What's new in Windows 10 version 1703 for the IT Pro

Brass Contributor
8 Replies

Interesting to read this line in the article....

"In-box apps that were uninstalled by the user won’t automatically reinstall as part of the feature update installation process. (Apps de-provisioned by IT administrators will still be reinstalled.)"

 

Looks like after attending Michael Niehaus's presentation about using MDT to remove inbox apps and customizing startmenu and taskbar (and  based on that new knowledge deploying all my Windows 10 1607 machines) was a waste of time

All old inbox apps and a few new ones (I like to call it bloatware) reappear on my reference machine.

 

I don't need the

Get Office app,                      we are already office 365 customers

Microsoft Solitair Collection,  our staff has other things to do

Xbox                                      dito

Skype Preview,                     have skype for Business installed

Mail,                                      using outlook

Onedrive                               is disabled via GPO (at least that still works)

Store                                     at least it is still missing on the taskbar

 

Can somebody at microsoft please give this some serious thoughts or make suggestions what I am overlooking,

Thanks,

Adri

Looks like some good stuff is in there. I did notice that when I upgraded my machine it removed RSAT.... Which was a tad annoying.

I am looking forward to the ISO becoming available on VLS to start looking at deploying Windows 10 with the latest update as my golden image of this is sitting ready and waiting. Going to grab the new ADMX templates now.

Enhancements to the reinstallation of apps is coming in phases.
After upgrading to Windows 10 Creators Update, it will keep user-uninstall apps from coming back.
We plan to address the issue on de-provisioned apps being reinstalled in a future Feature Update, currently planned for later this calendar year.

Hi Nathan, thanks for your response, good to hear it is planned for next release, my understyanding was that it was included in abuild released last year September 14, 2016 10:02 am 

 

Improving your PC upgrade experience: One of the ongoing feedback items we’ve heard is how the apps that come preinstalled with Windows will reinstall after each upgrade – particularly noticeable for our Insiders that receive multiple flights per month. We’ve heard your feedback, and starting with Build 14926, when your PC updates it will check for apps that have been uninstalled, and it will preserve that state once the update has completed. This means if you uninstall any of the apps included in Windows 10 such as the Mail app or Maps app, they will not get reinstalled after you update to a newer build going forward.

 

Don't understand why it is not happening that way in the 1703 update process?

Good point and a tricky one to answer :)

 

The mechanism was implemented into the Insider builds, which come out with a far greater frequency than Feature updates. So, when going from one insider build to another, the behavior is as you understood.

 

However, as this is new functionality that was implemented after 1607, it had to be added to 1703. That is why starting with 1703, when upgrading to a newer version, removed apps will not re-appear.

 

It is a good point that the what's-new page is not clear on that, so I'll go ahead and fix that.

 

Appreciate your feedback.

 

The what's new topic has been fixed @adri noordover

Trying to find a way forward without having to rebuild my machines

 

  1. grab install.esd from the 1703 ISO
  2. check what WIM's are included in the ESD
    Dism /get-wiminfo /wimfile:install.esd
  3. get the Windows Pro .wim dism /export-image /sourceimagefile:install.esd /sourceindex:1 /destinationimagefile:install.wim Compress:max /checkintegrity
  4. using a powershell script I found to remove all but StickyNotes, paint, photos and calculator
    .\removeapps.ps1 -pathtowim C:\admin\install.wim -selectapps $true
  5. create a new ESD with just the windows pro dism /export-image /sourceimagefile:install.wim /sourceindex:1 /destinationimagefile:install_new.esd /Compress:recovery
  6. put the ESD back into the ISO
  7. run the upgrade
  8. existing user accounts and new users are much cleaner (no Xbox and all otehr stuff)
  9. new things are:
    Mixed Reality Portal,
    Paint 3D,
    Wireless Display Media Viewer
  10. Applying insider build 16176.1000 to see if that works and it stays clean

Will post an update when I know more

 

This process was inspired on:

 

http://windowsitpro.com/windows-10/powershell-script-remove-box-apps-windows-10-image-file

https://www.clientmgmt.de/it/windows-10-removing-built-in-apps-mit-powershell-wim/

https://community.spiceworks.com/how_to/125905-change-esd-to-wim

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/5d6ac9af-0dcd-462e-8f64-946c4a6a8170/wim-t...

That's a bit more on the deployment side of things than update (which is my expertise). Let us know how it goes though :)