Windows PE as AUDIO OS

[samotc]

Hello everyone, I start this new thread because I think that the topic is very interesting, and a little or no way used for our purposes, the computer audio for the enjoyment of music.

Over time I have observed that the audio quality of the PC is related to the number of processes that run on it and to the latency.

We all know that Windows Server has higher quality sound than Windows 10, and in Core mode even more, and if we also run it from RAM it increases much more.

These facts corroborate the above, as they are related to the number of processes that are executed in the OS while listening and with the latency, always lower in RAM.

To corroborate these statements I have checked how many processes are running on each OS (clean) mentioned above, and the results are as follows:

 

1. WINDOWS 10: 126 processes (104 applying Windows Debloater powereshell script and disabling Windows Defender)

2. WINDOWS SERVER 2019 GUI: 104 processes (with defender installed) (87 with defender uninstalled)

3. WINDOWS SERVER 2019 CORE *: 71 processes (54 with defender uninstalled) (*) with AppCompatibility FOD installed.

4. WINDOWS 10-11 PE: 27 processes.

 

It is curious to observe that the number of processes of Windows 10 debugged with Windows Debloater (104) coincides with that of Windows Server 2019 GUI

The advantage of this is that it allows us to uninstall Windows Defender, which I have not found a way to do in Windows 10. It can be deactivated, but not uninstalled, so the number of processes does not drop below 104, while in Server 2019 GUI it reaches 87 with Defender uninstalled, which is 17 processes less

 

We observe that as the number of processes decreases, the sound quality increases, from the latency aspect there is only one way to improve it, loading the OS in RAM memory.

This has several drawbacks, first of all, a large amount of RAM is required, at least enough to fit the OS we want to load, and that about something, since Windows requires at least 2 GB of free RAM to work, given the size Windows 10 is almost unthinkable to load it in RAM, we would need at least 32 GB, and only installing the essential audio applications and without a paging file, so as not to consume all the memory. The same happens with Windows Server 2019 in GUI mode, so we only have the option of Windows Server in CORE mode, as viable for loading in RAM, and at least we will need 16 GB, 8-10 for the OS and applications of audio and the rest for use by the system itself, without a paging file or with a 2 GB and fixed size file.

The problem with Server CORE is that it does not have a graphical interface, only a command line, so it is difficult to use if you do not have a minimum of basic computer knowledge, and it is uncomfortable. This can be partially solved by installing the AppCompatibility FOD, which provides a minimal GUI with explorer, and other small utilities such as diskmgr, devmgr, etc. that make operating the OS and accessing audio applications easier and more comfortable, but it has a cost in space, since it occupies about 700 MB.

Win10 PE SE only runs 27 processes !! so I wondered if that would not be the way to achieve higher audio quality, also with a graphical interface and occupying only 370-430 MB! (620-670 MB with applications and drivers installed).

 

Advantages of Windows 10 PE as Audio OS:

 

1. Size: WinXPE without apps occupies 429 MB (Win11XPE) or 370 MB in Win10XPE, no apps or drivers installed (which gives an idea of the size reduction of WinXPE, 10-15 times less than "Normal" Windows

2. Loading time in RAM: Obviously much less because it depends on the size, SERVER CORE 2019 weighs 8 GB, against 620-670 MB of Win10-11 PE.

3. Complete graphical interface, not capped as in Server Core 2019.

4. Number of running processes: 27 (can be reduced to 12 processes!! with discreet tuning) on Win10-11 PE versus 54 on Server Core 2019, exactly half.

5. Audio quality: It is clearly superior in Windows 10-11 PE compared to Server Core 2019, in all aspects.

6. RAM required for loading: Windows 10-11 PE only requires 2GB of RAM to run fully loaded on it, against at least 16GB of Server Core. 

 

Disadvantages of Win10 PE as Audio OS:

 

1. It is difficult to implement.

2. It is a volatile system so the changes are lost with the restart, because Microsoft has designed the system like this, the changes in the Windows PE registry evaporate when the machine is turned off.

3. It has no activation, and after 3 days of uninterrupted operation it turns off. This case is very unlikely, in general nobody is listening to music 3 days in a row. In theory, although suspending the "winlogon.exe" process this 72 hour limit is disabled.

 

Finally, I enclose this Guide in PDF format to create an "audiophile" Windows PE, valid for both Windows 10 and 11.
I hope it will be useful for everyone who wants to build a Windows PE Audiophile, both 11 and 10, it is valid for both.
I have tried to make it easy to read and I intend that anyone with a little computer knowledge and who is not an expert, can build their own audiophile Windows PE.

I encourage everyone to build one, 10, 11 or both, tune it up, and compare with what you have, and finally stick with the one you like best.

At the end of the day, what it is about is trying, experimenting and advancing in the achievement of our goals, neither more nor less than learning and enjoying music, and also learning.

I believe that all doubts and questions regarding the guide should be channeled through this thread, not through private messages, so we all learn.

A hug to all.

 

There are also references to this here: http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/4410-windows-11-pe-audiophile-creation-guide/

 

 

Windows 11 PE Audio Creation Guide SE.pdf

[samotc]

23 hours ago, tongpohmy said:

Hi all,any easy way to add asio driver {exe file}  to the wim or iso?

Hi, tongpohmy, to add any drivers or applications to WinPE, you must first apply the .wim file to a VHD or USB drive, and create a WinPE Flatboot, from here you can install drivers and applications as in a "normal" windows , although you will need to follow some additional steps, as described in the guide published in pdf format in the first post of this thread.

[samotc]

Hi Bodiebill, I assume that you will be booting from the usb drive, BEFORE this you must mount the flatoot VHD from the host, and then with "Bootice" edit the exact BCD of VHD and as indicated in the guide starting on page 16, 

I hope that with this I get it, it has not failed me and other people.
Here is a more explanatory thread:
http://jplay.eu/forum/index.php?/topic/4410-windows-11-pe-audiophile-creation-guide/

 

Best regards.

[samotc]

 

I don't quite understand where it starts from:
1. Win11PE VHD in USB Pendrive? Here there is NO "bcd current system" active in BOOTICE, because there is no OS installed on the USB Flash Drive.
2. Win11PE installed on USB Pendrive ? This is the correct way to flatboot from USB, here YES "bcd current system" IS active.
Once you boot from point 2, you can follow the steps for the installation of drivers and apps indicated in the following steps of the guide
 

"If we do not want to touch the system's BCD, we have another possibility, safer if we do not have experience in these matters, it consists in applying the BOOT.WIM image on a USB Pen formatted in NTFS, or FAT32, being the PRIMARY AND ACTIVE partition, and boot from USB Pen. It must be 3.0 or 3.1, USB 2.0 is very slow. 
The steps for this are the same as for the VHD, don't forget to modify the BCD of the USB Pen as described for the BCD of the VHD. The system BCD does not need to be modified. Now we start the VHD or the USB Pen and verify that it is indeed the case, and it works. "

[samotc]

Hi Bodiebill, I am sorry to inform you that I have not needed to use these files for my purposes, so I cannot advise you.
If you really want to do a "persistent" installation of audio drivers and apps on a WinPE, you must strictly follow the steps in the guide, and DON'T FORGET that if you boot via UEFI, the BCD files should point to the path:

Edit (with BOOTICE) on the EFI\Microsoft\Boot\BCD the bootfile to point to:
\windows\system32\boot\winload.efi for UEFI booting.

[samotc]

Hi Bodiebil, I am very glad that you solved your problem and also share it in this thread, it is a good alternative way, if you are booting from flatboot usb flash drive, the only drawback is that it does not load the PE in RAM, so the SQ is resent... you can try moving the ISO file created with Winbuilder to a USB flash drive and leaving the .WIM file as is, and adding the modifications made by you to the "XPEStartup" files on the stick, I think it will work.
Best regards

[samotc]

No, it is correctly done to verify that the .wim file is correct and starts, and therefore loads WinPE in RAM, which is the proposed objective, congratulations !!

 

Have you compared SQ with other OS? Windows Server CORE 2019 in RAM or SSD, Windows 11?

 

An interesting advantage of WinPE is that, by default, it runs with fewer processes than "normal" windows, even so I advise you to put a very useful app, "ProcessHacker portable", on the USB drive, it will help you further reduce the number of processes in execution, I get to only 11 active processes, which affects SQ favorably. That is why I recommend using WinXShell instead of Explorer in the guide, as it reduces the size and the number of active processes.

 

[samotc]

Totally agree with you. , I compared with server core 2019 in SSD, RAM, and with WTFPlay (linux in RAM) and clearly WinPE is superior in SQ.

So far I haven't found anything that beats it