support it, it will be after finishing 7customizer.

6. Known bugs
1. (Fixed) 7Customizer sometimes fails to read the images information correctly (This is related to using 7Customizer on a modified installation source)(This issue is solved in 0.4.4 but it is still not tested).
2. (Fixed) 7Customizer might not label the ISO.
3. When selecting updates 7Customizer, some time you will be able to select one update only. If you select more than one update 7Customizer will crash.(This issue is solved in 0.4.4 but it is still not tested).

7. Reporting bugs

Before you report a bug make sure you read the requirements and important notes and known bugs.
When you report a bug please provide the following info:
You must post the log file created by 7Customizer. This will help track the problem. The log file is inside the work folder.
1. Any information that you think it is useful
2. Screen-shot
3. When posting your autounattend.xml do not forget to remove your product key.
4. All the information ,screen-shot ...etc should be in ENGLISH.

8. Using 7Customizer in XP

Note: I have tested 7Customizer in Windows XP. It did not work well.

7Customizer is developed and tested in Windows vista or 7. I will not test nor support 7Customizer under XP because WAIK for 7 does not support XP (This is from Microsoft). However to use 7Customizer in XP you will need two tools: DISM and ImageX.
1. To get dism in xp, jaclaz has posted a link to install dism on XP (it is in the first page of this thread).
2. To get ImageX in xp, download and install WAIK for Vista.
You could also Google for this and you might find an easier way.

9. To do list for 0.5.x release
Removing components. (Yeah I know that it was planned to be the last feature but implementing it was not difficult as I thought)
Read about it here

10. To do list for future releases:(in no particular order)

Make a setup for 7Customizer
Select default wallpaper
remove themes and wallpapers from the list
Command line interface
Adding applications
Join workgroup/domain
A list of last selected installation sources
An option to set the Users folder location, program files locations and other folders.
Check if 7Customizer can be supported under XP.
Check whether the start orb could be replaced or not.
uxtheme patch.
OEM branding.
integrate icons.
Removing Components.

11. Feature that are not likely to be implemented

Progress bar instead of the command line progress (not likely because the whole execution is done through the command line)
Partition disk (not likely to be implemented)
Burn ISO to DVD(not likely because they are lots of programs that burn iso to DVD)
When saving the image, include all the editions (Rebuild all as in vlite or stefanRTR's win integrator)
Integrating languages in the setup part. (It is really unnecessary).

12. Guides

English Visual Guide click here .

German guide click here (by beatmaster).

Japanese guide click here (by DH.Omega).

French guide click here (by myselfidem).

Italian guide click here (by ascatem)

Swedish guide click here (by grabben)



13. License Agreement: (blah blah blah)

7Customizer is a freeware tool. You could use it only for any personal non-commercial purposes.

14. Version History:
====== Update====
First test build
I prepared a test build that have the following functions
1.integrate languages
2.integrate updates
=== update 2===
The first bug was DEBUGGED
===v0.1.1===
Bug: you could not install multiple updates (Fixed)
===v0.1.2===
Bug: you could not install multiple updates (Fixed) again
===v0.1.3===
added: user can choose the path for ImageX and DISM
update: The tool does not rebuild a single image. It rebuilds them all because DISM does not remove single images.(That is what I think after reading the DISM Docs)
===v0.1.4===
added: unattended part
added: the tool warns the user if there is not enough free space on the drive
added: a shortcut for this thread in the help menu (thanks SheepyDaz for this suggestion)
VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: When testing the unattended part do not install updates or language pack because it will just create the autounattend.xml
Also do not do a complete windows 7 installation to test the unattended part. First see if the information you entered appeared correctly in autounattend.xml. After that you could install the updates and language packs and test the unattended part by installing Windows.
UPDATE: Just tested the unattended part and an ERROR showed up. Windows could not complete the installation
===v0.1.5===
fixed: a bug in unattended part that fails the windows installation
note: skipping user creation is still not working but it will not fail windows installation
===v0.1.6===
fixed: unattended part is completed and tested
added: 7Customizer will remember the path for ImageX and DISM (thanks SheepyDaz for this suggestion)
added: 7Customizer should trigger UAC on windows vista and 7 (I did not test it though) (thanks SheepyDaz for this suggestion)
If still 7Customizer does no trigger UAC, just tell me and I will try to resolve this issue.
===v0.1.7===
added: Logging feature to help debugging. the log is created in the work folder
update: cleaned the autounattend.xml. It is now well structured.
update: 7Customizer still does not trigger UAC. Maybe in the next release.
===v0.1.8===
updated: Log feature provides more info
Thanks for the members who gave feedback on v 0.7.1
===v0.1.8a===
updated: Log feature provides more info
Added: Debug Mode
Debug mode will pause the command window ,that shows after the apply button,at every step so you could see if there is an error or not. If there is an error grab a screen-shot and post it.
===v0.1.8b===
fixed: an error in the autounattend.xml
added: select multiple updates
===v0.1.8c===
fixed: an error in the autounattend.xml
===v0.1.8d===
fixed: an error in the autounattend.xml

==0.2.x Release==
===v0.2.0===
Added:Driver integration
===v0.2.0a===
Fixed: The bug that x-layer , shortie and mirecek1965 encountered
Note: I will not remove 0.8.1d release until 0.2.x get tested and debugged
===v0.2.1===
Added:Paste your product key in the first field and 7customizer will autofill it in the other fields
your product key should be like this:XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX
or like this XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Fixed:The bug that x-layer , shortie and mirecek1965 encountered again
===v0.2.2===
Added: Tweaks part (just three tweaks to be exact)
Fixed: a bug in autounattend.xml
Note: I know that I should have put more tweaks in this release but I wanted to release it quickly because there is a bug in the autounattend.xml that will break the installation. Do not worry more tweaks will come in the next releases.
===v0.2.3===
Added: More tweaks (Number of tweaks now is 17)
Fixed: Show hidden files and folders tweak
===v0.2.4=== 29 Nov 2009
Added: More tweaks (Number of tweaks now is 42)
Added: Services (automatic ,automatic delayed,disabled,manual).
Note: The dependencies aren't implemented. So you should be careful when disabling services. The dependencies will be implemented in the next releasee along with service descriptions and default values.
===v0.2.4a=== 30 Nov 2009
Fixed: One of the combo boxes was missing a value.
===v0.2.5=== 4 Dec 2009
Added: Services are sortable by name and by start up type.
Added: Services are colored based on start up type.
Added: Services descriptions and dependencies.
Added: Services are set to their default start up values depending on the edition selected (starter,basic, ... etc)
Added: More Tweaks (Number of tweaks now is 56)
Updated: Product key fields letter casing is set to upper case.
Note: Some services will not auto start delayed but will auto start , e.g. DHCP. Maybe I will find a fix for it later.

==0.3.x Release==
===v0.3.0=== 6 Dec 2009
Added: ISO Creation (Thanks stefanRTR for helping me)
Updated: Moved debug mode option to the apply tab
Added: A link to this thread and to the guide thread in the help menu
===v0.3.1=== 11 Dec 2009
Added: Presets
Updated: The way 7Customizer reads the images info has been improved. I hope it resolves most of the problems regarding modified images.
===v0.3.2=== 16 Dec 2009
Added: UAC trigger
Added: The ability to remove the updates or drivers you added by mistake.
Fixed: When loading a preset, the info in the unattended part will be always lowered case. Now it keeps the casing.
updated: UI enhancement.
===v0.3.3=== 6 Jan 2010
Fixed: When you select the UI language in the unattended part it will be set automatically after the installation
Added: Select the current edition to automate this step in the Windows setup.
Fixed: Hide the execution window was not working
Added: Since there are little who read the visual guide and the first post, I put some notes inside 7Customizer to clear things.
Added: An option in the file menu to clean the mount folder.
Note:7Customizer 0.3.2 was downloaded at least 1200 times. I did not thought it would reach it. Anyways I was glad it gained attention.
Note: Sorry for the delay. I was very busy. Anyways happy new year.

==0.4.x Release==
===v0.4.0=== 23 Jan 2010
Added: Integrating Wallpapers
Fixed: Creating an iso after applying does not work if you changed the unattended part only.
Added: A link to 7customizer twitter page.
Note:7Customizer 0.3.3 was downloaded at least 970 times.
===v0.4.0a=== 24 Jan 2010
Fixed: A bug that will make 7Customizer reads the editions of the image incorrectly. This will affect things, like the services and the unattended part.
===v0.4.1=== 11 Apr 2010
Added: Integrating Themes
Fixed: when you load a preset and then save it back 7customizer will crash.
Fixed: oscdimg will not show an error (Thanks to myselfidem)
7Customizer 0.4.0a was downloaded at least 3200 Times
Note: Sorry for the delay. I had real life project. Sorry again.

===v0.4.1a=== 12 Apr 2010
Added: A link to Windows 7 WAIK in the help menu
Updated: The themes integration function
Updated: more info is added to the log.
Fixed: A typo in the tweak section.
7Customizer 0.4.1 was downloaded at least 120 Times in one day. I am really amazed.

===v0.4.1b=== 13 Apr 2010
Updated: The themes integration function.
Note: I tested these themes here. They are all working except 4 of them
which they have non-English characters in their theme name. 7Customizer will skip these. Also I tested the themes that grabben posted. They are all
working fine.
7Customizer 0.4.1a was downloaded 70 Times.

===v0.4.2=== 15 Apr 2010
Added: Multilingual Support. (You can translate 7Customizer into your own language)
Added: Arabic Language
Updated: Themes integration Function
Note: To translate 7Customizer, make a copy of the file eng-refrence.lng and open it with notepad and translate it. Then rename to your language like German.lng or Italian.lng and place it in the langs folder. The name of the file will appear in the menu of 7Customizer. Make sure that the file extension is .lng
7Customizer 0.4.1b was downloaded 160 Times.

===v0.4.2a=== 17 Apr 2010
Updated: Multilingual Support.
Updated: Arabic Language
7Customizer 0.4.2 was downloaded at least 200 Times.

===v0.4.3=== 20 Apr 2010
Updated: Clean mount folder function. It cleans the mount folder and then unmounts the image inside the mount folder with the discard option.
Added: Option to pause the execution before unmounting so you could add some files or patch something... etc.
Added: Some tweaks.
Updated: The GUI so it will have more space for other languages.
Updated: The themes integration function
7Customizer 0.4.2a was downloaded at least 200 Times.

===v0.4.4=== 24 Apr 2010
Added: Windows 7 Enterprise support (I have tested the x64 version (Evaluation version downloaded from microsoft) with no issues)
Added: Brazilian,Deutsch,Japanese,French,Swedish.
Added: Selected language will have a check mark.
Updated: Reading the image info.Some people were having issues.
Updated: integrating updates
Updated: integrating Themes

7Customizer 0.4.3 was downloaded at least 265 Times.


Regards

Attached File(s)

•  7Customizer_0.4.4.rar (225.26K)
  Number of downloads: 3721

This post has been edited by blue4603: 15 May 2010 - 02:09 AM

[jaclaz]

blue4603, on Oct 25 2009, 03:08 PM, said:

If there is interest in this tool and some intersets in helping me in developing this tool, I will continue developing. If not i will just continue until I get bored

Later if it gets some attention, I will release the source code

Regards

Sure there is interest in such a tool.

A good start before releasing the source code would be to release the actual app, instead of a couple of screenshots...

With all due respect , I doubt that even the few features implemented are actually tested extensively , until you release it and let people play a bit with it.

jaclaz

[r0sWell]

i'm 99% sure that a lot of people are waiting for a vlite replacement

if with your tool it's possible to easily slim down the size of the Win7 source (or parts of it), i'm very interested in too

[nujackk]

I too would like to voice my interest. Doubt I could be of much help in development other then a tester. But figured I should show my support

[blue4603]

Quote

A good start before releasing the source code would be to release the actual app, instead of a couple of screenshots...

Just give me a couple of days so I could finish the unattended part.

Quote

With all due respect , I doubt that even the few features implemented are actually tested extensively rolleyes.gif , until you release it and let people play a bit with it.

I meant that I have tested it on my test machine and later on I will give it to the people to test it.

Quote

i'm 99% sure that a lot of people are waiting for a vlite replacement newwink.gif

if with your tool it's possible to easily slim down the size of the Win7 source (or parts of it), i'm very interested in too cool.gif

The slimming part will come later on.

Quote

I too would like to voice my interest. Doubt I could be of much help in development other then a tester. But figured I should show my support

Thanks in advance

Regards

[Chester^]

Def interested!

[1to1]

Keep on the good Work Brother.!!
best regards.

[MrJinje]

I could possibly help out, what language are you programming in.

As for the removal of packages, have an idea for that, but don't think Install_WIM_Tweak.exe is working with DISM currently, so we would either have to mount/unmount with the Vista WAIK imagex, or need re-write a new Install_WIM_Tweak.exe to work with DISM

Basic idea was populate a simple tree-view / Check Box control just like vLite or WUD with the package listing from DISM /GET-PACKAGES command.

What do you think ?

[filmbot]

I'd be very interested in this. Coming from working with nLite extensively and having to try and find the same power for Win7 in WAIK has been nothing but a headache. Hopefully this gets released.

[TheWalrus]

Great! I was about to start exploring Se7en_UA tool some other member posted few weeks ago, but this looks very promising!

[blue4603]

Quote

I could possibly help out, what language are you programming in.

As for the removal of packages, have an idea for that, but don't think Install_WIM_Tweak.exe is working with DISM currently, so we would either have to mount/unmount with the Vista WAIK imagex, or need re-write a new Install_WIM_Tweak.exe to work with DISM

Basic idea was populate a simple tree-view / Check Box control just like vLite or WUD with the package listing from DISM /GET-PACKAGES command.

What do you think ?

I am using C#.

To mount and and commit and service the image, I use imagex and dism from the windows 7 WAIK. That means this program should not work on XP since WAIK for 7 does not support XP (Sorry this problem is from Microsoft).

Regarding the packages I think we could look into that later. Because I want to finish these functions:
1. Integrate Language (Done)
2. Integrate Updates (Done)
3. Basic Unattended

The tool should know what updates and languages are already installed (You could call this a function two)

After that I will give the program to the people to test it and then implement other functions

@Chester^,@1to1,@filmbot,@TheWalrus

Thanks for your interest


Regards

[jaclaz]

blue4603, on Oct 26 2009, 10:26 AM, said:

To mount and and commit and service the image, I use imagex and dism from the windows 7 WAIK. That means this program should not work on XP since WAIK for 7 does not support XP (Sorry this problem is from Microsoft).

Not really.

JFYI:
http://www.boot-land...?showtopic=9113

jaclaz

[clavicle]

@blue4603
Definitely this program could become the most wanted one. But certainly this board is full of enthusiasts and beta testers who will test endlessly to make this program a real worthy one. All the best!

[Stoner81]

Defo interested in this myself!

[blue4603]

Quote

Not really. newwink.gif

JFYI:
http://www.boot-land...?showtopic=9113

jaclaz

Oh, thanks for the info. Although it can run on XP, all my testing will be on a vista machine with WAIK for 7. So if someone will use it on XP, he should setup DISM and ImageX on XP because the tool uses both of them.

To make things clear: I will develop this tool and test it only on vista and later 7.

@clavicle, @Stoner81

Thanks for your interest

Regards

This post has been edited by blue4603: 26 October 2009 - 11:55 AM

[MAVERICKS CHOICE]

Just DL your tool, running on W7 x86 can multiple updates be managed or single only?

[blue4603]

Quote

Just DL your tool, running on W7 x86 can multiple updates be managed or single only?

Multiple updates and languages can be installed.

Regards

This post has been edited by blue4603: 26 October 2009 - 03:17 PM

[MAVERICKS CHOICE]

Just tried would only allow single msu & not multiple?
Also received below screen error when applying.

Attached File(s)

•  7cust..jpg (29.48K)
  Number of downloads: 248

This post has been edited by MAVERICKS CHOICE: 26 October 2009 - 03:19 PM

[blue4603]

Quote

Just tried would only allow single msu & not multiple?
Also received below screen error when applying.

WOW , the first bug

Thanks for posting this. I will look in that tomorrow since it is midnight now and I need to sleep.

Regards

[terminal_redd]

glad to hear a tool like this is in development. i cant wait to test.