WinReducer EX-100 2.3.8.0 Bugs & Suggestions

Some Bugs and Inconsistencies noted while stripping down Windows 10 using WinReducer EX-100 2.3.8.0

1. Element Category="Remove - Accessories" Name="Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE.wim)" Selected="true"  is removing the entire Recovery folder in %\Windows\System32\Recovery.   ReAgent.xml is required for Boot Menu in case of Dual boot Operating Systems. ( already noted by Winterstorm2050)


2. Element Category="Settings" Name="Ease of Access - Cursor and Pointer" Selected="true"

Element Category="Remove - Accessories" Name="Ease of Access" Selected="true"

still doesn't removes Mouse Pointer & Text Cursor, check the image below.




3. Element Category="Settings" Name="Search - Permissions and history" Selected="true" 
    Element Category="Settings" Name="Search - Searching Windows" Selected="true"
    Element Category="Settings" Name="Search - More details" Selected="true" 
    Element Category="Presets" Name="Protect Windows Search" Selected="false"
    
With these options there is a delay in opening start menu, this peculiar behavior might be due to Microsoft embedding Windows Search feature in to Start menu or is there any Start Menu dependent DLL's are getting deleted ?


4.  Element Category="Tweaks" Name="Classic GUI - Enable Windows Photo Viewer" Selected="true"  doesn't work, image opened by paint in the absence of the Windows Photos Modern UI Apps. Kindly fix this in upcoming EX-100 update


5. Element Category="Optimizations" Name="EXPERT - Net Framework Complete Cleanup" Selected="true" Value="true" Other="true"
    Element Category="Optimizations" Name="EXPERT - Net Framework Light Cleanup" Selected="true"

With These 2 options  while slimming down Net Framework 4.0 make sure  "System.Runtime.Serialization" is not deleted ( Currently it is getting deleted) as it is required for installing Utorrent app ( widely used app for torrents). Location of the folder is %\Windows\Microsoft.NET\assembly\GAC_MSIL\System.Runtime.Serialization. Kindly fix this in upcoming EX-100 update

Hello mackyreddy

Thank you very much for these excellent reports !

1 - I confirm the behavior, and it will be fixed with a new component named "Accessories - Windows Recovery Environment (Dual Boot Support)", so do not remove this component in order to keep the file.
==> this component will be added in v2.3.8.1 [VIP] (Monday 28 September 2020) and v2.3.9.0 [ALL] (Friday 2 October 2020) !

2 - Yes I noted this too, and unfortunately this a MS bug, because none of my attempts to solve this never worked because there is no working solution ... and no documentation ... provided by MS ... but if you find a fix, please do not hesitate to share it ... in the meantime, I will disable this component.

3 - I also confirm this, and I worked during long days on this ... this bug is easily reproducible : the start menu is shown with a delay (few milliseconds to few seconds) and you should probably see the "working" cursor icon when you click on the start menu button, am I correct ?
There are 2 components which have an impact on this behavior : "Modern UI Apps Cortana" and "Multimedia - Speech" ... if you have time could you please try your wccf to create a new iso ... but without removing "Modern UI Apps Cortana" and "Multimedia - Speech" ... and let me know the result, thanks.
==> these two components will be fixed in v2.3.8.1 [VIP] (Monday 28 September 2020) and v2.3.9.0 [ALL] (Friday 2 October 2020) !

4 - I will have to look into this, thanks for reporting this

Have a good day !

Winterstorm2050 Kindly check the 5th bug with regards to Net Framework 4.0, just updated my first post with this new bug.

regards

3 - I also confirm this, and I worked during long days on this ... this bug is easily reproducible : the start menu is shown with a delay (few milliseconds to few seconds) and you should probably see the "working" cursor icon when you click on the start menu button, am I correct ?

Yes Working cursor icon   with few milliseconds delay

OK, thanks, so it should be fixed ... because with the next version the start menu is opened instantly

5 - Done ... it has been included in "EXPERT - Net Framework Complete Cleanup - Extended Software Compatibility" ... so in ,other words, to protect the net framework folder you mentioned, you just need to activate this option "EXPERT - Net Framework Complete Cleanup - Extended Software Compatibility"

There are 2 components which have an impact on this behavior : "Modern UI Apps Cortana" and "Multimedia - Speech" ... if you have time could you please try your wccf to create a new iso ... but without removing "Modern UI Apps Cortana" and "Multimedia - Speech" ... and let me know the result, thanks.

Well when i manually mount wim and remove files using Wim Manager, I never used to remove Windows Cortana folder or now Windows Search folder present in Windows SystemApps, if i delete the folder, start menu gets broken and never shows up. So i used to keep the folder intact.

Secondly In speech folder located in System32  C:\Windows\System32\Speech_OneCore\common we need the file sapi_onecore.dll, other wise start menu is broken again and never shows up on clicking it.

winterstorm2050 wrote:

5 - Done ... it has been included in "EXPERT - Net Framework Complete Cleanup - Extended Software Compatibility" ... so in ,other words, to protect the net framework folder you mentioned, you just need to activate this option "EXPERT - Net Framework Complete Cleanup - Extended Software Compatibility"

Yes even after selecting the option  Element Category="Optimizations" Name="EXPERT - Net Framework Complete Cleanup" Selected="true" Value="true" Other="true"  it deletes "System.Runtime.Serialization", just make sure "System.Runtime.Serialization" folder is not deleted. check the image below

2 - Yes I noted this too, and unfortunately this a MS bug, because none of my attempts to solve this never worked because there is no working solution ... and no documentation ... provided by MS ... but if you find a fix, please do not hesitate to share it ... in the meantime, I will disable this component.

There is no need to disable the component, instead lets not remove the component by selecting value false, which helps in changing white pointer or arrow to any color. I think its a fancy feature.

Element Category="Settings" Name="Ease of Access - Cursor and Pointer" Selected="false"

Element Category="Remove - Accessories" Name="Ease of Access" Selected="false"

3. Element Category="Settings" Name="Search - Permissions and history" Selected="true" 
    Element Category="Settings" Name="Search - Searching Windows" Selected="true"
    Element Category="Settings" Name="Search - More details" Selected="true" 
    Element Category="Presets" Name="Protect Windows Search" Selected="false"
    
With these options there is a delay in opening start menu, this peculiar behavior might be due to Microsoft embedding Windows Search feature in to Start menu or is there any Start Menu dependent DLL's are getting deleted ?

By Protecting Windows Search there is no delay in launching start menu with no working cursor icon, So solution for this is to protect Windows Search and at the same time those 2 search options Permissions and history & Searching Windows are lefted over in settings app, not a big deal.

Element Category="Presets" Name="Protect Windows Search" Selected="true"

@ Winterstorm2050

6. Element Category="Services" Name="Windows Search Service"  is missing in EX-100 ( File location of this service is %\Windows\system32\SearchIndexer.exe), its one of the important service which needs to be disabled as it indexes the search eats lot of CPU. currently i am using other third party tool like wintoolkit to disable this service. If possible kindly add it in next EX-100 update.

7. Application Frame Host ( file location C:\Windows\System32\ApplicationFrameHost.exe) is a process starts automatically once system boots and consumes CPU & memory, its a file or process required for launching Universal Windows Apps (UWP) or Modern UI Apps, it can be seen in task manager. So if we do not use any Modern UI Apps then we can delete this file.

I am not sure whether this process is available or listed in services.msc to disable, So if possible create a new Element Category="Remove - Modern UI Apps" Name="ApplicationFrameHost" Selected="true" for deletion of the file in the next EX-100 update.

8. Windows Telemetry feature which keeps on tracking user information can be removed by deleting files located at C:\Windows\DiagTrack, along with this there is another file which needs to be deleted C:\Windows\System32\DeviceCensus.exe. After deleting this file sometimes debugger returns an error message saying file is missing, So we need to apply a registry hack as well, you can find the registry here  [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] So if possible create a new Element Category="Features" Name="Wndows Telemetry" Selected="true"

sorry mate for keeping you busy and increasing your workload in adding new stuff to WinReducer EX-100.

regards

Hello mackyreddy

6 - this service is already available under the name "Services - Windows Indexing Service"

7 - I tested it and it worked ... and as you mentioned this is completely breaking ALL modern UI Apps .. so I will classified it as a "Modern UI Apps - Framework" ... this will be available in v2.3.9.1 [VIP] and v2.4.0.0 [ALL] !

8 - there is already a telemetry component in the "Network" list (named "Network - Telemetry") ... the file you mentioned is already integrated and available to be removed ... only if you remove the component "Drivers - Windows Drivers Download Support" otherwise it will break this functionality ... have you kept "Drivers - Windows Drivers Download Support" ?
==> In all my ISOs I remove "Drivers - Windows Drivers Download Support", because I'm integrating my drivers before or after installation ... so I have the "devicecensus" file removed

Thank you for all your sharing

WSL subsystem linux gives damaged file if enable in winreducer before install. Tested on Windows 10 x64 1903 Enterprise.

winterstorm2050 wrote:

Hello mackyreddy

6 - this service is already available under the name "Services - Windows Indexing Service"

7 - I tested it and it worked ... and as you mentioned this is completely breaking ALL modern UI Apps .. so I will classified it as a "Modern UI Apps - Framework" ... this will be available in v2.3.9.1 [VIP] and v2.4.0.0 [ALL] !

8 - there is already a telemetry component in the "Network" list (named "Network - Telemetry") ... the file you mentioned is already integrated and available to be removed ... only if you remove the component "Drivers - Windows Drivers Download Support" otherwise it will break this functionality ... have you kept "Drivers - Windows Drivers Download Support" ?
==> In all my ISOs I remove "Drivers - Windows Drivers Download Support", because I'm integrating my drivers before or after installation ... so I have the "devicecensus" file removed

Thank you for all your sharing

6 Element Category="Services" Name="Windows Indexing Service" Selected="true" Value="4"  doesn't works, processes are running in task manager. tested on 20H2 build 19042.541.

also tried Element Category="Services" Name="Windows Indexing Service" Selected="true" Value="5" still process is running in the background. i don't know where i am going wrong.






8. Element Category="Remove - Network" Name="Telemetry" Selected="true" 

Element Category="Remove - Drivers" Name="Windows Drivers Download Support" Selected="true"  

also tried changing

Element Category="Presets" Name="Automatic Removing Process" Selected="true"    to      Element Category="Presets" Name="Automatic Removing Process" Selected="false"

but doesn't delete telemetry related files, devicecensus.exe is still present in System32 as well as C:\Windows\DiagTrack files are intact. kindly cross check whether files are deleted or not, well for me they are not getting deleted

Hello mackyreddy

Thanks for your tests.

6 - I apologize I haven't read correctly your previous comment ... you talked about "Disable" and not "Remove" ... silly me ... so I made a new test (with 19H1 because 19H2 is not officially supported by EX-100), and it seems to work for me, I have the "disabled" value in the windows services manager and in the task manager (services tab) I can see the "disabled" value ... could you please check in the task manager (services tab), search for "WSearch" ... thanks.

8 - Sorry I forgot to mention that the file is also needed for Windows Update Component, have you kept it ?

Yes Windows Indexing Service can be be disabled as well as can be removed on Windows 10 20H1 2004 19041.508 but it doesn't work on Windows 10 20H2 build 19042.


Whereas DeviceCensus.exe file is not getting deleted on Windows 10 20H1 2004 19041.508 with the following preset setting

Element Category="Remove - Drivers" Name="Windows Drivers Download Support" Selected="true"

Element Category="Remove - Network" Name="Telemetry" Selected="true" 

Element Category="Settings" Name="Update and Security - Backup" Selected="true"

Element Category="Settings" Name="Update and Security - Find My Device" Selected="true"

Element Category="Settings" Name="Update and Security - For developers" Selected="true" 

Element Category="Settings" Name="Update and Security - Recovery" Selected="true" 

Element Category="Settings" Name="Update and Security - Troubleshoot" Selected="true"

Element Category="Settings" Name="Update and Security - Windows Defender" Selected="true"

Element Category="Settings" Name="Update and Security - Windows Insider Program" Selected="true"

Element Category="Settings" Name="Update and Security - Windows Update" Selected="true"

Element Category="Settings" Name="Update and Security - Windows Update - Check for updates" Selected="true" 

Element Category="Settings" Name="Update and Security - Windows Update - Update history" Selected="true"

Element Category="Settings" Name="Update and Security - Windows Update - Restart options" Selected="true" 

Element Category="Settings" Name="Update and Security - Windows Update - Advanced options" Selected="true"

Element Category="Settings" Name="Update and Security - Windows Update - Advanced options - Delivery Optimization" Selected="true"   is there anything else which i am missing.

hi [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Windows 10 20H2  is not officially available,
so it is to early to confirm conclusions
icy

Hello mackyreddy and icy007

1 - As icy007 mentioned, I will release an official EX-100 build to support 20H2 in the next weeks, when I will be sure that MS have built the genuine 20H2 ... as usual since 2015

After the EX-100 release, with 20H2 official support, the Forum 20H2 bugs tickets will be opened ... in the meantime I added this indexing service bug in my "Todo list" before the EX-100 release

Thank you very much for the tests and for reporting this !


2 - "Services - Windows Update Service" component ... sorry I'm doing a lot of things in parallel so I  took a shortcut :... my apologies

@ Winterstorm:

Can you please check if this topic is already solved, or if there are some more steps to go

Thank you and best regards,
Markus

@Markus : For the moment, no more to do here. Thanks

Thank you - Then I will move it to solved.