Learn the steps to set up Windows 11 from scratch on your device.
Learn the steps to set up Windows 11 from scratch on your device.
Hello all. I’ve been observing people’s opinions on Windows 11 and can’t ignore the fact that most are installing it through a Windows 10 upgrade or via virtual machine. It feels odd! This is the proper way to perform a native clean install of Windows 11. Keep in mind this will wipe everything off, so make sure you have an extra SSD ready. If you already possess the USB installer, start booting into it until you reach the setup menu. From there:
1. Press Shift + F10 to launch Command Prompt.
2. Enter ‘diskpart’ and hit Enter.
3. Use diskpart to set up your partitions:
3a. Type ‘list disk’ and press Enter.
3b. Choose your main drive, say ‘sel disk x’, where x is your primary storage. Type ‘clean’ to format it. If needed, type ‘convert gpt’.
3c. Enter ‘create partition efi size=100’.
3d. Type ‘format quick fs=fat32 label=“System”’.
3e. Input ‘assign letter=“S”’.
3f. Type ‘create partition msr size=16’.
3g. Enter ‘create partition primary’.
3h. Format the drive with ‘format quick fs=ntfs label=“Windows”’.
3i. Type ‘assign letter=“W”’.
4. View all your volumes by typing ‘list vol’; you should see the new partitions. The EFI partition might be hidden, which is fine, and you’ll see Windows and System labels with their letters. Remember the letter for your USB installer.
5. Exit diskpart by typing ‘exit’ and press Enter.
6. Run ‘dism /Get-WimInfo /WimFile:X:\sources\install.wim’ (replace X with your USB installer path) and hit Enter.
7. You’ll see a list of Windows 11 versions assigned via indexes. Pick the one you wish to install and note its index number.
8. Then type ‘dism /Apply-Image /ImageFile:X:\sources\install.wim /Index:n /ApplyDir:W:` (replace X with your USB installer, n with the index, W with your partition). Press Enter and wait.
9. Build a boot loader by entering ‘bcdboot W:\Windows /s S: /f UEFI’ (use W for your Windows partition, S for the one you created in diskpart).
10. Restart your system and enjoy your new Windows 11 experience.
Edited June 17, 2021 by Kilrah – Added note on converting GPT partitions.
This process essentially replicates what the GUI installer does via the command line while skipping the usual verification steps. It’s not necessary unless your system is fairly old and lacks a TPM—either discrete or integrated, like Intel PTT from the 4th generation Core. In that case, ensure TPM/PTT is activated in UEFI. On AMD systems it appears to be referred to as fTPM. Before proceeding to step 3c, you might need to run "convert gpt" if your storage wasn’t already formatted as GPT.
Use Rufus for installations on external drives, including SSDs.
Using Rufus on a compatible setup for an external SSD works well on a different platform, while an 8GB Q8200 system boots correctly on an incompatible one—specifically using MBR instead of GPT.
Not only do you need to install media, but the "incompatible system" just requires a Windows installation from another compatible system. I attempted this on my Q8200 using an 11 USB installer, but it failed. When I used Rufus and an external SSD, I had to choose "List USB hard drives."