Years ago when XP was still the OS of choice for Windows, there were programs that allowed you to customize the OS and remove aspects of it and then make your own bootable CD (.iso).
I have no idea if those evolved or if protections on more modern MS OSes has made that not possible.
But, I am wondering if something like this is possible with windows 10 or windows 11. I ask because I need to install windows for compatibility purposes and wonder if these all in one, user friendly tools even exist. Is it possible to strip out known features of windows today?
*nod* “Slipstreaming”, in the parlance. (Not 100% sure if that was an M$-official term, or merely the accepted officially-unofficial terminology.) Absolutely critical, back in the days when it was common to have machines with boot hardware (think RAID controllers, wireless adapters, etc.) that Windows didn’t ship bundled drivers for. If your install DVD can’t even see your hard drive (and therefore can’t create a filesystem to install into), or can’t make the network connection that would let it download whatever missing drivers it needs, you were sh*t outta luck for installing Windows to that system. Unless you slipstreamed the driver installer onto the Windows media itself.
…Of course, once they had the ability to change anything about the standard install, the customization genie was out of the bottle, and people came up with all sorts of other modifications to the default package set. (Including those super-handy multi-architecture / multi-edition install DVDs, where installing Windows 7 32-bit Home vs. 64-bit Pro or Enterprise was just a matter of a menu selection at the start of the install process.)
