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Cleaning up Windows

Hyper-V, ongoing maintenance, preinstalled apps, gaming, services and tasks for the finished Windows.

Only Home · Pro · since 0.9.8.5

Purpose

Sets what the finished Windows leaves out and what is switched on in addition. The Windows source itself stays untouched: Setup Foundry writes the selection into the medium when it is built, and it takes effect during installation on the target machine.

Availability

The page exists in Home and Pro. In Free it is missing from the left rail, and the factory defaults apply.

Pro only: the Windows features section and the Always-on features on the installed PC section. In Home, both switches under Always-on features on the installed PC are fixed on and not shown; in Free they are off.

Steps

  1. In the left rail, Foundry block, open Windows.
  2. Work through the sections from top to bottom. Every change is saved at once; there is no save button.

The sections, in page order:

  • Windows features (Pro): Install Hyper-V with management tools (Windows Pro only). Hyper-V is enabled during installation, and the target machine reboots once more along the way. If this PC runs Windows Home, a note appears below; the box can still be checked, since the medium may end up on a Pro machine.
  • Always-on features on the installed PC (Pro): Persistent audit: check and log policies at every startup and Update apps weekly with winget.
  • Remove preinstalled apps and Gaming: see Removing apps.
  • Services and Tasks: privacy defaults for Windows services and scheduled tasks, one box with an ⓘ per entry. The security and privacy settings are covered under Policies.
  • Install Windows 11 on unsupported hardware: an acknowledgement with which the medium skips the Windows Setup hardware check.

Result

Hyper-V, the app selection, services, tasks and the acknowledgement apply to the installation profile currently set. The two switches under Always-on features on the installed PC apply to the whole application.

Everything takes effect with the next medium you create. Media already created and machines already installed do not change. After a change to Hyper-V, ongoing maintenance, apps, services or tasks, the card of an older medium shows Changes require a rebuild.

If it does not work

  • Windows is missing from the left rail: Free. The page belongs to Home and Pro.
  • Windows features or Always-on features on the installed PC is missing: Home. Both sections belong to Pro.
  • Hyper-V is not there on the target machine: The target machine runs Windows Home, where the box has no effect.
  • "Could not save the setting: …" / "Could not save the selection: …": The change was not saved. The reason follows the colon.
  • Service and task lists are missing, so no entries can be displayed or selected.: Setup Foundry cannot find the list of services and tasks. Details are in the log.

See also