Reducing Windows 7 installation size for use on small SSD

[Tinderbox (UK)]

Windows 7 take around 14gb of space after the updates have been done, I know you can disable hibernation and turn off system restore and a few other things.

But what about removing the parts of Windows 7 that you do not use, I have heard that you can reduce the 14gb to 7gb or even 1.2gb using an couple application`s called rt_7_lite or vLite

I will be using my own valid Windows 7 Home Premium key, and any posts discussing pirating will be reported to the mod`s, I also cleared this topic with an mod, before posting this thread.

Also does Windows 7 x64 , take up a lot more space than x86 , if you have 3gb of memory is it worth sticking with x86

I am currently messing about with rt_7_lite , but i dont know what to remove, has anybody made an lite version of windows before.

Thanks for any help.

[Krane]

Of all things to adjust to save space, why on earth would you want to go monkeying with your OS? I vote you leave your OS in tact and if you want to save space, delete/leave out other unnecessary programs.

[Tinderbox (UK)]

I don't see why i should not try and reduce my os size, I never store any thing important on my os drive anyway, it`s all on external hdd`s

If the os is unstable or i change my mind i can just restore my full windows from a backup in a few minutes.

I would just install XP if it supported trim.

It`s fun to try new things, but some help is always appreciated.

[no1uknow]

Reducing the Windows installation size used to be somewhat easy with nLite and vLite, but I don't think anything for Win7 exists. The creator of those 2 now works for microsoft.

On Win95, 98, NT 4.0, ME theres a Custom install option to choose which components you want or don't want. They had since dropped that as of Win2000 and they need to bring that back.

[metril]

It is possible to remove parts of Windows 7 to bring the size down. I remember doing this a month after Windows 7 officially released. Problem was that a lot of the components are tightly knit together. Removing something, like IE, broke Windows Update. Removing WMP broke WMC and the builtin codecs.

It's not worth it to go through the trouble of trying to trim Windows 7. I suggest you go with Windows 7 Home Starter since that is meant for netbooks and such.

[no1uknow]

Oh yeah and YES stick with the 32-bit Windows 7 as 64-bit takes up more space and all 64-bit applications take up more space than their 32-bit counterparts. If you have 3 gb of ram, 64-bit wont do you much good.

[Tinderbox (UK)]

Is it true that Windows 7 Home Starter can only use up to 2gb of memory?

[sgogeta4]

Originally Posted by no1uknow

Reducing the Windows installation size used to be somewhat easy with nLite and vLite, but I don't think anything for Win7 exists. The creator of those 2 now works for microsoft.

On Win95, 98, NT 4.0, ME theres a Custom install option to choose which components you want or don't want. They had since dropped that as of Win2000 and they need to bring that back.

You can use RTSe7enLite as the OP suggested:

Welcome to RT Se7en Lite - Slipstream Service Pack,Integrate Updates,Integrate Drivers,Integrate LP,Remove Components,Enable or Disable features,Unattended Setup,Apply Tweaks,Add Icons,Wallpapers,Themes,Bootable USB or DVD

Originally Posted by Tinderbox (UK)

Is it true that Windows 7 Home Starter can only use up to 2gb of memory?

Yes:

Memory Limits for Windows Releases (Windows)

I've looked into this and spent hours researching what each item that was checked off already did. You could also integrate all the hotfixes by downloading them directly from MS website (not sure if there is a more efficient way but I looked up from my Win7 and checked all the KB fixes and matched it to their database). You can easily shrink your Win7. After everything (Win7 64-bit Ultimate) and with all my programs, I've managed to consume less than 10GB. I've put up a list of programs and stuff I have installed on my computer here:

6920G - Win 7 Clean Install Log

[no1uknow]

Oh wow I did not know that a Se7en Lite existed, ive never heard it being mentioned before. I gotta check it out.

[Les]

You can reduce your size of your OS to around 8.5Gb with a little creativity.