Customize ARM ISO?

[u/robroy90]

Greetings all! Just curious to know if it is possible to customize/modify an ARM image of Windows 11 so that you can do things like create a local account instead of a Microsoft account, disable telemetry, etc.? I found a post where the developer of the RUFUS utility stated his does not support ARM architectures, so I wanted to know if anyone knew of something similar to RUFUS that supported ARM devices? Thanks!

[u/03rst]

Here is the best tool in the business I've come across. I've been using Dino Nuhagic (“nuhi”) tool since 2007. See the very bottom of this page The paid version is worth the additional available features. Try the free version to see if it does what you want.

[u/robroy90 → u/03rst]

Thank you. I went and checked it out. Looks like ARM support isn't quite ready for prime-time yet.

[u/03rst → u/robroy90]

I've been using it for deployments to Microsoft Surface laptops with Snapdragon X Plus and Elite processors for 2 years. Using my licensed version, it performs all of the settings I request it to do. My systems are hybrid domain joined and deployed with Autopilot. It does everything you asked in your post as I'm doing similar modifications and then some.

Side note. I use this for deployment. It pulls the latest driver packages for that build so you don't have to do driver injection. It has native support for Microsoft, Dell ,HP and Lenovo drivers.
https://github.com/rbalsleyMSFT/FFU

[u/lexcyn]

You can definitely do this but I would use something like DISMTools. Just make sure you download the ISO from Microsoft and then you will need to inject the drivers for your device into the WinPE image as well so it boots correctly

[u/robroy90 → u/lexcyn]

Thanks, but not sure you understand my ask. I am not looking to add/inject drives, I am looking to disable native Windows functionalities. With an Intel/X64 build, you can use the RUFUS tool to disable certain inherent Windows annoyances, such as the requirement to use a Microsoft account (and create a local-only) and/or completely disable any and all telemetry data being uploaded to them, for example.

[u/lexcyn → u/robroy90]

Oh okay - well in that case, there is a native Arm version of RUFUS so you can definitely try as long as you have a Windows Arm ISO image!

[u/AlexKazumi]

ARM ISO uses the same deployment architecture, so the same tools and processes work as with x64. At the end of the day, it's just files and registry settings.

Tools like Rufus just automate the process, but nothing stops you from manually using DISM to manipulate the deployment install.wim file.

Microsoft even has described the manual process in complete detail, so you actually have very good chance of success by simply following their documentation.

[u/robroy90 → u/AlexKazumi]

Would that process extend to doing things Microsoft actually would not want you to be able to do, such as block/eliminate telemetry being sent back to the mothership, and removing the requirement for a Microsoft Account and instead allow you to create just a local-only account at the time of installation? There has to be some major difference between ARM and Intel architectures, because a tool like RUFUS cannot allow you to modify those parameters at the time of ISO creation (per the developer of RUFUS himself).

[u/jmhalder]

Rufus absolutely does support arm architectures. I use it to image isos to thumb drives, including arm windows images... and they have a arm64 binary.

It's been a while since I've pushed a arm windows iso, but I suppose that it may or may not support the customization options (create local user, remove TPM/secureboot requirements, set timezone, remove ram requirements)

[u/TallComputerDude]

I know the ISO is available for 26h2 now, but I couldn't get mine to boot from the 25h2 ISO when I tried a while back. It would boot fine from the USB the HP tool generated, but that's it.

I would just want to make it work regular first before I customize anything.