Windows modified versions (XP/Vista/7) - opinions/talk

[Ookami]

Couldnt find a topic to fit it soo here goes.

 

Have you ever tried modify your Windows installation from simple file replacement to overhaul cut down of unneeded functions, integrated hotfixes and all registry tweaks with customs themes. What is your opinions on running modified versions versus the original ones.

 

Soo far my record on XP 32-bit version was 170MB on ISO with integrated nvidia drivers with fully stable system. Funny fact that even with modified Vista was faster even as the size was bigger and 7 which has 2GB of ISO size is even faster than Vista. For me messing with Windows versions is to see how much you can cut out from it to make it still run stable without things that you will never use. With Windows 7 on fresh install with 28 processes running is nice. Found that anything beyond that make my version for BSOD.

[legopc]

cant you change stuff with nlite but i have never tried anctual changing the iso 

[Ookami]

Well nLite is made for XP, VLite for Vista (and in some cases 7) and Windows 7 got few programs to work with it like RT7Lite, 7Customizer and WinToolkit.

[stevv]

I used to nlite XP and  vlite Vista.  I still have the XP version on iso handy as I have tuned them to be stable with minimal resources.  I have a vlited Vista iso lying around, but it ran well until the service pack arrived (that's what happens when you try to get rid of the bloat, and it needs it again lol).  I didn't bother with windows 7 since I got a hold of larger SSDs.  I always found the biggest bottleneck was the hard drive and the background services accessing it.  As for space savings, language support takes the biggest chunk.

 

The bloat issue still bugs me though, but I haven't have time anymore these days, and OS issues due to the modding is too much of a showstopper for me now.

 

edit: yeah.. forgot it was called vlite for vista  :P

[Ookami]

Well for 7 there are hardcore people deleting the winsxs folder and making ISO of 7 into 600-700MB. But deleting winsxs is just a mistake due to most size of it are just hardlinks to system files, but the taste that you got ultra slim 7 kinda makes up for it if you dont plan on using it on daily basis.

[stevv]

Well for 7 there are hardcore people deleting the winsxs folder and making ISO of 7 into 600-700MB. But deleting winsxs is just a mistake due to most size of it are just hardlinks to system files, but the taste that you got ultra slim 7 kinda makes up for it if you dont plan on using it on daily basis.

 

I wonder how small the ultraslim 7 would look installed on vm, given a standard win 7 states 4GB more usage (w/o page or hibernate file) compared to the size of the virtual hard drive.  For example: 15.7GB (win explorer report) - 4GB (page) - 7.45GB(virtual hd) = 4GB+ difference. 

[Ookami]

Going past 600-700MB will make propably a ~2-2.5GB. The ISO with 1.3GB size will be about 3.2GB on HDD (or SSD; which you prefer) with ~500MB mem usage. Frankly going under 2GB on ISO in slimming down the 7 is going to make more and more programs not work and system behave like goverment of some african country.