Customize Windows components with NTLite

The Windows installer does not offer many customization options. While it is possible to enable or disable some features afterwards, you generally end up with a selection of common tools and features that you may not require.

What's the purpose of installing Bluetooth support for example if you know you never need it? One could say that it does not really matter if features are installed or not as they don't get in the way usually and don't use lots of disk space either.

Some tools may still come up in searches for example and it may be beneficial to the security of a system if certain features that you are not making use of are not installed at all.

NTlite is a program that you can use for that purpose. What makes it interesting is that it can be used on mounted disc images, Windows installation folders or live systems. The latter option is reserved to the commercial version though.

NTlite can be installed regularly or as a portable version. After you have started it up for the first time you pick a Windows installation that you want to customize.

The program supports all versions of Windows from Windows 7 onwards including Windows 10.

Note: Some removal options are reserved to the commercial version as well.

A sidebar displays the available customization options:

• Removals: Lists Windows components including names, notes and size. Components include features and tools like drivers, accessories or hardware support. If you don't use screensavers, Bluetooth or Floppy disks, you can disable these here.
• Features: This is the list of features that Windows users can enable or disable in the "Windows Features" control panel applet.
• Updates: Language packs and hotfixes can be added here.
• Drivers: Support for additional drivers can be added in this menu.
• Settings: A variety of preferences such as autoplay, auto-reboot and services can be customized here.
• Unattended: Customize setup options so that these selections don't have to be made during installation of the operating system.
• Post-Setup: Add commands and application installations that are executed after the operating system setup completes.

A click on create ISO creates a new disk image based on the changes that you have made in the program. Presets can also be saved so that you can load them again at a later point in time.

The free version of NTLite is heavily restricted. While you can remove some features and customize others, many are blocked in that version.

The program is easy to use on the other hand even for inexperienced users but it needs to be noted that the removal of components may result in issues later on.

NTLite is an interesting program, especially for users who install Windows a lot and want to customize the process. Since it is possible to include updates, drivers and third-party programs on disc, it can speed up the installation process significantly.