News How to Create a Custom Windows 11 Install Disk, With Only the Features You Need

Apr 5, 2024
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The article https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/create-custom-windows-11-install-disk states:
... to remove Microsoft Edge [...] will mean that you have no method to install an alternative browser unless you have one on a USB drive.
The most convenient and yes even most secure way to install anything these days on Windows is winget. On a fresh installation of Windows 11 it will not work immediately. Here's the fastest reliable way on a clean and fresh Windows 11:
  1. os updates : Start ► Settings ► Windows Update ► Check for updates ► Download and install all
  2. app updates : Start ► Microsoft Store ► Library ► Get updates
  3. reboot (not so necessary as in XP ages, but still no bad idea)
  4. terminal : Start ► Terminal
  5. Type one of the following statements to your liking and press enter
    • winget install Microsoft.Edge
    • winget install Mozilla.Firefox
    • winget install Vivaldi.Vivaldi
    • If your favorite browser is not listed here, find it with winget search or on https://winget.run/
  6. Watch the magic happen.
  7. The browser is now available in the start menu.
  8. Enjoy!

Disclaimer​

I would've posted to the article's comment thread (https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...disk-with-only-the-features-you-need.3799526/) but it was disabled.
 
An issue though is Edge is used as a component in a lot of other things in Windows. That's why you can't uninstall it normally.

Also I wouldn't say winget is any more secure than downloading the installer from the app's website. If anything, you're just shifting who to trust.
 
An issue though is Edge is used as a component in a lot of other things in Windows. That's why you can't uninstall it normally.
Tiny11 comes without Edge. I installed Firefox only. Works ok on multiple boxes since three months. What happened?

Guys at MS learned from old mistakes and those "other components" you mention use a module called WebView. Edge is on top of exactly that WebView. It's not the IE at XP anymore. :)

Also I wouldn't say winget is any more secure than downloading the installer from the app's website. If anything, you're just shifting who to trust.
If you are on the correct website once, I agree. But the step towards the website involves an indirection over a search engine which is not deterministic. Fraudulent advertisement that baits the click. A highjacked domain. And several other attack vectors.

Even skilled users are in danger by chance. Let alone unskilled or tired users. Or did I miss something why all the unsecure Linux distributions avoid package managers as a matter of life and death?
 
Security updates, for one.
You got me. I wasn't specific enough. It's tiny11 2311 (see https://www.tomshardware.com/news/t...-with-greater-functionality-numerous-bugfixes or https://archive.org/details/tiny11-2311). Which security update is missing there?

And hey... The original post was about correcting "You're **** [Mod edit to remove profanity.] without Edge." What you are not.

Tiny11 is what in the Ubuntu-world would be called a remix. I referenced it, so that you have an easy and reliable way to check my statement about Edge. Even if we are done with your error on updates, you will find the next difference. There are a lot.

The vanilla Windows won't fit a set of users. Tiny11 won't fit a set of users. One size doesn't fit all. That's why the originally addressed article is great. Go and brew you own remix of Windows. I would suggest you to try it. The only thing you might loose that way is believe in myths from the late nineties.
 
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An issue though is Edge is used as a component in a lot of other things in Windows. That's why you can't uninstall it normally.
I can't be bothered to actually do this, because i don't mind Edge being installed so long as i'm not forced to use it. But, i just checked Settings -> Apps -> Installed Apps, Edge is there and i have the option to uninstall it.
Win 11 23H2

Trying to remove it from the installation may be more difficult and ultimately pointless if Edge can be uninstalled anyway. (but as i mentioned i am not willing to test this right now, so maybe it's not as simple as i think)
Also I wouldn't say winget is any more secure than downloading the installer from the app's website. If anything, you're just shifting who to trust.
Good point well said.
 
Trying to remove it from the installation may be more difficult and ultimately pointless if Edge can be uninstalled anyway. (but as i mentioned i am not willing to test this right now, so maybe it's not as simple as i think)
One of the issues is...does that remove Edge, or just the Edge UI?
All the shared subsystems as well?

I do not know the answer (nor am I really worried about Edge), but something to think about.
 
If you are on the correct website once, I agree. But the step towards the website involves an indirection over a search engine which is not deterministic. Fraudulent advertisement that baits the click. A highjacked domain. And several other attack vectors.

Even skilled users are in danger by chance. Let alone unskilled or tired users.
And how do you know someone didn't poison your DNS cache and is pointing the winget repo to something nefarious? Besides that, if you're that paranoid about something, you'd probably know the address on where to get the app anyway. But also, previous point.

Or did I miss something why all the unsecure Linux distributions avoid package managers as a matter of life and death?
I didn't say package management is insecure. But I would argue it can create a false sense of security because you simply trust the package manager repo to contain the right applications or the most up-to-date one. winget is community managed and someone still has to vet whatever gets into it. So again, you're just shifting the trust of where you're getting your apps to something else.

Also Linus Torvalds doesn't really like the package management system anyway.

I can't be bothered to actually do this, because i don't mind Edge being installed so long as i'm not forced to use it. But, i just checked Settings -> Apps -> Installed Apps, Edge is there and i have the option to uninstall it.
Win 11 23H2

Trying to remove it from the installation may be more difficult and ultimately pointless if Edge can be uninstalled anyway. (but as i mentioned i am not willing to test this right now, so maybe it's not as simple as i think)
Also this may just be removing the app from being launched, but doesn't actually remove the app itself, or any of the component associated with it that Windows may use. So maybe these things that remove Edge is doing the same thing. But if it's removing everything associated with Edge, then this is a problem.

Like why you can uninstall OneDrive, but if you make another account on Windows it comes right back.

EDIT: This is just throwing things out there in the wind and not to any one person

If you demand a level of control over the OS that Windows cannot provide, or the stock Windows ISO doesn't let you do things that you want that easily, then here's my suggestion: Use Linux or Free BSD. Windows is not for you, and the more you want to try to make Windows for you, the more things are going to push back against it because you're doing things differently. Windows is designed to serve the general population, not a geek who wants to tinker with his computer.

If you want to an OS that's "truly yours", those two are the best options you have (well, there's always a third, but you're probably not even using Windows at that point). And if you don't want to learn them, fine, but don't complain to us when, not if, you run into some weird error that can't really be solved because you plucked out something you shouldn't have.
 
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