InDows

Declare your Windows 11 once — install it on autopilot. Write one file to a USB stick, boot, walk away, and come back to a clean, debloated, ready-to-use machine. No clicking through forty settings pages, no post-install tinkering.

InDows is a single autounattend.xml you drop at the root of a Windows 11 install stick. The base is deliberately generic — it carries nothing personal, just a sane, debloated Windows. Everything tied to you (account, computer name, language, app list, disk layout…) is an opt-in module you bolt on yourself, one precise action at a time.

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✨ Highlights

• 🧹 Debloated, not gutted — strips the junk but keeps Store, Terminal, winget and anything removing it would break.
• 🔒 Private by default — telemetry and Copilot off, and no "promoted apps" ads pinned in Start; Defender and Windows Update left intact.
• ⚡ Clean & quick — hardware-requirement bypass (TPM / Secure Boot / RAM) and conservative UI/perf tweaks.
• 🧩 Modular — 32 opt-in modules (privacy, debloat, UI, gaming, services, DNS, identity…), each with its own tutorial.
• 📦 Apps on first boot — installs your essentials via winget on a live progress screen, then cleans up after itself.

🚀 Quick start

1. Download the official Windows 11 ISO from Microsoft.
2. Write it to a USB stick with Rufus (latest).
3. Copy this repo's autounattend.xml to the root of the stick.
4. (optional) Open autounattend.xml, find a module anchor, and paste in the module(s) you want — each module's README.md says exactly where.
5. Boot the target PC and install. The base handles the generic setup; you handle (or a module automates) the personal screens.

🔧 How it works

Everything runs off one file — autounattend.xml — which Windows Setup reads automatically from the root of the USB stick.

• The base applies only generic, universal changes (see the table below).
• A module is a small, documented snippet you paste into autounattend.xml to add one precise behaviour (e.g. create a local account automatically). Each lives in modules/<name>/ with the exact snippet and a tutorial telling you where to paste it and what to replace.

The base ships anchor comments (one per insertion point) so each tutorial can point you straight to the right spot — e.g. the username module's README tells you to paste it next to:

<!-- [InDows:module] account -->

🧱 Base vs. modules

In the base (generic)	Available as a module (your choice)
Hardware requirement bypass (TPM / Secure Boot / RAM)	username — create a local account, unattended
Debloat (remove preinstalled apps, optional features)	computer-name — set the PC name
Privacy / telemetry / Copilot off	locale-keyboard — language & keyboard layout
Conservative UI tweaks (visual perf, declutter Start/taskbar)	timezone — set the time zone
Windows Update sane defaults	apps — customize the installed app list
Minimal app install (Brave + 7-Zip) via winget	disk — automated disk/partition layout

The base installs only a couple of essentials (a browser + an archiver). After setup the PC reboots once on its own; log in and the apps install on a progress screen. Edit configuration.dsc.yaml to change that list (see the apps module).

🧩 Adding a module

Modules come in two flavours; every folder ships a README.md with where it plugs in, what to replace, the available options, and the gotchas:

• Snippet modules (snippet.xml) — XML you paste into autounattend.xml, with __PLACEHOLDERS__ to replace (username, computer-name, locale-keyboard, timezone, disk, autologon).
• Script modules (<Name>.ps1) — a PowerShell script the base runs during setup; you add one <File> node plus one command at the matching anchor (see modules/HOWTO-script-modules.md). Everything else is a script module.

Start with modules/username — the reference example — then browse modules/CATALOG.md for the full map of tweaks InDows offers.

📁 Repository layout

autounattend.xml                 # the BASE (generic) - ready to use
bootstrap.ps1                    # first-logon app installer (two-stage)
base-tweaks.ps1                  # base default-user tweak (ad-free Start menu)
configuration.dsc.yaml           # base "essentials" catalog (Brave + 7-Zip)
LICENSE  ·  NOTICE.md             # MIT + credits to the projects we distil from
docs/    base-recipe.md          # how the base autounattend is generated
modules/
  CATALOG.md                roadmap + status of every module
  HOWTO-script-modules.md   how to integrate a .ps1 module
  identity:    username/ computer-name/ locale-keyboard/ timezone/ autologon/
  appearance:  dark-mode/ wallpaper/ visual-effects/
  ui:          explorer-ui/ taskbar-startmenu/ context-menu/ desktop-icons/
  privacy:     disable-ai/ disable-bing-search/ privacy-telemetry/ remove-edge/ remove-onedrive/ debloat-appx/
  system:      services-tune/ scheduled-tasks/ optional-features/ windows-update/ security/ misc/ wifi/
  perf/games:  gaming/ performance/ power/ network-dns/ gpu-tuning(manual)/
  docs:        apps/ (customize the app list)  ·  disk/ (automated layout — advanced)

🙏 Credits

Tweak values, lists and revert logic are distilled (not copied) from these open-source projects — all credit to their authors:

• WinUtil — Chris Titus Tech
• Win11Debloat — Raphire
• optimizerDuck — itsfatduck
• unattend-generator — Christoph Schneegans

Released under the MIT License. Full attribution in NOTICE.md.