Guide: Optimized Image

Just thought I'd mention that there's a section near the bottom of the guide's Reg_3_Settings.reg file that pauses Windows Update for 3-1/2 years. Since the guide was written back in 2022, the dates are no longer valid. It has updates paused from July 2022 until January 2026. Well... we're there now. I edited mine to pause them from now until July 2029. You'll have to do the same if you want to use this tweak.
 
Pozidriv said:
Just thought I'd mention that there's a section near the bottom of the guide's Reg_3_Settings.reg file that pauses Windows Update for 3-1/2 years. Since the guide was written back in 2022, the dates are no longer valid. It has updates paused from July 2022 until January 2026. Well... we're there now. I edited mine to pause them from now until July 2029. You'll have to do the same if you want to use this tweak.
Click to expand...
You can pause it until Dec 31, 2107 3:59 AM. The data type can handle a later date, but the rest of Windows stops interpreting it correctly from an overflow error.
 
I have a question regarding the file compression settings in the Reg_6_Other.reg file....

; Hidden > NTFS File Compression > Off
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem]
"NtfsDisableCompression"=dword:00000001

; Hidden > OS File Compression > Off
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WOF]
"ForceNoCompression"=dword:00000001

I don't use compression in the sense of right-clicking a file, folder, or partition and choosing to compress it, but do the settings above remove the capability of doing it in the first place?

The reason I ask is, the first time I used NTLite on a Win10 system that hadn't already implemented any of The Guide's settings, I tried using the different methods of "Clean Update Backup" when integrating Windows Updates and didn't have any issues. But, after integrating The Guide's reg files and installing that ISO and re-installing NTLite to use again, I got the following error when using the DISM option in "Clean Update Backup":

0x00000301 '[769] Compression is disabled for this volume.': DISM Clean update backup

After doing some searching, I ended up using "fsutil behavior set disablecompression 0" at the command prompt, and the next time I used NTLite I didn't get the compression error.

Am I correct in assuming that The Guide's compression settings were the reason for the error? What is the reason for those settings in the first place.... reducing overhead? I realize that I can just not use those settings, or create a reg file to disable them when I'm using NTLite, but I'd like to understand.
 
Pozidriv said:
I don't use compression...but do the settings above remove the capability of doing it in the first place?
Click to expand...
Whenever I've used commands like compact.exe it has no issues compressing or uncompressing files and folders. It's been quite a while since I played with these tweaks so I cannot remember all the specifics, but if you notice any lost functionality please let me know.

Pozidriv said:
...using "fsutil behavior set disablecompression 0" at the command prompt, and the next time I used NTLite I didn't get the compression error.
Click to expand...
The Optimized Image should be applied as the last step, on top of other changes you've made to an image first. Check out the Quality Control (link1) guide, as well as the Preset (link2) guide to get a feel for this kind of information. The layers and ordering matters a lot in Windows, especially with NTLite. The basic order goes like this: integrate windows updates and process, remove components and process, add registry tweaks and process. I also went and updated the first post on this Optimized Image thread today to make a note about this.

Pozidriv said:
Am I correct in assuming that The Guide's compression settings were the reason for the error? What is the reason for those settings...
Click to expand...
I don't use DISM, but some Google searches reveals the registry key of NtfsDisableCompression is for sure the cause of the error. However, as mentioned before that error won't exist if my tweaks are applied after you're done integrating updates and such.

My guess is Microsoft forces compression on Windows Update files due to the heavy size of modern operating systems with all their bloat nowadays, and so when the OS cannot compress those files it throws an error rather than being coded to work either way. Google research also says that 16+ TB drives natively disable compression and it cannot be enabled on cluster sizes above 4096.

This setting is in place, because compressing and uncompressing files uses up more resources and also causes DPC latency spikes.
 
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Deinoo said:
I can't seem to pin things to quick access is there a fix?
Click to expand...
; File Explorer > Quick access > Off (Hidden)
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer]
"HubMode"=dword:00000001

Change it back to 0, or the next time you go to reinstall Windows, just delete that tweak from the registry files before integrating them. I did not realize this also prevented future pinning, so I will look into swapping this tweak out for one that still allows pinning.
 
After a year of mucking about with Windows 11, it was a welcome sight to see that you had returned with changes for your Windows 10 guide. Always appreciate the immense effort you put into your guide and I look forward to learning from these guides and communicating any new findings.

I have adapted version 1 for use with Windows 11, but with how much that OS changes, especially 24H2 and onwards, I feel like it's a losing battle. Maybe it's time to give it another shot.
 
I'm just now seeing that v2.0 of the guide was released back in January. In the change log I see "added a missing newline to end of file" for each .reg tweak file.

What's the purpose of that? I used the guide earlier this year and didn't have any issues with it.
 
tired-it said:
I have adapted version 1 for use with Windows 11, but with how much that OS changes, especially 24H2 and onwards, I feel like it's a losing battle....
Click to expand...
Yeah, it sucks. Microsoft admitted that 30% of the W11 updates are written by AI, and up to 100% of some apps are entirely AI coded. The issue with that, is anyone that knows coding or is a prompt engineer, realizes that AI is an amatuer at best. AI only comes across as an expert due to its perfect grammar, spelling, punctuation, and speed, but its knowledge is mostly obtained by searching social media for human anecdotes. While it does a great job at regurgitating people's opinions and experiences, it doesn't fact check or generate quality code, so it's quite literally the same level of research you'd get by browsing a few Reddit threads or similiar, just faster.

Things will only get worse until AI gets reigned in, and that won't happen anytime soon in this political climate. I strongly advise everyone to stick with W10 if possible, otherwise maybe go with W11 LTSC for a business or start looking for an alternative OS and ecosystem, like Chromebooks. It's really up in the air whether Microsoft has viable plans for W12, since it could be the most AI bloated system ever, which would run NTLite out of business, as we've already reached a point between 23H2/24H2/25H2 where component removals are too volatile in W11 to pursue. Registry edits can accomplish the same outcomes without breaking everything, so a lot of NTLite veterans have simply stopped doing removals now and that won't reverse course unless Microsoft codes a new/modular operating system from scratch.

Keep in mind that in 2014, Microsoft also fired their quality control teams and thought it was a great idea to just have all their admin and other employees simply catch and report bugs during their workday, rather than have a dedicated team actually reviewing lines of code. It's not a coincidence that after this they launched a super buggy Windows 10 that took many years to become stable, and then a mega buggy Windows 11 that won't ever become stable while it's being coded by idiotic robots and steered by greedy shareholders. Windows is effectively entering game over stage, and they're relying on the "too big to fail" mantra, since they have no real competitors (until SteamOS launches).

Pozidriv said:
...In the change log I see "added a missing newline to end of file" for each .reg tweak file...What's the purpose of that?...
Click to expand...
It's nothing major, I only included the note to be thorough and transparent. Basically, in the coding world some niche bugs can appear if the code isn't concluded correctly. For example, if you edit things like an .xml file, such as the DefaultLayouts.xml included with Windows 10, you'll notice if you left click into the empty blank lines at the very bottom of the file it's sitting on a brand new line that's empty, and you could press the delete key to go back to the line above with text. This happens with exported .reg files too. Here's a thread (link) on the topic.

Sometimes the computer misinterprets things when the coding guidelines aren't followed. For example, in a game I was working on we had a file that kept refusing to work and it turned out there were no newlines at the end of that file so it was causing a bug in the compiler we used. This kind of stuff tends to mostly happen on ancient programs (ours was 30 years old) and not as much of a problem nowadays, but to me it doesn't matter--I value quality control, so if there's a way I can make my tweaks even the slightest bit better then I'm going to do it, even if it's fixing a bug that nobody will likely experience. Simply put, I don't want to break something on someone else's computer, so I try my best to avoid that.
 
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Hellbovine said:
Yeah, it sucks. Microsoft admitted that 30% of the W11 updates are written by AI, and up to 100% of some apps are entirely AI coded. The issue with that, is anyone that knows coding or is a prompt engineer, realizes that AI is an amatuer at best. AI only comes across as an expert due to its perfect grammar, spelling, punctuation, and speed, but its knowledge is mostly obtained by searching social media for human anecdotes. While it does a great job at regurgitating people's opinions and experiences, it doesn't fact check or generate quality code, so it's quite literally the same level of research you'd get by browsing a few Reddit threads or similiar, just faster.

Things will only get worse until AI gets reigned in, and that won't happen anytime soon in this political climate. I strongly advise everyone to stick with W10 if possible, otherwise maybe go with W11 LTSC for a business or start looking for an alternative OS and ecosystem, like Chromebooks. It's really up in the air whether Microsoft has viable plans for W12, since it could be the most AI bloated system ever, which would run NTLite out of business, as we've already reached a point between 23H2/24H2/25H2 where component removals are too volatile in W11 to pursue. Registry edits can accomplish the same outcomes without breaking everything, so a lot of NTLite veterans have simply stopped doing removals now and that won't reverse course unless Microsoft codes a new/modular operating system from scratch.

Keep in mind that in 2014, Microsoft also fired their quality control teams and thought it was a great idea to just have all their admin and other employees simply catch and report bugs during their workday, rather than have a dedicated team actually reviewing lines of code. It's not a coincidence that after this they launched a super buggy Windows 10 that took many years to become stable, and then a mega buggy Windows 11 that won't ever become stable while it's being coded by idiotic robots and steered by greedy shareholders. Windows is effectively entering game over stage, and they're relying on the "too big to fail" mantra, since they have no real competitors (until SteamOS launches).
Click to expand...
Yeah, I am not a fan of the direction Microsoft is taking with their OS. The bug situation was so bad that I've seen rumors of Msoft panicking and focusing on getting them fixed. Time will tell, but in my experience, W11 has been the buggiest OS experience I have ever had. Blegh. Keeps me busy at least.

I'm not sure if this is within the scope of your guide, but how are you handling Windows Updates? I noticed that the guide allows pausing WU for many years, but W10 has reached End-of-Life status of of October 2025. As I understand it, W10 LTSC 21H2 will continue to get security updates whereas 22H2 will receive nothing.

I have read that some people who updated LTSC 21H2 to LTSC 22H2 using an enablement package, but then they stopped receiving updates when the EoL deadline came around. Others simply spoofed the OS as being 21H2 to receive security updates. I have not had a chance to confirm the latter, but I am curious to hear your thoughts on this.
 
There's no such thing as LTSC "22H2". While the EP installs on LTSC 2021, that's an unsupported config so don't complain if your Windows stops updating afterwards.

Can someone re-target LTSC updates to work on W10 base? I'm sure some folks will figure out the hacks, but again you're in unsupported territory so those discussions would have to be on another forum since nuhi prefers all discussions to be on official updates.
 
tired-it said:
...how are you handling Windows Updates?...
Click to expand...
This is the question I'm asked the most, so I'll give an updated reply here for my views in 2026:
I'm using the official W10 22H2_V1 ISO from Microsoft and applying my guide to that as-is, keeping it paused out of the box, without integrating updates or installing any patches at the desktop. Eventually I'll do a thorough test of the ISO versus a fully patched build, but I don't expect to see major differences, since W10 has been mature for a while. Even after reaching end of life, I'll keep updates paused on my machines, because it still reduces resources while also preventing annoyances from being pushed through later.

The big problem nowadays with patching is it's just as likely that an update will break as much as it fixes. Even well intended patches end up coming with new bugs and the overall assessment is that the operating system isn't better, but rather a sidestep from its previous build by trading one problem for another. That sentiment includes "security only" fixes too, which are rarely as critical as they sound, and aren't always safe and mundane. There's a reason the song says, "99 bugs in the code...take one down, patch it around, now there's 100 bugs in the code." It's just the way coding works--bugs can obscure each other, so one bug or more can be revealed after something else was fixed.

Frustratingly, the entire Windows Update topic only exists due to Microsoft wanting to increase profit margins. The reality is it's now a gamble with every patch, causing many tweaking enthusiasts to pause/disable Windows Updates in order to keep builds stable. Basically, in the grand scheme of things, most people will experience less issues in both frequency and severity by getting into the habit of reinstalling the latest Windows ISO annually, and pausing Windows Update forever, unless their specific circumstances demand otherwise.

MY SUGGESTIONS FOR WINDOWS UPDATE
There's a ton that could be discussed and debated, but we've beaten Windows Update to death on this forum already and the whole topic would go away if Microsoft focused on quality again, so I'm going to give my recommendations ranked in my personal order, and then it's up to the readers to further research the options that sound good to them:

1) Only use the latest W10 22H2_V1 ISO and registry tweaks like the Optimized Image guide and be done tweaking after that. Stop trying to overtweak everything, let the OCD go that we all seem to have, and just go enjoy playing games or whatever. Come back every 6-12 months to check for another guide version, and reinstall Windows once per year for security and performance reasons even if everything is working right. This first option is what the Optimized Image guide is written for and is what I do on my machines too, as I consider it "best" at this time.

2) Same as the first option, but use NTLite on the ISO to manually integrate all W10 patches and process that, then apply the Optimized Image guide. We could use UUPDump instead of NTLite, but most people will find UUPDump to be unintuitive and difficult to navigate.

3) Same as the first option, but use the MCT Tool from Microsoft rather than the ISO to automatically integrate W10 patches, then apply the Optimized Image guide. I don't know when Microsoft will stop updating the MCT, but it already has builds that are newer than the ISO.

4) Same as the first option, but also use the Windows Update feature on a live desktop and then be sure to pause after it's done. Then manually double-click on each Optimized Image guide registry file to reinstall any tweaks that were altered in the patches. Every time Windows Update is ran it must be paused afterward, and have each of those registry files installed again too, or some tweaks will become undone.

5) Use whatever W11 build is desired and the Optimized Image guide together, but it'll be without my help in troubleshooting and in converting the tweaks into their W11 counterparts. While a solid 90% of the W10 tweaks will directly transfer over, some of the important ones need modification to work, such as the Start Menu tweaks and pausing Windows Update. W11 licenses work on W10 too, so there's no good reason to stay on the inferior W11 except in IT scenarios where it's been dictated, in which case I offer my condolences.
 
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I appreciate your insight!

garlin said:
There's no such thing as LTSC "22H2". While the EP installs on LTSC 2021, that's an unsupported config so don't complain if your Windows stops updating afterwards.

Can someone re-target LTSC updates to work on W10 base? I'm sure some folks will figure out the hacks, but again you're in unsupported territory so those discussions would have to be on another forum since nuhi prefers all discussions to be on official updates.
Click to expand...

I am aware of there being no LTSC 2022. I do not use LTSC 2022. The enablement package is available as a download form Microsoft's own servers. A group policy can simply set the OS to only receive updates for 21H2, supposedly. I used the same group policy to keep my Windows 11 install from receiving the 24H2 download for a time. I do not recommend doing this to a Windows 10 install either, but it's an interesting bit of OS tweaking that I wanted to point out.

Hellbovine said:
This is the question I'm asked the most, so I'll give an updated reply here for my views in 2026:
I'm using the official W10 22H2_V1 ISO from Microsoft and applying my guide to that as-is, keeping it paused out of the box, without integrating updates or installing any patches at the desktop. Eventually I'll do a thorough test of the ISO versus a fully patched build, but I don't expect to see major differences, since W10 has been mature for a while. Even after reaching end of life, I'll keep updates paused on my machines, because it still reduces resources while also preventing annoyances from being pushed through later.

The big problem nowadays with patching is it's just as likely that an update will break as much as it fixes. Even well intended patches end up coming with new bugs and the overall assessment is that the operating system isn't better, but rather a sidestep from its previous build by trading one problem for another. That sentiment includes "security only" fixes too, which are rarely as critical as they sound, and aren't always safe and mundane. There's a reason the song says, "99 bugs in the code...take one down, patch it around, now there's 100 bugs in the code." It's just the way coding works--bugs can obscure each other, so one bug or more can be revealed after something else was fixed.

Frustratingly, the entire Windows Update topic only exists due to Microsoft wanting to increase profit margins. The reality is it's now a gamble with every patch, causing many tweaking enthusiasts to pause/disable Windows Updates in order to keep builds stable. Basically, in the grand scheme of things, most people will experience less issues in both frequency and severity by getting into the habit of reinstalling the latest Windows ISO annually, and pausing Windows Update forever, unless their specific circumstances demand otherwise.

MY SUGGESTIONS FOR WINDOWS UPDATE
There's a ton that could be discussed and debated, but we've beaten Windows Update to death on this forum already and the whole topic would go away if Microsoft focused on quality again, so I'm going to give my recommendations ranked in my personal order, and then it's up to the readers to further research the options that sound good to them:

1) Only use the latest W10 22H2_V1 ISO and registry tweaks like the Optimized Image guide and be done tweaking after that. Stop trying to overtweak everything, let the OCD go that we all seem to have, and just go enjoy playing games or whatever. Come back every 6-12 months to check for another guide version, and reinstall Windows once per year for security and performance reasons even if everything is working right. This first option is what the Optimized Image guide is written for and is what I do on my machines too, as I consider it "best" at this time.

2) Same as the first option, but use NTLite on the ISO to manually integrate all W10 patches and process that, then apply the Optimized Image guide. We could use UUPDump instead of NTLite, but most people will find UUPDump to be unintuitive and difficult to navigate.

3) Same as the first option, but use the MCT Tool from Microsoft rather than the ISO to automatically integrate W10 patches, then apply the Optimized Image guide. I don't know when Microsoft will stop updating the MCT, but it already has builds that are newer than the ISO.

4) Same as the first option, but also use the Windows Update feature on a live desktop and then be sure to pause after it's done. Then manually double-click on each Optimized Image guide registry file to reinstall any tweaks that were altered in the patches. Every time Windows Update is ran it must be paused afterward, and have each of those registry files installed again too, or some tweaks will become undone.

5) Use whatever W11 build is desired and the Optimized Image guide together, but it'll be without my help in troubleshooting and in converting the tweaks into their W11 counterparts. While a solid 90% of the W10 tweaks will directly transfer over, some of the important ones need modification to work, such as the Start Menu tweaks and pausing Windows Update. W11 licenses work on W10 too, so there's no good reason to stay on the inferior W11 except in IT scenarios where it's been dictated, in which case I offer my condolences.
Click to expand...
I appreciate the insight! I have noticed that Microsoft has been providing monthly updated ISOs, which is nice I suppose. The concern of MS pushing more bugs through WU is very real though. I have had to keep a close eye on forums for the recent cumulative updates as a result. At the moment, I have been testing out Windows 10 and Windows 11 images for a few use cases. If I learn anything from committing the guide to W11, I'll be sure to pass them on eventually.
 
tired-it said:
The concern of MS pushing more bugs through WU is very real though
Click to expand...

It has never been this bad. WU used to be a non-issue, even in the first year I started using Windows 11. It's a real threat now. Having AI write code has real world consequences.

My 2 cents. Mind you, this is for personal use, for myself only.

I build a new image once a year and apply all updates that are available at the time. I install it on my PCs ASAP, before the next month's patch. I run full WU post-install to get all the drivers and patches. Then I block automatic WU and use WAUManager to only install Defender updates, manually. No cumulative updates for a year, so no Patch Tuesday Russian Roulette for me.

Then repeat this in a year.

I just couldn't deal with that garbage any more. Pretty much every cumulative was borked in some way in the last year or so.

I made a mistake recently trying to install Windows Updates to get somee new features and I regretted it, it resulted in massive frustration and waste of time. No more.

Edit: Important, if you go the route of disabling WU, then, as Garlin pointed out in another thread, you need to run this little utility once a month:
github.com

GitHub - asheroto/UpdateRootCertificates: Downloads and installs updated root and disallowed certificates on Windows. No settings are changed. Windows Update not required.

Downloads and installs updated root and disallowed certificates on Windows. No settings are changed. Windows Update not required. - asheroto/UpdateRootCertificates
github.com github.com
 
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