Fresh Win 11 Install

Witterings · Sep 28, 2025

I bought a 2nd had PC and want to do a complete new Windows 11 install which I've not done before.

I was going to follow the video in the link below, at just after 5.15 he deletes the partitions but doesn't then format the disk, is there reason for that, I'm thinking of it's a complete new install you'd be best off doing it in case anything you don't want remains on there ..... or will the new install do it anyway?

antspants · Sep 28, 2025

Disk will be formatted when the partitions are made for C:
You don’t see it, it just happens. Microsoft Magic (or something)

Megahertz · Sep 28, 2025

As it is a OEM computer, extract and save all drivers from the current installation.

Backup and Restore Device Drivers in Windows 11

This tutorial will show you how to back up and restore all 3rd party device drivers on your Windows 10 and Windows 11 PC. If you clean install Windows, you will need to install drivers for each device in the system. Some of these device drivers may no longer be available from the manufacturer...

www.elevenforum.com

On BIOS
Set Disk mode to AHCI, not RAID
Select OS mode = UEFI
Disable fast boot and secure boot (you can turn it on after installation)

Windows can be installed in two ways: Legacy-MBR or UEFI-GPT
To install as Legacy-MBR you must boot the installation drive as Legacy
To install as UEFI-GPT you must boot the installation drive as UEFI.

As you have a UEFI BIOS, you should install as UEFI-GPT
Detach any other drives (SATA or Power cable) from the MB.

During POST, press F12(?) to launch the boot menu. You will see two options for the USB drive. USB UEFI (Name) and USB (Name). Select USB UEFI (Name) to install as UEFI-GPT.
Go to install and delete ALL partitions on the main drive till you have one and only one unallocated space and then proceed.

Clean Install Windows 11

This tutorial will show you step by step on how to clean install Windows 11 at boot on your PC with or without an Internet connection and setup with a local account or Microsoft account. Windows 11 has all the power and security of Windows 10 with a redesigned and refreshed look. It also comes...

www.elevenforum.com

BamaInArk · Sep 28, 2025

As mentioned once all the old partitions are deleted by the one doing the clean install, the installation process creates the appropriate partitions. This is the same thing that happens with Win10, so Win11 is no different.

Ghot · Sep 28, 2025

@Witterings

Clean Install Windows 11

This tutorial will show you step by step on how to clean install Windows 11 at boot on your PC with or without an Internet connection and setup with a local account or Microsoft account. Windows 11 has all the power and security of Windows 10 with a redesigned and refreshed look. It also comes...

www.elevenforum.com

And here's ten points for filling out your computer specs.

Here's some other things that you may find useful...

Quickie Eleven Forum Setup Guide for new Members

Quickie Interface tour... Quickie set up... At the top right, click on your name, then choose "Preferences". Then go through everything on the left side. Quickie navigation... Click Forums and choose a subforum, OR... Click Forums, then New Posts or What's New Ranks, Trophies...

www.elevenforum.com

Macrium Reflect, AOMEI Backupper and Hasleo Backup Suite - GUIDES

How to use backup software... 1. When everything is working perfectly... make a full Windows backup. 2. Then, if something breaks... restore from the latest backup. 3. Then... try "whatever you were doing" a different way. If it still breaks Windows, then... go to step #2. 4. Repeat...

www.elevenforum.com

Windows 11 Tweaks - Leader Board.

These are tweaks I've seen asked for... many times. They are collected here for easy access. All of these and more can be found in the Eleven Forum Tutorials Make sure to read the "notes" in the various tutorials. At the bottom of the first post in all the "tutorials", there are links to...

www.elevenforum.com

suatcini54 · Sep 28, 2025

If the disk drive is too big, e.g. 1 TB, you may wish to not allocate the whole disk to Windows partition. Therefore, you may think of partitioning the drive according to your needs before starting installation. Then you just select the partition on which you wish to install Windows. The rest will be carried on by Windows installer.

Witterings · Sep 28, 2025

Ghot said:
And here's ten points for filling out your computer specs.

It's a different computer though

there was only room to list 1 for either laptop or PC so I listed the laptop.

Ghot · Sep 28, 2025

Witterings said:
It's a different computer though there was only room to list 1 for either laptop or PC so I listed the laptop.

You can list TWO...

Witterings · Sep 28, 2025

I think this was from a company that's gone into liquidation (shows dissolved on companies house website) and is locked to them .... have gone through trying to do a fresh install and their name comes up and askes you to login but I'm guessing it's to their old domain as nothing seems to work.

Is there any way I can get rid of this or should I send it back to the seller?

garlin · Sep 28, 2025

Witterings said:
I think this was from a company that's gone into liquidation (shows dissolved on companies house website) and is locked to them .... have gone through trying to do a fresh install and their name comes up and askes you to login but I'm guessing it's to their old domain as nothing seems to work.

Is there any way I can get rid of this or should I send it back to the seller?

This is a PC which was registered in Autopilot to its former owner. When you buy from a liquidator, there's a fair chance the company collapsed and laid off all their IT staff and nobody unregistered all their PC's from the domain. This means whenever you do a clean install, Windows sends the PC's ID to MS and it thinks it should be "owned" by the former company.

Normally a retired PC is disposed of by unregistering it from the domain. But that wasn't done. PC liquidators should know better to check, but a lot of them don't care. I don't know what your options are, you should return it if possible.

There are technical ways around it by disabling the network at certain points in the install process. You really shouldn't be forced to this time every time you need Windows re-installed. Or ask the seller if they can provide a PC from a different liquidated company.

zbook · Sep 28, 2025

From Google AI (see garlin's post > this is additional confirmation)

Code:

AI Overview
To perform a clean installation on a computer that was enrolled in Windows Autopilot, the device must first be deregistered from the

former owner's tenant and Azure AD environment.

Without this step, the device will automatically try to enroll in the former owner's organization again as soon as it connects to the internet.


You must get the previous owner's IT administrator to complete these steps.

If you cannot contact them, you should return the computer to the seller as unusable.

Step 1: Former owner's IT removes the device from Autopilot

The organization's administrator needs to remove the computer's hardware hash from their tenant via the Microsoft Intune admin center.

Sign into the Microsoft Intune admin center.

Navigate to Devices > Windows > Windows enrollment > Devices.

Find and select the computer by its serial number. You can find the device's serial number in the Settings app under System > About.

Click the Delete button.

Wait for the process to complete, which can take several minutes. Clicking the Sync button may speed it up.

Step 2: Former owner's IT deletes the device from Azure AD

After deleting the device from Autopilot, the administrator should also remove its record from Azure AD (now Microsoft Entra ID).

Sign in to the Microsoft Entra ID admin center.

Navigate to Devices > All Devices.

Find and select the device. Its icon will no longer indicate it is an Autopilot device.

Select the Delete option.

Step 3: Perform a clean Windows installation

Once the former owner's IT has confirmed that the device records have been removed, you can perform a clean installation using

a Windows installation media, like a USB flash drive.

Witterings · Sep 28, 2025

garlin said:
This is a PC which was registered in Autopilot to its former owner. When you buy from a liquidator, there's a fair chance the company collapsed and laid off all their IT staff and nobody unregistered all their PC's from the domain. This means whenever you do a clean install, Windows sends the PC's ID to MS and it thinks it should be "owned" by the former company.

Normally a retired PC is disposed of by unregistering it from the domain. But that wasn't done. PC liquidators should know better to check, but a lot of them don't care. I don't know what your options are, you should return it if possible.

There are technical ways around it by disabling the network at certain points in the install process. You really shouldn't be forced to this time every time you need Windows re-installed. Or ask the seller if they can provide a PC from a different liquidated company.

A big thank you to everyone for their help and @zbook .... and @garlin I've tried pretty much everything I found on google to try and deregister including removing the cmos battery and taking the drive out and using another computer to reformat the drive but nothing has worked so I've started a return.

Thanks to all

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