Any way to shrink "sysprep(ed) install.wim" ?


adu78

adu78

Active member
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Windows 10
Hi,

I took Windows 11 23h2 to audit mode by pressing Shift+F3 in OOBE after running setup on a clean VM.

I "only" pre-installed Word / Excel 2016 and installed updates.

After Sysprep and capturing the "image" with.
dism /capture-image /imagefile:c:\temp\install.wim /capturedir:f:\ /name:"Win11" /description:"Win11" /compress:maximum /checkintegrity /verify /bootable

my install.wim is nearly 11 GB.

The original install.wim is like 5,7 GB.

Before "sysprep" I run the following command in an elevated command-promp and marked everything.
cmd.exe /c Cleanmgr /sageset:65535 & Cleanmgr /sagerun:65535


The Office Setup Files are deleted. Haven't changed anything else so far.

Is there a safe, secure way to shrink the image even more ?

Thank you for your time and stay well.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Ryzen 7 5700X
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite V2
    Memory
    2 x 16 GB DDR 4 - 3200 - G.Skill RipJaws V
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070
    Sound Card
    OnBoard Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Dell S2721DGF
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1440 @ 165 MHZ
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Kingston KC3000 M.2PCIe 4.0
    PSU
    be quiet! Pure Power 12 M Modular 80+ Gold
    Case
    Phanteks Eclipse P600s
    Cooling
    be quit! Dark Rock Pro 4
    Keyboard
    Logitech G213 Prodigy
    Mouse
    Logitech G502 Hero
    Internet Speed
    1000 MBit Cable DSL
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender
adu78 said:
Hi,

I took Windows 11 23h2 to audit mode by pressing Shift+F3 in OOBE after running setup on a clean VM.

I "only" pre-installed Word / Excel 2016 and installed updates.

After Sysprep and capturing the "image" with.
dism /capture-image /imagefile:c:\temp\install.wim /capturedir:f:\ /name:"Win11" /description:"Win11" /compress:maximum /checkintegrity /verify /bootable

my install.wim is nearly 11 GB.

The original install.wim is like 5,7 GB.

Before "sysprep" I run the following command in an elevated command-promp and marked everything.
cmd.exe /c Cleanmgr /sageset:65535 & Cleanmgr /sagerun:65535


The Office Setup Files are deleted. Haven't changed anything else so far.

Is there a safe, secure way to shrink the image even more ?

Thank you for your time and stay well.
Click to expand...
Why would you bother. Sysprep does not shrink Windows, only removes hardware drivers etc.

To shrink any further you would have to create a custom install.wim compressing the sysprepped version of Windows.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro + Win11 Canary VM.
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    ASUS Zenbook 14
    CPU
    I9 13th gen i9-13900H 2.60 GHZ
    Motherboard
    Yep, Laptop has one.
    Memory
    16 GB soldered
    Graphics Card(s)
    Integrated Intel Iris XE
    Sound Card
    Realtek built in
    Monitor(s) Displays
    laptop OLED screen
    Screen Resolution
    2880x1800 touchscreen
    Hard Drives
    1 TB NVME SSD (only weakness is only one slot)
    PSU
    Internal + 65W thunderbolt USB4 charger
    Case
    Yep, got one
    Cooling
    Stella Artois (UK pint cans - 568 ml) - extra cost.
    Keyboard
    Built in UK keybd
    Mouse
    Bluetooth , wireless dongled, wired
    Internet Speed
    900 mbs (ethernet), wifi 6 typical 350-450 mb/s both up and down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    TPM 2.0, 2xUSB4 thunderbolt, 1xUsb3 (usb a), 1xUsb-c, hdmi out, 3.5 mm audio out/in combo, ASUS backlit trackpad (inc. switchable number pad)

    Macrium Reflect Home V8
    Office 365 Family (6 users each 1TB onedrive space)
    Hyper-V (a vm runs almost as fast as my older laptop)
I guess you took me wrong.
I dont want the original wim to get smaller, or get rid off any drivers.

I just wonder why my custom.wim (with only word / exel added) is nearly twice as big.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Custom
    CPU
    Ryzen 7 5700X
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte B550 Aorus Elite V2
    Memory
    2 x 16 GB DDR 4 - 3200 - G.Skill RipJaws V
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070
    Sound Card
    OnBoard Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Dell S2721DGF
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1440 @ 165 MHZ
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Kingston KC3000 M.2PCIe 4.0
    PSU
    be quiet! Pure Power 12 M Modular 80+ Gold
    Case
    Phanteks Eclipse P600s
    Cooling
    be quit! Dark Rock Pro 4
    Keyboard
    Logitech G213 Prodigy
    Mouse
    Logitech G502 Hero
    Internet Speed
    1000 MBit Cable DSL
    Browser
    Firefox
    Antivirus
    Microsoft Defender
If you add in products that use different versions of .NET framework, SxS installation will be invoked, removing the compact installation.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 22H2
Unfortunately, I'm not really aware of anything else that you can do to shrink that image. Once you start adding things to Windows that image can grow in a hurry.

For that reason, among others, I now use a different approach. Rather than using sysprep to deploy Windows I just perform an unattended installation of plain, unmodified Windows, then script the installation of items I want to install after the initial installation. This can, of course, include the installation of Microsoft 365 (formerly Office) products. Winget works great for this.
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Win11 Pro 24H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Self-built
    CPU
    Intel i7 11700K
    Motherboard
    ASUS Prime Z590-A MB
    Memory
    64GB (Waiting for warranty replacement of another 64GB for 128GB total)
    Graphics Card(s)
    No GPU - Built-in Intel Graphics
    Sound Card
    Integrated
    Monitor(s) Displays
    HP Envy 32
    Screen Resolution
    2560 x 1440
    Hard Drives
    1 x 1TB NVMe SSD
    1 x 2TB NVMe SSD
    1 x 4TB NVMe SSD
    3 x 512GB 2.5" SSD
    1 x 4TB 2.5" SSD
    5 x 8TB Seagate Barracuda HDD
    PSU
    Corsair HX850i
    Case
    Corsair iCUE RGB 5000X mid tower case
    Cooling
    Noctua NF-S12A chromax.black.swap case fans (Qty. 7) & Home Computer Specifications, Configuration, and Usage Notes General Specifications ASUS Prime Z590-A motherboard, serial number M1M0KC222467ARP Intel Core i7-11700K CPU (11th Gen Rocket Lake / LGA 1200 Socket) 128GB Crucial Ballistix RGB DDR4 3200 MHz DRAM (4 x 32GB) Corsair iCUE RGB 5000X mid tower case Noctua NH-D15 chromax.black CPU cooler Noctua NF-S12A chromax.black.swap case fans (Qty. 7) & Corsair LL-120 RGB Fans (Qty. 3)
    Keyboard
    Corsair K70 Max RGB Magnetic Keyboard
    Mouse
    Logitech MX Master 3
    Internet Speed
    1Gb Up / 1 Gb Down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    The five 8TB drives and three 512GB SSDs are part of a DrivePool using StableBit DrivePool software. The three SSDs are devoted purely to caching for the 8TB drives. All of the important data is stored in triplicate so that I can withstand simultaneous failure of 2 disks.

    Networking: 2.5Gbps Ethernet and WiFi 6e
  • Operating System
    Win11 Pro 23H2
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo ThinkBook 13x Gen 2
    CPU
    Intel i7-1255U
    Memory
    16 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    Intel Iris Xe Graphics
    Sound Card
    Realtek® ALC3306-CG codec
    Monitor(s) Displays
    13.3-inch IPS Display
    Screen Resolution
    WQXGA (2560 x 1600)
    Hard Drives
    2 TB 4 x 4 NVMe SSD
    PSU
    USB-C / Thunderbolt 4 Power / Charging
    Mouse
    Buttonless Glass Precision Touchpad
    Keyboard
    Backlit, spill resistant keyboard
    Internet Speed
    1Gb Up / 1Gb Down
    Browser
    Edge
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    WiFi 6e / Bluetooth 5.1 / Facial Recognition / Fingerprint Sensor / ToF (Time of Flight) Human Presence Sensor
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