Windows 11 Iso Clean Install
Lorean Hoefert
I've written before about my nostalgia for the Windows XP- or Windows 7-era "clean install," when you could substantially improve any given pre-made PC merely by taking an official direct-from-Microsoft Windows install disk and blowing away the factory install, ridding yourself of 60-day antivirus trials, WildTangent games, outdated drivers, and whatever other software your PC maker threw on it to help subsidize its cost.
I frequently write about Windows, Edge, and other Microsoft-adjacent technologies as part of my day job, and I sign into my daily-use PCs with a Microsoft account, so my usage patterns may be atypical for many Ars Technica readers. But for anyone who uses Windows, Edge, or both, I thought it might be useful to detail what I'm doing to clean up a clean install of Windows, minimizing (if not totally eliminating) the number of annoying notifications, Microsoft services, and unasked-for apps that we have to deal with.
The most contentious part of Windows 11's setup process relative to earlier Windows versions is that it mandates Microsoft account sign-in, with none of the readily apparent "limited account" fallbacks that existed in Windows 10. As of Windows 11 22H2, that's true of both the Home and Pro editions.
There are two reasons I can think of not to sign in with a Microsoft account. The first is that you want nothing to do with a Microsoft account, thank you very much. Signing in makes you more of a target for Microsoft 365, OneDrive, or Game Pass subscription upsells since all you need to do is add them to an account that already exists, and Windows setup will offer subscriptions to each if you sign in first.
During Windows 11 Setup, after selecting a language and keyboard layout but before connecting to a network, hit Shift+F10 to open the command prompt. Type OOBE\BYPASSNRO, hit Enter, and wait for the PC to reboot.
When it comes back, click "I don't have Internet" on the network setup screen, and you'll have recovered the option to use "limited setup" (aka a local account) again, like older versions of Windows 10 and 11 offered.
Proceed through the Windows 11 setup as you normally would, including connecting to a network and allowing the system to check for updates. Eventually, you'll be asked whether you're setting your PC up for personal use or for "work or school."
Select the work or school option, then sign-in options, at which point you'll finally be asked whether you plan to join the PC to a domain. Tell it you are (even though you aren't), and you'll see the normal workflow for creating a "limited" local account.
If you boot from recovery media you cannot access it because there are no raid drivers loaded. Now one time I was piddling with restores, loaded the raid driver, but canceled the restore. Well it showed up though I did not actually follow through to see what would happen.
I think there are too many risks/problems with running the machine as a dedicated 2016 hyper-v host so I am going to open it up again check if I can identify which boot drive is making all the noise and try replace it.
If anyone knows how I can do a clean install from a USB stick that would be great, going to take the gamble and delete the partitions and start fresh. I have a backup should I brick my machine (hopefully I can restore it)
If you got it installed you must not need the raid drivers. I think there is a setup bat in the oem tweaks file
just extract it/all to a c:\wd folder and run it with fingers crossed or a good bckup
We've received computers from a company that we took over. Those computers were managed by a 3rd company that owned the one we took over. I'm doing a CLEAN install of Windows 10 21H1 Pro on the computers. After the install, it NEVER offers to "Setup for personal use" or "Setup for an organization." Instead, it INSISTS on a network connection. Once it has a network connection, it goes and gets its Azure AD information and incorporates that. It then wants me to login to THAT Azure AD. I need to connect it to our Azure AD.
I've tried going into the BIOS and clearing the TPM and Secure Boot keys. This hasn't helped. I had Windows Setup delete ALL partitions on the hard drive before doing the clean install. This hasn't helped. I also used diskpart from the setup's repair option and did a Clean on the drive, no luck.
No one? Why does a CLEAN install of Windows 10 PRO not allow for the creation of a local account when installing while NOT connected to a network? If I can create the local account, I can then take care of the rest of the problem with Azure AD.
If these options don't appear, it could be that your installation media does not only allow installing pro, but also home.
I guess that if these computers have a home license key in their bios, setup would automatically install home and thus, these options to setup the machine for an organization would be missing. So please verify after setting them up that pro got installed.
Sorry that I've been so late responding. I understand all of the options listed and had already tried them before posting. However, I was able to work through it, so I wanted to let everyone know what I found.
I turned off UEFI, which set the laptop for standard BIOS. I was now able to install as desired. I went back to UEFI, reinstalled, and the problem returned. So, it appears that the old Azure AD had gotten added to the laptop's UEFI. It was not the installation media, me doing something wrong, or anything like that.
I did find a way to get past the setup's insistence on rejoining the old AAD, but it took a little finagling. However, so that I don't give ideas to Microsoft about something else they need to break, I'd rather not say how I did it.
My Windows 10 OS running Raid-1 and an older version of Rapid Storage Manager (RST) was running fine until the OS got corrupted/infected. I decided to perform a clean install of Windows 10. However I can't seem to get the user interface display for RST ver. 14.8.0.1042 to display after reloading the OS and running CLI_x64.zip.
I am not certain that the rstcli64.exe executed...the exe seemed to progress about 3/4 of the way to completion before hanging for over 2 hours. When I walked away and came back later, I did not see the progress bar and assumed that the app finished loading. However there is no Intel app on my app menu.
I assumed that the app did not load and double clicking on the rstcli64.exe no longer brought up an installation dialogue box. So I decided to reload the OS. I downloaded f6flpy-x64.zip and placed it on a USB stick where I unzipped the file. This USB stick was inserted into a USB 2.0 port along with another USB stick containing Windows 10 pro OS.
During the clean re-install of Windows 10 pro, I noticed that at no point in the OS installation was I prompted to install the contents of f6flpy-x64.zip (did I do something incorrectly? I guess I am saying that I really don't know how to install f6flpy-x64.zip prior to installing the OS. Can you provide instructions on how to install f6flpy-x64.zip? Intel did not provide adequate instructions on how to load this file prior to loading the OS). And will properly installing f6flpy-x64.zip solve my problem of getting the user interface display for RST ver. 14.8.0.1042 to display after reloading the OS?
Option 2 - Using the .zip file: Unzip the file, then open Device Manager. Find the SATA controller (it may already be listed as Intel, if not, it will be listed as a Microsoft AHCI driver), it will be a sub-item underneath "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers". Right-click this driver, and select "Update Driver". Choose "Browse My Computer.." and then, specify the directory you unzipped to. If Windows "finds no compatible drivers", go through the process again, but choose "Let Me Pick" and then "Have Disk" and choose the folder again. Find the correct Intel raid driver.
This step is crucial --make sure you truly have the right drivers when you are given a list. If you do not have the correct drivers, you could cause your system not to boot, so be sure. Choose the correct driver and proceed through the steps. Restart when prompted.
I hope this helps. Also note --the .zip file usually does not contain the Intel RAID control panel, it is simply a driver. The executable usually contains the system tray/contol application. Your mainboard chipset has been around long enough that Windows 10 was probably able to install an existing driver.
Currently, my Windows 10 pro OS is booting up just fine. I just can't open the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST) app (there is usually an Intel RST icon on the lower right hand portion of my monitor and I don't see the icon there anymore). BTW, I don't see an Intel folder in my app menu either. I am left to wondering if the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (Intel RST) RAID Driver Version: 14.8.0.1042 was ever installed when I double-clicked on the rstcli64.exe file when the downloaded CLI_x64.zip was unzipped.
When I boot into the ASUS UEFI bios utility, the SATA mode selection is set to RAID (Note; choices include Disabled, IDE, AHCI and RAID). I have two Seagate NAS hard drives which is currently on a raid-1 configuration. These drives contain all of my data. I have another drive, a SSD, on which I have the OS loaded and on which I intend to load all software apps. The SSD is not raid configured.
Unfortunately I can't seem to get the Intel RST app to run so that I can monitor the health of the raid-1 configuration. I believe that the raid-1 configuration has not been compromised because I see it when I am booting up computer. I am hesitant to implement one of your suggestions because I don't see them stated in the meager instructions provided by Intel for installing the RST raid driver (found at -Rapid-Storage-Technology-Intel-RST-RAID-Driver Download Intel Rapid Storage Technology (Intel RST) RAID Driver). I am also concerned about switching from RAID, the current setting in the bios, to AHCI because it seems counter-intuitive and also because I do not possess enough knowledge to know the differences between the two SATA modes.
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