PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC) Scipt Overview

The PowerShell DSC script focuses on the following:

• A human readable and customizable script
• A way of validating your system state before testing after initial Desired State Configuration (DSC) is applied
• Disabling any unecessary services, it will impact Printing and Scanning, Bluetooth Device and Communication
• Disables most if not all Windows 10 features and privacy/tracking settings, interfering Windows Update settings (P2P sharing)
• High Performance power profile, USB selective suspend
• Sets Windows Advanced Settings to 'Adjust for Best Performance', disables desktop visual features
• Disables GameBar, GameMode, GameDVR, Audio/Game Capture Settings

For a complete list see DSC Itemized Configuration List

Setup

1. Download the GamingMinimal.ps1 PowerShell DSC Script to your desktop
   • GamingMinimal.ps1
2. Open Windows PowerShell as an administrator
3. Change the directory to your desktop where you saved the file
   • PS C:\Windows\system32> cd ~\Desktop
4. Run the command PS C:\Users\johndoe\Desktop> Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted -Force, this will allow the script to run
5. Run the command PS C:\Users\johndoe\Desktop> .\GamingMinimal.ps1 -myusername "your_windows_username", this will build the configuration state file
6. Start the Windows Remote Management Service (This is necessary for DSC to work)
   • PS C:\Users\johndoe\Desktop> Start-Service -name WinRM
7. Apply the optimized configuration to your local computer, wait for it to complete.
   • PS C:\Users\johndoe\Desktop> Start-DscConfiguration -Path .\GamingMinimal\ -wait -verbose
   • The first pass might give one or two errors (red), these will go away after restart
8. Restart your PC and redo steps 2, 6 and 7.

Testing your computers desired state configuration

1. Open Windows PowerShell as an administrator
2. Make sure Windows Remote Management Service is started (should be started automatically but slightly delayed after a reboot)
   • PS C:\Windows\system32> Start-Service -name WinRM
3. Run PS C:\Windows\system32> Test-DscConfiguration
4. If it matches it'll say True, if it doesn't it'll say False
   • For more details run PS C:\Windows\system32> Test-DscConfiguration -Detailed
   • Sometimes you have to wait a minute to run the command if the DSC is being applied behind the scenes automatically after a restart.
5. For the most part the configuration should always match (be True) if all other steps were followed in this guide, you can always re-apply the configuration at anytime for example after a Windows Update.

Note: You can force apply the DSC configuration using the following command if for some reason it hasn't applied all changes and says False, or if you've edited the DSC script and rebuilt the localhost.mof database. Start-DscConfiguration -Path .\GamingMinimal\ -wait -verbose -force