Win11 install to new laptop: some questions

@Hazel123 thanks, will keep this in mind. This however is a 100% fresh install.
@idgat will look into the Snappy Driver Origin thing. Sounds interesting!
@hsehestedt I see where you’re coming from and I think you are right, there’s no one way to accomplish this. Installimg multiple fresh Windows per day makes the task way more of a routine than it will be for me. I do like to venture in new territory btw.

Thanks all!

Dism has a command to extract and save drivers so you can reinstall latter.

I see two options to have Win 11 pro on your laptop
1) Just change the license with a Pro and after a reboot it will be with Win 11 pro.
If you bought a Retail it is simple as that.
- If you bought a OEM license, you need to do in two steps.
A) Change the key to a Generic Win 11 key VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T
After a restart It will make the change from Home to Pro but won't activate.
B) Reboot and change the key with the one you bought. It will activate.
This is the fastest way to upgrade but you will have all the bloatware of an OEM installation

2) Boot from a Win 11 USB drive and do a clean install so you won't have the OEM bloatware
As it's a OEM laptop, it may have special devices that require special drivers so you MUST backup the drivers as I mentioned on my previous post before you try any installation.
Also, as it is a Intel computer, you may need the IRST drives during installation.
Intel doesn't provide IRST drives as *.sys, * .ini, *. cat etc. It provides a installation file (*.exe) and you need to extract the drivers from it
Another option is to use from the drivers backup you create from the current installation. It will be one of many on the drivers you backed up.

Thank you Megahertz, for your additions to the thread, useful indeed.

Ok, so I got Win11 Pro 24H2 installed, no internet connection yet. Now I want to to make a Macrium image from ‘outside’ Windows (booting Macrium from a bootdisk), the most basic image right after a fresh install.

Configuring Rufus I did not select ‘don’t use Bitlocker’ (or something like that). Didn’t give it much thought. It now appears the ssd is encrypted by Bitlocker (hadn’t noticed, apparently I have no idea how Bitlocker works or appears). I do want to use Bitlocker (which is why I bought the Pro license), but I thought I’d configure it later on.

Anyways, I cannot get Macrium 7.3 free to create an image (other operations like partitioning the drive with another software package also failed). I can select disks, but I cannot proceed. My question: has this to do with Bitlocker (a question probably easily answerable by people who know what they are talking about)?

Thanks in advance once again, kind regards, Kan

Since you are trying to use Macrium Reflect outside of Windows, you need to unlock the BitLocker volume.

Normally, when you are backing up from within Windows the drive is already unlocked and so the OS hands unencrypted data to Reflect. But in your scenario, you would need to run "manage-bde" to unlock the drive.

Have you already tried this?

Nope, never heard of! What kind of package or command is it?

From the explorer on Hiren’s Boot CD (from which I ran Macrium Reflect) I was able to see what is on the C:\ drive. That would be impossible if the ssd were truly encrypted, no?

Thanks hsehestedt!

Kan Lang said:

From the explorer on Hiren’s Boot CD (from which I ran Macrium Reflect) I was able to see what is on the C:\ drive.

Click to expand...

A good point. If you can see the contents, then that is all you need. Bitlocker is either not activated on that machine, or something was already done to unlock it (not familiar with Hiren's so I can't comment further).

Tell me a little bit more about precisely what is happening. You noted that in Reflect you can select the disk to image, but that you cannot go further. Is Reflect giving you any sort of error or what exactly is happening after you select the drive to be imaged?

Check if your drive is encrypted

Drive encryption isn't a full encryption. Only if you boot from a USB drive, some data isn't read able.
The Macrium rescue drive can be set with the Bitlocker key to open the drive so you can build the images.

Attention: The device encryption key is stored on TPM. Some TPMs are implemented on the CPU and the key is stored (hidden) on BIOS.
It's very important that you disable all types of encryption before you upgrade your BIOS or you may be unable to use your drive without cleaning the drive (and loose everything).
Encryption is a tool with two edges. A little mistake and your drive is unreadable. To use any sort of encryption you MUST have a non encrypted backup, stored on a safe place and periodically updated.