[patwa]

Right, with all this time on my hands I decided to start a new project. With the success of my first unattended setup, albeit that Installshield wouldn't work so couldn't get the belkin wifi card to install, I've decided to start again, but to increase the complexity this time.

First off, I'm starting by getting windows as small as possible without removing the main functionality I need. the main thing that seems to be causing some problems is which components I can remove, but still maintain wireless network and internet use.

So far I've got the XP Install CD (Just the CD, no additions) down to 172MB with a 10.4MB Drivers.cab file. Here's what's been done so far (see attached file)

I also removed the Compdata, Lang, win9xmig, win9xupg and winntupg folders.

I'm a fairly competent computer user, but have not had much experience with editing system files or registry entries. Doesn't mean I'm not up to the challenge though!

So, can anyone suggest how we can get this install slimmed down any further? The successful, well sort of, install I did earlier was 300MB and felt really light at that point. BTW, where is the option to disable hibernation and the pagefile? Is that under Unattended? Also, I can't seem to be able to get my Asrock RAID/SATA drivers to install at the 'Press F6 for third party drivers' part of setup, so I've been restricted to DefaultHide for the Unattended mode.

This is going to be some whopping great install, I can just feel it!

Hussein.

Attached File(s)

•  Last_Session_components.ini (21.26K)
  Number of downloads: 27
•  Last_Session.ini (8.21K)
  Number of downloads: 23

This post has been edited by patwa: 28 June 2006 - 10:58 AM

[boooggy]

http://www.msfn.org/...showtopic=52357

[patwa]

Thank you. Will work through stripping some of the .dlls and files from that thread. Am also going to re-nlite my xp install, as I had removed some of the hardware functionality, actually I only need to remove the drivers and replace them with my own, no point removing the hardware as it'll just cause problems later.

But a 10.4MB drivers.cab seems great to me anyway. Really keep to get this off the ground, and if we can get this down to say, 150MB or less but still with the wi-fi and internet functionality that'll be brilliant!

Working on stripping office 2003 pro now, it's a real shame that the only utility out there that does it the shrink_lang.exe requires a clean install, as I'll have to format my other machine to do it. VPC isn't working for me and I don't know if I can do it on a VM Workstation.

anyone know of any other office strippers? The main problem I have is deciding what to remove. For example, I'd like to remove the thrmes and wizards and clipart, but don't know if I'll need them in the future, lol. Same with the Help files.

Hussein.

[patwa]

Done the first stage of the strip, nlite'd the install and used the list of files in the post linked above, and it's now at 172MB.

I've edited the ost, and you can see hat I've done so far, last session components.ini shows the components removed, and last session.ini shows the individual files removed.

Honestly, I'm pretty fired up about this, of course my whole ambition is to get a cd/dv that will install the system the wy I want it to, tweaks, apps and customizations, and a small, lightweight windows is just the key, not to mention making things faster and giving it a smaller footprint. There is still a major stumbling block re: the asrock sata/raid drivers that just will not work, and as a result I'm still having to use the DefaultHide unattended mode, but I can sort that out later to make it truly unattended.

Also, as you can see, I don't have much use for the windows applications or many of the functions, apart from the AccessibilityOptions, those I haven't removed are due to me either not knowing what they do, or because they might affect my wifi network operation.

Going to start work on the apps now. BTW, anyone know whether, if I remove components from the office install source, can I still install them from the original CD later if I need them - e.g themes, wizards, etc. Also, any alternative to Office Shrinker stickied here on this forum that doesn't need a clean system to work?

Cheers.

Hussein.