What's new in the Windows ADK http://www.microsoft.com/en-US/download/details.aspx?id=45522 Windows Imaging and Configuration Designer (Windows ICD) Quickly create a provisioning package that you can use to customize devices without re-imaging. You can also build a customized Windows image for specific market segments and regions.
Windows Imaging and Configuration Designer [some information relates to pre-released product, which may be substantially modified before it's commercially released. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, with respect to the information provided here.] PurposeThe Windows Imaging and Configuration Designer (ICD) streamlines the customizing and provisioning of a Windows image. Note The latest version of Windows ICD is still in development and not feature complete. All the information and screenshots in this section are preliminary and subject to change. Windows ICD is primarily designed for use by: OEMs and ODMs looking for a simple and streamlined process of creating and deploying a Windows image. System integrators who provision devices based on their customers' needs. IT departments for business and educational institutions who need to provision bring-your-own-device (BYOD) and business-supplied devices. To determine if Windows ICD is the right tool for you, see the following table, which shows the scenarios that Windows 10 Technical Preview supports and the tool that you can use. If you are a: Interested in: Use:System builder or OEM Configuring and applying Windows images on new desktop and mobile devices Windows ICD to create full image media (USB, network, USB tethering) Small organization Customizing new desktop and mobile devices Windows ICD to create provisioning package(s)
Configuring and applying Windows images on new desktop devices Windows ICD to create full image media (USB, network, USB tethering) Mid-sized organization Creating and deploying custom Windows images on new or existing desktop devices Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) to create and deploy custom image(s) (USB, network, Windows Deployment Services (WDS)/Preboot Execution Environment (PXE))
Configuring and applying Windows images on new desktop devices Windows ICD to create provisioning package(s)
Customizing mobile devices Windows ICD to create provisioning package(s) Large organization Creating and deploying custom Windows images on new or existing desktop images MDT and/or Configuration Manager to create and deploy custom image(s) (USB, network, WDS/PXE/Multicast)
Customizing new desktop and mobile devices Windows ICD to create provisioning package(s)
In this section Topic DescriptionGetting started with Windows ICD Read this topic to find out how to install and run the Windows ICD. Supported platforms for Windows ICD Provides information about: Supported host platforms - Versions of Windows 10 Technical Preview that can run Windows ICD Supported target images - Windows images that can be configured using Windows ICD Build and apply a provisioning package You can use Windows ICD to create a provisioning package (.ppkg), which contains customizations that you can include for a particular Windows image. You can either apply the provisioning package to an image or share it as a standalone package that can be applied to a running system using the Provisioning Engine. Export a provisioning package Export a provisioning package if you want to reuse the customizations already configured in a different project or to share it as a standalone package that can be applied to a running system during initial device setup or later. Build and deploy a Windows 10 image for desktop editions You can use Windows ICD to create a new Windows 10 Technical Preview for desktop editions (Home, Pro, and Enterprise) image and customize it by adding drivers, apps, language packs, settings, and more. You can also build the deployment media either to a folder or to a USB key. Configure customizations using Windows ICD You can use Windows ICD to configure the Windows device UI, connectivity settings, and user experience to better reflect your brand, to meet mobile network requirements, to comply with IT department security requirements, or to fit market segments or regions where the device will ship. Use the Windows ICD command-line interface You can use the Windows ICD command-line interface (CLI) to automate the building of provisioning packages and Windows 10 Technical Preview for desktop editions. For OEMs who already have an established manufacturing process or for enterprise IT Pros who also have established IT management infrastructures, you can use the Windows ICD CLI to require less re-tooling of your existing processes. You must run the Windows ICD CLI from a command window with administrator privileges. For OEMs that want to create an image and/or provisioning package with multivariant support, you must use the Windows ICD CLI and edit the customizations.xml sources.
Note The latest version of Windows Imaging and Configuration Designer (ICD) is still in development and not feature complete. All the information and screenshots in this section are preliminary and subject to change.
Read this topic to find out how to install and run the Windows ICD. Install Windows ICDTo install Windows ICD and configure Windows 10 Technical Preview images only, you must install the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) for Windows 10 Technical Preview. While running "ADKsetup.exe", check the following ADK features from the Select the features you want to install dialog box: Deployment Tools Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) Windows Imaging and Configuration Designer (Windows ICD) User State Migration Tool (USMT) Windows ICD depends on other tools in order to work correctly. If you only select Windows ICD in the ADK install wizard, these other tools (Deployment tools, Windows PE, and USMT) will also be selected for installation. Run Windows ICDAfter you have installed Windows ICD, you can use either the Windows ICD UI or command-line interface (CLI) from the Deployment and Imaging Tools Environment, with administrator privileges, using these steps: To use the UI Launch Windows ICD: From either the Start screen or the Start menu search pane, type 'Imaging and Configuration Designer' and click on the Windows ICD shortcut, or, Navigate to 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Imaging and Configuration Designer\x86' (on an x64 computer) or 'C:\Program Files\Windows Kits\10\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Imaging and Configuration Designer\x86\ICD.exe' (on an x86 computer), and then double-click ICD.exe. The Windows Imaging and Configuration Designer window should display the Start page. To start with a new project, click "New Project..." and follow the Windows ICD wizard. For step-by-step UI instructions and scenario information, see these topics: Build and apply a provisioning package Export a provisioning package Build and deploy a Windows 10 image for desktop editions Configure customizations using Windows ICD If you have previously created projects that you want to modify, click "Open Project..." to navigate to your existing projects. To use the command-line interface Open a command-line window with administrator privileges. From the command-line, navigate to the Windows ICD install directory. On an x64 computer, type: 'cd C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\10\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Imaging and Configuration Designer\x86' or On an x86 computer, type: 'cd C:\Program Files\Windows Kits\10\Assessment and Deployment Kit\Imaging and Configuration Designer\x86' See Use the Windows ICD command-line interface for more information about using the Windows ICD CLI. Supported Windows ICD project workflowsWhen you select a new project within Windows ICD, you have a choice of two project workflows: Provisioning Package - Use this workflow to build a provisioning package that targets a Windows edition. A provisioning package allows you to customize an existing Windows image without re-imaging, or you can use this package to build a Windows image. For more information, see Build and deploy a provisioning package and Export a provisioning package. Imaging - Use this workflow to create and build a new Windows image. From this workflow, you can use a: Windows Desktop WIM-based image - This imaging method requires an Install.wim file, which contains the Windows edition that you want to use. This lets you build a deployment media either to a folder or to a USB key. For more information, see Build and deploy a Windows 10 image for desktop editions. Windows pre-installed OS kit - This imaging method uses a pre-installed OS kit for Windows editions that have associated OS kits already installed.
Current Windows ICD limitationsYou can only run one instance of Windows ICD on your computer at a time. A provisioning package must apply to a specific Windows edition. In other words, you cannot create a generic provisioning package that applies to all Windows devices. Deployment time application of a provisioning package is not yet available. When building an image for Windows 10 Technical Preview for desktop editions (Home, Pro, and Enterprise), you can only build to a .wim file. Be aware that when adding apps and drivers, all files stored in the same folder will be imported and may cause errors during the build process. While you can open multiple projects at the same time within Windows ICD, you can only build one project at a time. A best practice when using Windows ICD to build projects or answer files that contains assets, such as apps or drivers, is to copy all necessary files to the local computer that is running Windows ICD. For example, when you add a driver to a provisioned package, you must copy the .INF file to a local directory on the computer that is running Windows ICD. If you do not do this, and attempt to use a copied version of this project on a different computer, Windows ICD might attempt to resolve the path to the files that point to the original computer. Note This might cause Windows ICD with the copied project or answer file to crash when you try to build an image. Related topics Windows Imaging Configuration and Designer Supported platforms for Windows ICD
Note The latest version of Windows Imaging and Configuration Designer (ICD) is still in development and not feature complete. All the information and screenshots in this section are preliminary and subject to change.
Provides information about: Supported host platforms - Versions of Windows 10 Technical Preview that can run Windows ICD Supported target images - Windows images that can be configured using Windows ICD
Supported host platforms The supported host platform is the operating system that can run Windows ICD. These platforms include: Windows 10 Technical Preview - x86 and amd64 Windows 8.1 Update - x86 and amd64 Windows 8.1 - x86 and amd64 Windows 8 - x86 and amd64 Windows 7 - x86 and amd64 Windows Server Technical Preview Windows Server 2012 R2 Update Windows Server 2012 R2 Windows Server 2012 Windows Server 2008 R2
Supported target images The Windows images that can be configured using Windows ICD are: Windows 10 Technical Preview for desktop editions (Home, Pro, and Enterprise) image Windows 10 Technical Preview for phones image Note Windows ICD does not support the configuring of Windows Server Technical Preview editions.
Export a provisioning package if you want to reuse the customizations already configured in a different project or to share it as a standalone package that can be applied to a running system during initial device setup or later.
For example, you can use Windows Imaging and Configuration Designer (ICD) for image customization and then build the model image with its media. You can then export the customizations done in the Customizations Page to a provisioning package before building the model image and media. You can also import the provisioning package in the New Project wizard when starting another imaging project workflow to create a model image for a similar device model. The assets and settings in the imported provisioning package will be pre-populated in the Customizations Page and you can add or change more assets and settings instead of redoing the customization tasks again before building the model image media. Important Importing a provisioning package is not yet supported in this release of Windows 10 Technical Preview.Alternatively, you can also use the Windows ICD command-line interface to specify the provisioning package to build another model image with the media without further modifications to the current package contents. For more information, see Use the Windows ICD command line interface.
To export a provisioning package From the Windows ICD menu, select Export and then choose Provisioning Package. Optional. In the Provisioning Package Configuration page, specify a Package Name. This field is pre-populated with the project name that you entered in the New Project wizard. You can change this value by entering a different name in the Package Name field. Windows ICD shows an auto-generated package GUID or the package GUID inherited from an imported provisioning package in the Package Id field. You cannot change this string and it's shown only for your reference.
Optional. You can change the default package version by specifying a new value in the Package Version field. The version must follow this numerical format: "<Major>.<Minor>" The value for the package version is pre-populated with the latest package version number or "1.0" if this is the first time that a package is being exported. Set the Package Owner to one of these values: Microsoft Silicon Vendor OEM System Integrator Mobile Operator IT Admin Optional. You can set the Package Rank to a value between 0 and 99, inclusive. The default package rank is 0. Click Next. In the Provisioning Package Output window, a default location is shown in the Output Location field. Click Browse to change the default value and specify a different output location where you want the provisioning package to go once it's built. Click Next. Click Build to build the provisioning package. Once the provisioning package is built, you can use it for the scenarios described above.
The Customizations Page contains these elements: Project Information panel - Summarizes the information for the current project including the selected project workflow and the Windows edition that was selected for customization. Available Customizations panel - Shows the assets and settings that you can customize for the selected project. Assets are configurable customizations that are not settings. These, and more information on how to configure them, are as follows: Applications - To add an app Drivers - To add a driver Features on demand - To add an individual feature package Language packages - To add a language pack MBS driver set - To add an MBS driver set OS updates - To add OS updates Important For Windows 10 Technical Preview, if you build a provisioning package that contains any asset and then install the package during the first runtime experience or later, the asset will not be installed on the device. Assets can only be applied during the deployment process and not at runtime. The Settings group in the Available Customizations window shows the various settings that you can configure for a provisioning package or image. For more information on how to configure them, see To customize OS settings. Customizations Editor panel - Displays information about the asset including the asset's name and path, shows the default OS value and description for a setting (if available), and lets you set different values for these settings and assets. You will do most of your customization work in this panel. Configured Customizations panel - Shows the assets and settings that you have saved or set in the Customizations Editor panel. The configured customizations is a list of customizations that will be included in the provisioning package. If there are any assets or settings that you want to change or remove, see the following sections for more information on how to do this: To remove or change an asset To remove or change a setting Select the Applications asset to add a Store or LOB App. To add an app Click the Browse... button to launch File Explorer to search and locate the path to a Store or LOB App .appx or .appxbundle package, dependency package, license file, source custom data file, or source shared local data file. Select the .appx or .appxbundle, depdency package, license file, source custom data file, or source shared local data file that you want to add. Specify a friendly name for the app by typing a name in the Name textbox. If you specify dependency packages in the Dependency Package Path textbox, the Store or LOB App .appx or .appxbundle package name is automatically populated in the Name textbox and multiple dependency packages are automatically populated in the Dependency Packages listbox. If you specify an .appxbundle in the Package Path textbox, the bundle already includes the dependent packages for that app so you can skip specifying any Dependency Packages. To avoid specifying a license file for the app, check the Skip License checkbox. If you don't check this box, you must provide a license file for the app. This checkbox is not checked by default. Click Add to add the app package to the Configured Customizations panel. A check mark in the Available Customizations pane appears next to the asset that you added. Select the Drivers asset to add a driver. Note This asset is only available when you're customizing an image for Windows 10 Technical Preview for desktop editions (Home, Pro, and Enterprise).To add a driver Click the Browse... button to launch File Explorer to search and locate the path to a folder that contains your driver files or packages. Select the folder that contains the driver. The driver(s) in the specified folder must be in the INF format. This populates the Driver Folder Path textbox. Specify a friendly name for the driver by typing a name in the Name textbox. To allow unsigned drivers to be added, check the Force unsigned install checkbox. This is not enabled by default. Click Add to add the driver to the Configured Customizations panel. A check mark appears next to the asset that you added in the Available Customizations pane. Select the Features on demand asset to add an individual feature package (.cab). To add an individual feature package Click the Browse... button to launch File Explorer to search and locate the path to an individual .cab. Select the folder that contains the feature package. This populates the Features package path textbox. Specify a friendly name for the feature package by typing a name in the Name textbox. Click Add to add the feature package to the Configured Customizations panel. A check mark appears next to the asset that you added in the Available Customizations pane. Select the Language Packages asset to add a language pack. Language packs provide a translated version of most of the UI. To add a language pack Click the Browse... button to launch File Explorer to search and locate the path to a folder that contains the language pack's .cab file. Select the .cab file for the language pack. This populates the Cab File textbox. Specify a friendly name for the language pack by typing a name in the Name textbox. Click Add to add the language pack to the Configured Customizations panel. A check mark pane appears next to the asset that you added in the Available Customizations pane. Select the MBS Driver Set asset to add an MBS driver. To add an MBS driver set Click the Browse... button to launch File Explorer to search and locate the path to a folder that contains your driver files or packages. Select the folder that contains the driver set. The driver set in the specified folder must be in the INF format. This populates the MBS Driver Set Path textbox. Specify a friendly name for the driver set by typing a name in the Name textbox. To allow unsigned drivers to be added, check the Force unsigned install checkbox. This is not enabled by default. Click Add to add the driver set to the Configured Customizations panel. A check mark appears next to the asset that you added in the Available Customizations pane. You can customize certain settings by selecting a grouped setting or an individual subsetting, or property, from the Settings group. Note Settings can be applied to a running device during the first runtime experience or later, but some settings can also be applied during deployment time.To customize OS settings From the Settings group in Available Customizations panel, select the setting that you want to configure. For most settings, a brief description of the setting and its default value is shown in the Customizations Editor panel. In the Customizations Editor panel, set the value for the setting that you selected and then click the save setting button (denoted by a floppy disk) next to the textbox. A check mark appears next to the setting that you customized and saved in the Available Customizations pane. Select the Windows Updates asset to add Windows Updates. Windows Updates are .MSU files that you can add to a provisioning package. To add OS updates Click the Browse... button to launch File Explorer to search and locate the path that contains the individual Windows Updates (.msu), or the folder that contains multiple Windows Updates. Select the path. This populates the Update package path textbox. Specify a friendly name for the Windows Updates by typing a name in the Name textbox. Click Add to add the Windows Updates to the Configured Customizations panel. A check mark in the Available Customizations pane appears next to the asset that you added. Important If you selected a folder path that contains multiple update packages, the folder path will be added to the Configured Customizations tree view as the parent node to the update package nodes. In this case, you cannot remove individual update packages from the configured customizations list as only the folder path that contains all the update packages can be removed. You must remove the update packages from the folder using File Explorer before you can add the folder path again using the Customizations Page in Windows ICD to add the rest of the update packages in the folder. You can remove or change the information for any asset that you add. To remove or change an asset Select the asset from the Configured Customizations panel to show that asset's information in the Customizations Editor panel. To remove the asset, click Remove. To change the information about the existing asset including selecting a different path, specifying a different name, and so on, update the information that you want to change and then click Save. You can remove or change the information for any setting that you add. To remove or change a setting Select the setting from the Configured Customizations panel to show that setting's information in the Customizations Editor panel. To reset the value to the default OS value or to remove the setting from the configured customizations list, click the X next to the textbox. The X removes the setting from the configured customizations list. To change the value for the setting, type the new setting value and then click the save setting button (denoted by a floppy disk) next to the textbox.
You can use the Windows Imaging and Configuration Designer (ICD) command-line interface (CLI) to automate the building of provisioning packages and Windows 10 Technical Preview for desktop editions (Home, Pro, and Enterprise). For OEMs who already have an established manufacturing process or for enterprise IT Pros who also have established IT management infrastructures, you can use the Windows ICD CLI to require less re-tooling of your existing processes. You must run the Windows ICD CLI from a command window with administrator privileges. For OEMs that want to create an image and/or provisioning package with multivariant support, you must use the Windows ICD CLI and edit the customizations.xml sources.
Supported scenariosTo build a provisioning package To build a Windows 10 Technical Preview for desktop editions image UsageRunning "icd.exe /?" brings up the following usage information:
icd.exe <command> <parameters> Example icd.exe /Build-ImageFromWIM /CustomizationXML:x /OutputPath:x /SourceImage:x /ImageIndex:x To build a provisioning packageFor more information about what a provisioning package is, see the description in Build and apply a provisioning package. You must gather all the assets and settings that you need and then write the answer file that contains the asset payloads and setting values. You need the answer file as one of the inputs to the Windows ICD CLI to build a provisioning package. Syntax:
Switches and arguments: Switch Required? Arguments/CustomizationXML Yes Specifies the path to an XML file that contains the customization assets and settings. /PackagePath Yes Specifies the path and the package name where the built provisioning package will be saved. /StoreFile No Specifies the path to a Windows store file. Encrypted No Specifies if the provisioning package should be built with encryption. Windows ICD auto-generates the decryption password and includes this information in the output. Precede with + for encryption or - for no encryption. The default is no encryption. /? No Lists the switches and their descriptions for the command-line tool or for certain commands.
To build a Windows 10 Technical Preview for desktop editions imageBefore you can use the Windows ICD CLI to build a Windows 10 Technical Preview for desktop editions image, you must: Download the image WIM file from the Windows Portal and save it to a location that is accessible by the command line. Optionally, run the build provisioning package command line to create one or more provisioning packages that contain the assets and settings that you will use to customize the Windows image. Create a deployment XML file that contains the selected options for the type of deployment media that you are building. These are the same options that are available in the build wizard of the Windows ICD UI; for example, the WIM or FFU image format, and the local folder or USB key as the target media. For more information, see Build and deploy a Windows 10 image. Syntax: icd.exe /Build-ImageFromWIM /CustomizationXML:<path_to_xml> /MediaPath:<path_to_media_folder> /SourceImage:<path_to_image> [imageIndex:<index>] [imageName:<name>] [/ProvisioningPackage:<path_to_ppkg>] /DeploymentConfigXml:<path_to_xml> [/?]
Switches and arguments: Switch Required? Arguments/CustomizationXML Yes Specifies the path to an XML file that contains the customization assets and settings. /MediaPath Yes Specifies the directory path to a local folder or local network share where the Windows image and its deployment media will be saved. /SourceImage Yes Specifies the path to a WIM file, which contains the image to be used to build the customized image. /ImageIndex No Specifies the index of the image in the WIM file. /ImageName No Specifies the name of the image in the WIM file that will be used as the base image. /ProvisioningPackage No Specifies the path to a provisioning package that contains the customization assets and settings that will be applied to the image. You can use this parameter multiple times to specify multiple provisioning packages. /DeploymentConfigXml Yes Specifies the path to an XML file that contains the selected options for the target deployment media that should be built. /? No Lists the switches and their descriptions for the command-line tool or for certain commands.
For a productive Win 8.x, I might suggest checking out some of the posts by NoelC over at MSFN such as this one. He does most, if not all, of his setup manually, but he avoids interacting with "Metro" at all costs and strives to make his Win 8.x system look and act as much like Win 7 as possible. He even wrote an e-book about how to set up such a system yourself that you can find mentioned here. At US $20 it's less than half what NTlite costs so maybe that might appeal to you more. Just a thought.
It appears you are correct that NTlite does seem to be able to remove most of "Metro", at least more than what I thought it did. Not quite all, but effectively it does since there are no more "Metro" apps left to run:
Since I choose not to remove any system components, (I just disable what I don't need), and I'm very happy with Win 7 and have chosen not to downgrade to any version of Win 8.x (that was sarcastic ), I'll let someone else that is more familiar with Win Toolkit's component removal capabilities respond to you if they wish to.
If you are trying to remove ALL of the "Metro" 'crap', then I think you are out of luck. Win Toolkit does not, and has no plans to that I am aware of, remove all of "Metro". I'm also not not aware of any other tool that can remove all of "Metro". "Metro" is too much of an entrenched part of the OS now. Do you know of any such tool capable of that? But just because "Metro" is there doesn't mean you have to use any of it.
yeah, currently using it, I liked it. But, its buggy. Dont do any important work over this OS. You can also install it on another partition (dual-boot, as I do).