Customizing Windows 10 setup disc

[T-Paste]

A while back ago, I created a "Windows 9 Pro" disc that works great but dont have any more licenses for some newer laptops that came with Windows 10 Home. I've been working on a "Windows 9 Home" version and just completed the customizations for it and ran sysprep, ran dism to create the install.wim file.

 

Anyway, I was just going to create a new disc for this, but thought it would be great to import both versions into a single wim file as is done with the commercial disc. Does anyone have any knowledge in doing so, and if so, how?

[Electronics Wizardy]

look up ntlite

 

or microsoft mdt if you want a automated setup solutions.

[T-Paste]

Is nlite (or vlite for that matter)  even compatible with 10?  As far as MDT, is that part of the AIK or ADK?

[Electronics Wizardy]

13 minutes ago, T-Paste said:

Is nlite (or vlite for that matter)  even compatible with 10?  As far as MDT, is that part of the AIK or ADK?

ntlite works with 10, ive done it.

 

Download mdt here, https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=54259

 

it then downloads adk

[T-Paste]

I should check out both then. Any pitfalls I should be aware of with either method?

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, T-Paste said:

I should check out both then. Any pitfalls I should be aware of with either method?

nt lite is pretty simple and easy to use, mdt is a lot better for a big deployment with drivers, and needs a server setup to share the files, and the install is just a basic windows pe disk.

[T-Paste]

Oh I'm doing nothing fancy outside the wom files I created, just an otherwise plain setup. In the past, I used to add updates, drivers, fixes, and third party software but I've since preferred a "clean" install.

 

Which tool would be easier to extract the specific version of win10 from either install.wim file?

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, T-Paste said:

Oh I'm doing nothing fancy outside the wom files I created, just an otherwise plain setup. In the past, I used to add updates, drivers, fixes, and third party software but I've since preferred a "clean" install.

 

Which tool would be easier to extract the specific version of win10 from either install.wim file?

ntlite is probably your friend then. Id just download it and give it a show, and try some test vms.

[T-Paste]

Of course I'm sure some of this will make more sense when I take a look. Just getting to work right now and then I'll remote home and check it out further.

[T-Paste]

Ok, will do. I'll come back if I need more.

[T-Paste]

I was getting to build my Win9 Home build so I at least had that in case anything goes wrong with combining them. Found out that there is an interesting flaw, there are NO icons, only their captions. I've made a snapshot of every step I did and a new VM for every new process, so it will take me a bit to figure how far back that goes.

 

This flaw doesnt show up during sysprep as all looks fine, so it wasnt until I was getting ready to create the ISO I found out about this. If anyone knows how to resolve this, especially if it is a registry setting, I'm hoping I could make those changes just before /generalize /oobe /shutdown process.

[TheDelphiDude]

1 hour ago, T-Paste said:

Anyway, I was just going to create a new disc for this, but thought it would be great to import both versions into a single wim file as is done with the commercial disc. Does anyone have any knowledge in doing so, and if so, how?

 

1 hour ago, T-Paste said:

Which tool would be easier to extract the specific version of win10 from either install.wim file?

DISM is your friend - look up the /export-image switch.

You can also use DISM to mount an image. This will allow you to add updates and drivers, enable features, add or remove files and even edit the registry. Unless you want to add software to your image you'll have zero need for VMs and sysprep.

[T-Paste]

Will give that a shot once I can resolve my icon problem. Have you experienced a problem with every icon missing, and only having the caption at best?

[T-Paste]

With the icon issue, what is weird is if I boot in safe mode, icons are there, when booting back to normal mode they are gone again.

[TheDelphiDude]

12 minutes ago, T-Paste said:

Have you experienced a problem with every icon missing, and only having the caption at best?

I can't say that I have.

 

13 minutes ago, T-Paste said:

With the icon issue, what is weird is if I boot in safe mode, icons are there, when booting back to normal mode they are gone again.

You could try clearing the icon cache (instructions), rebooting, and pressing F5 once back on the desktop.

[T-Paste]

Yea, no good, still doing the same.

[T-Paste]

Well to the icon issue, I was able to resolve it... just had to replace a couple dlls in the Windows\System32 folder. I had to rebuild the wim file, but no big deal. The disappointment I have though is that after testing the install, many changes didnt stick.

 

For instance the classic shell settings for the win7 look was set to metro and the start skin was missing. I set explorer to open to PC instead but was set to the default. There were a bunch of setting like that which were reverted. Furthermore, I had removed the windows store provision, forcefully removing it and it came back.

[T-Paste]

I had made an installation disc that didn't completely mirror all the settings I had while in sysprep mode. I realized I forgot about the configuration files to copy the profile, start menu, and taskbar but for the life of me, I can't remember how I did this when I previously made a Windows 9 disc for Win10Pro as I am now trying with Win10Home. I am so rusty at this, is anyone able or willing to do a step by step set of directions for dummies on this one?

 

I've googled several sites on the unattend.xml, copyprofile.xml, customlayout.xml files and putting these either in %appdata%\Microsoft\Shell or %windir%\system32\sysprep\panther folders. The best I've managed so far is getting an error that unattend.xml cant be parsed in c:\windows\panther which of course confuses me a bit as I would expect it to say unable to parse unattend.xml in c:\windows\system32\sysprep\panther instead. Anyway, thank you ahead of time for your assistance.

[T-Paste]

Found a solution to my Windows 9 Home project with the profiles and such!

 

Step 1: Install Windows 10 Home (works best on VM to work with snapshots). This project was built with 10.0.10240

            A. As soon as setup prompts for a registration key, enter sysprep mode with SHIFT + F3

            B. Follow steps to create "Windows 9" and any other installations, configurations, or removal

 

Step 2: Prepare sysprep

            Follow the steps found here on tenforums.com, link below and adjust the answers to your own liking.

 

Step 3: Testing

           Run the sysprep system (after making a snapshot to revert to) to make sure the changes applied and acceptable

 

I still have to figure how to combine my previous Windows 9 Pro and my new Windows 9 Home together on the same install media. Included a screenshot of the finished build, including the Settings dark theme. Hope this helps anyone else out there.

 

 

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/96683-create-media-automated-unattended-install-windows-10-a.html 

[T-Paste]

I finally got around to combining the installs and it is generally alright. The only problem I've run into is that when I imported my Win9Pro WIM file into the Win9Home WIM file and created an ISO, there are two OS's listed as expected, but the second one, Win9Pro has no name, but the description I did insert from NTLite does show, so I know that it is supposed to be the Pro version. I do not see a way to include a name, or to even set the flag for which version it is.

 

As far as trying DISM, I've searched Google but still at a loss with it.

[T-Paste]

I fixed that issue as well. For some reason, even though the PRO version had a name and description, NTLite was blind to it. I just had to enter the name again and that was good.

 

The project is almost done, just have a bug with the version info being blank in System Properties and the dual disc is 13GB, so it needs to shrink to at least fit on a dual layer.

[T-Paste]

I was able to resolve the issue. Such a newb problem. For some reason, NTLite mounted the WIM file, created an ISO image and saved the ISO image within the WIM file. This was the source of the bloated disc. I found that out when I went and fixed the blank system properties and recreated a new WIM file. The previous WIM was 13 GB about and I mounted it, found the ISO so I just tossed that out since I made a new clean one. It obviously won't fit on a single layer DVD, but fits nicely on my dual layer, or on a large enough USB drive if that's your thing.

 

If anyone wants a copy of the standalone PRO or  HOME version or the PRO and HOME version, let me know and I will figure a way to upload it. There is no activation key or license to it so there should not be an issue with that.

 

There a couple caveats... some of the Windows 7 feel and the Windows 9 branding will revert to Windows 10 after updating, AeroGlass will need to be updated as Windows is updated, and that will bring back the watermark in the PRO version. The HOME version already has the watermark as I did not care to go through the effort to clear that this time around.

 

To update AeroGlass, just download the correct version at glass8.eu. If you want to get rid of the watermark, you could donate to the author and get a key you save to the AeroGlass folder. The other thing to note is that AeroGlass will nag you every startup if you want to copy the machine code. You need that code to download the donation key to deactivate the nag and the watermark.

 

Anyway, it has been an adventure, that's for sure and it was interesting how this came together and glad to have Windows 9 Home for my laptops now.

 

I want to thank Electronics Wizardy and TheDelphiDude for their assistance and giving me a start point to continue on the project. With all the research I had to do with Google searching a method to have the LayoutModification.xml work to my needs and getting the Unattend.xml file set up, it took a few days. The LayoutModification.xml file is broken for the Start menu but works for the taskbar, which is fine as I'm using Classic Shell for the Start menu anyway. If it helps anyone else, I've attached autounattend.xml (ironic since it is setup to be fully attended), Unattend.xml, and LayoutModification.xml files. The proper location that worked automatically for me is as follows:

autounattend.xml:               Root of the installation folder ( / )
Unattend.xml:                     %systemdrive%\Windows\System32\sysprep\

LayoutModification.xml:      %allusersprofile%\microsoft\windows\Shell

 

Once done configuration Windows with sysprep audit and have everything setup just as you like, either close the sysprep GUI and run sysprep /generailze /oobe /shutdown at a CMD prompt, or in the GUI, select OOBE, check generalize, and select shutdown. Shouldnt take long to complete.

 

I used VirtualBox to create my custom install. After sysprep, I created a new virtual drive, large enough to fit my WIM file and the temporary files used to build the WIM and attach to the VM. I inserted the Windows 10 disc that my Win9 build was based from and as soon as it prompts for Locale information, just press SHIFT+F10 to get the command prompt.

 

NOTE: drive letters do change from what they normally are within Windows!

 

I enter diskpart and then enter list volume to check which disk is the new one I added to the VM and then type select disk x (where x is the number provided by list volume) and from there, type create partition primary to create a usable partition. Type assign letter=Z (where Z is an available driver letter of your choice). Type exit to leave disk part and then type format Z: /q /fs:NTFS (where Z is the same drive letter assigned). Then select drive Z: by typing Z: and at the prompt, type mkdir Scratch.

 

Time to whip out the DISM magic. The full command entered is:

 

dism /capture-image /imagefile:Z:\install.wim /capturedir:D:\ /ScratchDir:Z:\Scratch /name:"Win9Home_AMD64" /compress:maximum /checkintegrity /verify /bootable

 

The only spaces in the above command are between the "/". Anyway, just let that run. Once completed, I simply attach a USB drive to the VM via the USB filters (the icons below the VM display) by right clicking on the USB icon and selecting the USB drive of choice. I then type copy Z:\install.wim A:\ (where A is the drive letter of your USB drive). Wait for the copy to complete and remove the USB drive from the VM.

 

If you haven't done so already, extract the entire Windows 10 installation to your computer, for example D:\ISO_Files\. Then copy the new WIM file from the USB drive over the original in the \Sources folder.

 

To create an ISO image that is correct, run Deplayment and Imaging Tools Environment as Administrator, from the Windows ADK (which needs to be at least the version Windows you are working with). type cd/ to get to the C:\ prompt. Then type the following long command (it is a single line command):

 

oscdimg.exe -m -o -u2 -udfver102 -bootdata:2#p0,e,bd:\iso_files\boot\etfsboot.com#pEF,e,bd:\iso_files\efi\microsoft\boot\efisys.bin d:\iso_files d:\Win9Home_AMD64.iso

 

The above command only has a space before each "-" and at the end, before "d:\iso_files" and again, before "d:\Win9Home_AMD64.iso". The d:\iso_files is where the extracted installation files are located and d:\Win9Home_AMD64.iso is where you want the ISO to be saved and its location.

 

The various switches in the command are as follows:

 

-m                Ignores the maximum size limit of an image

-o                 Uses an MD5 hashing algorithm to compare files

-u2               Creates an image that only contains a UDF file system

-udver102    The image will use UDF version 1.02

-bootdata:    Specifies a multi-boot image, followed with the number of entries. Uses the # symbol to

                    separate each boot entry.

-p                 Specifies the value to use for the platform ID in the El Torito catalog

           EF          Specifies the UEFI system in the El Torito catalog

           0             Specifies the BIOS system in the El Torito catalog

-e                  Disables floppy disk emulation in the El Torito catalog

-b                  Boot sector file

                           bEFisys.bin is used for UEFI

                           bEtfsboot.com is used for BIOS

 

The OSCDIMG information was found from Microsoft documents:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/oscdimg-command-line-options

 

Feel free to put all this information into a clearly easy to read tutorial. Other pages used to help with this project, in no particular order are:

 

https://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/windows-enterprise-desktop/create-custom-iso-windows-10-part-4-6/

https://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/windows-enterprise-desktop/create-custom-iso-windows-10-part-5-6/

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/96683-create-media-automated-unattended-install-windows-10-a.html

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/dism-image-management-command-line-options-s14

https://www.ntlite.com/discussions/#/discussion/1503/wim-joiner-append

 

autounattend.xml

Unattend.xml

LayoutModification.xml