Markus1234

I guess your way is better, my last wim didnt worked/aborted install in end process (without any unattented). Still im disappointed by the huge size of the image ... its actually way smaller if i integrate all updates and service packs to the DVD, not to the install. My windows dir was about 12gb at least, just by installing 4, 5 little apps, office was biggest. I wish there was a way to clean up all the install infos(and saved setup/backup files) without to destroy any way to uninstall them.

Unbelievable, the SP1 backup files removal got me over 4GB on the drive, and about 1.5GB in the wim. Also ive removed the MSOCache from Office2010 (makes another 800mb). I know office may wont work as it should now - but im gonna try in a minute.

Thanks .. im actually trying! Takes half a hour, so i will edit this post soon. Any other hints? Maybe files to delete? Im missing the XP time as you could just delete the HELP dir to save another 50MB.

May i ask you what the size of the created wim in your video was? Since ive added all Updates and the SP1, also Office2010 my wim ends up in over 6gb (maximum compressed). If i slipstream the SP1 and add office by post install, both together just take about 1.5gb, the wim here ends up in a size of ~3.2GB (included all other updates). The point is, ive tried to integrate the sp1 into the wim by rt7lite and cmd line, for rt7lite i tried it 3 times - 2 times it failed. Manualy ive tried it 2 times, and it aborted with errors (maybe some necessary updates missing before? was clean RTM w7). Im kind of disappointed now ... I thought sysprep would work better over all, not to pump up the winsxs such as in regular usage after the system was prepared. The winsxs in the "clean" windows7 environment has over 10gb already, the "installer" dir. located in c:\windows got about 800mb. Is there a way to filter permanent installed updates in order to remove the setup files? I did the disk cleaning utility before i finished in audit mode, it just delete the recycle bin files ... (i even used ccleaner and disabled recovery options)

I had a little problem on my last try in vmware while being in audit mode. I rebooted manualy, that caused the system to close sysprep mode and start in user creation. But as i restart from applications and windows updates, it just starts up in audit mode and continues the work - how come? For sure ive restarted by start menu, not by the system preperation tool.

Ive just tried to uninstall VMWare Tools while being in VMWare - also works - so this is fine now. Actually im seaching for ways to shrink the wim some more .. i guess ill get into that packages stuff some more as you explained in your vid.

So to save time i can: 1.) Install W7 on VmWare 2.) Boot into SysPrep 3.) Configure and install everything 4.) Shut it down 5.) Convert my VMWare to VHD 6.) Load the VHD on my running host system 7.) Capture a WIM by the new Partition of the loaded VHD (8*) Delete VMWare Tools Stuff through dism * Is there also a way to export and edit the reg hive of the new captured WIM - or should i do this before capturing? * Or you think VmWare Tools are listened in packages while i use install_wim_tweak (shown in your vids)?

Thats how ive done it the first time. My thoughts go onto mount a finished Windows vhd as D:\ on the actuall running host system - and capture a wim with the host WAIK. For sure after it was generalized! So i thought about if the drive letter (temporary D: or so) matters while capture the wim, and if it affects future installation of it. My point is that i just got 2 big HDDs, my system one is almost full and the second one ive encoded with truecrypt on windows (cant access on boot/no bootable media on). So i cant save my wim onto another hdd, thats why i want to capture the generalized, prepared, converted vhd on my host system. I guess i can remove the vmware files over dism later.

Another question: Is it possible to convert the vm to vhd,run it on active windows and catch a wim then? Drive letter wouldnt be C:, but is it important? Guess it just needs the files - and they shouldnt be locked. That would save me tons of time in future customizing.

Thanks mate, but how can i unmount over dism? Thers no entry in help. @MagicAndre1981 Wouldnt any ownership affect the image after unmounting for later usage? Im using Admin account only to work with WAIK. Edit: Also didnt worked with dism. Error while taking over rights .. Ill try it again later, meanwhile i need to test my wim.

Quick question, ive mounted my install.wim with imagex such as imagex.exe /mountrw J:\win7dvd\sources\install.wim 1 J:\mount (ive just left ULTIMATE, so #1). But i cant modify any files in the mounted dir. Says need at least Trusted Installer rights. I dont want to gain them since it might gets supplied to the result ... Any hints? Using actually WAIK, Win7 Image without SP1.

Im not about to build a new car, i want to decrease the weight of mine.

Thats why i waited for more replies I will customize my image step by step. And after i may elucidate which steps i follow.

There are some guides how to shrink windows 7 ... Manually, by vlite, by rt7lite and and and .... But as far i see i would need to use "ANY" known tools just not to forget anything. Also there are tons of files on the install DVD which can get removed, but which? And what about sepperated compression? I plan to remove any not needed drivers as well, since they get re-applied over windows-update anyway. My background is that i created my own WIM while using sysprep. Its kind of big, for sure. So i could even decrease the size of my host system to shrink the final WIM. But after all, there are just not enough complete guides that for ... Im sure others would be interested into it as well .. i already saw 480MB Windows7 images on the net with full media support and applications pre-installed

The Videos of ricktendo64 are pretty self-explaining And also there are some Youtube videos about it, even on Technet theres a huge description. And im sure as you google sysprep wim creation in your language you would find specific tutorials.