How to automate Windows installation?

Hey guys,
I would like to know if it is possible to automate the installation of Windows 11! I would like to configure all the steps after booting via USB, until arriving at the desktop, allowing me to choose only the partitions that will be used, so as not to run the risk of formatting the wrong SSD.

I know that software like Nlite is capable of doing this, but as far as I know, if a new ISO comes out (24H2 for example) I would need to redo the entire procedure.
I would like to create some script or file that I could play inside any newly created pendrive, and with that, automate the entire process with the settings I like.

It is possible?

By the way, if it were possible to configure everything through nlite, and then easily migrate these settings to other ISOs when necessary, that would be very interesting too!

Unattended files can partially automate as many install steps, or as little as you want. If you skip the disk layout, WinPE Setup will force you to manually guide it through those steps.

The unattended file hasn't really changed since W10 was released, and the same file can be used for all W10 & 11 editions. 24H2 will be able to reuse the same file. The only difference might be a recommendation for a larger Recovery partition.

rafaelsouzams said:

so as not to run the risk of formatting the wrong SSD

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That's not all you need to worry about. You should always disconnect (or disable if your UEFI bios allows it) all other drives except the system drive during a clean install to avoid the EFI partition getting written to the wrong drive. This can and does happen frequently in spite of which drive you choose to install windows on.
Here's the latest of a number of thread on the forum about it. Windows EFI Partition mixing up boot?

This tutorial shows how to do an unattended install of windows.


Re. tools like ninite, they can be hit or miss depending on how up to date they are.

Win 11 is updating itself every year so an unattended installation will become useless once a year.
If you intend to use it to install Win 11 in many computers there is a better way (make a drive image of a sysprep drive)
If it is custom installation for one person, again a drive image backup will be a better and faster solution.

Megahertz said:

Win 11 is updating itself every year so an unattended installation will become useless once a year.
If you intend to use it to install Win 11 in many computers there is a better way (make a drive image of a sysprep drive)
If it is custom installation for one person, again a drive image backup will be a better and faster solution.

Click to expand...

Not necessarily, mine checks for updates during install and has downloaded a later feature update. If it doesnt have internet during the install then yes it will need to be updated.

cereberus said:

This tutorial shows how to do an unattended install of windows.

Create media for automated unattended install of Windows 10

How to create install media for completely automated unattended install of Windows 10

www.tenforums.com

Re. tools like ninite, they can be hit or miss depending on how up to date they are.

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This is a great tutorial. Ninite is usually good I find but winget is even better