Windows is full of junk, everyone knows that. At the same time, installation ISO images become obsolete with each new update, and there is always a driver or two missing for our machine. The application NTLite is the great wildcard that lets us solve all those problems. With its help we can remove unwanted components, integrate hotfixes to avoid downloading them later, automate a good part of the installation and apply tweaks directly on the images.
One of the great lies that Windows presents to the user is the concept of “custom installation”. While we can specify the destination of files or change partition sizes, the truth is we have no control over the number of components to install. The old versions of Windows offered truly personalized installations, and personally I must admit I miss them a lot.
If you want something like this today, the best alternative is to modify Windows images, and I'm not talking about the .ISO, but the install.wim file. That requirement brings us to the gates of NTLite, a true classic dating back to the XP era. The latest build of NTLite is compatible with all modern editions, but also extends its functions to Windows 7 and 8.x (which will lose support in January).
How to modify Windows images with NTLite
I decided to share Chris Titus's video for two reasons: It is one of the best tutorials available, and it is relatively recent. From the start it becomes clear that NTLite is not a tool designed for beginners. There are no wizards or anything like that, and it demands a lot of manual intervention. However, by accepting that level of complexity, we gain the power to alter any aspect of the operating system.
One of the most important is the integration of hotfixes. If we use an ISO image that is several patches behind the latest round of updates, the installation and configuration process becomes frustrating in record time... but by adding all those patches manually, the subsequent Windows Update session will be much shorter.
Next we find the components section, where we can completely remove everything we don't want in Windows. NTLite puts a giant warning on the screen every time we enter here, and it has every reason to do so: Any modified image must be evaluated in a virtual environment before its deployment on bare metal. Due to the nature of Windows packages, it is possible that certain future updates and features won't install correctly if a critical component is missing.
To conclude, NTLite has sections for configuration of features and services, and an option to create unattended installations (Chris's tutorial points in that direction). One more detail: NTLite is not free. Its free version has several limitations, and we must pay 40 euros to unlock them. If you plan to do this very often, it is definitely worth it.
Official website and download: Click here
