WinToolkit and RTSeven combos if any?

[Madcat]

Hey folks, I am currently trying to find the right balance between using RTSeven for a few component removals, then doing the rest of the customization through WinToolkit. From what I've gathered on these forums is that RTSeven is quite harsh when it comes to component removal, while WinToolkit attempts to remove components from an install list. I've gone through maybe 20 attempts on either WTK or RT7 to get my Win7 just right. I've curtailed some of my tweaking on RT7 because of the time it took me to go "OCD Mode" over all the lovely checkboxes and its ability to break the windows install. One example is the removal of Windows Features when I clearly dont see an option to do so. My plan now in RT7 is only to remove anything Media Center/Player related, Welcome related, useless for an experienced Windows user, and mobile/tablet crap. Not going any deeper than that.

For the moment I only want to remove through RT7:

• Some Accessories (ESPECIALLY EASE-OF-ACCESS)
  
• All Languages
  
• Some multimedia stuff (Media Center & Player)
  
• Some drivers
  
• Only a handful of absolutely useless (to me) services (e.g: ActiveX, Adaptive Brightness)
  
• Some System stuff (Welcome center, built-in disc burning, mobile stuff)
  

Heh, as I'm typing this I'm already going to attempt this RT7 one last time. If THIS doesn't work then I'll just remove Ease-of-Access. If THAT doesn't work, I'll go to the hardware store and buy a folding table to flip over!

[Legolash2o]

I can't really help with this as i don't recommend using multiple tools. You should be fine as long as you integrate updates first.

[myselfidem]

Use WinToolkit instead RT Seven Lite!

Make your choice...

[bphlpt]

@Madcat, Lego brought up a point that might have an impact on your results. You should always add/integrate all the updates you are going to add before you do any removals. But as much as I understand your desire to minimize the size of both your install disk and the resulting build, with the availability of USB thumb/disk drives for installs, and the cost and sizes of both memory and disks these days, I just don't see as many advantages today as there used to be for these efforts, and there shouldn't be any perceivable difference to the end user. For reliability, ease of use, and ease of updating I would just use Win Toolkit.

Cheers and Regards

EDIT:

Just a small word of advice. Althought merging images using either tool wont break the image, using a mix of tools to remove components certainly raises the risk of breaking your image. Component removal for the purpose of saving precious HD space realy does'nt yeild as much 'space saving' as one would think. I would also recomend using one tool for the entire job or at least one that changes the media using prescribed MS methods, such as WinToolKit. Just some friendly advice based on my experience in working with RT7. The choice is yours.

Also RT7 has'nt been updated in quite some time and uses brute force (non-tradiditional methods) to modify the the images. Every image I've ever made with RT7 has proven to be unstable and unreliable.

Edited October 5, 2012 by bphlpt

[Madcat]

Yeah RTSeven is too harsh and break the Windows I was working on. I did everything in WTK, and so far it's been working like a charm. Legolash you did well making this utility, I will definitely give it a go in the future when you add more removal options to it. My only problem now is how to restore printing. I broke it most likely through component removal, even when leaving the "local printing" there.

Bah nevermind, just needed to manually update drivers within Device Manager. I do manual driver installations and i forget this time.

Edited October 14, 2012 by Madcat