Windows2000>WindowsXP?

[suryad]

WOW 300 mb post instal?! That is insane! But that would probably limit the future usability of the OS wouldnt it? I mean for example if you remove the ODBC crap then I think Microsoft Office has a really hard time to work. Stuff like that. I didnt remove stuff like notepad and paint because though I dont work with graphics that much paint is rather handy without having to install any more software.

Also I believe the Service Pack files take up a lot of space because apparently even after installing, there is a lot of files left over that XP requires for future hotfixes and so on so forth so I didnt delete those. Have you used nLite by the way ANova?

 

[ANova]

Yeah reducing it to that size basically means a barebones OS. Depending on what you remove it can cause some programs to not work correctly like Office. But then there's OpenOffice.

I have not used nlite, I manually delete and replace files as well as use MS Setup Manager which automatically creates a startup script that tells windows what it should and should not do during installation like install extra files, uninstall built in programs, add registry hacks, etc.

 

[suryad]

Definitely there are alternate pieces of software available and just because we run an MS Os does not mean we are required to run every bit of software on top of it to be of MS origin. But now you have my curiosity piqued (spelling?!) and looks like I will have to make an XP install with absolutely the bare nothingness. But if I get the OS that much stripped down, I would think that Service Pack installs would be a problem then thought.

And I have never heard of MS Setup Manager but it sounds exactly similar to what nLite does but I could be wrong. Hmm I should check it out.

 

[Richard]

But now you have my curiosity piqued (spelling?!) and looks like I will have to make an XP install with absolutely the bare nothingness. But if I get the OS that much stripped down, I would think that Service Pack installs would be a problem then thought.

You should slipstream the SP with nLite. I'm currently running WXP with SP2 slipstreamed after I nLited it to around 150mb on the CD.

If you mean installing future SPs, I'd recommend just slipstreaming SP3/whatever and reinstall windows.

And I have never heard of MS Setup Manager but it sounds exactly similar to what nLite does but I could be wrong.

Yes it is, just make sure you enable unattended install in nlite.

 

[suryad]

Yeah I have SP2 slipstreamed. I have an install cd of around 160 mb myself. Very nice.