Installer for Windows 11 on Windows 11 system
Installer for Windows 11 on Windows 11 system
I chose to try a test-flight of Windows 11 Beta. I obtained the ISO file and everything seemed fine so far. Now I’m used to simply placing the ISO on a GPT/FAT32 partition and starting UEFI boot. However, this version isn’t straightforward. The install.wim file exceeds 4GB, making it impossible to copy onto a FAT32 volume. I searched online for a workaround, which suggested using DISM to divide the WIM into smaller parts. That worked out—back then I was familiar with DISM commands and their modern PowerShell equivalents (see this link: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powersh...ver2019-ps).
The installer, which now includes the split WIM files in the sources folder instead of the original install.wim, functions properly. But during installation, it encounters an error around 2% of the time when trying to copy files. It could be related to the split WIM image; perhaps there were additional steps I missed after splitting.
Despite this hurdle, I stayed persistent. I set up a Hyper-V virtual machine (Gen 2 required for UEFI boot), loaded the original Win11 ISO into its emulated drive, connected a physical M.2 NVMe disk to the VM, and followed these steps:
1. Disabled the disk in Disk Management.
2. Added the NVMe drive to the VM.
3. Booted the VM from the ISO.
4. Initiated Windows 11 Beta installation on the attached disk.
5. Waited for the reboot phase, then powered down the VM.
6. Restarted from the SSD used during installation.
Eventually, it worked. This approach helped me overcome the media issue. It might be useful for others facing similar challenges—though you could also try imaging the ISO onto an external USB drive, though I’ve found those methods unreliable in practice.
I'm more of a hands-on person. I seldom touch beta versions, yet I always keep up with the latest updates. So far, I've only dabbled with this version 11, but I appreciate its fresh design and experience.
The usual approach involves Rufus or Ventoy. Ventoy can handle multiple ISOs on a flash drive and supports files larger than 4GB using ExFAT partitions. Since we're in 2021, these tools are available and straightforward.
Uncertain about why it's being saved to fat32. For Hyper V, mount the ISO directly. If installing on real hardware, configure a Ventoy drive to place the ISO or use Rufus to make a bootable USB.
the goal was to store it on the metal rather than a VM. since UEFI started, I've gotten used to just pasting ISO files onto a FAT32 drive and installing. really, the last time I tried a 'clone ISO to disk' approach was during the MBR era. I sometimes used Hasleo's WinToUSB just to create a bootable USB, not an installer. probably another reason I didn't stick with those methods was that my external drives kept changing purpose. if I truly wanted something flexible—supporting multiple ISOs and staying consistent—those techniques would make more sense. still, I'm considering exploring this ventoy option, but not yet.
Ventoy is excellent and straightforward to configure. I've been using it for some time now, and simply adding in isos makes the process smoother and quicker. It allows me to include live, recovery, and installer files on the same project. Even with a 64GB drive.
I've owned this 64GB Patriot Supersonic Magnum for quite some time, it's always been my preferred choice for that task, especially since it performed reasonably well back then. However... I might not have updated its firmware many years ago, and honestly, whether it's been changed or not, this device remains tricky to split across multiple partitions. With my USB-M2SSD adapter, I can experiment freely and rearrange them as I wish, just like any internal drive. But with this Patriot model, creating an 8GB partition won't let me reserve the remaining space for other partitions. Even WinToUsb can manage to generate all the typical Windows disk partitions it usually handles.