What is the proper ei.cfg entry for Windows 11?


Spartan

Spartan

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I see different stuff all over the web. What is the exact text to enter for the ei.cfg file to be able to install any edition (RETAIL not Volume License)?

Also, when installing if I select don't have a product key, I only see home, education, and pro but not Pro for Workstations.


What gives?
 

My Computers

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  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
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  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
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    Dell XPS 15 9500
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    Intel i7-10875H
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    Google Chrome
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    Avast Free Antivirus
I use the following:
[Channel]
Retail

Works to give you the menu choice of which version (Home/ Pro/ Education etc.) to use on clean installs, regardless of BIOS embedded keys, using the MS USB/ DVD creation tool.
There might be others depending on what you want to achieve.
Pro for Workstations is a separate purchase.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro 22H2, build: 22621.521
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Scan 3XS Custom 1700
    CPU
    Intel i7-12700K 3.6GHz Base (5.0GHz Turbo)
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    Asus ProArt Creator B660 D4
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    64GB DDR 3600Mhz
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    Asus Tuff RTX 3080 10GB OC
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    Gigabyte G32QC 32inch 16:9 curved @2560 x 1440p 165Hz Freesync Premium Pro/ Dell SE2422H 24inch 16:9 1920 x 1080p 75Hz Freesync
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    WD SN570 1TB NVME (Boot), Samsung 870QVO 1TB (SSD), SanDisk 3D Ultra 500Gb (SSD) x2, Seagate 3Tb Expansion Desk (Ext HDD), 2x Toshiba 1Tb P300 (Ext HDD)
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    Corsair RM1000X Modular
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    Corsair 4000D Airflow Desktop
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    Edge Chromium
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    Defender, Malwarebytes
Spartan said:
when installing if I select don't have a product key, I only see home, education, and pro but not Pro for Workstations.
Click to expand...
That would be the case if you used the MCT to make an ISO with an install.esd. If you use the option at Download Windows 11 to download the ISO direct you get an install.wim that has four more editions, including Pro Education and Pro Workstation.


W11-esd-editions.jpgW11-wim-editions.jpg

www.tenforums.com

See Full Details about a Windows 10 ISO file or USB

How to See Full Details about a Windows 10 ISO file or USB
www.tenforums.com www.tenforums.com
 

My Computers

System One System Two

  • OS
    Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Acer Aspire 3 A315-23
    CPU
    AMD Athlon Silver 3050U
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radeon Graphics
    Monitor(s) Displays
    laptop screen
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768 native resolution, up to 2560x1440 with Radeon Virtual Super Resolution
    Hard Drives
    1TB Samsung EVO 870 SSD
    Internet Speed
    50 Mbps
    Browser
    Edge, Firefox
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    fully 'Windows 11 ready' laptop. Windows 10 C: partition migrated from my old unsupported 'main machine' then upgraded to 11. A test migration ran Insider builds for 2 months. When 11 was released on 5th October it was re-imaged back to 10 and was offered the upgrade in Windows Update on 20th October. Windows Update offered the 22H2 Feature Update on 20th September 2022. It got the 23H2 Feature Update on 4th November 2023 through Windows Update.

    My SYSTEM THREE is a Dell Latitude 5410, i7-10610U, 32GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro (and all my Hyper-V VMs).

    My SYSTEM FOUR is a 2-in-1 convertible Lenovo Yoga 11e 20DA, Celeron N2930, 8GB RAM, 256GB ssd. Unsupported device: currently running Win10 Pro, plus Win11 Pro RTM and Insider Beta as native boot vhdx.

    My SYSTEM FIVE is a Dell Latitude 3190 2-in-1, Pentium Silver N5030, 4GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro, plus the Insider Beta, Dev, Canary, and Release Preview builds as a native boot .vhdx.
  • Operating System
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Lattitude E4310
    CPU
    Intel® Core™ i5-520M
    Motherboard
    0T6M8G
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    8GB
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    (integrated graphics) Intel HD Graphics
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    1366x768
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    500GB Crucial MX500 SSD
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    Firefox, Edge
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    Other Info
    unsupported machine: Legacy bios, MBR, TPM 1.2, upgraded from W10 to W11 using W10/W11 hybrid install media workaround. In-place upgrade to 22H2 using ISO and a workaround. Feature Update to 23H2 by manually installing the Enablement Package. Also running Insider Beta, Dev, and Canary builds as a native boot .vhdx.

    My SYSTEM THREE is a Dell Latitude 5410, i7-10610U, 32GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro (and all my Hyper-V VMs).

    My SYSTEM FOUR is a 2-in-1 convertible Lenovo Yoga 11e 20DA, Celeron N2930, 8GB RAM, 256GB ssd. Unsupported device: currently running Win10 Pro, plus Win11 Pro RTM and Insider Beta as native boot vhdx.

    My SYSTEM FIVE is a Dell Latitude 3190 2-in-1, Pentium Silver N5030, 4GB RAM, 512GB NVMe ssd, supported device running Windows 11 Pro, plus the Insider Beta, Dev, Canary, and Release Preview builds as a native boot .vhdx.
This is all you need

Code: 
[Channel]
Retail
 

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    Windows 10 Pro + others in VHDs
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    Laptop
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    ASUS Vivobook 14
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    I7
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    Yep, Laptop has one.
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    16 GB
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    Integrated Intel Iris XE
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    Realtek built in
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    N/A
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080
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    1 TB Optane NVME SSD, 1 TB NVME SSD
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    Yep, got one
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    Yep, got one
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    Stella Artois
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    Built in
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    Bluetooth , wired
    Internet Speed
    72 Mb/s :-(
    Browser
    Edge mostly
    Antivirus
    Defender
    Other Info
    TPM 2.0
I use this

[Channel]
_Default
[VL]
0
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Asus Vivobook K6502VU
    CPU
    Intel i9 13900H
    Memory
    24GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Iris Xe, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050
    Sound Card
    Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Asus Splendid OLED
    Screen Resolution
    2880x1620 HDR
    Hard Drives
    Samsung 990 Pro NVMe MZ-V9P1T0B/AM,
    Samsung 990 Pro NVMe MZ-V9P2T0B/AM
    Internet Speed
    5G ~ 1Gbps, Wifi 150Mbps
    Browser
    Chrome/Edge
    Antivirus
    McAfee LiveSafe
rockyanexp said:
I use this

[Channel]
_Default
[VL]
0
Click to expand...
That does not work anymore with Build 26080 multi edition ISO. It just does not prompt anymore for edition selection during clean install.

It still works fine with 23H2 Build 22631.2861. Why did they change it in Build 26080?
Here is the menu I get with 22631.2861 simply using that
ei.cfg

[Channel]
_Default
[VL]
0

Here it is with Build 22631.2861 created with MCT, just adding the above ei.cfg in the Sources folder. What and why did they change in 26080?
1715585117669.png

Looks to me that when they recently modified the oobe setup for Dev and Canary they lost the edition selection menu and reverted to an old logic that requires both files EI.cfg and PID.txt to select the edition to be installed instead of the one that came with the PC.

The Windows Insider Program

Be the first to see what's next for Windows in the Windows Insider Program. Join the community, provide feedback to help make Windows even better.
aka.ms
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo Yoga 920
    CPU
    Intel I7-8550U
    Motherboard
    n/a
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Graphics UHD 620
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio (SST)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    4k Touch screen
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512GB NVMe

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo Yoga 920
    CPU
    Intel I7-8550U
    Motherboard
    n/a
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Graphics UHD 620
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio (SST)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    4k Touch screen
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512GB NVMe
fg2001gf11F said:
They may have an answer here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Windows11/comments/17e1ryj/whats_the_difference_between_windows_11_pro
www.intel.com

Windows 11 Education Operating System and Devices – Intel

An overview of Windows 11 Education operating systems and features, including security, productivity, personalized learning, and accessibility.
www.intel.com www.intel.com

​

Click to expand...
Forget Reddit

Actually other than "Change license" within Ms - the best way IMO is to download from UUPDUMP the relevant windows build you want and then include extra editions in the prompt.to be included in the iso.

Then when running the install you will get prompted for the edition you want to install. If using dism /Apply-Image select the appropriate edition via index=<n>

Cheers
jimbo
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows XP,7,10,11 Linux Arch Linux
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    2 X Intel i7
jimbo45 said:
Forget Reddit

Actually other than "Change license" within Ms - the best way IMO is to download from UUPDUMP the relevant windows build you want and then include extra editions in the prompt.to be included in the iso.

Then when running the install you will get prompted for the edition you want to install. If using dism /Apply-Image select the appropriate edition via index=<n>

Cheers
jimbo
Click to expand...
The question asked by dacrone was simply:
What is the difference between Windows 11 Education and Windows 11 Education Pro.
Nothing to do with uupdump. 😂🤷‍♂️
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo Yoga 920
    CPU
    Intel I7-8550U
    Motherboard
    n/a
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Graphics UHD 620
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio (SST)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    4k Touch screen
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512GB NVMe
😂 so just a newer con by Microsoft to hustle more money out of people via bloating education edition with garbage and labeling it ed pro so they can charge you to “upgrade” to education and get no actual new features. Got it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
Here is an example with Build 26080 for installing Windows 11 Pro for Workstations on a machine that came with standard Pro.
I also repeated the same test with Canary Build 26212.5000 multi edition ISO created from uupdump.
As I suspected, I got exactly the same behavior. No way to get the edition selection menu during setup. 😝🤐🤷‍♂️
Had to use both files to install a specific edition.

1) EI.cfg

[EditionID]
Pro for Workstations
[Channel]
_Default
[VL]
0

2) PID.txt

[PID]
Value=DXG7C-N36C4-C4HTG-X4T3X-2YV77

(Note that the PID in this case is a generic key for Pro for Workstations).
Again, there is no edition selection menu. The edition is selected with the 2 files above saved in the Sources folder. 😎

1715631388294.png
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    Laptop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Lenovo Yoga 920
    CPU
    Intel I7-8550U
    Motherboard
    n/a
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel Graphics UHD 620
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition Audio (SST)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    4k Touch screen
    Screen Resolution
    3480 x 2160
    Hard Drives
    512GB NVMe
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