Latest Windows 11 Cumulative Update is massive?

tired-it

tired-it

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I understand that the Windows image increases in size over time minus a few exceptions. However, something about the last few months has seemed excessive? Is it normal for NTLite to download a 2GB cumulative update for Windows 11 24H2?

Normally, I use UUPDump to create an up-to-date ISO that comes out to around 6.7GB, which is already getting absurdly huge.

The base image from Microsoft's website is 5.4GB. The July 2025 KB5062553 update downloaded from NTLite is 2.34GB. Usually cumulative updates from NTLite vary around 700mb.

If I were to use the base image from Microsoft's website and integrate only the latest cumulative updates via NTLite, I get an ISO at about 7.45GB. My production ISO, before ESD compression, went from 6.2GB to 6.9GB month to month and that is with only light removals.

Was it always like this? Is there anything I can do to further decrease the size before using ESD compression?

edit: more details
 
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tired-it said:
I understand that the Windows image increases in size over time minus a few exceptions. However, something about the last few months has seemed excessive? Is it normal for NTLite to download a 2GB cumulative update for Windows 11 24H2?
Click to expand...
Indeed, MS added MSIX files for features related to AI and Recall in the latest CUs But these features are only for NPU machines

You can always remove "duplicate" updates with NTLite.
If I remember correctly, it's Manifest Backup component
 
tistou77 said:
Indeed, MS added MSIX files for features related to AI and Recall in the latest CUs But these features are only for NPU machines

You can always remove "duplicate" updates with NTLite.
If I remember correctly, it's Manifest Backup component
Click to expand...
What updates can be removed? I only have the checkpoint and latest cumulative updates. They are KB5042098 (.NET superseded), KB5056579 (.NET), KB5063666 (SSU), KB5043080 (required checkpoint), KB5064489 (July cumulative).
 
KB5063666 (SSU) can be removed, SSU is integrated with CU
KB5042098 (.NET superseded)
 
tistou77 said:
KB5063666 (SSU) can be removed, SSU is integrated with CU
KB5042098 (.NET superseded)
Click to expand...
Good to know. Unfortunately, the bulk of the space is taken up by the latest cumulative update. I have never gotten such massive images before. At 7.45GB after updates, I barely have space to even add programs into Post-Setup without ESD compression, which takes a long time to complete. Surely there is something else I am missing?
 
You can try removing the Manifest Backup component, it should reduce the image a bit
Just duplicates updates, it didn't break anything last time we tested
 
Update: Still no luck reducing the image size before ESD compression. The original ISO with added updates is just big, guess that is how Windows is these days.
 
Update: Best practice for reducing the image size before compression is to export whatever edition you want and overwriting the WIM file in the cache. This gets me close enough to a manageable file size. Not sure why the "Trim unused editions" option does not provide the same result.
 
Looks like it's time to resurrect this again. Otherwise I may have to create a new thread. My finished ISO for Windows 11 25H2 has jumped up a staggering 3GB recently and I would like to know if anyone has a solution for slimming the ISO further.

ISO made in June came to about 12.1GB. After the July cumulative updates, the same finished ISO (same presets and all) came out to 15.4GB. This is absurd.
 
10+GB for me with LTSC :), after removing most of the rot. It's a festering bloat fest, even in uninstalled form, that's 10 x 2 hour movies, lol ;), but It is what it is.
 

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scaramonga said:
10+GB for me with LTSC :), after removing most of the rot. It's a festering bloat fest, even in uninstalled form, that's 10 x 2 hour movies, lol ;), but It is what it is.
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Yeah no kidding. I recall someone somewhere in these forums cracking open the update file and deleting the Windows AI cruft. I'll link it here if I find it because I may need to do just that.
 
In our case, these "AI" files are not integrated into the WIM image, the result will be the same.
But I am removing these files from the CU so that the .msu file takes up less disk space
 
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tistou77 said:
In our case, these "AI" files are not integrated into the WIM image, the result will be the same.
But I am removing these files from the CU so that the .msu file takes up less disk space
Click to expand...
Ah it was you then? So there's no other way to shrink the Windows image further besides ESD compression? I'm keeping removals light for the sake of compatibility in a work environment.
 
For the image, I always start from scratch
26100.1 + 1742 + LCU + EP, without deleting any components (except for obsolete/leftovers files in WinSxS)
The .wim file isn't too big, less than 5GB if I remember correctly.
 
10-15 GB ISOs??? Weird. What do you guys include in the image? My Win 11 images are always around 8-9 GB and that's with all updates integrated. I've just done a 26H1 Insider Preview build with no removals and it's 7.92 GB, around the same size as the source ISO. My largest build ever was the 23H2, but I included a lot of software installers so it was around 12 GB. I do remove editions though, just keeping Pro.

Edit:

Interesting, my last March 2026 Win 11 25H2 build was 8.2 GB with all updates integrated. I've just done a July 2026 25H2 this morning (not Insider, but a regular release) with all updates and it's nearly 12GB. Do you suppose they've preloaded 26H2 content before the Fall release?

Oh, and the July cumulative contained a record breaking nearly 600 security fixes so perhaps that adds up too?
 
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tistou77 said:
For the image, I always start from scratch
26100.1 + 1742 + LCU + EP, without deleting any components (except for obsolete/leftovers files in WinSxS)
The .wim file isn't too big, less than 5GB if I remember correctly.
Click to expand...
Have you tried the July update yet? It's quite large. Just the cumulative update file itself is about 5GB.
Anonymous Internet User said:
10-15 GB ISOs??? Weird. What do you guys include in the image? My Win 11 images are always around 8-9 GB and that's with all updates integrated. I've just done a 26H1 Insider Preview build with no removals and it's 7.92 GB, around the same size as the source ISO. My largest build ever was the 23H2, but I included a lot of software installers so it was around 12 GB. I do remove editions though, just keeping Pro.

Edit:

Interesting, my last March 2026 Win 11 25H2 build was 8.2 GB with all updates integrated. I've just done a July 2026 25H2 this morning (not Insider, but a regular release) with all updates and it's nearly 12GB. Do you suppose they've preloaded 26H2 content before the Fall release?

Oh, and the July cumulative contained a record breaking nearly 600 security fixes so perhaps that adds up too?
Click to expand...
I got a 25H2 July updated image from UUPdump and it's sitting at about 9.9GB. I also got a June ISO from Microsoft's download page and integrated the July update and it was in the ballpark of the UUPdump ISO. I've never seen such a jump before.

I'm trying to figure out if I am doing something wrong. I rarely change my presets or processes and I certainly didn't change anything between the June image I created and now.
 
tired-it said:
Have you tried the July update yet? It's quite large. Just the cumulative update file itself is about 5GB.
Click to expand...
Yes, and the WIM has the same "size" after integration and customization with NTLite
After cleaning the IA files, the msu file has the same size (2.28 GB) as the June CU
 
tistou77 said:
Yes, and the WIM has the same "size" after integration and customization with NTLite
After cleaning the IA files, the msu file has the same size (2.28 GB) as the June CU
Click to expand...
Huh, I wonder what's different about my image then. I assume you meant AI files? Are those all the files named "WindowsWorkload.~?"
 
tistou77 said:
Yes these files
Click to expand...
Would you be able to share how to delete the files? I can view them in 7zip, but cannot delete them understandably. Do you have other tips for starting with smaller image? I've always grabbed the latest image from UUPdump, but is there a better recommendation?
 
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