QuoteSo it's a simple question of removing autounattneded.xml from the ISO? Or is there anything else that needs to be removed?That's correct. It's the simplest way to install stock ISO that doesn't have edge and most uwp apps.
QuoteSo just to sum it up: Mounting the ISO and performing an upgrade with setup.exe will work? I ask because other Windows ISO's I've done this don't ask for an activation code or anything like that.That is because unattended.xml can't differentiate it as in-place upgrade or clean install and simply asks the same prompts as clean installation process.
Let me know and I'll give this a shot on the VM and let's see what happens.
BTW I'm not too concerned with all that garbage they put. I use a goodie call Windows10Privacy that gets rid of all that crap. Hibit Uninstaller is also excellent for removing unwanted garbage apps.
How you can type all this using your phone is beyond my comprehension![]()




Quote from: Vasudev on May 20, 2026, 12:03 AMFor the first point: I meant extracting ISO using WinRAR/7z to a folder/directory with the same name as ISO and you can move/delete unattended file i.e autounattneded.xml to recycle bin to install completely stock ISO (Edge and some pesky UWP apps removed) that will not move start menu to the left, disabling telemetry, no skipping installation steps and device setup etc.
Quote from: Vasudev on May 20, 2026, 12:03 AMFor the second point: Its for comparison how it differs from stock debloated ISO with start menu placed to left, disabled telemetry, remove copilot and other system apps, disable cloud download while device setup, install netfx3.5,vc++,dx9 redis, brave and irfanview silently post logon. In a VM, you can easily do in-place upgrade or completely wipe the drive.
Quote from: humbert on May 19, 2026, 11:08 PMI think I ate some sentences while typing on the phone.Quote from: Vasudev on May 19, 2026, 01:15 PMYeah you can use poweriso or 7zip or winrar to use.
I would suggest installing stock Microsoft ISO in a vm. Afterwards, mount my ISO and make in place upgrade with unattended file to get a hang of the process.
For windows 11 i use show all tray icons send other tweaks
Pardon me but this gets more confusing my the minute. Let's go step by step.
1) You told me to use one of the apps mentioned above to remove some files from the ISO. I understand this to mean that the ISO will NOT upgrade the existing copy of Windows unless some files are removed first. Is this correct? If so, and just to avoid confusion, tell me once again which files need to be removed.
2) You asked me to install a stock ISO in a VM and then try to upgrade it. Does this mean you're not sure whether or not the mounted ISO's setup program will upgrade an existing installation? Even if that were the case, logic dictates I already have a backup of current copy in case everything goes south. Why did you recommend this?
Quote from: Vasudev on May 19, 2026, 01:15 PMYeah you can use poweriso or 7zip or winrar to use.
I would suggest installing stock Microsoft ISO in a vm. Afterwards, mount my ISO and make in place upgrade with unattended file to get a hang of the process.
For windows 11 i use show all tray icons send other tweaks
Quote from: humbert on May 18, 2026, 11:19 PMYeah you can use poweriso or 7zip or winrar to use.Quote from: Vasudev on May 17, 2026, 07:01 PMI did use the same process to make in-place of windows 11 March edition.
Alternatively, you can extract the ISO and remove the unattended xml file and run setup as usual to migrate to new build.
Let me see if I understand you correctly. As I explained, what I'm trying to do is simply upgrade my copy of 24H2 with your 25H2. You're saying that in order to do that, I have to use [for example] PowerISO to open up your ISO and remove all the xml files? Simply attempting the upgrade by mounting that drive and clicking setup.exe will overwrite my current configuration and install Windows from scratch?
Please clarify this for me. I'm totally confused.
Quote from: Vasudev on May 17, 2026, 07:01 PMI did use the same process to make in-place of windows 11 March edition.
Alternatively, you can extract the ISO and remove the unattended xml file and run setup as usual to migrate to new build.


Quote from: Vasudev on May 13, 2026, 07:56 PMYou can point an ISO or extracted ISO folder which should pick up proper build. Edge and Webview removal are for Windows 11 23H2 and above while Windows 10 only support Optimize WIM, ESD conversion and Appx removal while Edge must be removed manually.In this edition, the esd file weighs 4.64 Gb. With edge and webview. It's already a small and highly optimized edition, since many programs were installed. I didn't use your script. I only tried the program "edge remover" once to see if it made a significant difference. It didn't. So edge is still present in this version since it seems useless to remove it.
It removed 2GB from 7GB stock ISO for all 11 editions while exporting to Home and Pro reduces the size to sub 5GB and ESD can bring it to 4.6GB. If you are not skipping Edge and Webview while applying CU through W10UI the size will increase dramatically and at this point I'd recommend running the script once update integration is completed.
The hidden dism command doesn't cleanup SxS files which could cleanup by another 500-800MB but breaks Edge and webview reinstall if someone needs it.
Is there something wrong with my script where it doesn't cleanup extracted ISO as expected on your PC?
