10-01-2023, 03:39 AM
Windows ISO Source, Remove Telemetry & Activation Guide
10-step guide to setting up fresh windows hosts for free (by DarkHuntress)
- Download the ISO file for your respective Windows version (Get an enterprise version, LTSC is the most minimal), this is something you won't find directly from Microsoft, and so grab one from here. I have checked the hashes for the Windows 10 LTSC enterprise editions and they appear to match legitimate copies.
- Create your bootable media using Rufus. If you plan on creating a Windows VM rather than flashing a host, simply skip this step and just create a VM with the ISO (DO NOT GIVE IT INTERNET ACCESS YET).
- Boot your machine with no internet access, say no to all telemetry questions and create an offline account as you wish.
- Now to debloat, main thing to do here is uninstall Microsoft Edge if you're on LTSC (it hooks into many system components), do that via the Add or remove programs settings menu.
- Now to disable telemetry, CTRL+R (run) and enter gpedit.msc this will launch the group policy editor
- On the left menu, click Administrative Templates => Windows Components => Data Collection and Preview Builds and double click the Allow Telemetry policy
- Once this is open, set this to Enabled despite the irony of the policy being called "Allow Telemetry" (fuck you Microsoft) this will prevent a large portion of system components from phoning home to Microsoft. Click OK, and reboot.
- Next, we will activate windows. Disable windows defender, and download a copy of the KMS_VL_ALL_AIO script, and drop it to your desktop. The reason for disabling defender is that this specific script has a signature of type "Windows Activation Tool" lol.
- Run as Administrator via cmd.exe and press 2 for Install Activation Auto-Renewal
- Voila! You're done.
For an added bonus, feel free to tweak your new build using a variety of open source tooling (such as Win11Debloat)
