OpenWin - Unattended Windows 11 install with Brave and 7-Zip, no Edge, no bloat

cris2k47 · Oct 11, 2026

dacrone said:
Reread what I said

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate]
"ExcludeWUDriversInQualityUpdate"=dword:00000001

this one 100% doesnt work on home, will test the other one tho

dacrone · Oct 11, 2026

cris2k47 said:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate]
"ExcludeWUDriversInQualityUpdate"=dword:00000001

this one 100% doesnt work on home, will test the other one tho

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate]
"ExcludeWUDriversInQualityUpdate"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsUpdate\UpdatePolicy\PolicyState]
"ExcludeWUDrivers"=dword:00000001

These two together should do it.

cris2k47 · Monday at 12:09 AM

dacrone said:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate]
"ExcludeWUDriversInQualityUpdate"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsUpdate\UpdatePolicy\PolicyState]
"ExcludeWUDrivers"=dword:00000001

These two together should do it.

tried on my main pc and its downloading some alienware monitor bloatware, its just not possible to disable that in windows home.

dacrone · Monday at 1:07 AM

cris2k47 said:
tried on my main pc and its downloading some alienware monitor bloatware, its just not possible to disable that in windows home.

It applies but constantly gets enabled again. Has been a known issue with Home for years now. Better to just set WU to notify only - no auto download or install.

hsehestedt · Monday at 1:58 AM

The way that I prevent quality updates from taking place during installation of Windows is by disabling the network before setup looks for the updates and then re-enabling the network before the user sees the desktop. To do this, I include these entries in the autounattend.xml answer file:

To disable the network:

XML:

                <RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
                    <Order>1</Order>
                    <Path>powershell.exe -Command &quot;Get-NetAdapter | ForEach-Object { Disable-NetAdapter -Name $_.Name -Confirm:$false }&quot;</Path>
                </RunSynchronousCommand>

Then, to re-enable networking:

XML:

                <SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
                    <Order>4</Order>
                    <CommandLine>powershell.exe -Command &quot;Get-NetAdapter | ForEach-Object { Enable-NetAdapter -Name $_.Name -Confirm:$false }&quot;</CommandLine>
                </SynchronousCommand>

cris2k47 · 2026-10-18T09:36:03-0400

Added a chrome edition (pinned to start menu and taskbar, set as default browser, offline installer always updated).

Also added RemovePkgs.cmd to remove onedrive packages:
Microsoft-Windows-OneDrive-Setup-Package
Microsoft-Windows-OneDrive-Setup-WOW64-Package

Code:

@echo off
setlocal EnableDelayedExpansion

for %%A in (
    Microsoft-Windows-OneDrive-Setup-Package
    Microsoft-Windows-OneDrive-Setup-WOW64-Package
) do (
    for /f "tokens=8 delims=\" %%B in ('reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing\Packages" ^| find /I "%%A~"') do (
        set "PackageName=%%B"
    )
    reg delete "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing\Packages\!PackageName!\Owners" /f
    DISM /Online /NoRestart /Remove-Package /PackageName:!PackageName!
)

Release OpenWin 2026.10.18 · Brave 1.97.59 · Chrome 155.0.8059.85 · 7-Zip 26.04 · cris2k47/OpenWin

nhracecraft · 2026-10-18T13:45:43-0400

cris2k47 said:
Open-source apps by default

Brave is the default browser and PDF viewer. It's pinned to the taskbar and follows the Windows display language. New users start without the VPN, Leo AI, Wallet and Rewards buttons, sponsored images, Brave News, the welcome page or P3A usage statistics. They can turn any of these back on in Brave's settings.

7-Zip opens archives and disk images: zip, 7z, rar, tar, gz, xz, zst, iso, cab, wim, vhd(x), dmg and more.

No bloat

Microsoft Edge is uninstalled.

These preinstalled apps are removed: Clipchamp, Clock, Camera, Copilot, Dev Home, Family, Feedback Hub, Get Help, News, Outlook (new), Phone Link, Power Automate, Quick Assist, Solitaire Collection, Sound Recorder, Sticky Notes, Teams, Terminal, To Do, Weather, Widgets and Xbox.

OneDrive isn't set up for new users.

The Start menu only has Brave, Microsoft Store, Settings, Photos, Paint, Calculator, Notepad, Snipping Tool and File Explorer. The taskbar has File Explorer and Brave.

No web suggestions in Search.

Sensible defaults

Dark theme and the classic right-click menu.

File Explorer opens to This PC and shows file extensions and hidden files.

Mouse acceleration is off.

Windows Update doesn't replace your drivers.

Easier setup

Works on PCs without TPM 2.0, Secure Boot or 4 GB of RAM.

Uses a local account: no Microsoft account and no internet connection needed.

Skips the privacy settings screen, leaving its optional settings off.

I like this a lot, BUT...Why remove Terminal? Serious question...

cris2k47 · 2026-10-18T13:49:23-0400

nhracecraft said:
I like this a lot, BUT...Why remove Terminal? Serious question...

just because its on startup apps, but i probably should keep it

garlin · 2026-10-18T13:52:59-0400

The point isn't why you want to remove Terminal, but there's a set of default Windows apps which are marked Removable, and almost every debloating script will typically allow to you remove them. There's another set of apps which are marked Non-Removable, and those require a different debloating method.

Code:

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers | where { $_.IsFramework -eq $false } | select Name,NonRemovable | sort

cris2k47 · 2026-10-18T14:11:04-0400

garlin said:
The point isn't why you want to remove Terminal, but there's a set of default Windows apps which are marked Removable, and almost every debloating script will typically allow to you remove them. There's another set of apps which are marked Non-Removable, and those require a different debloating method.

Code:

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers | where { $_.IsFramework -eq $false } | select Name,NonRemovable | sort

so you mean i should remove more? because even removing contentdeliverymanager breaks some stuff

garlin · 2026-10-18T14:21:20-0400

No. I was trying to explain why some scripts (from other devs) make certain decisions. Some devs assume if it's marked Removable, they should offer you the option to remove them. It gets competitive with debloating tools, and some devs like to brag how many apps can be removed.

Banjoman301 · 2026-10-18T17:35:57-0400

garlin said:
It gets competitive with debloating tools, and some devs like to brag how many apps can be removed.

I've always wondered what "measurable" improvements to performance and usability debloating "tools" are achieving.

As a developer, I've always installed what I've needed, and uninstalled what I didn't...

Never needed a debloating tool to do it.

Seems more like a "feel good" thing, instead of a "Quality of Experience" thing.

Running on the right hardware solves a lot of issues.

My 2 cents.

OpenWin - Unattended Windows 11 install with Brave and 7-Zip, no Edge, no bloat

Member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

Member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Live Free or Die!

My Computers My Computers

At a glance

At a glance

Member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Well-known member

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

My Computer

My Computer

My Computer

My Computer

My Computers

My Computer

My Computers

My Computer

My Computer

My Computer

My Computer

My Computer