Still by far the quickest way of installing Windows from scratch without fuss

Wynona · Feb 20, 2023

Winuser said:
If I have to do a clean install, I'm going to cheat and use Rufus.

Absotively, posilutely, @Winuser! The fastest installation is the way I know . . . I don't have to learn anything else!

pparks1 · Feb 20, 2023

Winuser said:
If I have to do a clean install, I'm going to cheat and use Rufus.

what advantage to you get from rufus? Is it the bypassing the hardware requirements only? Any other benefit.?

cereberus · Feb 20, 2023

pparks1 said:
what advantage to you get from rufus? Is it the bypassing the hardware requirements only? Any other benefit.?

It does handle iso with install.wim > 4GB. I have a simple batch file that does that. Rufus is overrated imo.

Bypassing hardware is easy - just replace install wim on a windows 10 installer with a windows 11 install wim.

jimbo45 · Feb 20, 2023

cereberus said:
It does handle iso with install.wim > 4GB. I have a simple batch file that does that. Rufus is overrated imo.

Bypassing hardware is easy - just replace install wim on a windows 10 installer with a windows 11 install wim.

I tested a Rufus install --*V21" with all the "Bypass" stuff -- I still got the same OOBE stuff as a "Normal" or even a Dism /Aply Image install at ist boot after the base install completed.

I still found one needed Internet -- and the only way to get a local account was to use the well known standby Email addr "nobody@nobody.com", pw - "Bo--llocks" or whatever --then you get "OOps -- something went wrong and you can hit the NEXT button and setup will continue with a local account.

This was on installing W11 pro ver 25300

Cheers
jimbo

pparks1 · Feb 20, 2023

jimbo45 said:
I still found one needed Internet -- and the only way to get a local account was to use the well known standby Email addr "nobody@nobody.com", pw - "Bo--llocks" or whatever --then you get "OOps -- something went wrong and you can hit the NEXT button and setup will continue with a local account.

This was on installing W11 pro ver 25300

Cheers
jimbo

this is always the method i have used to bypass the need for a microsoft account to use a local account instead.

Winuser · Feb 20, 2023

pparks1 said:
what advantage to you get from rufus? Is it the bypassing the hardware requirements only? Any other benefit.?

My computers all meet the requirements. I would use Rufus mainly to get around the need to use my MS account.

pparks1 · Feb 20, 2023

Winuser said:
My computers all meet the requirements. I would use Rufus mainly to get around the need to use my MS account.

Or, hit Shift-F7 during install, type oobe /bypassnro.

Or, enter in a bogus email, with a bogus password and it will say "oops, something went wrong", and then lets you create a local account.

NavyLCDR · Feb 21, 2023

Using RUFUS is a personal choice. If it works for you, go for it! If you would rather use Windows built-in commands, go for it! I don't like to use a third-party program to do anything that I can easily do using built-in Windows commands. Other people don't want to learn the command line way of doing things so to them downloading and installing a third-party program which is a GUI to the Windows commands is their preferred method. The only thing I have seen with Rufus is that people will select the wrong parameters in the menus and end up with a flash drive that does not do what they want it to do.

Heck, I've even seen a person on the forums who felt the need to install Mini-Tool Partition Wizard Free to extend a partition when all they had to do was open disk management and right click on the partition and select Extend!

Scott · Feb 21, 2023

NavyLCDR said:
Heck, I've even seen a person on the forums who felt the need to install Mini-Tool Partition Wizard Free to extend a partition when all they had to do was open disk management and right click on the partition and select Extend!

True, but if the partition you wish to extend is non-contiguous Disk Management is useless. That's where MiniTool Partition Wizard Free comes in handy as it can move partitions.

I'm willing to bet you know a command that could move a partition.

Ghot · Feb 21, 2023

The quickest way...

Winuser · Feb 21, 2023

NavyLCDR said:
Using RUFUS is a personal choice. If it works for you, go for it! If you would rather use Windows built-in commands, go for it! I don't like to use a third-party program to do anything that I can easily do using built-in Windows commands.

I very rarely do clean install so for me using Rufus is the easiest way. The last time I did a clean install was on my old desktop. For some reason it kept failing to update to the newest Insider Dev Builds. Even rolling back to previous builds didn't work. The one downside was that I lost all of my free software of the day programs.

johnlgalt · Feb 21, 2023

BrianInEngland said:
Windows Setup files on an M.2 drive, boot from that and get the OOBE in under 3 minutes

johnlgalt said:
From start to finish on my desktop (local, not VM), installation, including cleaning the drive in diskpart, takes just a few minutes.

This is installation from a USB 3 drive. It works perfectly fine.

Wynona · Feb 21, 2023

@NavyLCDR I agree, what works best is what one should use. It's too bad that some try to convince us our choice is totally wrong, when it's what works best for us.

I've used Rufus for years and years. I've never had a failure with it . . . If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it!

BTW, I've also been known to use Partition Wizard. As I learn more and more about Windows 11, I find new ways to do things. When I feel like I'm competent with a new way, and feel that it's more useful, I can always change my ways.

pparks1 · Feb 21, 2023

Wynona said:
@NavyLCDR I agree, what works best is what one should use. It's too bad that some try to convince us our choice is totally wrong, when it's what works best for us.

Sometimes I think people misunderstand the questioning of why somebody is doing something. In my case, I wasn't saying anybody was wrong, but I was just curious that somebody said, if they had to clean install they would just cheat and use Rufus. So, my questions were around why Rufus was better and what it accomplished for them. Was just making sure that i wasn't missing out on some key feature that would have made things better for me.

Wynona · Feb 22, 2023

pparks1 said:
Sometimes I think people misunderstand the questioning of why somebody is doing something. In my case, I wasn't saying anybody was wrong, but I was just curious that somebody said, if they had to clean install they would just cheat and use Rufus. So, my questions were around why Rufus was better and what it accomplished for them. Was just making sure that i wasn't missing out on some key feature that would have made things better for me.

And I wasn't pointing fingers at any one person.

I know those of you who do their dead level best to help the ones who need help. Asking questions is quite necessary in some cases; in fact, I've learned from some of the questions asked.

I started out with Rufus, and it's what I'm most comfortable with; however, with Windows 10 and 11, it started to get more complicated. I wouldn't call using Rufus cheating; it's just easier to use.

For someone with your skill level, I'd say Rufus is over simplified.

johnlgalt · Feb 23, 2023

I've used Rufus often enough to take an .ISO and throw it onto a USB drive for installation purposes. 99% of the time, though, I've not used Rufus' ability to bypass anything as I do that on my own, and I have no need for hardware bypass as my systems are compliant.

So Rufus serves many, many purposes, the most of which I personally do not employ - but the .ISO to USB stick is one I still use to this day when I need to.

pparks1 said:
Sometimes I think people misunderstand the questioning of why somebody is doing something. In my case, I wasn't saying anybody was wrong, but I was just curious that somebody said, if they had to clean install they would just cheat and use Rufus. So, my questions were around why Rufus was better and what it accomplished for them. Was just making sure that i wasn't missing out on some key feature that would have made things better for me.

One of the things it is good at is allowing you to build a multi-system boot USB, which can be used to boot on both UEFI and BIOS systems. Another thing is it can scan the USB drive that you're about to put an .ISO on and verify that it is OK to use (and mark bad sectors automatically, helping to reduce a chance of installation failure due to corrupt installation media).

It's not just for bypassing hardware and security checks, although that is probably what it is most famous for more recently. It's not the only way to make a USB from an .ISO, indeed, and I'd never say it is the best way - but it is pretty convenient in all of the features that it provides for a Windows user to make a bootable USB drive for installations.