Stripping windows after installation

[Cyradix]

We use VMWARE to provide about 100 technicians with XP machines for tests etc etc...
Now someone convinced my boss that you can strip an XP after it's installed to a bare minimum (in order to save storage).
Unfortunately I'm the poor soul he dumped this task on

I've been googling for ways get this done, but I haven't found anything yet.

Anyone know what you can delete/uninstall/remove in any way?


Thanks

 

[soze]

We use VMWARE to provide about 100 technicians with XP machines for tests etc etc...
Now someone convinced my boss that you can strip an XP after it's installed to a bare minimum (in order to save storage).
Unfortunately I'm the poor soul he dumped this task on

I've been googling for ways get this done, but I haven't found anything yet.

Anyone know what you can delete/uninstall/remove in any way?


Thanks

Lose the I386 directory if its there and then i suppose delete unused Windows Applications like Games ect from the Control Panel. But i would just tell your boss a test machine is no use to anyone if you have removed everything thats on a real machine and try blag your way out of it

 

[Bob007]

Plenty of stuff out there for stripping software and services pre install and as said above you can strip out the i386 folder and edit the reg to point at a network resource for em if they needed. But i would go down the route of soze's last comment. If its in user distribution of XP it should realy be in the test VM's of XP to or you won't be able to test stuff proper.

 

[Clive Aminal]

You might find XP Lite useful. It can be used to strip out most things in XP, and it will put them back if you find you need them later on.

 

[Kryten]

What is it exactly they are doing? Maybe XP-PE (try BartPE) may suffice? XP with all the crap cut out, pretty much built to run from CD as a livecd.

 

[Chilly]

Its a test environment. Don't strip a single thing out if you want valid results. Also make sure to run the tests on real hardware as well!

 

[Cyradix]

XP Lite helped me alot. Thanks
I managed to delete about 1.5gb worth of unused files and components.