Removing Metro Apps from a Windows 8 Image

[AndiMarv]

I have spent some time this afternoon using DISM to customize Win8 install.wim files and upload them to my WDS server - if its any use to anyone else I have included the procedure below.

 

Download Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) for Windows® 8 from Download Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) for Windows® 8 from Official Microsoft Download Center (you only need to select Deployment tools during installation for this)

Extract the Install.Wim file from your Windows 8 ISO

Create a temporary staging folder (in my case this is C:\dism\mount)

 

run the following commands in command prompt cmd as administrator:-

dism.exe /Mount-wim /Wimfile:c:\dism\install.wim /index:1 /MountDir:c:\DISM\mount

 

Dism.exe /Image:c:\DISM\mount /Get-Provisionedappxpackages (this gives you a list of the installed metro apps which are installed when a new user is created)

 

Dism.exe /Image:c:\DISM\mount /Remove-Provisionedappxpackage /PackageName:Microsoft...... (and repeat for all of the apps you don't want - I uninstalled all of them)

 

Dism.exe /Unmount-Image /MountDir:c:\DISM\mount /Commit

 

Copy the updated install.wim to your WDS server and deployed it as normal

 

 

As a side note I also wanted to disable windows store for pupils so I have applied the following GPO Object - User Configuration\Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Store

[JEmlay]

Thanks for this, you rock!!! I figured out how to remove them from an installation then spent today looking for a way to remove them from the image. The Photos app and Reader app are garbage. My users were getting sick and tired of having to constantly reassign their many file types to Windows Image Viewer and Acrobat as well as my myself being sick of having to show them. With those two apps removed Window's defaults to those apps now automatically.

 

One less thing I gotta worry about. I love it!

[beggenberger]

Thanks -- I've been hunting for this answer!