Footprint Reduction Design Considerations

Be aware of the following considerations when removing components from your run-time image:

In the configuration, include only the devices necessary to boot the run-time image. Add or enable additional devices one at a time and observe the impact on the footprint.
Use Target Designer to disable or delete components. Using the disable feature is helpful because disabled components remain visible, though in gray text. allowing you to enable the component later.
Remove unneeded components.
In a configuration, include the device drivers for only the hardware devices that are required. It is not necessary to include device drivers for all the hardware on a target system.
Once the run-time is finalized, remove the First Boot Agent (FBA) directory from the run-time Windows directory. This can save up to 2 MB of disk space.
When possible, for macro components in the configuration, select the setting called Do not copy help files for this configuration. This prevents the inclusion of the Help files for all of the components that are brought in by this macro component.
Use the Correct Baseline Configuration. See Baseline Configurations.

Additional resources