Bedfford

Winzard-PIW Alpha 1.6 continues to grow beyond a simple post-installation tool.

What started as a local, transparent, script-based solution for installing EXE / MSI applications and deploying portable apps is now also evolving into a practical Windows customization hub.

This new phase is not meant to magically replace every theming or customization tool.
The goal is instead to provide a clearer and more maintainable workflow for preparing, organizing, launching, and re-applying a personalized Windows environment.

What is improving in Alpha 1.6

Recent work has focused heavily on the customization side of the project, especially with:


wallpaper support
lock / login screen support
cursor deployment
manual tool integration
better Builder / Deploy separation
better synchronization between Builder and Deploy
a cleaner and more centralized Builder hub


The customization workflow now supports a mix of:


automatic resources
manual tools
manual packages
guided external workflows


The tools and workflows currently tested include:


7TSP
Rainmeter
StartAllBack
UltraUXThemePatcher
SecureUxTheme
OldNewExplorer


The project is still in alpha, so not everything is fully automated, and some steps remain intentionally manual.

Why this matters

Windows customization is almost never perfect, especially depending on the version and build being used.
The real goal of Winzard-PIW is not to promise perfect automation, but to make the whole process:

more organized
easier to repeat
easier to repair
easier to maintain over time


In that sense, PIW-Deploy becomes more than just a deployment folder.
It also becomes a practical maintenance and re-apply kit.

Current direction of the project

Alpha 1.6 marks an important step because it makes the project more coherent:


PIW-Builder prepares and generates
PIW-Deploy executes and applies
customization is becoming a real supported workflow
the overall structure of the project is becoming cleaner and more mature


Demonstrations of a customized installation

I will leave you with a few images of a Windows setup customized with PIW and the associated tools, running on Windows 11 LTSC in a VM.

I went for a small retro vibe where Mac OS 9 meets Windows 9x. I hope you will enjoy it 😊

Here is something you guys might find useful, Its a must have if you are into driverpack making and it comes with InstallShield (used to extract drivers/files from installers with data1.cab/hdr packages created with InstallShield)
Here is my SendTo style installer, I extracted the files from InstallShield 2018 SP1 (may also require Visual C++ Runtimes)
Download: https://mega.nz/#F!SpQgkAII!07wjhxEh89CUQlTV8oXPyg
MD5: 7de20da0f41b1425739f23ad49b31a59
Size: 18.2 MB
For unattended install
Passive:<installer>.exe /SILENTQuiet:<installer>.exe /VERYSILENTOther command-line options:/NOICONSInstructs Setup to initially check the Don't create a Start Menu folder check box on the Select Start Menu Folder wizard page./COMPONENTS="!help"Do NOT! install "Help files" components. (If a component name is prefixed with a "!" character, the component will be deselected.)/TASKS="sendtoicon,desktopicon,quicklaunchicon"Deselect all tasks, then select the "desktopicon", "sendtoicon" and "quicklaunchicon" (Vista & under) tasks. (Use the /MERGETASKS parameter instead if you want to keep the default set of tasks and only select/deselect some of them.)/MERGETASKS="desktopicon"Keep the default set of selected tasks, but additionally select the "desktopicon" tasks. (If a task name is prefixed with a "!" character, the task will be deselected.)