WinNTSetup for Windows

Developed by MSFN and available on a free license, you can use WinNTSetup primarily for mass deployment of custom installations of Windows OS on several machines. This program lets more experienced users create an enhanced Windows installer. Novice users should seek assistance before attempting to create one themselves.

With WinNTSetup, you can create personalised Windows setup files and tweak them based on your requirement. Once you have the virtual image file of the installation file, the program allows you to select it and choose from a list of available Windows editions supported by that file. Similar apps include VistaMizer, WinUSB and WinSetupFromUSB. 

Personalised Windows installer

This app provides you with a list of enhancements applicable to your newly created Windows installer. These include disabling Aero Transparency, the first log on animation or the lock screen on Windows 8. If you’re sure with what you’re doing, you can also use the other operations available in this tool, such as Disable System Restore, Hibernation or Windows Defender.

Another advanced feature of this installer is the ability to create a partitioned Virtual Hard Disks (VHD) on physical disk drives, to install a custom version of your Windows operating system. You can also attach or detach an existing VHD to your PC.

Other available tweaks

The interface is user-orientated and straightforward. It’s divided into two tabs, one for Windows 7 and newer, and another for Windows 2000, XP and 2003. There are help tips available that expand as you browse your mouse pointer over the balloon shapes.

Under the settings menu, there are 25 additional tweaks that users can select from. However, these are more meant for the older operating systems such as XP. For instance, Windows 10 users are more interested in custom privacy settings or the ability to disable indexing of pages for faster drive access. Both these options are missing in Windows 10.

Customised Windows installer

More advanced users who are familiar with the Windows setup and installations can consider this utility a must-have for creating personalised Windows installations. It’s also useful for anyone needing to mass-deploy any tweaked Windows version to meet organisational or system requirements.

It may lack adequate documentation, but it’s given that users are at an advanced level and know what they’re doing before attempting to use this program.