NOTE: THIS IS NOT FUNCTIONAL YET. PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS PAGE AS A REFERENCE TO YOUR WINDOWS 7 CUSTOMIZATION With the introduction of Windows 7 I had the need to customize Windows 7 to my needs, as in with fewer functions, faster, my preferences etc. nLite what I used for Windows XP, and vLite what can be used for Windows Vista are both not capable of customizing Windows 7. vLite could be used for it, I even got it working but eventually only the unattended installation worked, and only without an installation key which I had to clear manually in the autounattend.xml file. When I tried to really customize options the build (of the iso) and the installation both failed. While searching the web for other solutions I came across 7Customizer and decided to give it a go. Although it's not perfect I decided to use it anyway. I still haven't got it working including the MAK key, which is correct, and am testing some of the other options. If anything interesting will come up I'll update the page.

MSFN Forum about the tool with important information
MSFN Visual Guide of the tool (as in a manual, as in read before you play)
Download 7 Customizer (you need to be logged in on the MSFN forums)

7Customizer is according to the creator(s) a little bit picky regarding file hierarchy. 7Customizer should be installed in a place as close to the disk root as possible, just as your Windows 7 installation source. These warnings are probably given with a reason, so I placed them like this:

• 7Customizer:
  • E:\7customizer
• Windows 7 Installation Source:
  • E:\7win

Another requirement is that the Windows 7 Automated Installation Kit for Windows 7 is installed. You can download it here from Microsoft. After downloading you can mount the iso in for example daemon tools (look for the free lite version) and install the software:

As said, the installation paths are as simple as it can be:

I didn't add any languages, drivers and or updates to the installation, the language en-US was already added:

I made these tweaks to explorer:

I made these tweaks to the taskbar:

I made these tweaks to the system:

This is my unattended installation. I have to say, I never got this working completely. I kept getting this error:

The unattend answer file contains an invalid product key.

I got the unattended installation working with checking the 'Skip product key' checkbox:

Then apply and create an ISO:

And we're done:

Nice!

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
    <settings pass="windowsPE">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="NonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <SystemLocale>en-us</SystemLocale>
            <UserLocale>en-us</UserLocale>
            <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
            <UILanguageFallback>en-us</UILanguageFallback>
            <InputLocale>0409:00000409</InputLocale>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="NonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <UserData>
                <ProductKey>
                    <Key>XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX</Key>
                    <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
                </ProductKey>
                <Organization>XXX XXXXX XXXXXXX</Organization>
                <FullName>Managed Services</FullName>
                <AcceptEula>true</AcceptEula>
            </UserData>
            <ImageInstall>
                <OSImage>
                    <InstallFrom>
                        <MetaData wcm:action="add">
                                <Key>/IMAGE/NAME</Key>
                                <Value>Windows 7 PROFESSIONAL</Value>
                        </MetaData>
                    </InstallFrom>
                </OSImage>
            </ImageInstall>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <settings pass="oobeSystem">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="NonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <UserAccounts>
                <LocalAccounts>
                    <LocalAccount wcm:action="add">
                        <Name>administrator</Name>
                        <Group>Administrators</Group>
                        <Password>
                            <PlainText>true</PlainText>
                            <Value>XXXXXXXX</Value>
                        </Password>
                    </LocalAccount>
                </LocalAccounts>
            </UserAccounts>
            <OOBE>
                <HideEULAPage>true</HideEULAPage>
                <NetworkLocation>Work</NetworkLocation>
 
<ProtectYourPC>1</ProtectYourPC>
                <HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>true</HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>
            </OOBE>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="NonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
            <UserLocale>nl-NL</UserLocale>
            <InputLocale>0409:00000409</InputLocale>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <settings pass="specialize">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="NonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <AutoLogon>
                <Enabled>true</Enabled>
                <Username>administrator</Username>
                <Password>
                    <PlainText>true</PlainText>
                        <Value>XXXXXXXX</Value>
                    </Password>
                <LogonCount>9999999</LogonCount>
            </AutoLogon>
            <TimeZone>W. Europe Standard Time</TimeZone>
            <ComputerName>win7</ComputerName>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <cpi:offlineImage cpi:source="wim:E:/7win/sources/install.wim#Windows 7 Professional" xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" />
</unattend>