Want to optimize Windows 10? Then you need to create your own system installer that will install a clean OS without unnecessary applications and add-ons. See how to create an ISO Windows image 10.
Windows 10 has a number of add-ons that many users never use. Modern programs such as Skype for Windows 10, Weather, Mail, Contacts and Maps are installed along with the system. Not to mention games like Candy Crush Soda Saga from the Windows Store. Added to all this are functions that irritate many users, including Microsoft telemetry (data collection), built-in OneDrive cloud and many other additions that were not widely available popular version Windows 7.
Many are looking for ways to remove these unnecessary applications and functions preinstalled in the system. But you can approach this problem from the other side and make changes to the installation image of the system itself so that these additions are not added at all during Windows installations 10.
Thus, you can create your own Windows 10 image, which will install immediately clean system without unnecessary additions.
What do you need to create your own Windows 10 installer?
Make changes to ISO image with Windows 10 you can use the MSMG Toolkit utility. This program allows you to make changes to the ISO image and create your own installer. That is, you can remove all Modern applications from the installation, as well as disable all unnecessary functions.
To create it you will need the specified MSMG Toolkit, as well as the latest ISO image with Windows 10. You can download them from the following links.
Download MSMG Toolkit (file ToolKit-v7.3.7)
Download Media Creation Tool for Windows 10
Launch the Media Creation Tool, then accept the agreement that appears.
In the next step, specify further action. Here you can select the system update feature as well as the option to download Windows 10 installer. Check the second option i.e. “Create installation media for another computer."
Media Creation Tool will automatically offer to download the appropriate language version operating system compatible with your computer architecture. If the settings do not match, then uncheck the “Use recommended settings” checkbox and manually specify the version and architecture as 32-bit or 64-bit.
The next screen requires you to specify where you want to download the installer, directly to a flash drive or to an ISO file. In our case, you need to download to ISO file, since before downloading to a USB flash drive you need to create your own installer and make the appropriate changes using MSMG Toolkit. Open the ISO image download option and specify the disk location to download it.
After downloading the utility, unpack it into the specified folder. Before running the tool, you need to unpack the downloaded image into the “DVD” folder inside the MSMG directory.
The ISO image can be extracted using any archiver, such as WinRAR or 7-Zip. To do this, right-click on the image and select “Open with” and select a program like WinRAR.
The data extraction utility window will open. Select the "Extract to..." option and then navigate to the DVD folder which is located inside the MSMG directory.
After unpacking the data, launch MSMG using the ToolKit-v7.3.cmd file. A window will appear notifying you that the author is not responsible for any problems and you must confirm that you are using the service at your own risk. Press A to accept the terms.
The program will check the Windows 10 system image unpacked into the DVD folder. When the message “Press ENTER Key to Continue” appears, press the indicated button.
The main menu will open with the available options. Bookmarks are opened using number buttons. You can return to the main menu with the X button.
Let's move on to how to create a system image in Windows 10 without unnecessary functions and programs.
1. Go to the “Convert” tab and select the “Convert ESD Image to Wim Image” option. When the program asks which version of the operating system you downloaded, select the one you downloaded. The process of converting the Install.esd file to Install.wim will begin.
2. Once the process is complete, return to the main menu and open the “Source” tab and then “Select Source from Folder”. Recognized versions of Windows 10 will appear in the list - press a key, for example, 1, to select the downloaded one. When prompted whether you want to mount the image, confirm with Y (Yes). Wait until the message “Press any key to continue” appears on the screen and press any key to return to the main menu.
3. Go to the “Remove” section and select “Remove Default Metro Apps”. This parameter is responsible for removing Modern applications. You can check the “All Apps” option to remove all programs of this type or “Any individual apps” and specify individual ones to remove. If you want to remove all Modern apps, select All Apps (Windows Store will also be removed).
4. Go back to the “Remove” tab and select “Remove default Metro Apps Associations”. This option allows you to remove all residues and relationships associated with Modern.
5. Go again to the “Remove” tab and open “Remove Components”. Here you can check the “All Windows Components” option to remove all Windows 10 components or the “Any desired option” to remove unnecessary functions yourself.
These components include a telemetry service (data collection), the Xbox application complete with an overlay for games, Geolocation, Cortana, the OneDrive cloud and others.
6. Now return to the main menu and go to the “Apply” option. Confirm saving the changes with the “Apply & Save Changes to Source Images” button.
7. Go to the "Apply" tab again, and this time click on "Rebuild Source Images" to rebuild the installer files and apply the changes you made.
8. Finally, go back to the main menu and open the “Target” option, then go to “Make a DVD ISO Image”. This option will allow you to create your own Windows installer 10 in ISO format, ready to burn to DVD or create a bootable USB flash drive.
The created image will be available in the “ISO” folder in the directory with the MSMG program. Now you can burn an ISO image to a disk or flash drive and install a clean one from it. Windows version 10 without unnecessary services and applications.
Hello. Thanks for answering.
But my problem is a little different.
I wanted to activate Windows which is in the AiRecovery section.
I have a Windows 7pro x64 license in the AiRecovery section.
After installation from the AiRecovery partition via F9
activated by the key on the back
laptop cover, 100% no problem.
Now it's just a little inconvenience after
installations from the AiRecovery section. Before renovation
when i installed windows 7 it automatically
activated. If the Internet was not connected, then windows
installed with 3 days automatic activation,
if there was no network access for 3 days, then windows
switched to a 30-day trial status, and activate
could be done manually.
Now, when installed in the right
in the bottom corner of the screen under the ASUS obviator in small font
It says that I am not using a legal version of Windows.
And after installation the screen is black, installation
The picture is not installed. This means that I have to
activate windows manually every time and after
activation install installation image
also by hand.
4 years ago there was an article on asus.ru
Editing the Recovery partition. The article included these
After the successful completion of the process, you need to boot the laptop from the disk itself... and... The loaded OS, which we deployed from the images, will be launched in Audit mode.
It didn’t work out for me, apparently the article was written
for windows 7 x32.
On the official website of Asus I found
If you have configured your Windows image to boot to OOBE, but then need to make further configurations to your image in audit mode, you can do one of the following:
Use the CTRL+SHIFT+F3 keyboard shortcut. The computer will reboot into audit mode.
This option may trigger any scripts that you have configured to launch in OOBE
and that’s the only way I was able to enter audit mode. Activating Windows
and after passing “generalize” two drivers crashed
These are video and audio drivers.
In general, with Windows activation
everything worked out, but since I reinstalled the drivers
Windows turned out to be longer by about 500 megabytes.
And I had 3 questions:
1). Is it possible in the AiRecovery section to combine swm images into a wim image and activate windows in it?
since this is the most The best way solving this issue.
2). If not, is it possible to prevent the flight?
video and audio drivers when going through “generalize”.
3). If not, is it possible to activate drivers that
if you look at the volume, most likely they were deactivated
when passing “generalize”
because when installing the drivers again, windows volume increases by the volume of newly installed drivers.
Today there are a large number of users who are wondering how they can create a wim image of the Windows 10 operating system and then use it to install the OS.
Creating a Windows 10 installation wim image with software using WDS
This procedure can be carried out if you use two computer devices with pre-installed Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 10 Enterprise x64, for example. These two machines may have different sets of utilities installed.
In order to achieve readiness system partition computer device to create a wim image of the Windows 10 operating system, you need to find a program called Sysprep. Typically this utility is located at system disk WITH.
After opening this program, you need to set the parameters in it that are in the picture below.
After this, the program begins to carry out its activities.
When it completes its work, the computer device with the operating Windows system 10 will turn off.
On a computer device with Windows Server 2012 R2 pre-installed, you need to open the console, which is necessary to control WDS. Next we need to select the server that we need. It is listed as WIN-L1P3UL7JP8H. After this you need to go to Images and Downloads.
Then you need to click on boot image Windows 10 Enterprise (x64) Setup and open it context menu. There you should click on the Create recording image command.
In the new window, you should specify the name and all the basic parameters of the image that we want to create.
After the procedure has been completed, you need to go to Review in order to decide on the place where we will save it.
Review In this particular case, the image will be stored in the Capture folder.
After this, image creation will begin.
Thus, the image of our record will be formed. In the new window, after completing the procedure, you must check the box where you want to mark the addition of the image to the operating system deployment server.
The process of adding the created image to the server will begin.
After adding, you must click on Finish.
When the work is completed, you need to start a computer device with pre-installed Windows 10 Enterprise x64 over the network. On the page that appears, select Windows partition 10 Enterprise (x64) Capture.
On this computer device, you need to select the system partition where the Windows 10 image will be created for installation purposes.
Name After this, the system partition of the computer device is saved to a file for wim installation purposes.
The procedure is complete.
It will appear in the previously selected location for storing the OS image.
There can be many reasons to create your own distribution of the Windows 10 operating system, and they are not the topic of this article. The important thing is that there is a need for your own version of the distribution kit, and we will tell you how to create it using only the Windows ADK (Toolkit for Windows deployments) And command line, in other words, we can do without third party software using only tools built into the OS.
So, a customized distribution may be needed, for example, if you plan to increase the number of computers. You have decided to get another machine, in addition to the laptop, you have decided to order the assembly of a more productive computer, but the set of software on it will be approximately the same as on the laptop.
You can, of course, install the OS on a new machine, and then install and configure the remaining software. You can do it differently: turn that Windows 10 configuration, complete with all installed programs, that runs on one of the computers, into a distribution kit. All that remains is to install the system on a new machine, and all the necessary software will be installed automatically. All that remains is to install drivers for the hardware that will be in the new computer.
To work you will need two computers, in extreme cases, for experiments you can get by with one, but install virtual machine. Let's assume that Windows 10 and all the necessary software are installed on one of them.
Preparation
You will need an OS distribution, which can be downloaded from the Microsoft website.
We create bootable USB flash drive, using this distribution, and run the “sysprep” utility built into the system. The task of this utility is to prepare a system image, which includes all settings and installed programs, to transfer to another computer.
You need to start the command line and enter the command:
C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep\Sysprep.exe
In the window that opens, all parameters are set as shown in the screenshot:
Let us explain a little what some points mean:
- Switching the system to OOBE mode - the next time you start the system, the system will switch to OS transfer mode.
- Preparation for use - unnecessary information not intended for copying will be deleted, for example, activation data, etc., while all installed programs and utilities must be included in the copying.
The "sysprep" utility will run for several minutes, the duration depending on the amount of data that will be transferred to the new computer.
Once completed, the computer will turn off.
Creating an image in ESD format
Now we need to connect external drive, insert the previously prepared bootable USB flash drive and boot from it. When the Windows 10 installation window appears, press the key combination “Shift+10”.
- "Diskpart" (a utility that allows you to work with sections of hard disk),
- “lisvol” (viewing disk partitions, so Windows 10 is installed in partition C:, and the connected USB drive has the letter I:),
- “exit” (exit the utility. We have found out the data about the partitions).
Now you need to start the process of saving the C: drive, where the installed Windows 10 OS is located, into an image file in ESD format on a connected USB drive. The command looks like this:
Dism /Capture-Image /ImageFile:I:\install.esd /CaptureDir:C:\ /Name:Windows
Let's explain the command:
- Install.esd is the name of the system image file to be created,
- I: - the disk on which this file will be created. In our case, this is a portable disk I:),
- C:\ is the drive where the original Windows 10 OS is installed.
You can also specify the compression level of the resulting file. This parameter is not specified in this line and the default value - fast - will be used. If a different operating mode is needed, then a different value can be used. It should be remembered that the stronger the compression, the more time it takes to work.
Upon completion of work on removable disk The finished image file will appear.
Now you can turn off the computer on which Windows 10 was installed and which was used to create the image. The rest of the work will be done on the second computer.
Additional compression of the image file
This section is not required. The “Install.esd” file obtained at the previous stage can be compressed even more by reducing its size. We check the presence of the file on the removable disk.
Enter the command:
DISM /Export-Image /SourceImageFile:I:\install.esd /SourceIndex:1 /DestinationImageFile:I:\install2.esd /Compress:recovery
With this command we create a second file named “Install2.esd”, which should differ from the original only in size. At the same time, we use a new type of compression - Compress:recovery.
After the operation is completed, there will be 2 files on the disk that differ in size. Now you can delete the original image file (“Install.esd”), and rename the new one from “Install2.esd” to “Install.esd”.
As a result, again only one file remains with the same name “Install.esd”, but of a reduced size.
Editing a Windows 10 ISO Image
Now it’s time to start creating the version of the OS image we need. To do this, take the distribution kit downloaded earlier from the Microsoft website and copy its contents into a folder that we create on a portable disk where our file is already located. Let's name the folder "10".
After copying is complete, in the “sources” subfolder you can see a file with the same name as the source computer file we created when creating the OS image. Our task is to replace this file with our own. To do this, copy our “Install.esd” file.
Then we paste it into the “sources” folder of the Windows 10 distribution.
It is necessary to replace the original file with ours.
Creating an ISO Image
There is little left to do. From the folder into which you copied the contents of the original Windows 10 distribution, and where you replaced one file with your own, create an ISO image again. To do this, we will use the Windows ADK (Windows Deployment Kit). It is usually installed along with the OS. If it is not there, you can download it from the Microsoft website and install it.
We launch the environment for deployment tools and working with images.
In the window that opens, enter the command:
Oscdimg /u2 /m /bootdata:2#p0,e,bI:\10\boot\Etfsboot.com#pef,e,bI:\10\efi\microsoft\boot\Efisys.bin I:\10 I:\ Windows.iso
Let's explain the command:
- u2 — file system UDF
- m – the image has no size restrictions,
- b — boot sector write etfsboot.com, the path to the file etfsboot.com when specifying b(boot) is written without a space: bI:\10\boot\etfsboot.com,
- I:\10 – indicate the folder in which the files for creating the image are located,
- I:\Windows.iso – we indicate that the final image file should be named Windows.iso and located on the I: drive.
After the operation is completed, a Windows.iso distribution image file will appear on the disk.
Create bootable media
The distribution kit has been created, now you need to write it onto the media from which the system will be installed on another computer. You can use a flash drive. How to create a bootable USB flash drive can be found on the Internet. It is not difficult. If you managed to create your own distribution without resorting to outside help without disturbing friends, acquaintances or system administrator at your work, you didn’t contact laptop repair near the Otradnoye metro station, where, for example, you live or work, then you can handle this task.
As a result, we get media from which you can install a system with an integrated set necessary software, and can be installed on any computer, either from UEFI bios, and with the usual one.
Installing Windows 10 OS
If you have already installed this version of the OS, you are familiar with the procedure. There are no differences when using a self-created distribution. In extreme cases, the installation process will take a little longer.
After completion, you will have a computer on which all the necessary software is already installed. The only thing left to do is install the device drivers for this computer.
This assembly is convenient if you need to transfer the system to another computer. If you need to install the OS on several computers, then this distribution can be used as a basic configuration with an integrated set of necessary software.
The remontcompa resource on its pages offered the option of creating a distribution kit with the Windows 10 operating system. It differs in that it includes pre-installed programs. The creation of such a distribution kit is very important, especially for those people (office workers) who need to install the same operating systems and programs on several computers. By creating a ready-made image of Windows 10 with programs, a person wins a lot of time, saving it on reinstallation software on each of the entrusted PCs. Therefore, we suggest testing the provided method.
What is audit mode and why is it needed?
Audit mode is a network environment that allows you to add drivers, utilities, programs and even games that a specific PC user should receive to the operating system distribution being created. The distribution kit created in audit mode allows you to install the system itself along with add-ons, bypassing the software installation stage.
Microsoft often creates such images for its partners who sell laptops and PCs with Windows 10 and pre-installed software. Probably, each of you had to notice that on purchased gadgets after installation licensed Windows out of nowhere, already installed programs appear. The question arises, who installed them? They were added to the Windows 10 image and installed automatically by the user.
Preparing to create a distribution
In order to create a Windows 10 distribution with pre-installed drivers and programs, you will need:
- Virtual machine;
- A storage device with a capacity of at least 8 GB.
Creating a distribution kit with pre-installed programs
After the above manipulations, the install.esd file will appear on the flash drive. Its size will depend on how many programs and drivers you install. Often its size is from 4 GB. If the file is larger than this size, it is better to compress it. To do this, launch the command line with Administrator rights. Enter “DISM /Export-Image /SourceImageFile:K:\install.esd /SourceIndex:1 /DestinationImageFile:K:\install2.esd /Compress:recovery”, where K is the letter of the flash drive.
If the file size is up to 4 GB, then compression is not necessary. Save the file with the name install2.esd. After that, we delete the first option, and give the compressed file the original name install.esd.
Now download the ISO image from the official Microsoft website. We open it (connect it to virtual disk drive) and copy all the contents. 
Create a folder on the flash drive with any name. Paste the copied contents of the image there. Then open the sources folder and paste the install.esd file there. Since it is already there, we replace it with ours (the one that has installed programs). 
Now you actually need to mount installation file. To do this, you will need the Windows Deployment Kit (Windows ADK).
After installation, we launch the deployment environment. Enter the following command: Oscdimg /u2 /m /bootdata:2#p0,e,bK:\10\boot\Etfsboot.com#pef,e,bK:\10\efi\microsoft\boot\Efisys.bin K:\ 10 K:\Windows.iso, where u2 is the UDF file system, m is the image size without restrictions, b is the boot sector, write etfsboot.com, the path to the file etfsboot.com when specifying b(boot) is written without a space bI:\10 \boot\etfsboot.com, in combination bK – K is the drive letter. Also:
- K:\10 – create an ISO image in the K: partition in folder 10
- K:\Windows.iso - place the created Win 10 image on the K: partition.
- Name the image Win 10 - Windows.
The distribution package will appear on the flash drive. Now it needs to be correctly written to the media. The Windows 10 installation process is standard.
