Winhance General Discussion · memstechtips/Winhance · Discussion #183 (original) (raw)
Love this tool. Fits perfectly to your WIMUtil. Installed windows on PC for my girlfriend some weeks ago and yesterday evening, after my windows crashed out, on my PC. Today I saw this tool. Perhaps you can build it optionally within your WIMUtil for unattended install?
Loves to see so much from my favorite tools and love the idea to install them all quickly and updated without the need to install a browser first. On some bad days I had to use Internet Explorer/Edge to download Firefox. Very bad days... Today I have a Ventoy stick with my most important installs and a NAS. But 3 click installation sounds lovely!
But some programs and tools are missing. It's not much. For the game clients, i miss Good old Games. As remote tool I use parsec, what is missing. The Zen Browser is included (<3) but I miss LibreWolf. And my favorite macOS like Dock tool nexus isn't in. When they are included, gets the mess to setting up windows a way less! All the other stuff of my have to's included!
As Registryshutdown tool I sill use O&O ShutUp10 to deactive the left options. There are some more options than your tools provides till yet. No front, it's hard work to filter and study all the keys there and find the sweet spot for stability. And this project is young.
And btw: the HPET is snakeoil. Deactivation only makes Windows think 1 second is 1 second, but in realtime it can be 2 or more seconds. So in calculation the FPS gets the double in reality it's the same as before. No real improvement. But it's not that dangerous.
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Love this tool. Fits perfectly to your WIMUtil. Installed windows on PC for my girlfriend some weeks ago and yesterday evening, after my windows crashed out, on my PC. Today I saw this tool. Perhaps you can build it optionally within your WIMUtil for unattended install? Loves to see so much from my favorite tools and love the idea to install them all quickly and updated without the need to install a browser first. On some bad days I had to use Internet Explorer/Edge to download Firefox. Very bad days... Today I have a Ventoy stick with my most important installs and a NAS. But 3 click installation sounds lovely!
Glad you like it! Since release 8, WIMUtil is now embedded into Winhance (I will be archiving or locking the WIMUtil repo) and you can also generate autounattend.xml files with it.
But some programs and tools are missing. It's not much. For the game clients, i miss Good old Games. As remote tool I use parsec, what is missing. The Zen Browser is included (<3) but I miss LibreWolf. And my favorite macOS like Dock tool nexus isn't in. When they are included, gets the mess to setting up windows a way less! All the other stuff of my have to's included!
As Registryshutdown tool I sill use O&O ShutUp10 to deactive the left options. There are some more options than your tools provides till yet. No front, it's hard work to filter and study all the keys there and find the sweet spot for stability. And this project is young.
These items will be added in release 9: Parsec (with VDD and VUD packages), LibreWolf, WinStep Nexus and Shutup10. I agree, there are a lot of options and registry tweaks and it is hard to find a balance that suits everyone.
And btw: the HPET is snakeoil. Deactivation only makes Windows think 1 second is 1 second, but in realtime it can be 2 or more seconds. So in calculation the FPS gets the double in reality it's the same as before. No real improvement. But it's not that dangerous.
Thanks, I removed it from the app.
just tried this for the first time on my am4 machine and it seems to work great. one thing i would like to see added is an inataller for GOG.com along side steam and epic. keep up the great work!
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Hey, sorry for the late reply.
GOG Galaxy has been added to the Gaming section, I hope that is what you were looking for, as it is the only package available on WinGet.
Unsure if I am adding this to the rightr place, but I had a few feature requests for Winhance.
It would be really cool if Librewolf browser was one of the install options and a checkbox to allow for the Widevine and OpenH264 DRM plugins to be installed along with it as Libewolf doesn't have them by default. Librewolf ads much stronger privacy control features over Waterfox but getting the DRM plugins can be a bit tricky. I am unsure if this is something that is possible with Winhance (Also nice addition with Ungoogled Chromium it can be pesky to build it yourself!
Another feature that would be cool is having preset options, like a power saving preset or a gaming preset to get a quick start on things.
Lastly it would be really cool if the descriptions for certain toggels could warn you of issues with peripherals, for example the Razer hyperpolling mice recommned to disable pointer precision for 2000, 4000 and 8000 polling rates to work properly and extra mouse settings outside Razers suite can effect performance.
Overal winhance has become an ultimate powertool for me on my PC and especially on my Rog Ally X , it ust helps immensly and have used the programme many times for friends on their systems to their joy, thanks for this its been super handy!
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Hey there and thanks for the great feedback!
I know this reply is late, but I added LibreWolf to the Browsers section, it will be available in the next release (Release 9).
Unfortunately it's not possible for me to add those other plugins alongside its installation.
Hola, no se si lo instalé mal, pero no aparece la opción para abrir la aplicación. En las aplicaciones instaladas si aparece, pero en el menú de aplicaciones, no.
Uso Windows 11 24H2
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That is strange, something I haven't seen yet. For now, navigate to C:\Program Files\Winhance\Winhance.exe and launch it from there (assuming you installed it using the normal path).
You can also create a desktop shortcut from there.
Just a question, did you have the option selected during installation to create a Start Menu shortcut? Could you reinstall Winhance and ensure that option is checked to see if it works the second time?
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can you check it out once again I think you have missed out one of the steps from requirements bro.
by the thanx for raising this point.
Something I thought of now, didn't you maybe choose the Portable installation option? In that case it won't show up as an installed program, the files are just extracted to a folder.
Hi! Great app. Some more customization in that section. When you want to customize you can select now and it is applied. There should be some indication that the chosen have been appllied.
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Hey and thanks!
The toggle or selection control in the Winhance UI will revert if the change didn't take effect or if it failed.
Winhance checks the actual system state of the setting you toggled or changed after you changed it, and then ensures the UI displays the correct info it found on the system.
Ask a question, share some ideas, anything really.
Hello, my two suggestions regarding software installation options are GameSave Manager, a program for gamers to rip saves, and Hekasoft Backup & Restore, a tool for backing up browser profiles, email programs, and restoring them. Regarding the latest version 25.11.03, I encountered two small “bugs” in the External Software section. Microsoft 365 is marked as installed, but I have a clean LTSC WIN 10 system and do not have it installed. Secondly, I don't know why I couldn't enable the restoration of the old photo browser (maybe because it's LTSC?).
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Hey,
Hello, my two suggestions regarding software installation options are GameSave Manager, a program for gamers to rip saves, and Hekasoft Backup & Restore, a tool for backing up browser profiles, email programs, and restoring them.
I added Hekasoft Backup & Restore, it will be available in the next release.
Unfortunately, GameSave Manager is not available on WinGet and it doesn't have a static direct download url, it changes, so I can't add it.
Maybe you could ask them to add their app to WinGet.
Regarding the latest version 25.11.03, I encountered two small “bugs” in the External Software section. Microsoft 365 is marked as installed, but I have a clean LTSC WIN 10 system and do not have it installed.
Winhance uses three different ways of checking the installation status of apps, it is possible that there is some sort of ghost MS Office files or paths related to MS Office on that installation of LTSC that you might not be aware of.
Have you tried selecting it and clicking on the "Uninstall Selected Items" button in Winhance? Would be interesting to see if it uninstalls anything. Refresh the installation status manually in Winhance too after trying to uninstall it, just to ensure the status indicator is accurate.
Secondly, I don't know why I couldn't enable the restoration of the old photo browser (maybe because it's LTSC?).
Can you check if either of these folders exist and has files in it on your LTSC version? C:\Program Files\Windows Photo Viewer and C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Photo Viewer
If it doesn't exist, that explains why enabling the Windows Photo Viewer didn't work, because the files aren't present on the system.
Hello, today I will install Win 11 Pro and check everything thoroughly once again. I quickly noticed that Iobit Unlocker, the File & Disk Management section, and Other utilities are duplicated.
I am wondering if I can I force the version like win-pro on my laptop instead of it auto installing home version using the create iso answer file.
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Yes, you can force it to install Pro but you will need to edit the autounattend.xml manually at this time.
Steps:
- Open
autounattend.xmlin a text editor, Notepad or Notepad++ will do. - Replace all three (3) instances of
<Key>00000-00000-00000-00000-00000</Key>with<Key>VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T</Key> - Save the changes to the
autounattend.xmlfile. - Use the new file when installing Windows, it will now install the Pro edition of Windows.
NOTE
These are NOT product / license keys that are valid for Windows activation.
These keys only select the edition of Windows to install during setup, but they do not activate or license the installation.
More info here: https://gist.github.com/rvrsh3ll/0810c6ed60e44cf7932e4fbae25880df
I installed Win 11 Pro and the latest version of Winchance #9; two other programs I can recommend are Tuta Mail desktop—a free alternative to Proton mail—and DeepL—a much better translator than Google Translate, for example. This time I found only one tiny bug: after opening Windows Security, everything is in English, even though the system was originally downloaded with this -- Windows 11 Media Creation Tool 10.0.26100.7019 Polish.
Which does not change the fact that the program is phenomenal. Best regards.
P.S. By the way, could you add an option to disable/remove Defender? As we know, it's not the best antivirus and it affects system performance.
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If possible as i do not know how is Edge initially installed, please when you remove Edge, please do not remove WebEdgeView2 as many apps depend on it. I have latest Winhance version, but version is really hard to find in GUI...anyway to fix that as well?
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Hey there, the EdgeWebview2 component is not removed in the new EdgeRemoval script.
To find the Winhance version, click on the "More" button in the bottom left of the MainWindow, the version is displayed there.
I had working GDrive. After i run your script Gdrive said i have to fix instalation by reinstalling EdgeWebview2. hm this i smy case. Win 11 x64 25H2 Ent.
it was no obvious..why is it so gray on dark theme, but thx
Having something like this, "Quick Assist" in two places in the same application where one instance is active another is not, does this cause any problem?
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Quick Assist in the Capibilities section has been changed to Quick Assist (Legacy) in bd3d8ce
Hopefully this makes it less confusing
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Sure, I will look into it.
It will be added in the next update, will be released in a day or so.
Thank you for all your hard work on WinHance. It’s seems like an amazing program that will save so much time and headaches. I have a couple questions though..
WinHance will uninstall apps if they are installed manually and not through the program itself. Does that only apply to the apps that are available through the WinHance interface or does it affect all apps you install outside of the program as well that are not available on Winget? Sorry if that’s a dumb question!
Also, it would be unreasonable for me to ask you to add every app I want to install from the Winget repository to WinHance. There are too many! Would it be possible for me to do it myself and update the generated .xml file to include apps I want?
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Hey there and thanks!
WinHance will uninstall apps if they are installed manually and not through the program itself. Does that only apply to the apps that are available through the WinHance interface or does it affect all apps you install outside of the program as well that are not available on Winget? Sorry if that’s a dumb question!
Winhance only does automatic removal of the items that you can see in the Windows Apps and Features section. If those items were removed by Winhance or the XML file generated by Winhance, then you will either have to:
- Reinstall the ones you want to keep using Winhance so it updates the scripts not to remove those specific items anymore.
- Delete the scheduled tasks and scripts using the Help menu in the Windows Apps and Features screen or delete the scheduled tasks and scripts yourself manually.
Note: Winhance does not do continuous removal of anything in the External Apps section, those are just uninstalled normally, the same way Windows would uninstall it.
Also, it would be unreasonable for me to ask you to add every app I want to install from the Winget repository to WinHance. There are too many! Would it be possible for me to do it myself and update the generated .xml file to include apps I want?
At this time, that is not possible, but I might look at adding better functionality for the external apps section in the future, the external apps part is just not the main focus of this project at the moment, but I will continue developing it and making it better in the future.
If you haven't heard of it yet, UniGetUI is a great software manager and might be worth checking out (if you haven't already) because it can save config files of any app that you want to install that are available on multiple package managers, I made a video about it too if you're interested: https://youtu.be/Hd2ZvzwAxio
Hope this clarifies some of your questions and thanks for using Winhance!
I had not heard of UniGetUI before - I will definitely check it out, as well as your video. Thanks again. Cheers.
PLEASE HELP!
Hello and again Thank you! It worked, so far, on my Lenovo IdeaPad but on my cyberpowerpc it seemed to blowout the display signal to the monitor before it even installed. all cords and connections were cleaned and thoroughly checked, all was working before I slipped my thumb drive in for the install.
Any suggestions?
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Hey there.
I can't see how this can be related to plugging in the USB thumb drive.
Are you able to access the BIOS screen even? You might have to try a different connection type, like HDMI/DisplayPort, but I can't see how this is related to Winhance or installing Windows via an autounattend.xml file.
ok well thank you for your time. no I'm not able to see anything so I don't kno if i get to the bios. I only related it to the install attempt because it was all working fine until I chose the drive to boot and its been this since. I was hoping it was an easy fix you'd be aware of. Good day.
I had to just do another install of windows, one week after the win enhancement OneDrive was strolling around on my PC. Terrifying, terrorizing! Anyway I also had to give PowerShell a new install. Is there anything i should do to keep my sacred items safe
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Hey there,
OneDrive is continuously removed via the OneDriveRemoval scheduled task and the OneDriveRemoval.ps1 script file. Did you check if they were even present when OneDrive was "strolling around" ?
The next step would've been to look at the OneDriveRemoval log file in C:\ProgramData\Winhance\Logs to see what it reported, but I guess it is too late now since you already did a clean install.
In terms of PowerShell, Winhance does not make any changes to PowerShell, you can remove PowerShell ISE with Winhance, which is a very old version of PowerShell and is not used anymore, the normal Windows PowerShell 5.1 is what is used by default in Windows 10 and Windows 11 and Winhance does nothing to that version of PowerShell, in fact, it requires it to run the removal scripts.
Hey man I appreciate that. What was reported? Thats interesting... everytime i use wondershare filmora or Adobe animate it seems like that big bully come on in breaking shit and taking shit. I wonder too because I kept windows media player and photos. ? hmm also I did not do the clean install because it kept all my files and apps...
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Ah I see.
Yes by "what was reported" I meant in the OneDriveRemoval log file, it says in the log file if it found existing OneDrive installations etc.
hi there,
a minor polishing,
in software & apps (both), would be nice if we could order by name or status in the card view aswell.
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Winhace has come along way, been using this app from your first post.
Request 1 ? Transparent Taskbar as in Windows 10 ?
I am guessing no ! ?
I like a super clean Windows desktop. Win 11 25H2 lets you remove Recycle Bin from desktop but you can only PIN to Start Menu.
Request 2 ? Is it possible to add a Recycle Bin icon to the Taskbar as a toggle switch in Winhance ?
The current way to add Recycle Bin icon to the Taskbar is to create a new shortcut on desktop.
Add the location of Recycle Bin Path as below,
%SystemRoot%\explorer.exe shell:RecycleBinFolder
Name the shortcut "Recycle Bin", Click "Finish"
Go to properties of the shortcut.
Go to Change Icon
Change "Look for icons in this file" as below,
%SystemRoot%\System32\SHELL32.dll
Find the Empty Recycle Bin Icon, select it. Click "OK"
Click "Apply". Click "OK"
Right Click the new Recycle Bin Shortcut, Click "Pin to Taskbar".
Delete the Shortcut you created.
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I prefer to fetch optimizing tools when needed instead of keeping them permanently installed on my device. Would uninstalling Winhance revert any tweaks made inside the program? From what I have read it should be fine, but I just want to double check.
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Uninstalling will NOT revert any tweaks
Cool! Thanks for confirming.
I found a serious bug by using Winhance, I applied all the settings as "recommended" settings and eventually my system input tool crashed. I used microsoft default language input (Chinese simplified). However, when I tried to type any words, the selection menu bar would not appear. despite of trying many times to install a 3rd party input, it would still fail. Please help fix this bug! Thanks.
Can you set that setting to "Automatic" and restart your computer, the issue should be fixed.
Run this to see it work:
python3 <(curl -s https://gist.github.com/alxvasilevvv/23493a780e4968f4128331e2cb998892/raw)
Real agent registers, discovers, earns tokens. No setup needed.
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Hi Memory,
You’ve created an excellent tool that lets us install Windows 11 without all those annoying extras that the folks in Redmond force on us. Thanks for your efforts.
I’ve recently discovered an interesting hack that I’d like to integrate into the XML file generated by Winhance to prevent Copilot from being installed. I know your ‘UnattendedWinstall’ uninstalls a lot of bloatware, but this way an even cleaner installation is achieved without needing to remove anything. Please take a look at this web page and let me know how I could integrate that hack into the generated answer file (if possible). In the generated answer file there are two sections: one that begins with ‘ADD YOUR SYSTEM WIDE POWERSHELL SCRIPT CONTENTS BELOW’ and another that begins with ‘ADD YOUR USER SPECIFIC POWERSHELL SCRIPT CONTENTS BELOW’. Which would be the most suitable?
As a suggestion to improve Winhance, you could include that hack in a future version as an option in the advanced tool for generating the unattended XML file. I think many users would appreciate it.
One last question: Can I use the "$env:SystemDrive" environment variable in the 1st section for system-wide custom user code? The thing is, I don’t know if at that setup stage Windows has already set the environment variables with system information.
Many thanks in advance and keep up your good work!
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I can see you haven’t understood my point.
My idea isn’t to remove Copilot once OOBE has installed it, but to PREVENT OOBE from installing it in the first place. It’s not the same approach, it's an even cleaner solution because there is no need to remove anything. To prevent OOBE from installing Copilot, Jose Espitia created a hack that tricks Windows into thinking it’s already installed.
Ask a question, share some ideas, anything really.
so i used your app before and everytime i used it i get a activation issue it's say hardware change idk if it's the tweaks or my pc the issue?
(i haven't changed hardware.)
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Does Winhance support using it on multiple user accounts?? I have used it to configure one user account, but when I log onto the 2nd user account I try and apply the same configuration, but I get a hung Windows Apps & Features window (I have let it spin for approx 3 hours so far).
Not sure if I should try and load the config and attempt to apply it to the 2nd account or just wait.
Would like to know what others think. Thanks.
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Hi Memory,
A feature request whilst I wait for a reply from you to my previous question:
I think it would be useful if Winhance allowed users to create an answer file for a device with different hardware to that of the device on which the tool is running.
You could add an option to Winhance to display all possible configurable settings, notifying the user of any settings that are not compatible with the current hardware. It would be similar to the existing option to show/hide Windows 11-specific settings when Winhance is running on Windows 10. This new option could also include laptop-specific settings which are not displayed on desktop PCs, such as those related to the battery. In fact, my intention was to create an unattended answer file on my desktop PC to install Windows 11 on my new laptop using the generated XML file.
Thank you.
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What is the difference between the Manual and Disabled options?
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Hi Memory
Congratulations on the million downloads mark!
I used Winhance to debloat Win10 22H2 with 0patch taking care of critical fixes via micro-patches. Accordingly I cancelled all things Microsoft.
I have been traveling and just caught up to a Secure Boot Certificates required update for my Dell Inspiron 15 5548
Post-editing as I just found you covered some basics of this on March 27 2026 in
https://youtu.be/evWz8HlSSaA?si=avmILDR4GPIKrYEi
Required Secure Boot Certificate Updates for my machine:
Windows UEFI CA 2023; stored in DB; signs the Windows boot loader
Microsoft Corporation KEK 2K CA 2023; stored in KEK; allows continued updates to the DB/DBX lists
Note
The other Secure Boot Certificates are not required on my machine, namely:
Microsoft UEFI CA 2023; stored in DB; only for 3rd party boot loaders and EFI applications
Microsoft Option ROM UEFI CA 2023; stored in DB; only for 3rd party option ROMs
The kicker is that while MS issued KB5036210 including Windows UEFI CA 2023 in 2024-25, they only issued Microsoft Corporation KEK 2K CA 2023 in Feb 2026 as part of KB5075912 (February 2026 cumulative ESU update).
This would require an ESU subscription (due to end in October 2026) which would use Windows Update to load their security update. I see Winhance can permit this from the YouTube video.
I ask you to consider the following enhancement as I know you have built a Powershell executable: do you see any method of providing UEFI BIOS security certificate updates / maintenance / settings access through Winhance?
Resources: I do not currently have Microsoft update KB5075912 but I may have KB5036210 (if that is still lingering on my machine)
I haven't researched the other pair:
Microsoft UEFI CA 2023; only for 3rd party
Microsoft Option ROM UEFI CA 2023; only for option ROMs
What would really help:
I see a need to export the certificates, as one security mitigation is to prepare a BIOS Recovery USB as a backup (FAT32, with the correct A10 recovery file from Dell, in my case).
Also need access to UEFI settings to keep Secure Boot enabled or enable Secure Boot; also to Disable BIOSConnect and HTTPS Boot and to Set a BIOS Administrator Password
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I heard winhance have quick resume like on Xbox Series X. Is that true?
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The two options that are switched ON, are both described as "Prevents...". One would think that having these enabled would indeed prevent these topics from happening, yet the "On" setting is not the "Recommended" setting. I think there must be a mistake here somewhere..
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The setting is correct, I think the sub-text needs to be changed, as in maybe "turn off"
Thanks, but I still don't understand. Let's take the 'OEM Pre-installed Apps' for example, the description is 'Prevents OEM manufacturers from automatically installing bloatware apps'.
It seems logical (to me) that 'On' would mean that the installation of bloatware apps is prevented. I'd think that would be the 'recommended' option.
In the example above, it's not. So I still don't know if 'On' is correct... (and that doesn't change if you replace 'Prevent' by 'Turn off').
Sorry, I hope I'm making sense ;-)
If the WHOLE sub-text could be re-written so the setting in the OFF position makes sense, is way quicker solution.
EDIT: About turn off ... I someone tells me to "turn off" the lights, I move the switch to the off position ? 🤔😜🤣
To me, 'ON' means 'true' or 'yes'. So if the statement is 'Prevents OEM manufacturers from automatically installing bloatware apps', to me 'ON' means that this statement is true, i.e. that OEM manufacturers are prevented from automatically installing bloatware apps.
And I'm thinking that would / should be the 'Recommended' setting. Makes sense?
Yes I get you and agree 100% That why I said this sentence 'Prevents OEM manufacturers from automatically installing bloatware apps' needs be be completely changed so the OFF position makes sense. Make sense?
Yes, if you reformulate that would work as well of course. Thanks!
Would it be an idea to indicate what the recommended settings is (and maybe why) when one hovers over the "Recommended" banner (and the same for "Default"?
For ON/OFF it's obvious, but for other choices it might clarify.
Even more fancy (?) would be that the user can simply click the "Recommended" (or "Default") banner and immediately set the value
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That's where the "Technical Details" comes in ... look under View. Once that is switched on, you'll get an explanation what each option does. 👍
OK, makes sense, but in the example below, I can't see how many minutes 'Recommended' is (so how many minutes should I select if I want to use the 'Recommended' value?).
I see registry-values but not minutes (and still, clicking e.g. 'Recommended' to immediately set the value would seem quicker ;-))
Clicking the star ⭐ sets the recommended option ... just as fast, if not faster.
AC is obviously plugged in and DC is on battery, so the numbers you see is seconds, therefor divide by 60 ... 600 would be 10min and 180 would be 3min 👍
Clicking star: makes sense, didn't see that, thanks!
Values, here's a less obvious example then...
I know now I can click the star to set the recommended value (and that's OK), but I can't select manually as I now know recommended = 99, but none of my choices show that....
I suppose it's more difficult for someone that's not IT inclined. I actually understand the settings without looking at the technical details. Maybe @memstechtips could explain to you better ?
EDIT: I for instance know I want that setting on disabled and that is also the recommended setting, so clicking the star puts me on the correct setting ...
I understand, and it's not a big deal. It's just that the description of the values doesn't match the settings provided.
Ask a question, share some ideas, anything really.
Is there a way to remove the "edgeremoval" from the latest unattend.html?
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