got this from another board


Removed support for non-western languages (i386\INTL.INF, i386\LANG)
Removed default printer support, printer support still there just no printer drivers copied (i386\NTPRINT.INF, i386\DRIVER.CAB, i386 [*.gpd, *.ppd])
Removed unnecessary HLP, CHM (paned compiled HTML help files), GIF’s, BMP’s, WAV’s and JPG’s (i386).
Removed WINMINE, SPIDER, PINBALL, SOL, FREECELL, MSHEARTS (i386).
Removed sounds and WMP skins (i386).
Removed ASF (streaming vid) samples (i386).
Removed FP4.CAB (frontpage 98 lite) and old version of Windows Messenger (i386)
Removed Merlin and Rover MS Agents (Merlin-Help Agent, Rover-Search Agent)
Removed animated screensavers (i386)
Removed alternate cursors (i386, .ani and .cur)
Removed MPlayer2 (i386)
Removed ProgMan (the Windows 3.x shell) (i386)
Removed MSN Explorer (i386)
Removed Movie Maker (i386)
Removed Outlook Express (i386)
Removed Windows Media Player 8 (i386)
Removed win9x application migration for upgrades from 9x (i386\WIN9XMIG)
Removed everything in win9xupg except for win95upg.inf which is used by licensing.

You have to keep Windows Update, it's used by setup, but you can delete the support dll's for it post install if you want.

Everything listed here can be removed from setup so you don't get any errors at install through the following files I wrote about previously:

In intl.ini thing's are fairly self explanatory with how nicely commented MS has it. You basically just go through it and remove languages you don't need (though you need to keep english/western languages in it). You can then go and remove the font's you took out of intl.inf from the i386 and i386\LANG folders (*.fo_ and *.tt_).

The last thing will be removing drivers that aren't for your system and this is generally the hardest step, you'll want to expand driver.cab to do this, but if you don't recognize a driver DO NOT REMOVE IT. If you mess up the driver.cab windows will not install properly or if it makes it through the install it will not boot.

After thats all done, just go into layout.inf and dosnet.inf and remove the entries for everything you've deleted. For drivers remove from DRVINDEX.INF as well. You can also ad your own files through adding a new section onto the end of dosnet.inf. You'll also want to remove the registry entries that refer to the things you've removed from:

HIVECLS.INF
HIVEDEF.INF
HIVESFT.INF
HIVESYS.INF
HIVEUSD.INF

You'll also want to check out PRODSPEC.INI but to say why would make MS pissed off


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Okay ladies, you don't HAVE to mess around with intl.inf; you can just delete the CONTENTS of the LANG dir (make sure you leave the empty folder, though), and be done with it - woe betide you if you pick anything other than "US English", or "UK English" in the installation, though.

Also, it doesn't do the job 100% - there are still a few files in I386 - but you will clear out about 80mb of space from your CD.

Driver.cab can be slimmed down; clear on the contents of NTPrint.inf, and delete all of the PPD and GPD files in driver.cab. This frees up about 60mb uncompressed, but when you CAB it up again, the difference won't be so market.

You can also get rid of the ICM color profiles, but remember to de-reference them from layout.inf. Deleting the INF entries is the most time-consuming part of the whole task, and is largely why I couldn't be bothered to do it myself.

you can slipstream other drivers into the whole package, but don't forget to update the registry HIV files with the strings from the nVidia (or whatever your doing)'s install INF files.

You can also use the reg hive files to enable/disable services by default. Ie, you could make Themes disabled by default, and the same with all of the other services. You can also slimstream in service packs and hotfixes, which means that you could have a CD which installs a fully up-to-date XP install, which is locked down by default.
Dont want internet exploer to install?, just delete the reg entries called iexplore and files for it from dosnet.inf, layout.inf and the i386 folder. For nvidia drivers just rename to *.xx_ and ad to the bottom of dosnet.inf and ad a new folder entry to put them into. Then just ad the nvidia reg entries to the appropriate spots.

Why not just go back to Windows ME?

cos win ME sucks

if your going to uninstall all that, you might as well go to WinME. Why spend $200-$300 on an OS just to use nothing from it?