Dec 11 2017 04:04 AM
Hi everyone,
although this place seems rather empty to me, I'll hope that some feedback actually gets through. I did look at Feedback Hub Server category, as advised in the 17046 build announcement, but that's basically a mess.
First, I'm kind of a footprint enthusiast so I'm amazed how far has the current server build progressed. 2.5 GB when deployed compact, without recovery partition, pagefile, and with unused feature payload removed, is super awesome (comparing to previous server releases). But I have 3 further hints for a substantial improvements in this regard:
1) There seems to be leftover cache files in C:\Windows\Speech and C:\Windows\Speech_OneCore that can really be removed as Speech Recognition isn't AFAIK supported in Core installation.
2) After uninstalling Windows Defender, about 150 MB of unnecessary files remain in "C:\Users\All Users\Microsoft\Windows Defender" directory, that could have been removed automatically.
3) Removal of Wow64 Support role doesn't work well. After uninstalling the Wow64 Support role AND removing the payload, there still remain about 300 MB of files in C:\Windows\SysWOW64 which should be now useless. But even then, simple 32-bit executables still run.
Thanks for consideration and keep up the good work.
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Jan Ringoš
Dec 26 2017 09:53 AM
Dec 26 2017 08:24 PM
If you are deploying on regular-sized SSD and without using the tricks I've mentioned above, then the difference between Core and GUI is certainly unremarkable. But when you find yourself trying to put to use a few devices with 3.7GB embedded MMCs, it's nice being able to do without allocating more hardware.
Dec 27 2017 04:47 AM
Dec 28 2017 04:24 PM
Removing Windows Defender was basically a part of an experiment. Generally we keep it. I do use devices without the Defender, but only in controlled environment, behind NAT and firewalls, or totally without physical connection outside.
Although on a single core 5W Atom, removing Windows Defender can make a world of difference in apparent performance.
Dec 28 2017 07:44 PM
Thanks for the advice. we'll definitely take it into consideration.