🔗 Part of the Ultix Ecosystem: Looking for a clean, pre-debloated Windows 11 ISO deployment? You are at AutoUltixed. Looking for live post-install hardware & OS tuning? Check out WinUltix Pro.

⚡ AutoUltixed — Ultimate AutoUnattend for Gaming Machines

AutoUltixed is a high-performance, Lite-Touch Installation (LTI) deployment architecture I built for Windows 11 (24H2 / 25H2 / 26H2) and Windows 10 (22H2). I designed it to strip away OS bloatware, aggressive telemetry, and background latency drivers before you even reach the desktop—using 100% transparent, native scripts on top of an untouched Microsoft ISO.

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🎯 Why I Built AutoUltixed (The Lite-Touch Philosophy)

Third-party "custom ISOs" are security black boxes that break Windows Update (CBS/WinSxS corruption), while standard "Zero-Touch" XML scripts often wipe the wrong drive or hardcode user profiles. I engineered AutoUltixed differently:

• You control the disk: I pause the setup at the partition screen so you never accidentally wipe a secondary storage drive.
• You control the edition: Fully compatible with both Windows 11/10 Home and Pro (with optional ei.cfg BIOS OEM key bypass).
• You control the user profile: No hardcoded usernames or passwords. I automatically bypass online Microsoft Account enforcement (BypassNRO) and let you type your own local account name during OOBE.
• Zero-Day Debloat & Visual Transparency: Everything else—Appx stripping, FOD removal, kernel scheduling tweaks, Start Menu binary injection, and network latency tuning—is 100% automated. You can track the entire process via a real-time, TopMost .NET Splash Screen GUI on your first desktop boot.

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🛠️ Under the Hood (Optimization Pipeline)

I execute a synchronized, multi-pass deployment pipeline that respects Component-Based Servicing (CBS) integrity while bypassing Windows 11 OOBE self-healing mechanisms.

Phase (Pass)	Technical Actions Executed
1. PE / Setup	• Accepts EULA automatically. • Leaves language and partition selection under your manual control. • Optional OEM BIOS license key override (ei.cfg).
2. Specialize (Pre-Emptive Strikes)	• Injects BypassNRO = 1 to enforce offline local account creation. • Applies OneDrive policy quarantine (DisableFileSyncNGSC = 1). • Scorched Earth OneDrive Removal: Takes ownership (takeown/icacls) from TrustedInstaller and deletes OneDriveSetup.exe from System32 & SysWOW64. • Mounts C:\Users\Default\NTUSER.DAT and strips the OneDriveSetup autorun trigger directly from the Default User hive (100% resilient to sfc /scannow).
3. OOBE (Stealth Triggers)	• Suppresses EULA, OEM registration, wireless setup, and online account screens. • Imports core low-level registry optimizations (tweaki.reg). • Launches User_Setup.ps1 in hidden execution bypass mode.
4. Desktop (Dynamic GUI & Reboot)	• Deterministically waits for FirstLogonAnim teardown and active Explorer shell. • Renders a native .NET Windows Forms progress bar UI (TopMost). • Executes Appx debloat, physical start2.bin Start Menu injection, CIM network tuning, FOD stripping, and kernel service lockdown. • Enforces GameConfigStore FSE flags and triggers a clean system reboot.

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🔬 Key Engineering Highlights

1. Pre-Emptive OneDrive Neutralization (Specialize + Default Hive Lock)

Instead of waiting for OneDrive to unpack itself during first logon and uninstalling it afterward, I intercept it during the specialize phase. I strip TrustedInstaller permissions and delete the native binaries from System32 and SysWOW64, then purge the run trigger directly from the Default user registry hive. OneDrive never executes, saving over 430 MB in %LOCALAPPDATA% and zeroing out background sync overhead.

2. Real-Time .NET Splash Screen UI

Instead of leaving you staring at a frozen desktop wondering if background scripts are still running, I wait for the FirstLogonAnim OOBE process to finish and lock a native .NET Windows Forms progress bar to the center of the screen. Using [System.Windows.Forms.Application]::DoEvents(), I smoothly scale the heaviest operations—20% to 60% for Appx debloating and 70% to 90% for FOD removal—displaying the exact package being removed in real time.

3. Aggressive (Game-Safe) Appx Debloating & Framework GC

I strip 40+ pre-installed bloatware packages (including Copilot, Recall/AI components, Widgets, Clipchamp, StickyNotes, and OEM pre-loads) from both the active profile and the provisioned OS image (Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage), followed by an Orphaned Framework Garbage Collector.

• Game-Safe Whitelist: I strictly preserve XboxGameCallableUI, XboxIdentityProvider, and PeopleExperienceHost, ensuring Xbox Game Pass, Steam cross-play, and multiplayer authentication work out-of-the-box.
• Runtime Whitelist: Core dependencies (VCLibs, .NET, UI.Xaml, WindowsAppRuntime, DirectX) remain untouched.

4. Hardware-Safe Features on Demand (FOD) Stripping

I remove unnecessary Windows Capabilities (Steps Recorder, Fax, WordPad, Legacy WMP, QuickAssist, Handwriting/Speech telemetry) while strictly preserving VBSCRIPT and WMIC. Removing those two legacy components breaks hardware chipset installers (such as AMD_Chipset_Software.exe on AM4/AM5 motherboards). Keeping them ensures 100% driver installer compatibility.

5. Native On-The-Fly Start Menu Compilation (24H2 / 25H2 / 26H2 Ready)

In Windows 11 24H2/25H2/26H2, Microsoft updated StartTileData.dll to ignore local ConfigureStartPins registry policies unless the machine has an active MDM/Intune session in HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Enrollments, leaving 13 gray placeholder tiles in the Start Menu. Instead of relying on static external .bin files that can break across OS builds, I engineered a self-contained native compiler in Phase 7:

1. I register a temporary spoofed MDM Enrollment context (HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Enrollments) and PolicyManager provider with a clean 3-icon JSON payload (Microsoft Edge, Windows Settings, File Explorer).
2. I purge CloudStore caches and terminate explorer.exe + StartMenuExperienceHost.exe to release all in-memory locks on StartTileData.dll.
3. I invoke the native COM IApplicationActivationManager (CLSID 45BA127D-10A8-46EA-8AB7-56EA9078943C) to wake StartMenuExperienceHost in the background, forcing Windows to natively compile a clean start2.bin binary on the fly.
4. Once compiled, I strip all temporary MDM locks so you can freely pin/unpin apps, stamp the HKCU:\Software\WinUltix\StartMenuClearedSize audit signature for WinUltix Pro, and provision C:\Users\Default.

6. Low-Level CPU Scheduler, DWM & DirectStorage Optimization

• CPU Quantum Tuning (Win32PrioritySeparation = 0x26): I configure the kernel scheduler for Short, Fixed quantums with a true 3:1 foreground priority boost (correcting the common 0x28 bitmask misconception that yields a 1:1 ratio), minimizing 1% / 0.1% low frame-time variance on AMD Ryzen X3D and modern Intel architectures.
• Fullscreen Optimizations (Bypassing DWM Reset): Because Desktop Window Manager (DWM) resets GameConfigStore keys during initial GPU driver initialization, I enforce GameDVR_Enabled = 0, GameDVR_FSEBehavior = 2, and GameDVR_FSEBehaviorMode = 2 at the very end of Phase X in User_Setup.ps1.
• DirectStorage (BypassIO) Safe: I disable SysMain and WSearch to eliminate background NVMe I/O thrashing without interfering with the Windows 11 BypassIO storage stack (volmgr.sys -> stornvme.sys).

7. CIM Network Stack & NDIS Offload Tuning

Using native CIM (Get-NetAdapter -Physical), I configure all physical network controllers—even if they are disconnected/offline during OOBE:

• Disables Nagle's Algorithm (TcpAckFrequency = 1, TCPNoDelay = 1, TcpDelAckTicks = 0).
• Disables hardware Receive Segment Coalescing (RSC) (Disable-NetAdapterRsc -IPv4 -IPv6) on 2.5GbE/10GbE NICs (Intel I225/I226, Realtek RTL8125) to eliminate hardware packet buffering spikes.

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🚀 Installation & Usage Guide

Step 1: Create a Bootable Windows USB

1. Download an official, untouched Windows 11 (24H2/25H2/26H2) or Windows 10 (22H2) ISO from Microsoft.
2. Flash the ISO to a USB drive using Rufus or the official Media Creation Tool.
   • Note: In Rufus, leave all Rufus-specific unattended checkboxes unchecked—AutoUltixed handles everything natively.

Step 2: Copy AutoUltixed Files to the USB Root

Copy the files from this repository directly onto your bootable USB flash drive.

USB_DRIVE:\
├── sources\
│   └── ei.cfg                     <-- Optional: unlocks Edition selection (Home/Pro)
├── Scripts\
│   ├── User_Setup.ps1             <-- Core Debloat, Native Start Compiler & .NET GUI
│   └── tweaki.reg                 <-- Low-level Registry & Kernel Scheduler Tweaks
├── autounattend.xml               <-- MUST be placed in the root directory of the USB!
└── ... (standard Windows installation files)

Step 3: Boot & Install

1. Boot your target PC from the USB flash drive.
2. Select your language, Windows edition, and target NVMe/SSD partition.
3. During OOBE, type your desired local account username when prompted.
4. Hands off the mouse and keyboard! Once the desktop loads, the AutoUltixed Splash Screen will appear, execute all optimization phases, and prompt you to click OK for a clean reboot.
5. After the reboot, install your latest chipset, GPU, audio, and LAN/Wi-Fi drivers.

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💡 Pro Tip: Overriding Motherboard BIOS OEM Keys (ei.cfg)

If you are installing Windows on a laptop or pre-built machine with an embedded Windows Home OEM key in the UEFI/BIOS, Windows Setup will automatically skip the edition selection screen and force Windows Home.

To unlock the full Windows Edition selection menu (Home / Pro / Education):

1. Copy the ei.cfg file from the /Optional/ folder in this repository.
2. Paste it into the \sources\ directory on your bootable USB drive (USB_DRIVE:\sources\ei.cfg).

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🛡️ Compatibility, Anti-Cheat & Reversibility

• Supported OS Versions: Tested and verified on Windows 11 (24H2, 25H2, and 26H2) and Windows 10 (22H2) — Home & Pro.
• 100% Anti-Cheat Compatible: I do not patch kernel binaries, strip root certificates, or break NTFS/WinSxS integrity. Fully compatible with kernel-level anti-cheats (Riot Vanguard, EasyAntiCheat, BattlEye, Ricochet).
• WinUltix Pro Integration: Need to re-enable the Print Spooler, restore a service, or install an optional Windows capability later via the FOD-Defroster? Manage everything seamlessly with WinUltix Pro.

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👨‍💻 Author

Engineered by Firever — Creator of WinUltix Pro and the Ultix Windows optimization ecosystem.

☕ Support the Project

AutoUltixed is—and will always remain—100% free and open-source. If my tools saved you time or boosted your rig's performance, you can buy me a coffee:

👉 https://buymeacoffee.com/firever

Thank you!