Clean Windows 11 install on a new laptop (Lenovo Slim 7i)

Sumanji

Sumanji

Sumanji

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Hi all,

Past experience suggests that the stock Windows images for most laptops are bloaty and full of crappy software that slows your machine down.

Wondering if anyone has experience with Lenovo machines? Can I just download the bone stock Windows image from MS and install barebones Lenovo software (e.g., Lenovo Vantage) for things like BIOS/driver updates? Anything I should bear in mind that I'd miss out on by doing this?

Thanks,

Su
 
Lenovo does customise / only distribute some device drivers themselves but by and large you should be able to install from the stock Windows image from MS and it'll grab most of the relevant drivers and firmware updates as required itself.

One thing to bare in mind is that Windows 11 especially can be a bit funky about installing without an active internet connection and sometimes has issues with network device drivers during the installation stage - so worth downloading them before hand and have them on the installation media (extracted) to install at setup time (sometimes vendors have a specific pre-install driver package) and/or if you have one a generic USB WiFi adaptor can be useful.
 
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I tend to leave it as it as Microsoft adds its own bloat anyway on an install, so just do the setup, all the updates and then methodically uninstall what it is not needed and stop any start process I don't need, seems just as easy as you'll be going through those same steps to declutter and clean up after a fresh install anyway.
 
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sandys said:
I tend to leave it as it as Microsoft adds its own bloat anyway on an install, so just do the setup, all the updates and then methodically uninstall what it is not needed and stop any start process I don't need, seems just as easy as you'll be going through those same steps to declutter and clean up after a fresh install anyway.
Click to expand...

Hmm sounds like this could also be an easier option...

Anyone have experience with this debloat tool: https://github.com/Raphire/Win11Debloat

HardwareCanucks recommended it in their new laptop setup video.
 
I have used those things in the past and they are good, they go quite far though to the point where you might find some things that you expect to work don’t and you have to go around and find the package dependency you have removed and put it back, it addition, some of the things you don’t install get put pack in on a major service pack release, whereas if you have it installed and disabled your machine state stays as is on an update, for the most part.

Swings and roundabouts really, personally I don’t find windows as bad as the internet suggests but yes some laptop vendors do put some crazy things on, on my LG they added their own local AI agent for settings etc, once I had set my laptop up and put my drives in, I had this thing cataloguing 6Tb of data on my machine, munching through my massive 90Wh battery in about 3 hrs, it always seemed to be doing something, I did not leave it long I removed it, it could be when it was finished the impact would be minimal but really, do I need an Ai client in my laptop settings, nope.
 
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Sumanji said:
Anyone have experience with this debloat tool: https://github.com/Raphire/Win11Debloat
Click to expand...

I find this very good. So easy to use and removes a lot of the crud I would remove anyway.

Your plan sounds solid though, grab a vanilla ISO, install over the existing and then run a debloat script.

You may find yourself needing the odd driver but tbf Win11 is pretty decent at self fulfilling driver gaps.
 
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