How anyone can get Windows 11

Ghot · Jul 17, 2021

Windows 11 ISO download (DEV)

Windows 11 ISO download (RTM)

1. Pick language and click Next
2. Checkmark the version you want (that matches your key), and click Next
3. Chose: Download and Convert to ISO. Chose your Conversion Option.

4. Then click Create Download Package.
5. Then Save the file to your desktop.

6. Extract the file to your desktop, open the folder and double click: uup_download_windows.cmd
7. Then just sit back and watch it create the ISO image. (takes about 40 minutes. It will tell you when it's finished)

Choose either step #8 or #9... not both.

8. When it's done, use RUFUS to create a bootable USB stick... (ONLY for clean install)
9. Or... you can just use the ISO to do an In-Place upgrade, which will save all your Programs and files.

In-Place upgrade...
(this will over-write (replace) your Windows installation)

DISABLE non-Microsoft:
a) antivirus software
b) firewall software
c) drive encryption software

If unsure about the move to Windows 11, or doing an In-Place upgrade...
make a full OS image backup with a program like: Reflect Free Edition
[make the Macrium bootable rescue media, too]

Right click the ISO image and choose: MOUNT
Open File Explorer and you will see a new drive letter. It will look like a DVD optical drive.
Double click the new drive letter to open it.
Find setup.exe and double click it to start the in-place upgrade.

Choose the Keep personal files and apps option.

After it's all done... to UNmount the ISO image, right click the new drive letter and choose: EJECT.

The ONLY thing you will lose is some of your personalizations. Your programs and data will be intact.

Kari · Jul 17, 2021

Tutorial:

UUP Dump - Download Windows Insider ISO

UUP Dump is the most practical and easy way to get ISO images of any Insider Windows 10 or Windows 11 version, as soon as Microsoft has released a new build. UUP Dump creates a download configuration file according to your choices, downloads necessary files directly from Microsoft servers, and...

www.elevenforum.com

Kari

Ghot · Jul 18, 2021

Kari said:
Tutorial:

UUP Dump - Download Windows Insider ISO

UUP Dump is the most practical and easy way to get ISO images of any Insider Windows 10 or Windows 11 version, as soon as Microsoft has released a new build. UUP Dump creates a download configuration file according to your choices, downloads necessary files directly from Microsoft servers, and...

www.elevenforum.com

Kari

LOL. Wish I would have seen that before I typed all this.

pietcorus2 · Jul 18, 2021

" 1. Pick language and click Next "...........??? NOT POSSIBLE , ONLY English ............!!
( Select your desired language ...........where ?? / how ?? )

Ghot · Jul 18, 2021

pietcorus2 said:
" 1. Pick language and click Next "...........??? NOT POSSIBLE , ONLY English ............!!
( Select your desired language ...........where ?? / how ?? )

Link in first post is now fixed.

pietcorus2 · Jul 18, 2021

Ok now .......thanks a lot !

ICIT2LOL · Sep 11, 2021

Ok well I got the ISO from the media creation tool and have it in Downloads and the only problem I can see is that the Rufus app did not set the - or would not let me set the format as FAT32 it would only let me click on NTFS format is this going to be a problem?

johnlgalt · Sep 11, 2021

Media Creation Tool? For Windows 11?

As for issues with the USB drive being NTFS - Probably not. I've used Rufus to make Windows installer USB drives and I've *ALWAYS* used NTFS to boot from with UEFI hardware.

However, certain hardware can be finicky. Best to try and if it fails go back and switch.

NavyLCDR · Sep 11, 2021

ICIT2LOL said:
Ok well I got the ISO from the media creation tool and have it in Downloads and the only problem I can see is that the Rufus app did not set the - or would not let me set the format as FAT32 it would only let me click on NTFS format is this going to be a problem?

That depends on what you want to use it for. Most UEFI computers will not boot from an NTFS partition. That would be the only problem.

johnlgalt · Sep 11, 2021

He designed it so it will be bootable.

https://awesomeopensource.com/project/pbatard/uefi-ntfs

bobkn · Sep 11, 2021

ICIT2LOL said:
Ok well I got the ISO from the media creation tool and have it in Downloads and the only problem I can see is that the Rufus app did not set the - or would not let me set the format as FAT32 it would only let me click on NTFS format is this going to be a problem?

The USB drive that Rufus prepares in NTFS is supposed to be bootable in UEFI, even on systems that don't normally support that. It does, however, require disabling Secure Boot. I'm a little disappointed that Rufus doesn't allow the option of formatting the drive as FAT32 and splitting install.wim to fit. I guess that's too inelegant.

I don't normally use Rufus. I'd extract the contents of the ISO to a directory, and then use the dism command line utility to split install.wim into pieces smaller than 4GB so that they can be copied onto a FAT32 drive. Split a Windows image file (.wim) to span across multiple DVDs (The instructions are for DVDs. Use a smaller number, like 3800, rather than 4700.) With a FAT32 drive, I have left Secure Boot enabled.

With recent motherboards, all that you have to do is make a blank FAT32 USB drive, and copy the contents of the directory (above) onto it. You don't need to use diskpart to mark the partition as active, or give it a drive letter. The drive should be bootable without that.

ICIT2LOL · Sep 12, 2021

bobkn said:
The USB drive that Rufus prepares in NTFS is supposed to be bootable in UEFI, even on systems that don't normally support that. It does, however, require disabling Secure Boot. I'm a little disappointed that Rufus doesn't allow the option of formatting the drive as FAT32 and splitting install.wim to fit. I guess that's too inelegant.

I don't normally use Rufus. I'd extract the contents of the ISO to a directory, and then use the dism command line utility to split install.wim into pieces smaller than 4GB so that they can be copied onto a FAT32 drive. Split a Windows image file (.wim) to span across multiple DVDs (The instructions are for DVDs. Use a smaller number, like 3800, rather than 4700.) With a FAT32 drive, I have left Secure Boot enabled.

With recent motherboards, all that you have to do is make a blank FAT32 USB drive, and copy the contents of the directory (above) onto it. You don't need to use diskpart to mark the partition as active, or give it a drive letter. The drive should be bootable without that.

Yes Bob got that but I tried the tutorial by Kari using UUP dump and the Rufus did set FAT32 as the format for the stick this time. My only concern now is that I have to temporarily disconnect the D: drive and my security suite while I try to upgrade the machine. Mind you downloading and loading the stick using that tutorial did take a heck of a long time.
Having said that I am still wondering if I should wait for the official release and the free upgrade vis Windows updates

Kari · Sep 12, 2021

NavyLCDR said:
Most UEFI computers will not boot from an NTFS partition. That would be the only problem.

That is no longer true. I posted this on another thread some time ago:

Kari said:
Some myth busting: Even some distinguished IT pros and experts will tell you that you cannot boot from NTFS formatted install media. Please, believe me, it really is just a myth: nothing in the UEFI specifications prevents NTFS boot. Rather, the issue is that some manufacturers do not add the correct firmware drivers to their systems.

All modern UEFI based devices can be booted from NTFS formatted USB media, subject to firmware containing correct drivers. For instance, all recent HP, Lenovo, Surface and Dell UEFI devices have no issues in booting from a single partition, NTFS formatted USB flash drive. However, it’s important to note that NTFS boot requires Secure Boot be disabled in UEFI settings.

Specifications | Unified Extensible Firmware Interface Forum

uefi.org

Kari

bobkn · Sep 12, 2021

ICIT2LOL said:
Yes Bob got that but I tried the tutorial by Kari using UUP dump and the Rufus did set FAT32 as the format for the stick this time. My only concern now is that I have to temporarily disconnect the D: drive and my security suite while I try to upgrade the machine. Mind you downloading and loading the stick using that tutorial did take a heck of a long time.
Having said that I am still wondering if I should wait for the official release and the free upgrade vis Windows updates

I'm a little surprised that the ISO from uupdump.net had an install.wim that was smaller than 4GB. (Which would be required for Rufus to prepare a FAT32 drive.)

You may wish to disconnect the D: drive for safety, but I have sometimes forgotten to do that. I may have been lucky; didn't get any part of the installation onto my D: drive.

If you're doing an upgrade from Win10 rather than a clean installation, you don't need a USB drive at all. Just mount the ISO using Windows Explorer, and run the upgrade from the (virtual) DVD drive that appears. The ISO could even be on your C: drive.

That said, I was forced to do a clean install. I originally tried to upgrade Win10 using an ISO (version 22000.51) from uupdump.net, but the result was a mess. I have enough experience with clean installs that my Win 11 installation was mostly back to what Win 10 was like (applications and data) in a few hours. (I imaged the Windows 10 OS drive first, of course.)

johnlgalt · Sep 12, 2021

That may explain why my UUP Dump built .ISO took a lot less time even with AIO and ESD.

I just checked the official 22454 Client .ISO from Microsoft, and it is, in deed, .WIM based and the WIM size is 3.93 GB (4,224,104,485 bytes).

Color me shocked.

Kari · Sep 12, 2021

bobkn said:
I'm a little surprised that the ISO from uupdump.net had an install.wim that was smaller than 4GB. (Which would be required for Rufus to prepare a FAT32 drive.)

You really do not need Rufus, or any othe third party tool to create Windows install media. For example, if the WIM is smaller than 4 GB, simply format your USB flash drive as FAT32, mount the ISO, select all files and folders in virtual DVD drive (mounted ISO), and finally copy & paste everything to USB. That's it. You have created a bootable Windows USB install media.

Next topic: there is a logical, understandable reason, why Beta channel (build 22000.xxx) build WIM files are larger than Dev channel WIM files.

Beta channel build upgrades are delivered as Cumulative Updates. That means, that the WIM file is a basic build 22000.1, then Windows Update adds all updates in the latest CU in it. This, as you have noticed, means that the WIM will be larger than 4 GB, and cannot be used on a FAT32 formatted USB flash drive.

The Dev channel WIM, the latest being build 22454.1000, contains "pure" WIndows Setup files, no Cumulative Updates injected / added. About the same size than basic Beta channel build 22000.1 base WIM. Therefore, it is only logical, that at the moment, Dev channel WIM files (and ISO files) are smaller than those from Beta channel.

A bit about the difference in this post of mine in another thread:

Kari said:
Preview apps, in other words test versions of Microsoft Store apps, are and will be offered only for computers which have joined the Windows Insider program. Good examples are the current previews of the Microsoft Store app itself, and preview of new Snipping Tool. You can clean install latest Insider build 22000.132, but you only get those app previews after joining Insider program.

Clean installing dev / beta channel Windows 11 does not reguire computer to be opted in to Insider program. To some extent, you will even get Insider build upgrades without joining Insider program.

Trying to explain that "to some extent": Latest Windows 11 build at the moment of writing this is 22000.132, where 22000 is the main build (version) and 132 is the Service Pack Build. Until now, Windows 11 has got all its upgrades as Cumulative Updates, which only change the Service Pack Build (highlighted yellow in next screenshot). As Windows Update works normally in Windows 11 regardless if the computer has joined Insider program or not, as long as upgrades will be given as Cumulative Updates, you can upgrade your Windows 11:

As soon as the main build / version (green highlight in screenshot) changes, a computer not joined Insider program will no longer get new builds.

Short version: You can use Windows 11 Insider builds without joining the Insider program. However, if you want to get new Windows 11 versions and Store app previews, you must join.

Kari

ICIT2LOL · Sep 12, 2021

Hm, am now getting a little confused about what to do I think I shall wait until the upgrade comes and upgrade from that if that is at all possible. I just don't want to mess up my one and only compatible machine as I really don't want to have to reinstall 10 as it has had to have that done already by the supplier of the computer.

bobkn · Sep 12, 2021

ICIT2LOL said:
Hm, am now getting a little confused about what to do I think I shall wait until the upgrade comes and upgrade from that if that is at all possible. I just don't want to mess up my one and only compatible machine as I really don't want to have to reinstall 10 as it has had to have that done already by the supplier of the computer.

Regardless of your upgrade path, having the ability to image your OS drive is the best insurance. Free software (like the free version of Macrium Reflect) is supposed to work well. You'd have to have a sufficiently large backup drive, though. I use my data HD to hold some drive images, but I also have USB external drives.

ICIT2LOL · Sep 12, 2021

bobkn said:
Regardless of your upgrade path, having the ability to image your OS drive is the best insurance. Free software (like the free version of Macrium Reflect) is supposed to work well. You'd have to have a sufficiently large backup drive, though. I use my data HD to hold some drive images, but I also have USB external drives.

Yes Bob but my main concern or worry is how to disconnect the D: drive without actually taking it out of the machine. I know this subject has been done to death and from what I have read it is either take the drive right out or disable the SATA port in the BIOS or do it through DISKPART so I am just wondering if it is all worth it as I just cannot be without this machine. I am thinking that posting a thread on the subject might land me in hot water with the mods as there probably is a thread already?

ICIT2LOL · Sep 12, 2021

Well Bob I have found in the BIOS a reference to the second D: drive as a second boot device so I have disabled that and in disk management, I have set that drive as offline and am wondering if that might save me taking the drive out of the machine?

How anyone can get Windows 11

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