Installing Windows 11 step by step

1. Step 1 of 5

   Preparing the USB installer

   20 minTools needed: A USB stick of at least 8 GB, A second computer with internet access

   The USB stick will be wiped, so move anything you want to keep off it first. 8 GB is the minimum, but 16 GB is more comfortable — it leaves room for drivers alongside the image.

   The simplest route is the Media Creation Tool from Microsoft: it downloads the image and writes it to the stick in one go. Choose the option to create media for another PC rather than upgrading the machine you are working on.

   The alternative worth knowing: download the ISO on its own and write it with Rufus. Rufus offers something the official tool does not — when writing Windows 11 it will offer to remove the TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot requirements and to skip the mandatory Microsoft account sign-in. If you have older hardware or want a local account, this is the easier path.

   Writing takes anywhere from a few to fifteen minutes. Once it finishes you can move the stick straight to the new machine — there is no need to eject it safely, because nothing more is being written.

2. Step 2 of 5

   BIOS settings before installing

   10 min

   Enter the BIOS with Delete or F2 immediately after powering on. Before changing anything else, enable the memory profile — EXPO on AMD boards, XMP on Intel — because without it the memory runs at its base frequency, well below the figure on the box.

   Windows 11 requires two things that are often disabled by default on a new board. The first is TPM: on AMD boards it is called fTPM or AMD fTPM, on Intel boards PTT or Intel Platform Trust Technology. The second is Secure Boot, usually under Boot or Security.

   Also set the boot mode to UEFI with no CSM or Legacy compatibility mode. Windows 11 installs only in UEFI mode, and leaving CSM enabled can stop the installer seeing the USB stick at all.

   Finally, either put the USB stick first in the boot order or — more conveniently — save your settings and press the boot menu key on the next start, usually F8, F11 or F12. A one-time menu leaves the permanent configuration alone, so there is nothing to undo after installing.

3. Step 3 of 5

   Partitioning the drive

   10 min

   After booting from the stick, choose the language and keyboard layout and start the installation. When it asks for a product key you can skip it — Windows installs and runs without activation, the limitation amounting to no appearance personalisation and a watermark in the corner.

   Choose the custom installation, not the upgrade. An upgrade only makes sense when the drive already holds an older Windows you want to keep along with its files.

   On a new, empty drive, select the unallocated space and click Next. The installer creates the partitions it needs on its own: the EFI system partition, the reserved MSR partition, the main Windows partition and a recovery partition. None of it needs setting manually.

   If the drive has been used before, delete every partition on that one drive until a single continuous block of unallocated space remains. Leftover partitions from a previous installation are the most common cause of strange boot problems later.

   On splitting into C and D: with a single NVMe drive this usually serves no purpose. The habit comes from separating system and data, but at current capacities it typically ends with one partition full while the other sits half empty. If you want data separated, a second physical drive is the better answer.

4. Step 4 of 5

   First-run setup and a local account

   10 min

   After the files are copied the machine restarts several times. When the welcome screen appears, remove the USB stick — otherwise the machine may boot back into the installer.

   Windows 11 Home insists on a Microsoft account and does not offer a local account outright. If you prefer a local account, disconnect the network cable at the sign-in screen and do not join a Wi-Fi network — after a moment the option to create an account without signing in appears.

   When that does not work, there is a reliable alternative: at the network screen press Shift plus F10 to open a command prompt, type OOBE\BYPASSNRO and confirm. The machine restarts and the "I do not have internet" option appears.

   On the following screens Windows asks about privacy settings: location, diagnostic data, activity-based advertising. Every one of them can be switched off without breaking anything. These screens are worth a minute of attention rather than clicking through, because changing them later means visiting a dozen separate places in Settings.

5. Step 5 of 5

   The first tidy-up afterwards

   15 min

   Before installing anything else, run Windows Update and keep going until it stops offering things — usually two or three rounds with restarts. Windows pulls basic drivers along the way, which gets networking and audio working.

   Check activation under Settings, System, Activation. If the board carries an embedded OEM key, or you signed in with a Microsoft account tied to a previous digital licence, Windows activates itself.

   Confirm the memory is running at its rated speed: open Task Manager, the Performance tab, then Memory. If you see the base frequency rather than the rated one, the EXPO or XMP profile was not enabled in the BIOS.

   Check too that the system sees the whole drive and is running it in NVMe mode. Disk Management shows the full capacity, and CrystalDiskInfo confirms the transfer mode and drive health.

   Only now move on to the manufacturer drivers — that is a separate topic covered in the related guide, and the order matters there.

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