This help article is to describe the following tasks:
- Do a clean Windows 11 installation
- Solving the issue of no hard disk found during initial boot from USB flash drive
- Solving the issue of Installation failing with no code.
Task 1: Take backup of your PC by following the below steps. This is also called creating a recovery drive.
- Click Start Menu, search for “Create a recovery drive”. Click option “Create a recovery drive”.
- Insert an empty USB flash drive of minimum 16GB in your PC.
- Tick “Back up system files to the recovery drive”, click Next and follow the prompts to complete the recovery drive.
Task 2:
- Download Windows 11 Disk Image (ISO) for x64 devices from this page.
- Select “Windows 11 (multi-edition ISO for x64 devices).
Task 3:
- To burn the downloaded ISO file in Task 2, you need to install Rufus utility tool to create a bootable USB Flash drive.
You can download the Rufus utility from Rufus site. Follow the steps as below.
- Get a minimum 8GB USB flash drive and insert into your PC.
- Run the Rufus utility executable file downloaded earlier.
- Tool will automatically detect and display the USB flash drive as shown below.
- Click “Select” and browse to the folder location where you have saved the Windows 11 ISO file. Select the .iso file.
- Make sure the fields are filled as per below snapshot. Click “START“
- Ensure the first two options (remove requirement for 4GB+ RAM, Secure Boot, and TPM 2.0 and remove requirement for an online Microsoft account) are ticked. Click “OK”
- Acknowledge all data will be destroyed warning and click “OK”.
Task 4: Confirm your PC’s Processor (CPU) Generation. If it is Intel’s 10 or 11 Generation, your hard drive might not get detected during first boot using USB flash drive we have made in Task 3.
You need to follow this article and follow below steps:
- Download the IRST (Intel Rapid Storage Technology) driver executable file (SetupRST.exe) from above article.
- Click Readme Text File on the right of above article page.
- Go to section 6.3 to extract driver files from SetupRST.exe to folder “SetupRST_extracted”. Those steps are mentioned here for reference as well.
6.3 Pre-Installation of INTEL(R) RST driver using the “Load Driver” Method.
- To extract driver files from SetupRST.exe, open terminal in the directory with SetupRST.exe by right-clicking the directory in which SetupRST.exe is saved
- select “Open in Terminal” or “Open PowerShell here”
- Enter the following command
./SetupRST.exe -extractdrivers SetupRST_extracted- Copy folder SetupRST-extracted to bootable USB flash drive.
- During the Windows 11 installation, after selecting the location to install Windows, click ‘Load Driver’ to install a third-party SCSI or RAID driver
- When prompted, insert the USB media and press Enter.
- Follow the prompts and browse to the location of the installation files. Select the VMD folder which is ususally containing the appropriate ‘.inf’ file (64 or 32 bit). If a supported controller is detected there will be no error message. Follow prompts to continue and complete the installation.
Task 5: Copy SetupRST_extracted folder to the root folder of Bootable USB we have made in Task 3.
Task 6: Install Windows 11
- Shut down (power off) the PC. Insert Bootable USB and restart the PC
- Press F2 repeatedly till you enter BIOS mode.
- Go to Boot Menu. We need to change the Boot Priority Order to make USB HDD first to boot from.
- Press F10 to save changes and Exit.
- PC will reboot and this time it will boot from the bootable USB flash drive.
- You should be seeing the Windows 11 Setup screen.
Note: if you are using a laptop PC, your mouse pad will not be working. So, attach an external mouse or use keyboard to navigate.
Select each drive one by one and click Delete
Select the Unallocated Space and click Next
Windows Out of the Box Experience Starts from here
Key Steps to do after Installation
- Connect to Wifi / LAN
- Manually run the Windows Update. Start–>Settings–>Windows Update–>Click “Check for Updates”
Do not click on individual updates (Drivers and Windows Updates) as they will be downloaded and installed automatically. Just leave your PC running. Go grab a bite. You deserve a break 🙂
