Stripped down Windows 10 for gaming?

I do this a lot:

1. PS Script (I can share) that will whitelist the important things and give you the option to remove the rest
2. Cortana can be managed by local policy
3. Do it to an offline image and the bloat will never re-appear
4. Don't use LTSB if you rely on updates and having the latest and greatest W10 version.
 
Code: 
Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers | Remove-AppxPackage

I always run that, it permanently removes all the apps. Run in powershell. Removes the store too though so beware if you use it.
 
LTSB would be viable for my laptop wouldn't it ? With a GTX1070 and a 7820HK it's not going to have any hardware changes that would be incompatible.

Django x2 said:
I do this a lot:

1. PS Script (I can share) that will whitelist the important things and give you the option to remove the rest
2. Cortana can be managed by local policy
3. Do it to an offline image and the bloat will never re-appear
4. Don't use LTSB if you rely on updates and having the latest and greatest W10 version.
Click to expand...

So what in total has been removed from your Windows 10 install?
 
wiiija said:
Code: 
Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers | Remove-AppxPackage

I always run that, it permanently removes all the apps. Run in powershell. Removes the store too though so beware if you use it.
Click to expand...

No it doesn't. The next time you get a feature update or large cumulative update, they'll all drop back in. You need to remove them from an offline WIM to fully remove them.
 
mrbell1984 said:
Go on then. :)
Click to expand...

Here you go. Name this removeapps.ps1 and run using the example:

Code: 
    .\removeapps.ps1 -pathtowim c:\10\install.wim -selectapps $true -index 2


That will run the script against that location, allow you to select apps that aren't in the allowlist (whitelistedapps) and pull out Index 2 of the WIM (Win10 Pro of a W10 Business Edition ISO).

You can remove others from the whitelistedapps if you like, all that will do is ask you if you want to remove them. Be careful, some are required for W10 to work properly. In addition, others are needed if you want to use the store (such as DesktopAppInstaller).

You might prefer to extract the Index first, then run this script, which is actually my preferred method.

Code: 
<#
.SYNOPSIS
    Removing Built-in apps from Windows 10
.DESCRIPTION
    Removing Built-in apps from Windows 10
.PARAMETER
    PathtoWim - Full path to .wim file.
    selectapps - activates the selection function
    index - allows the selection of an index. Default value is 1.
.EXAMPLE
    .\removeapps.ps1 -pathtowim c:\10\install.wim
    .\removeapps.ps1 -pathtowim c:\10\install.wim -selectapps $true
    .\removeapps.ps1 -pathtowim c:\10\install.wim -selectapps $true -index 2
.NOTES
    Script name: removeapps.ps1
    Version:     1.3
    Author:      Django x2
    Contact:     Dev
    DateCreated: 2018-07-22
    LastUpdate:  2019-01-20
    #>

param (
    [string]$pathtowim,
    [string]$selectapps,
    [string]$index="1"
    )
$Host.UI.RawUI.BackgroundColor = "DarkBlue"; Clear-Host
$startdate = (Get-Date).ToString()
$ProgressPreference=’SilentlyContinue’
$WhiteListedApps = @(
    "Microsoft.BingWeather",
    "Microsoft.DesktopAppInstaller",
    "Microsoft.StorePurchaseApp",
    "Microsoft.Office.OneNote",
    "Microsoft.WindowsCalculator",
    "Microsoft.WindowsStore",
    "Microsoft.MicrosoftStickyNotes",
    "Microsoft.HEIFImageExtension",
    "Microsoft.ScreenSketch",
    "Microsoft.VP9VideoExtensions",
    "Microsoft.Windows.Photos",
    "Microsoft.WebMediaExtensions",
    "Microsoft.WebpImageExtension",
    "Microsoft.WindowsMaps",
    "Microsoft.WindowsSoundRecorder"
    "Microsoft.MSPaint"
)
function CreateTempDirectory {
   $tmpDir = [System.IO.Path]::GetTempPath()
   $tmpDir = [System.IO.Path]::Combine($tmpDir, [System.IO.Path]::GetRandomFileName())
   [System.IO.Directory]::CreateDirectory($tmpDir) | Out-Null
   $tmpDir
   }

try {
    $pathworkfolder = CreateTempDirectory
    Write-Host "Start:" $startdate -ForegroundColor White
    Write-Host "Create temporary directory..." -ForegroundColor Green
    Write-Host "Temporary directory:" $pathworkfolder -ForegroundColor Green
    }

catch [Exception] {
    Write-Host "Error:" $_.Exception.Message -ForegroundColor Red; break
    }

try {
    Write-Host "Mounting Windows-Image..." $pathtowim -ForegroundColor Green
    Write-Host "Please wait..." -ForegroundColor White
    Mount-WindowsImage -Path $pathworkfolder -ImagePath $pathtowim -Index $index | Out-Null
    }

catch [Exception] {
    Write-Host "Mounting Windows-Image failed..." -ForegroundColor Red;
    Write-Host "Error:" $_.Exception.Message -ForegroundColor Red; break
    }

catch [Exception] {
    Write-Host "Removing Built-in apps failed..." -ForegroundColor Red;
    Write-Host "Error:" $_.Exception.Message -ForegroundColor Red; break
    }

try {
    Write-Host "Dismount-WindowsImage..." -ForegroundColor Green
    Write-Host "Please wait..." -ForegroundColor White
    Dismount-WindowsImage -Path $pathworkfolder  -Save -CheckIntegrity | Out-Null
    Write-Host "Remove temporary directory..." -ForegroundColor Green
    Remove-Item $pathworkfolder -Recurse -Force | Out-Null
    Write-Host "Complete:" (Get-Date).ToString() -ForegroundColor White
    }

catch [Exception] {
    Write-Host "Error:" $_.Exception.Message -ForegroundColor Red; break
    }
 
I'm not entirely convinced that no matter how well-intentioned they are the recommendations here are all that helpful to anyone not very familiar with Windows 10 :(

I believe that there are two issues that impact on the migration from one release of Windows to the next:
  • The presence of pointless bloatware
  • The inferior applications that are present - e.g. Disk Defragmenter and Disk Cleanup-vs- BleachBit or CCleaner
I suggest that to address the former, one might try putting "remove bloatware from windows 10" into Google.
 
ChrisD. said:
I don't understand why on earth people would want to run LTSB on personal computers?
Click to expand...

An LTSB version of Windows 10, is a lot like Windows 7 - it's cut down and contains pretty much everything you need and none of the junk. I can see the draw to LTSB for gaming machines, as there is a lot of junk cut form it - junk that will/may end up pinching valuable resources, and/or providing another area of instability.

Windows 10, regardless of how well it does actually perform, is still filled with a lot of rubbish that people may not need - like the Store, the People thing, Mail, Calendar, OneDrive and so on and so forth. Certainly for Enterprise use, there is a heck load of junk that I will remove from the image, and none of it impacts the operating system - so it's just like the pre-loaded tat on a PC World special.

I personally see LTSB as a viable alternative for the performance user/gamer.
 
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