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Gabrielasip's avatar
Gabrielasip
Bronze Contributor
Jun 23, 2026

Innstalling windows on 30 gaming PCs

Is it possible to get a windows install below 32Gb? I don't care about hybernation and sleep among other things.

My plan is to run sysprep after installing the programs i want (steam, epicgames, discord and so on) and copy the disk image to a USB. Then i will boot into linux mint from another USB, and write the image directly to the disk.

Is there a more practical way? I know about Clonezilla, but i will be limited by the 1Gb connection. And i do not know if it will even be more practical to use it.

(for flexing perposes: i9 10900f - rtx 3070)

3 Replies

  • Mouela's avatar
    Mouela
    Copper Contributor
    Jul 09, 2026

    Remove unnecessary features via DISM commands, e.g., turn off hibernation, disable Windows Defender, remove pre-installed apps.

  • Japoend's avatar
    Japoend
    Copper Contributor
    Jul 09, 2026

    Remove unnecessary features via DISM commands, e.g., turn off hibernation, disable Windows Defender, remove pre-installed apps.

  • COLEETHAN_OFFICIAL's avatar
    COLEETHAN_OFFICIAL
    Copper Contributor
    Jun 24, 2026

    Skip the raw disk image and capture a WIM instead. After sysprep, boot a WinPE USB and run DISM Capture-Image on the OS partition. It only grabs real files and compresses them, so a trimmed install with Steam, Epic and Discord lands well under 15GB, not 32. Run powercfg /h off and compact.exe /CompactOS:always before capturing to shrink it further.

    For deploying to all 30, look at FOG Project over your 1Gb line. Its multicast pushes the image to every PC at once, which is exactly where Clonezilla chokes doing them one by one. Way less hands-on than the Mint dd route.

    (nice combo btw, those 3070 boxes will fly)