Surface Pro 3 WIMBoot guide + discussion

[M600]

Be aware: only WinRAR can uncompress those parts.
Took me 2 hours to figure out it will only work with it...

EDIT: So far so good, everything seems to work, including the stylus. 5.69GB OOBE (4.51GB for pagefile/hiberfil/swapfile)

EDIT 2: After updating Windows, here are the figures (no addition apps or whatsoever):

9.30 GB Stock with update
5.96 GB Without Hiberfile
4.35 GB Without Hiberfile & Pagefile
3.78 GB Without Hiberfile, Pagefile & System Protection

Thank you for your work!

 

[ptrkhh]

I think numbers 3 and 4, if not already a problem, will be at some point. I have recovered lost of disk space on lots of systems and don't remember either of those being safe to remove.

There are plenty of undocumented things that can be removed in Windows without issues. Seriously, Windows is severely bloated now. For example, I always delete 300MB worth of IME of some Asian languages (Chinese, Japanese, Korean). The latest build of Windows 10 finally allows those IMEs to be optional.
I learned it by trial-and-error. Hence, I am sure there are still plenty left there.

Be aware: only WinRAR can uncompress those parts.
Took me 2 hours to figure out it will only work with it...

EDIT: So far so good, everything seems to work, including the stylus. 5.69GB OOBE (4.51GB for pagefile/hiberfil/swapfile)

EDIT 2: After updating Windows, here are the figures (no addition apps or whatsoever):

9.30 GB Stock with update
5.96 GB Without Hiberfile
4.35 GB Without Hiberfile & Pagefile
3.78 GB Without Hiberfile, Pagefile & System Protection

Thank you for your work!

Youre welcome. Glad you enjoy it!
Sorry for the lack of information, I have added the WinRAR part in the first post.

 

[fss421077]

Great job in the December build!

You posted: "Only 1.2 GB footprint on C: drive (54 GB free out of 55.2 GB C: drive on the 64 GB model. Free space increases accordingly on larger models) excluding hibernation and pagefile...".

Would you be able to post the steps you followed to achieve the 1.2 GB footprint?

I am building an image for use in our enterprise environment and have several hundred of these Surface Pro 3 tablets to deploy out to our field sites. My organization has a volume license version of Win 8.1 Pro so I would like to use that to build my image and activate the OS via KMS. I did notice the OS in your build is not from the United States. Even though I have selected all the US locale settings/language settings it still displays the UK dialect and unfortunately this is a problem for me. I have managed to get the used space down to 8.76 GB, however, you have done a remarkable job in getting it smaller. Thank you so much for you help!

 

[bender]

Is it possible to build with an .wim my own image (in a state with all needed applications/programs)?

Like an Acronis TrueImage?

 

[ptrkhh]

Great job in the December build!

You posted: "Only 1.2 GB footprint on C: drive (54 GB free out of 55.2 GB C: drive on the 64 GB model. Free space increases accordingly on larger models) excluding hibernation and pagefile...".

Would you be able to post the steps you followed to achieve the 1.2 GB footprint?

I am building an image for use in our enterprise environment and have several hundred of these Surface Pro 3 tablets to deploy out to our field sites. My organization has a volume license version of Win 8.1 Pro so I would like to use that to build my image and activate the OS via KMS. I did notice the OS in your build is not from the United States. Even though I have selected all the US locale settings/language settings it still displays the UK dialect and unfortunately this is a problem for me. I have managed to get the used space down to 8.76 GB, however, you have done a remarkable job in getting it smaller. Thank you so much for you help!

Yeah, the list of the files I removed are scattered in the surfaceforums posts. But the 1.2 GB is actually the work of WIMBoot. Basically WIMBoot replaces all systems files with small pointer files that points to the recovery image. That 1.2 GB is actually pointer files instead of actual files. That's what makes it small.

Its important to note that the screenshot I posted was captured after I disabled hibernation (powercfg -h off) and pagefile, so 8.7 GB does make perfect sense I would say (4 GB hibernation + 3.5 GB pagefile + 1.2 GB)

For the language part, the solution that I could think of for now is to ask the users to go to PC Settings > Time and language > Region and Language > English (US) > Options, then let Windows download the language pack. It would take some time (~300 MB download, mostly consists of useless speech data though). Im now using en-US as well.

Is it possible to build with an .wim my own image (in a state with all needed applications/programs)?

Like an Acronis TrueImage?

Theoretically, yes, it should work. I tried vanilla Windows, tweaked stock SP3 image, so theoretically any 8.1 image should work. Make sure it has W8.1 Update 1 applied as WIMBoot was introduced with that update (SP3 has it included already).

But remember, in order to flash the image to the SP3 via USB stick, the WIM file has to fit inside FAT32 filesystem (~4GB size). That has been the problem for me. I couldnt add anything else. Alternatively, you can use DVD DL or BD disc. Theres no FAT32 annoyances here.

You can also try plugging an external HDD after the SP3 boots from the FAT32 USB, it might work, but I haven't tried it

 

[Hingle McKringleberry]

I am building an image for use in our enterprise environment and have several hundred of these Surface Pro 3 tablets to deploy out to our field sites. My organization has a volume license version of Win 8.1 Pro so I would like to use that to build my image and activate the OS via KMS. I did notice the OS in your build is not from the United States. Even though I have selected all the US locale settings/language settings it still displays the UK dialect and unfortunately this is a problem for me. I have managed to get the used space down to 8.76 GB, however, you have done a remarkable job in getting it smaller. Thank you so much for you help!

Depending upon if you guys use WDS or SCCM to deploy images modifying your .XML answer file to include things like the powercfg and and KMS can save you some time. You just use the stock 8.1 image then.

 

[story]

Great work!

I am about to reset my SP3. I already moved my stock recovery to USB Drive.
Do I apply WIMboot and then do a reset or vice versa?

 

[ptrkhh]

Applying WIMboot involves reformatting the entire drive. That means you don't need to perform reset separately. The script (part43.txt) will format (reset) the disk automatically.

Also, I forgot to mention, please unplug the microSD card (if you have any) when you apply the image. Im just afraid that the script might format the microSD card instead of the internal disk.

 

[story]

I use Speech Input quite often. Would this still work?
Ah, I see that Speech Data was removed.
Is there a way to add it back now or do I need to recover back to stock?

 

[ptrkhh]

I use Speech Input quite often. Would this still work?
Ah, I see that Speech Data was removed.
Is there a way to add it back now or do I need to recover back to stock?

One way is to add a non-included languages. Windows will download the whole language, including the speech data. You can try, for example, adding US English instead of the included UK English to use the speech data.

 

[story]

It works but not for English. I switched to Chinese and the speech is working. I re-download and re-install English but speech still doesn't work. It seems I can't use Chinese dictation while in English display language. I will need to go back to a Mac. Thanks everyone.

 

[ptrkhh]

It works but not for English. I switched to Chinese and the speech is working. I re-download and re-install English but speech still doesn't work. It seems I can't use Chinese dictation while in English display language. I will need to go back to a Mac. Thanks everyone.

Sorry for the inconvenience, I will try to get the speech data back on the next builds, didn't realize that people still rely on it. At least I will provide an additional package for that