Zorba the Geek Posted September 2, 2025 Author Posted September 2, 2025 Can anyone suggest a solution to the problem of orphan folders left behind when using the addons to remove Windows Components. I have empty folders in my system including Outlook Express, netmeeting, msagent, and usmt. These folders are locked by either Winlogon.exe or Explorer, or both, and if you use a utility like Unlocker to remove the handle to them and delete them they are recreated during boot time. Ideally one would be able to hack a Windows DLL that maps the paths to these protected folders, but I am not expert enough to do this. The only other solution I can think of is to execute an unlocking utility using the registry Run key so that the folders are deleted at each boot time. I know of three of these utilities that support commandline usage. Iobit Unlocker deletes files and folders fully, but shows a dialogue box saying "The operation completed successfully", because it does not have a silent switch. Unlocker moves deleted files to the Recycle Bin which rapidly fills up with empty folders. Lockhunter will delete files and folders fully, but it will not execute from the HKLM or HKCU Run key for some reason.
NotHereToPlayGames Posted September 2, 2025 Posted September 2, 2025 2 hours ago, Zorba the Geek said: These folders are locked by either Winlogon.exe or Explorer, or both, and if you use a utility like Unlocker to remove the handle to them and delete them they are recreated during boot time. Easiest would be that if you unlocked/deleted a FOLDER by the name of FOLDER, then *before* you reboot you would create a FILE *without any dot-extension* by the name of FOLDER. ie, replace the FOLDER with a FILE of the same exact name.
Zorba the Geek Posted September 14, 2025 Author Posted September 14, 2025 (edited) On 9/2/2025 at 12:17 PM, NotHereToPlayGames said: Easiest would be that if you unlocked/deleted a FOLDER by the name of FOLDER, then *before* you reboot you would create a FILE *without any dot-extension* by the name of FOLDER. ie, replace the FOLDER with a FILE of the same exact name. Thanks for this clever tip that I have never read anywhere else. I tried it and it works! Here is my solution using the integrator. I have discovered that setup reads the paths in the DestinationDirs section of the installation INFs of Windows components and registers these folders somewhere as protected. It is not possible to remove these INFs from the source because they are signed by nt5inf.cat, and their absence would cause setup to be aborted half way through. My solution is to over-write these INFs with a dummy INF that contains a few lines in the Version section like this example [Version] Signature= "$Windows NT$" LayoutFile=layout.inf [DefaultInstall] and delete the INF late in the setup. I have tried this with Speech Support, Movie Maker, and internet Connection Wizard and it seems to work. Here is the latest addon that incorporates this technique. File: SpeechSupport_DeleteAddon.7z (Dropbox) File: SpeechSupport_DeleteAddon.7z (Google Drive) File: SpeechSupport_DeleteAddon.7z (4Shared) MD5: 86FF6CEE0B6E50FF0DE292B9CC9E6908 SHA1: 995DC283DCC585AB1F175933544AB621CCED46C4 Size: 339 KB Build date: 13/09/2025 Edited September 14, 2025 by Zorba the Geek
Zorba the Geek Posted October 19, 2025 Author Posted October 19, 2025 I have found a satisfactory solution to the problem of the battery driver not found message after the completion of the Windows installation. I have added this line to HIVECLS.INF to set driver signing to "ignore": HKCU,"SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Driver Signing","BehaviorOnFailedVerify",0x10001,0 and this line into HIVESFT.INF to set driver signing to "ignore": HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Driver Signing","Policy",0x00001,0 Here is the complete entries in the entries.ini file: [EditFile] HIVECLS.INF,AddReg,Addline6 HIVESFT.INF,AddReg,Addline7 [Addline6] HKCU,"SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Driver Signing","BehaviorOnFailedVerify",0x10001,0 [Addline7] HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Driver Signing","Policy",0x00001,0 RunOnce values added to HIVECLS.INF reset driver signing to the default "warn" setting at the end of the Windows installation. Previously I used an Optional Components section in an inf file to copy batt.dll to the System32 folder near the end of the Windows installation. Now I can eliminate these inf files and sysoc.inf will not be clogged up with masses of entries for the Windows Components removal addons. This should complete the Windows Components removal addons which now produce no entries in setuperr.log and System File Checker does not flag any missing DLLs. I just have to rebuild all thesel addons and upload them once again.
seahorser Posted October 29, 2025 Posted October 29, 2025 On 10/19/2025 at 10:30 AM, Zorba the Geek said: I have found a satisfactory solution to the problem of the battery driver not found message after the completion of the Windows installation. I have added this line to HIVECLS.INF to set driver signing to "ignore": HKCU,"SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Driver Signing","BehaviorOnFailedVerify",0x10001,0 and this line into HIVESFT.INF to set driver signing to "ignore": HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Driver Signing","Policy",0x00001,0 Here is the complete entries in the entries.ini file: [EditFile] HIVECLS.INF,AddReg,Addline6 HIVESFT.INF,AddReg,Addline7 [Addline6] HKCU,"SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Driver Signing","BehaviorOnFailedVerify",0x10001,0 [Addline7] HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Driver Signing","Policy",0x00001,0 RunOnce values added to HIVECLS.INF reset driver signing to the default "warn" setting at the end of the Windows installation. Previously I used an Optional Components section in an inf file to copy batt.dll to the System32 folder near the end of the Windows installation. Now I can eliminate these inf files and sysoc.inf will not be clogged up with masses of entries for the Windows Components removal addons. This should complete the Windows Components removal addons which now produce no entries in setuperr.log and System File Checker does not flag any missing DLLs. I just have to rebuild all thesel addons and upload them once again. HKCU settings should go to HIVEDEF.INF, not to the HIVECLS.INF but you talk about RunOnce and I don't see an .inf with RunOnce. What I'm missing here? If you look to my addon I add driver signing settings to the HIVESFT.INF under the root key HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Driver Signing",,0x00000010 using [ExtraFileEdits] to keep entries in order not to the end of the huge [AddReg] block.
Zorba the Geek Posted November 2, 2025 Author Posted November 2, 2025 (edited) On 10/29/2025 at 1:22 AM, seahorser said: HKCU settings should go to HIVEDEF.INF, not to the HIVECLS.INF but you talk about RunOnce and I don't see an .inf with RunOnce. What I'm missing here? If you look to my addon I add driver signing settings to the HIVESFT.INF under the root key HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Driver Signing",,0x00000010 using [ExtraFileEdits] to keep entries in order not to the end of the huge [AddReg] block. I think that you are right about HKCU settings should go to HIVEDEF.INF, and not to HIVECLS.INF. I must have misinterpreted these instructions. Here is an extract: Quote There are five (5) .inf files in the \i386 folder that are used to create the registry hives for the installation: Hivecls.inf creates Classes in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE. Hivedef.inf creates HKEY_USER\.DEFAULT and the Ntuser.dat for the default user. Hivesft.inf creates HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE. Hivesys.inf creates HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM. Hiveusd.inf does not create accessible hives. As you can see Hivecls.inf creates Classes in HKEY_CURRENT_USER. here are the RunOnce entries in Entries_NetMeeting_DeleteAddon.ini that reset driver signing to the default of warn at the last reboot: [EditFile] HIVEDEF.INF,AddReg,Addline1 HIVEDEF.INF,AddReg,Addline2 [Addline1] HKCU,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce","DriverSigning",,"reg add ""HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Driver Signing"" /v Policy /t REG_BINARY /d 1 /f" [Addline2] HKCU,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce","DriverSigning2",,"reg add ""HKCU\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Driver Signing"" /v BehaviorOnFailedVerify /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f" Edited November 16, 2025 by Zorba the Geek
Zorba the Geek Posted January 8 Author Posted January 8 (edited) ****************NOW WORKING*************** Windows Portable Devices Media Transfer Protocol File: WPDMTP_Addon.7z (Dropbox) File: WPDMTP_Addon.7z (Google Drive) MD5: A566C5359EB28DB18BD982CF45721F57 SHA-1: D7ADB67C5DED4AACA20A1571D13DA4421E8DF08B File Size: 2596 KB Build Date: 31/05/2026 File: WDF_Addon_Server2003.7z (Dropbox) File: WDF_Addon_Server2003.7z (Google Drive) MD5: 55A2BF3032159C79B04FEBD92B74380E SHA-1: 9A11DD2D0D77C7B32CBAB9359B98232807F50F00 Size: 229 KB Build date: 24/05/2026 Update 31/05/2026. This addon is now working under Server 2003 after replacing ptusb.inf with the version from Windows XP. When a MTP compliant device is plugged into a USB socket the Found New Hardware wizard will prompt the user for automatic installation of the MTP driver. I followed MilChan's suggestion and installed the Kernel Mode Driver Framework service which enabled automatic installation of the MTP driver without the Found New Hardware wizard being invoked. Links to my KMDF addon are included here This addon will enable the exposure of a portable device's file system in Explorer and permit the transfer of media files between a PC and a portable device like a camera, smartphone and portable media players. It is installed at the same time as WMP11, so this addon is only required if you have WMP9, have removed WMP with an addon or use Windows 2003. It has been tested using a different micro USB cable that solved the problem of Windows not recognizing my Windows phone. The MTP driver should install automatically as soon as the portable device is plugged in, but the Found New Hardware wizard will be activated if wcid.inf is present and the device is WCID compliant. In this case close the Found New Hardware wizard because WinUSB drivers are not required. I decided not to delete wcid.inf using this addon because there could be the possibility that a device maybe WCID compliant, but not MTP compliant. You could delete wcid.inf before connecting your device to prevent the Found New Hardware wizard from appearing if you want. Edited 13 hours ago by Zorba the Geek
Zorba the Geek Posted February 17 Author Posted February 17 (edited) I have tried experimenting with batch installs of addons from the RVMi GUI and the commandline. To install a batch of addons enter something like this in the box titled "Choose AddonPack(s) (Optional) enter the path to the folder containing the addons followed by a separator the the file names of the addons with a separator between them C:\Addons\Dir1|Addon1.7z|Addon2.7z|Addon3.7z|Addon4.ini|Addon5.ini Alternatively, you could integrate a batch of addons from the commandline like this: RVM_Integrator_1.6.1b2.1.exe /INTEGRATE /SOURCE:"C:\WinXP Source" /ADDONS:C:Addons\Dir1,Addon1.7z,Addon2.7z,Addon3.7z,Addon4.ini,Addon5.ini You can discover the commandline parameters by changing into the RVMi folder from the console, and entering this RVM_Integrator_1.6.1b2.1.exe /? There are commandline parameters for every option in the GUI, so this should be a powerful technique, but in practice I found that at least one of the addons was not completely processed leading to the text mode part of setup stalling at the file copy stage. Not recommended. Edited March 2 by Zorba the Geek
Zorba the Geek Posted March 2 Author Posted March 2 (edited) Microsoft User Profile Hive Cleanup Service File: UPHC_1.6d_Addon.7z (Dropbox) File: UPHC_1.6d_Addon.7z (Google Drive) MD5: E997F06B4053C75D97053D3B32EADB30 SHA-1: CF74E59CAC47AFE39F45A8D951B8699FACA68999 Size: 166 KB Build date: 01/03/2026 File: UPHC_2.0.49.0_AddOn.7z (Dropbox) File: UPHC_2.0.49.0_AddOn.7z (Google Drive) MD5: 6467A65E860D9EB7600C1162A572ED05 SHA-1: 36BE8B2C2908DD2D75DCDFCF0DAD17F175738422 Size: 113 KB Build date: 01/03/2026 Here is an edited version of the description provided in the readme that accompanied the installers: Quote UPHClean deals with the problem of user profiles not unloading the same way the operating system deals with other resource issues: when a task is done resource (memory, handles, etc) are automatically reclaimed. UPHClean accomplishes this simply by monitoring for users to log off and verifying that unused resources are reclaimed. If they are not it reclaims the resource and logs its action. This approach is superior as it works for any known reason that profiles do not unload and also will keep working to address new unknown issues. The UPHC service is visible in the Windows Components Wizard, so you can uninstall it if you want. You should also be able to install UPHC from the INF files in the unpacked addons using the right click context menu and left clicking "Install". README.txt Edited March 2 by Zorba the Geek
Zorba the Geek Posted May 24 Author Posted May 24 (edited) Kernel Mode Driver Foundation Service 1.9 File: WDF_Addon_Server2003.7z (Dropbox) File: WDF_Addon_Server2003.7z (Google Drive) MD5: 55A2BF3032159C79B04FEBD92B74380E SHA-1: 9A11DD2D0D77C7B32CBAB9359B98232807F50F00 Size: 229 KB Build date: 24/05/2026 File: WDF_Addon_XP.7z (Dropbox) File: WDF_Addon_XP.7z (Google Drive) MD5: 5D097BA9EA6C6CBF3A6124CCC4F8E696 SHA-1: 28141E154F507C646285DE0E749C5ED41DE43907 Size: 229 KB Build date: 24/05/2026 You will probably not need this because XP Drivers that require KMDF include it in the driver package and it is installed at the same time as the driver. MilkChan made a KMDF addon for Server 2003 because it is required for the Windows Portable Device Media Transfer Protocol Driver. This addon can be uninstalled in the Add or Remove Programs control panel applet. Edited May 24 by Zorba the Geek
modnar Posted May 26 Posted May 26 On 5/24/2026 at 10:03 AM, Zorba the Geek said: Kernel Mode Driver Foundation Service 1.9 File: WDF_Addon_Server2003.7z (Dropbox) File: WDF_Addon_Server2003.7z (Google Drive) MD5: 55A2BF3032159C79B04FEBD92B74380E SHA-1: 9A11DD2D0D77C7B32CBAB9359B98232807F50F00 Size: 229 KB Build date: 24/05/2026 File: WDF_Addon_XP.7z (Dropbox) File: WDF_Addon_XP.7z (Google Drive) MD5: 5D097BA9EA6C6CBF3A6124CCC4F8E696 SHA-1: 28141E154F507C646285DE0E749C5ED41DE43907 Size: 229 KB Build date: 24/05/2026 You will probably not need this because XP Drivers that require KMDF include it in the driver package and it is installed at the same time as the driver. MilkChan made a KMDF addon for Server 2003 because it is required for the Windows Portable Device Media Transfer Protocol Driver. This addon can be uninstalled in the Add or Remove Programs control panel applet. It (XPx86 version) is the KB970158 - I know - I had POS Avast Anti-virus installed and it also contains this KB.
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