Windows Project Blackout (Modified LTSC 2019)

[Mnky313]

So, I've been messing around with customizing Windows Installs lately and finally somewhat finished making both a cut down version of LTSC 2019 which skips the OOBE as well as an installer for a bunch of software and tweaks to improve the experience.

The Installer is completely separate and can run on any install of LTSC 2019 (haven't tested other versions and because it's messing with custom themes I wouldn't be surprised if it has issues on newer versions)

 

Disclaimer

I wouldn't run this under your current install as there's a chance it will break things.
You're using this at your own risk. (that being said, I didn't compile the bat scripts so if you want to look at the code it's all there.)
 

Software Included in the Installer:
7-Zip by Igor Pavlov

Audacity by The Audacity Team

Unlocker by IOBit

Notepad++ by Don Ho & Curriculum Vitae
OldNewExplorer by Tihiy (I don't think they have a webpage to link to so here's the page I downloaded it from)

Open-Shell (fork of Classic Shell by Ivo Beltchev)

Paint.net by DotPDN

Resource Hacker by Angus Johnson

Shutup10 by O&O Software (not actually installed, just ran once.)
SuperF4 by Stefan Sundin

T-Clock by White Tiger

UltraUXThemePatcher by Manuel Hoefs

Vivaldi by Vivaldi Technologies™

WinXEditor by Winaero

ThemeSwitcher by Winaero
Sysinternals Suite by Microsoft
GnuWin32 by idk
Nircmd by NirSoft
NSudo by M2Team

Soft of these have custom user data or settings that should be handled by the installer.

Tweaks:
Custom System-Wide Dark theme (based on xTheme by niivu) with script to fix issues on system unlock.
Enabled System Startup Sound
Added Sound Scheme for Windows 7 Sounds
Removed Quick Access and 3D Objects Folder
Disabled Game Mode & Game DVR
Enabled Hidden Files & File Extensions by default
Replaced default text editor with Notepad++
Disabled Action Center, People, and taskview Icon on Taskbar
Modified list of new files in context menu (removed contact & rtf, added bat, vbs, and png)
Added option to open CMD here (and here as Admin) in context menu
Added options to Reload Theme & Restart Explorer in desktop context menu
Removed the ability to print script files from the context menu (because Who the fuck prints bat files)

 

It is recommended to Activate Windows PRIOR to running the installer as it has problems with themes because of the restrictions on customizing your pc before activation.

if the theme doesn't properly apply properly, just select it from the themes menu

Also, another note related to themes, you CAN NOT change the colour the normal way, it will revert every time you unlock your machine.
The way to edit it is to either save the theme and copy that theme from:

%localappdata%\Microsoft\Windows\Themes\

to

C:\Windows\Resources\Themes\

and rename it to 'xWin.theme' (replace the theme that's already in there)
or
manually open that same xWin.theme file and change the below line to a new value:

ColorizationColor=0XC48000FF

Sorry about that, it's because the theme needs to be re-applied in order to fix a weird issue where some elements revert to white with white text or black with black text.
 

I can't provide download links for the LTSC 2019 ISO but I can link you the script I used for first user setup, my unattend XML file and this Craft Computing video that explains mostly everything you need to do to make it.
(You might also need this link to the Windows ADK)

firstuser.bat(place this in C:\Windows\)
unattend.xml (place this in C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep\)

 

This is just here if you wanted to make an image that skips all the OOBE. (and gives you the option to add programs to it but from my experience it takes significantly longer if you add anything for some reason...)

The modified LTSC 2019 image skips directly to the Administrator desktop with a helpful script that allows you to specify and username and password for you account, then logs out and disables the built in Admin account. (this is to get around having to put in security questions and toggle off all the 'privacy' options)

 

Installer Download:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MP7blE8vXOdVrrXCKYER0YcSBJ8q794T/view?usp=sharing

_{yes, I know the installer is not good code ok. But it works... mostly...}

 

Feel free to ask questions and request things, idk how much I'll update it though

[LogicalDrm]

-> Moved to Windows

[PlenumRated]

This looks incredible. I'll throw it on a VM. 

 

What I'd love to see is a "Classic" theme for current versions of Windows. I know there are some available, but most are flagged as viruses or make your system unstable. 

 

If I could run Windows 7 Classic still I would. 

[Mnky313]

13 minutes ago, PlenumRated said:

This looks incredible. I'll throw it on a VM. 

 

What I'd love to see is a "Classic" theme for current versions of Windows. I know there are some available, but most are flagged as viruses or make your system unstable. 

 

If I could run Windows 7 Classic still I would. 

I actually looked into it. You can enable the built in one but it's pretty broken:

 

[PlenumRated]

3 minutes ago, Mnky313 said:

I actually looked into it. You can enable the built in one but it's pretty broken:

 

The last time I tried one of these, I got countless errors. But I'll give it a try on a VM. I wonder if it breaks more with each Windows 10 Feature Update.