Best way to create customised image? Use mounted fresh ISO, freshly installed Win + NTLite, or freshly installed Win + NTLite in VM?

[XYZ]

Options are...

1) Mount fresh ISO in NTLite, tweak, including any updates, then use silent install option for any app's to install. Probably cleanest, but more fiddly to install apps/customise. Not impossible though.

2) Install fresh Win ISO to actual machine, install NTLite + tweak, install all Win updates + apps (+ tweak them), then create system backup image which is sued to restore (eg. Macrium Reflect or Terabyte's Image product's).

3) Do same as (2) but, do it in a VM.

Obviously (1) means it's all setup during Window's install.

Option's (2) & (3) mean install/restore is done through imaging software.

Wondering what people's thought's are and, whether one is better than another depending on specific requirement's ?

 

[XYZ]

Another option is to use (1) to do basic tweaking, then install Windows, followed by app installation + other tweaking, then make backup image.

Trying to make process as simple as possible, and repeatable when creating new master image with new Windows update's and app updates etc.

 

[Taosd]

I see it as, if you want your os to install 99% of what you want installed ( external apps etc ) then definately slap it in the iso and have it install itself.
doing that, and having an image, regardless of size, it gives me real word time to get things done elsewhere than having to sit, wait, install, sit, wait.. repeat process over and over. I have never made a backup in my entire life, so i go with what i know and i know then that if anything goes wrong, at least i know where everything is, and not have to worry about a backup being lost or damaged.

 

[garlin]

Your real question: "How I do capture my settings for installed apps, instead of having a clean setup?"

This will depend on your installed apps. Some might have registry settings or config files you can capture, and be re-applied right after the app installs. That can be extra work, if you have too many apps or it's not obvious how the settings are stored.

Pros & cons of other methods:
- sysprep doesn't really help, by design it's supposed to remove created user accounts and system customizations
- Macrium only creates a backup image, so it's not a standalone install. It's 100% accurate in saving your tweaks, but we can't re-import them to the source image if you needed to start over, or move to a later Windows release.

I would use a registry modification checker to figure out what keys are being updated while you're customizing your app's settings. After you have them, it's possible to make a reg file to load last during Post-Setup (in Machine or User phases).