XP pro small performance setup

[Hammerman]

I am a legal, licensed user of XP Pro.. I was wondering if there is a download or something of a streamlined/performance version that has been trimmed of all the fat AND requires my legal key to be used. I want to abide by the law and know of illegal versions but I want a legal, small footprint version that I can use...

 

[Arkaign]

use nLite, make your own OEM light XP from your current disc. Use your legal key, and no problemo. Pain the butt to learn the first time, but it will make more sense after you start poking around with it.

 

[Hammerman]

Is there a quick list of stuff to chop out? I see the illegal version is about 200-300 MB large (I ran across it trying to find a tiny version of xp pro.....)

 

[Arkaign]

Something to try, go ahead and grab the 'illegal' version, and a keychanger. There's an official microsoft keychanger tool, and because you're a legal owner of XP Pro, I don't see any major problem with getting a customized XP install, as long as you're not selling it/pirating it, etc. NLite takes some time to get used to, but some things to trim are : media player, outlook express, internet explorer, windows tour, windows messenger, windows movie maker, accessibility options, and so on.

 

[Hammerman]

That one I saw was the 'corporate' version... That won't work I don't think with my legal, xp pro 'non-corporate' version.

 

[Drexl]

One reason those versions are smaller is because they have removed extra files on the installation CD. For example, the LANG folder with alternate languages is almost 100MB, and there are some other folders with stuff dealing with migration and upgrading from 9x/2000 to XP: http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/view/web/57/ However, those are things that aren't installed in the first place, so removing them isn't going to affect what ends up on the hard drive.