Custom Windows 11 install images?

[Niku-Sama]

Is any one here doing any custom Win11 installs?

I'm curious what tools your using if you are. MDT isnt supported any more, and config manager for 11 is well, not for human language.
Its a semi work related question, probably would customize 11 for my home pc but we're migrating at work as well and need to build an image for PxE

 

[EarthDog]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, good question. I'm not, kinda gave up on that, but would love to trim some fat a try again maybe.......

 

[Kenrou]

Depends how custom you wanna go, process is roughly the same as with Win10, but debloat needs a tad more work. Thankfully there's always Windows fans that love to tear it apart and put (some of it) back together

Ghost Spectre Windows 11 Superlite Version (23H2 - 2023 Update) | TechLatest

Todaty, we are going to show you a decent Windows build named Ghost Spectre Windows 11 Superlite Version, in which they truncated many unnecessary features.

tech-latest.com

 

[Janus67]

We don't deploy 11 at my college yet (still 22h2 and ltsc windows 10). But I imagine if you look at the sccm subreddit or deployment research blog there has to be something.

Optimizing Windows 11 for the Enterprise

You would think that a product named Windows 11 Enterprise would be optimized for business use out of the box, but like the Windows 10 Enterprise, Windows 11 Enterprise is far from it. In this post you learn about common configuration changes enterprises are doing to make Windows 11 more...

www.deploymentresearch.com

From reading his blog it appears 11 isn't officially supported in MDT but it still works.

Using Modern Driver Management with MDT Lite Touch

While MDT is no longer being updated, and does not officially support Windows 11, it's still a great deployment solution and you can in fact deploy any Windows Client and Windows Server OS with it, including Windows 11. The recommend method to inject drivers during deployment using MDT is called...

www.deploymentresearch.com

Johan is fantastic and I've followed him for years.

 

[Woomack]

One thing that I noticed (not really a custom installation) is that you can turn off some annoying things while preparing a bootable flash drive with Rufus. It's still a clean installation but goes faster.

What is annoying for me is how MS is trying to force to use their accounts in Win11. When you install Win11 with the latest updates on a local account, then it will hide something as basic as the built-in Defender. It's still available from the "deeper" settings menu but is not available on the icon list in the tray, and when you try to run it from a general programs window, then will ask to use your MS account.
A local account during the installation is also somehow hidden right now. If anyone wonders how to install it with a local account and not an MS account, then simply pick the domain (even though it's not in use) and it will create a local account.

 

[Kenrou]

Not many people knew this apparently

Setting a clean Windows 11 is difficult with all the built-in bloat. This guide fixes all that to give you a clean system that is easy to manage ⇾ https://christitus.com/windows-11-perfect-install/

 

[Niku-Sama]

We don't deploy 11 at my college yet (still 22h2 and ltsc windows 10). But I imagine if you look at the sccm subreddit or deployment research blog there has to be something.

Optimizing Windows 11 for the Enterprise

You would think that a product named Windows 11 Enterprise would be optimized for business use out of the box, but like the Windows 10 Enterprise, Windows 11 Enterprise is far from it. In this post you learn about common configuration changes enterprises are doing to make Windows 11 more...

www.deploymentresearch.com

From reading his blog it appears 11 isn't officially supported in MDT but it still works.

Using Modern Driver Management with MDT Lite Touch

While MDT is no longer being updated, and does not officially support Windows 11, it's still a great deployment solution and you can in fact deploy any Windows Client and Windows Server OS with it, including Windows 11. The recommend method to inject drivers during deployment using MDT is called...

www.deploymentresearch.com

Johan is fantastic and I've followed him for years.

thats funny we were using 22h2 at the district i am working at up until last week.

Thats the thing though, previous people were afraid to ever move up but then it would cause problems with other apps and even the PxE deploy some times because it was so out of date. I get not jumping on the newest update right away but like a month or two at most so you dont get left in the dust

the debloat is one thing, i get that, Decrapifier still works on 11 thankfully (for now) but the base image with lite touch and the network deploy. I get it but, man, theres got to be a better way.

The job before this we were totally cloud except for an accounting server that was mirrored in the cloud, and i set up a base system that was forever known as the image computer. It was in perpetual limbo and i would keep it up to date and add and remove things as needed and create out install media from it.

 

[PolePosition]

Not many people knew this apparently

Setting a clean Windows 11 is difficult with all the built-in bloat. This guide fixes all that to give you a clean system that is easy to manage ⇾ https://christitus.com/windows-11-perfect-install/

That's a good video and useful information when running a script using powershell to remove Edge & bloatware plus give Win11 more of a Win7 interface.
I'm also considering running a script that's supposed to create a much more secure and less intrusive rig I found on GitHub.

GitHub - simeononsecurity/Windows-Optimize-Harden-Debloat: Enhance the security and privacy of your Windows 10 and Windows 11 deployments with our fully optimized, hardened, and debloated script. Adhere to industry best practices and Department of De

Enhance the security and privacy of your Windows 10 and Windows 11 deployments with our fully optimized, hardened, and debloated script. Adhere to industry best practices and Department of Defense ...

github.com

Some thoughts, suggestions, and ideas are always appreciated from the pros here on running scripts.
EDIT; On a side note, the rig in my signature is built and has Windows 11 installed recently, but I'm still using my old x79 Asus Tuf rig with Windows 7 as I post here until I get everything optimized.