Tired of Vista installation bloat? Looking for an easy way to set up an unattended install process? Wishing for a faster way to tweak your favorite settings after Vista is installed? There’s an easy solution for all these scenarios, thanks to a little program called vLite.

VLite allows you to create a customized Windows Vista installation disc that contains only the features you need and leaves out all the drivers and components you don’t use. The program also lets you perform an unattended install and configure a variety of post-installation tweaks.

Maybe you want to make your next Vista installation faster and easier by creating a one-button install disc. Maybe you want to put Vista on a diet. Hands-down, vLite is a great customization program that belongs in any power user’s arsenal. However, while the process is straightforward, we recommend that you test your disc on a virtual machine, such as the free Virtual PC 2007 (www.microsoft.com), before doing a full install.

Time: 45 mins

What You Need

• vLite
  Free, www.vlite.net
• Windows Vista DVD
  Upgrade or Full Version
  $100-$400, www.microsoft.com
  (you can’t use a restore DVD or
  partition with vLite)

1. Get Started with vLite

VLite can be downloaded as either a 1.56MB installer or a leaner 1.43MB self-extracting archive. You need administrator-level access to run the application, so right-click the executable and select the Run as Administrator option—which is right below the Open command.

When vLite opens, the program prompts you to browse to the folder containing the Windows Vista installation files. Insert your Windows Vista DVD, click Browse, navigate to the optical drive, and click OK. Then click OK again on the Copy Files dialog and select a folder for storing the Vista installation files. Use the Make New Folder button to create a new folder if necessary. It takes about 10 minutes to copy the files from the Vista DVD.

Next, select the Vista edition you want to configure. VLite is a “world citizen,” so it’s compatible with non-U.S. editions such as Home BasicN, BusinessN, and Starter, as well as Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, and Ultimate. Once you’ve made your selection, click OK. After you complete the copy and selection process, the vLite screen lists the location of the Vista files and the version information.

Before continuing, use the Options menu to check the location of the temporary files folder. The program displays a message if there’s not enough space, so you can select a folder on a different drive. Click OK to close the Options menu; then click Next to continue.

After vLite copies your Vista DVD’s contents, it’s ready to customize the install files.

2.Choose a Task

In vLite’s Tasks tab you can select or deselect the parts of your install process you would like to customize:

• Integration: integrates hotfixes, drivers, and language packs
• Components: removes unneeded components to reduce the size of the Vista install image and the installed size of Vista
• Tweaks: adjusts the Vista configuration to save time and steps after installation is complete
• Unattended Setup: automates Vista setup to save time
• Bootable ISO: creates a bootable ISO image or burns the image to CD or DVD.

By default, all options are selected. We recommend you clear the “Enable before apply” option; otherwise, you might forget to apply changes, and you’ll wonder why you created an ISO image identical to the original. When you disable this option, the program forces you to make and apply changes before it lets you make a bootable ISO. If you want to create only an unattended install image, clear all but the Unattended Setup check box. Click Next to continue.

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windows, Software, how_to, vLite, streamline, slipstream

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