Installing & Shrinking Windows 7 Installation Guide

If you have a Dell Mini 9 or 10 and your running on an SSD which is 4GB, 8GB or even 16GB then you may be stuck when trying to install Windows 7 and still having a decent amount of free space to install your programmes and store your music/videos/pictures etc. This guide will help you shrink down the storage space needed to under 4GB! I myself have configured my Dell Mini 10v installation to only take up 3.06GB on my 16GB SSD! Depending on your personal choices you can shrink the installation even more or make the install bigger as you add more features to your needs.


To Install Windows 7 and shrink the install you will need:

• At least a 2GB USB memory stick or memory card if you have a card reader (If you choose to keep the majority of components then you may require a 4GB memory stick or memory card)
• A copy of the Windows 7 iso file which can be download free and legally here (you will need a free Windows Live email account)
• A Windows 7 serial key which will be provided before you download Windows 7 from Microsoft (keep a note of this as it will not be emailed to you)
• The programme vLite which is legal to use and can be downloaded here
• An ISO extractor such as WinRar etc
• About 2 hours of spare time depending on your level of expertise.

After you have your memory stick/card, a copy of Windows 7 and a serial key and you have installed vLite you are ready to begin editing the iso file.

1. To begin launch vLite which should be located in Start > All Programs > vLite > vLite
2. You may then be asked if Windows can give access to the program so that It can run. Click Allow and then click OK.
3. When vLite has loaded you should see the following screen
   
4. Now that vLite has loaded you need to say where your installation files are located. You will need to ensure that you have extracted the ISO file to a folder first. I am using WinRar which I have given the link for above. Using WinRar you just simply need to find the iso file, double click it and then click the icon Extract To at the top of the window. Then make sure you extract it into its own folder in a place such as My Documents and wait for the process to finish.
5. When the extracting has finished you can go back to vLite and click Browse on the screen that is pictured in step 3. Then make sure you have highlighted the folder with the files you have just extacted in it and click OK.
6. vLite will now examine the files in the folder and after a few seconds will ask you which version you wish to edit. You MUST choose Windows 7 ULTIMATE and then click OK.
   
7. Now you need to choose the Tasks you want to do. To do this click Tasks to the left of the window and then check Components and Bootable iso ONLY. DO NOT USE INTEGRATION, TWEAKS OR UNATTENDED SETUP AS THESE WILL CAUSE THE WINDOWS 7 INSTALLER TO CRASH. When you have chosen the options pictured below you can now click Components.
   
8. You will then get a window displayed called the Compatibility. Exit off this and don't tick anything as because vLite was designed for Windows Vista clicking something on here can disable multiple components which may then cause the Windows 7 install to fail.
9. Now you need to choose which components that you wish to not include. The ones that you tick will be the ones that will be removed therefore reducing the size of the iso and the amount of disk space needed when installed. If you wish to use a preset that I have created so that I feel is the best for the Dell Mini 9, 10 & 10v which enabled me to shrink the disk space needed to 3GB then click here to download it (You will need to paste the file into Program Files > vLite > Presets). The preset will disable various items but will leave things like Paint and WiFi drivers. If you wish to see everything that has checked for removal then just load the preset and you make any edits to it that you like.
10. To load the preset in the Components window click Preset > Load > Windows7 at the top of the window. This will then check all the boxes to get the 3GB install size however you can as I mentioned in Step 9 edit what is marked for removal by ticking or unticking things.
11. PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU MUST NOT TICK THE FOLLOWING AS THIS WILL CAUSE INSTALL TO FAIL
    
    Component Cache winsxs
    Internet Explorer
    Microsoft HTML Engine
    Manual Setup
    SQM Software Quality Management (needed for installing Windows 7, and for hotfixes)
    Task Scheduler (needed for SQM and Defrag)
    UAC
    Windows Update
    Bits, Ipsec, etc.....
    Error Reporting
    
    
    I RECCOMEND THAT YOU DO NOT TICK ANYMORE COMPONENTS TO REMOVE TO ENSURE THAT INSTALL WILL WORK HOWEVER FEEL FREE TO UNTICK THEM IF YOU WANT TO INCLUDE FEATURES SUCH AS MEDIA CENTER.
    
12. When you have finished editing your install click the Apply button and then you will be asked which method you would like to use. Choose the first Rebuild one (Ultimate) method and then click OK.
    

    
    
13. vLite will now edit the files that you extracted and this may take upto half an hour. When the process has finished click Next.
    
    
    
14. Now you need to format your memory stick/card so that it can be recognised by your Mini. To do this i recommend a great guide posted by TD99 on this form here.
    
15. After the memory card/stick has been formatted just copy all the files from the Windows 7 folder that will have been edited where you originally extracted the iso file too and then install on your Mini.

Good luck everyone and I hope you enjoyed reading my tutorial!!

Also to decrease memory usage even more you can:

• Turn off hibernation - see how to here
• Decrease the page file - Control Panel > System > Advanced
• Decrease the size of Recycle Bin by right clicking it on the Desktop. I recommend making it 256MB big

[nicke261192]

Proof of disk space usage (taken in a virtual machine so I dont just limit the installation to one model of notebook)



I did turn off hibernation, turn page file to 256MB and turn Recycle bin size to 256MB.

[Hendrik]

I used the unattended setup and it worked just fine.

[nicke261192]

Originally Posted by Hendrik

I used the unattended setup and it worked just fine.

Must be something to do with the information I entered when trying it. Took me 5 trys tweaking things and I finally gave up thinking that unattended must break it or something.

[hodgeswalt]

When trying to run VLITE, I am forced to download "WAIK". Is this necessary?

The reason I ask, is that I do not have a DVD burner.

Regards,
Walt

[nicke261192]

Originally Posted by hodgeswalt

When trying to run VLITE, I am forced to download "WAIK". Is this necessary?

The reason I ask, is that I do not have a DVD burner.

Regards,
Walt

Yes you do need the WAIK you will need to mount the ISO file if you havn't got access to an external DVD drive

[Psygnosis]

Originally Posted by hodgeswalt

When trying to run VLITE, I am forced to download "WAIK". Is this necessary?

The reason I ask, is that I do not have a DVD burner.

Regards,
Walt

Older versions of vlite included the 500kb or so worth of files from the WAIK that it needs to run, but they were asked by MS to stop including those. So you can find an older version of vlite and install it first then the newer one. Rather then download and install the huge WAIK.

[Sideoutdude16]

just found a better solution from their forum at vlite. http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=127712


You have to copy wimgapi.dll from Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\x86 to the vLite folder.

Now you can run vLite whithout any problems!

[oxnard111]

when i use this method the installation still uses about 5.5 GB. I used the preloaded settings that were downloadable in the instructions. Don't know what went wrong. I have tried it twice.

[taz92]

I did the same oxnard111 and i got about 5.5 as well. Glad its not just me. I followed all the steps and used the preset as well. It runs great but i only have about 1.5 gb of storage left. I guess Ill just get a big sd card later on.