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How Setup Foundry works

Setup Foundry in brief

  • Create an installation stick or ISO from an original Windows ISO.
  • Set up Windows automatically, including user accounts and selected programs.
  • Remove deselected apps and suppress Windows advertising.
  • Adjust security and privacy to your requirements.

After that, the computer is ready to use. Setup Foundry is no longer needed.

Setup Foundry prepares a fresh installation of Windows. Instead of setting the computer up by hand afterwards, you decide on the programs, user accounts and settings in advance. From this, Setup Foundry creates an installation medium that installs Windows and takes care of the setup.

Along the way, advertising and Windows apps you don't need can be removed. Security and the protection of your privacy are also taken into account during the setup. You decide which changes are made.

  1. Preparing the setup

    First you decide how the computer should be set up:

    • Windows and user accounts: You choose Windows Home or Pro and enter the user accounts you want.
    • Programs: There are ready-made collections for this. You can take them as they are, add to them or replace them with your own selection.
    • Preinstalled apps: You decide which ones should be removed, for example games, weather or news. Advertising in the Start menu and the downloading of unwanted suggestions can be turned off as well.
    • Security and privacy: There is a preselection for Windows Home and Pro. Among other things, it covers settings for sending diagnostic data and rules for passwords and sign-in. Every setting can be changed individually.

  2. Creating the installation medium

    The basis is an original Windows ISO from Microsoft. Setup Foundry adds the answers to the questions of Windows Setup and the instructions for the setup that follows. The actual Windows installation files stay unchanged.

    If needed, additional network drivers are included. This is meant for computers whose network hardware Windows does not yet support on its own.

    The finished medium is written to a USB stick or saved as an ISO file. You can then use it for other computers as well.

  3. Optional

    Testing the installation first

    Before you set up a PC from scratch, you can check the installation in a virtual machine. Setup Foundry uses Hyper-V or VirtualBox for this.

    In this test machine, the installation runs with your configuration. You can watch it run and then check whether the programs are there and the settings give the result you want.

  4. Installing Windows

    You start the computer from the prepared installation medium. The answers for Windows Setup are already stored, so the installation runs without the usual questions.

    During the setup, the user accounts are created, the selected programs are installed and the changes you chose are applied. When it is finished, the computer is ready to use.

What you get

  • Programs and Windows features

    The user accounts are created and the selected programs are installed. Programs from the Windows package catalog are set up in the current version available there.

    Windows Update, the Microsoft Store, Edge and OneDrive stay.

  • Apps and background activity

    The apps you deselected beforehand are removed. Depending on the configuration, background tasks that collect usage data or download additional content are also turned off.

    Services that are not needed are switched off or set to start on demand.

Stricter rules can restrict familiar functions. Two examples concern Remote Desktop:

  • Saved passwords: Their use can be prevented. You then have to enter the password again for every connection.
  • Access by standard users: Another setting restricts sign-in through Remote Desktop to administrators.

Restrictions like these do not make sense for every computer. That is why the documentation describes, for every setting, what it does, the recommendation behind it and its possible side effects. You can review and adjust the settings before the installation.

Setup Foundry installs no background services of its own and is no longer active on the target computer once the setup is finished. It is not needed for further operation.

You can install more programs later and change the settings in Windows again. Removed apps can be brought back from the Microsoft Store, as long as they are available there.