JulianBen.com

Dell/Lenovo debloat, Microsoft 365 Apps deploy, and an app install catalog

Gr3yLabs Support

Gr3yLabs Support is a Windows PowerShell GUI built for the kind of work an MSP or internal IT tech does on every new or returning client laptop: strip out OEM bloat, deploy Microsoft 365 Apps, install the apps a user actually needs, apply a consistent set of tweaks, and rename the machine to a standard naming convention — all from one tool, one command to launch it.

irm get.gr3y.io/debloat | iex

That one line self-elevates, downloads the current version straight from GitHub (hash-verified against the exact commit it's pulling from, so there's nothing stale or tampered with in between), and launches the GUI. Nothing to install or keep updated by hand — every run is current.

What it does

  • Debloat + Office — removes Dell/Lenovo OEM bloatware (AppX and Win32, with provisioning cleared so it doesn't come back for new user profiles), deploys Microsoft 365 Apps for business via the Office Deployment Tool, renames the machine to a configurable hostname pattern, and applies DNS/telemetry/power tweaks.
  • Install Apps — a categorized catalog (browsers, Microsoft tools, documents, communications, utilities, and more) driven entirely by winget, with a one-click Business Baseline filter so a client machine doesn't end up with Tor Browser or qBittorrent by accident.
  • Config — one-off fixes (SFC/DISM, Windows Update reset, winget repair, network reset, time resync), a Dell hardware-lifecycle check (service tag → ship date → repair-or-replace recommendation), and the same tweak/DNS controls as the Debloat tab for a machine that's already been set up.
  • Panels — one-click shortcuts to the built-in Windows applets (Device Manager, Disk Management, Services, and the rest) a tech reaches for constantly.
  • Provisioning — hostname renaming against a configurable pattern (e.g. Client01-{SERIAL}-WKS, pulling the real BIOS serial number in).

Comparing apps against an old machine

A common replacement-laptop scenario: the old machine has a pile of installed software, and the new one needs the same set — whatever's winget-installable, anyway. Compare Against List... (on the Install Apps tab) handles this by taking an export of what's on the old machine and checking off every catalog app that's there but missing here. If something newer or better is already installed on the new machine, it says so explicitly instead of silently re-suggesting it.

There are three ways to get the old machine's list over, depending on how much access you actually have to it:

1. Both machines reachable with a GUI

Run Gr3yLabs Support on the old machine, click Export Installed Apps..., save the JSON file. On the new machine, click Compare Against List... and point it at that file.

2. Command-line only on the old machine

No GUI access, but some form of remote command execution (an RMM "run script" action, PowerShell remoting, winrs) — the Compare Against List... dialog on the new machine has the exact one-liners, copy-ready, at the bottom:

irm get.gr3y.io/debloat-export | iex

That prints the full export as JSON straight to the console — copy it out however the remote session lets you, save it as a .json file, and load that with Compare Against List... on the new machine. To have it write the file directly on that machine instead:

$s = irm get.gr3y.io/debloat-export
& ([scriptblock]::Create($s)) -OutputPath C:\Temp\installed-apps.json

3. Pairing code — no file at all

The newest option, for when even moving a file off the old machine is a hassle. On the new machine, Compare Against List... → Generate a Pairing Code... shows a one-time code and starts waiting. Run the matching command on the old machine through whatever access is available:

$s = irm get.gr3y.io/debloat-export; & ([scriptblock]::Create($s)) -Code 7XQK2P

(the real code is generated fresh each time, shown right in the dialog with a Copy button). The export is sent straight to the waiting app instance through a short-lived relay — no file, nothing to copy-paste by hand. The code only works once, and only while that dialog is actually open waiting for it: close it, or let the 10-minute window expire, and the export has nowhere to go.

Source

gr3ysbot-tech/Gr3y-Tools on GitHub — issues and PRs welcome.