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Fresh installation of Windows

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Pratyaksh Mehrotra edited this page Sep 12, 2021 · 17 revisions

This document is a newbie-level tutorial to show installation of the latest retail version of Windows.

Prequisites

  • A USB flash drive (8GB or more)
  • Internet connection (unmetered is recommended)
  • Rufus (to flash the ISO onto the USB drive)

Notes

  • We are going to install Windows Pro edition in the Retail channel, to avoid installation of OEM bloatware.
  • Some laptops default to installing the Windows edition they initially shipped with. We override this forced default behaviour that does not provide user choice.
  • This tutorial also involves usage of WinRice to set up Windows after the installation.

Backup

Libraries (Pictures, Videos, Downloads, etc.)

Create a backup of all your libaries. The "Libraries" include contents of the Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures and Videos folders. The best way to do this is to move the location of these folders into a partition other than C: drive:

  1. Open File Explorer.
  2. On the sidebar, right click on Desktop, go to Properties > Location and tap on Move button. Choose a location outside of C: partition, and select Select folder button to move all the files.
  3. Repeat this procedure for Documents, Downloads, Music, Pictures and Videos folder.

Apps

  1. Open Run dialog (Win+R), type ms-settings:appsfeatures and press Enter to open list of installed apps.

  2. Open Notepad, take note of each app name seperated by a new line.
    Notes:
    - Do NOT use any formatting, numbering or bulletting in the list. Just the plain app names, each seperated by a new line.
    - Curate your list by removing apps that you do not want to install on your fresh installation (this list will be used to re-install these apps after you fresh install Windows using a feature in WinRice called Winstall).

  3. Once you're done creating the list, save it into a partition other than C:.

Others

  1. Ensure that you remember your passwords that are currently in use, inside your browser or overall in the OS.

Creation of USB bootable media

Install Rufus

Rufus is a utility that helps format and create bootable USB flash drives.
The most preferred way of getting Rufus is through the Microsoft Store. If Microsoft Store is inaccessible, get Rufus from its official website.

Download Windows retail ISOs

There are multiple methods to download Windows retail ISOs.

Notes

  • The Microsoft method (#2) downloads a tightly compressed ISO file which comes in typically at around 4 gigabytes. The Fido method (#1) downloads a losely compressed BUT easily modifyable ISO file typically at around 6 gigabytes.
  • The Fido method (#1) ALSO downloads original ISOs from Microsoft servers, its just a simpler, faster and better way - hence the Fido method is strongly recommended.

Method 1: Get it from Microsoft using Fido (simpler)

In this method, we will use pbatard's Fido to skip through all of the hoops of Media creation tool and download the ISO directly from Microsoft using a simpler way.

  1. Get the latest GitHub release of Fido: Tap here

  2. Go to your Downloads folder, right click on Fido.ps1.lzma and extract its contents.

  3. Open the folder with its content, and then copy its folder path.

  4. Open Windows PowerShell (Admin) from the Win+X menu. Type ``cd . Example: If the path I copied is C:\Users\WinRice\Downloads\Fido.ps1, I will input cd C:\Users\WinRice\Downloads\Fido.ps1 into PowerShell.

  5. Once you're in that folder, type ls to view its contents to ensure that the file `Fido.ps1`` exists in the directory.

  6. Type .\Fido.ps1 to launch the script.

  7. Next, go through the steps it shows - its a fairly simple program.
    Note: Ensure that you download an ISO that in the supported OS versions list. The supported builds are usually the latest retail and preview channel builds.

  8. Once the ISO is downloaded, we will go to the next step of making a bootable media.

Method 2: Get it from Microsoft (complicated)

  1. Visit Download Windows 10.

  2. Under Create Windows 10 installation media, select Download tool now.

  3. This will download Media Creation Tool which is then used to download the Windows ISO.

  4. Launch the Media Creation Tool.

  5. On initial start, it will show up the Notices and license terms, go ahead - read and agree with the terms by tapping on Accept.

  6. Next, choose the option Create installation media (USB flash Drive, DVD or ISO) for another PC.

  7. On the next page, it will show configuration for the ISO. Configure the settings according to your needs and proceed further.

  8. On the page "Choose which media to use", choose the ISO file option and proceed further.

  9. Lastly, it will ask you to choose a location to save the ISO file. Choose the location and go ahead, then wait for the download to finish.

Flashing USB drive with the ISO

  1. Connect a USB drive to your PC and launch Rufus.

  2. Select the USB drive, then select the downloaded ISO file.

  3. Verify what the Partition scheme is set to. To check your disk partition scheme, go to Win+X > Disk Management, then check properties of the disk you will install Windows on. If the disk is using GUID Partition Table (GPT) scheme, go ahead with GPT Partition scheme in Rufus, or else the only other option is Master Boot Record (MBR) scheme.

    • Note: Unless you're running legacy hardware, your disk partition scheme shall be GPT.

  4. Once all configuration is checked in Rufus, click on START to start flashing the ISO file onto your USB drive.

Telling Windows Setup to install Pro edition in Retail channel

  1. Open Notepad, then type the copy paste the following text onto it:
[EditionID]
Professional
[Channel]
Retail

This tells Windows Setup to install Professional edition in Retail channel.
TL;DR: Retail channel is Microsoft's vanilla Windows servicing channel, and it does not ship OEM's inbox apps. If you want to include OEM's inbox apps, change the value of [Channel] from Retail to OEM.

  1. Once configured, save the file as ei.cfg into your USB bootable's medium's sources folder.
    Instance: if my USB drive's disk letter is E:, I will save the file ei.cfg into E:\sources folder.

  2. Once this is done, Windows Setup will default to installing Windows Pro edition in Retail channel, hence overriding forced defaults placed by OEMs.

  3. After completing this section, we go to pre-boot environment and configure it to boot to our USB disk.

Booting into the USB bootable disk

  1. Go to Settings > Windows Update > Recovery. Under Advanced startup, click on Restart now.
  2. Click on Troubleshoot option.
  3. Click on Advanced options option.
  4. Click on UEFI Firmware Settings option.
  5. Click on Restart - this will now boot into firmware settings.
  6. Go to Boot section, and boot to your USB disk.

Installing Windows

  1. When the Windows Setup screen shows up, click on Install now.

  2. If you're doing a re-clean installation, click the I don't have a product key option to continue and have your PC reactivated later. Or else, if you have a product key, input it and click on Next.

  3. Click on Custom: Install Windows only (advanced) option.

  4. Configure your disks and partitions, select an install partition, then click on Next.

  5. Windows installation will now begin. The installation takes around 1-3 minutes. Once its done, Windows Setup will automatically restart your PC. Once you're at the motherboard screen, disconnect your USB disk.

Initial cold boot

  1. Once rebooted, the OOBE (out-of-box-experience) will take a minute or two to show up while the OS wakes up from initial cold boot.

  2. On the OOBE, setup your OS as you want. Its recommended you leave alone all the privacy settings to default, since WinRice will configure all of it later on and save you a bunch of time.
    Notes:

  • This probably sounds like an advertisement but its strongly recommended to setup your PC with your Microsoft account to save yourself time and gain access to more Windows features.

Setting up apps and policies

  1. Go to Microsoft Store and update your apps.

  2. Go to Settings > Windows Update and install any available updates to ensure your device is up to date.

  3. Once app and system updates are done, launch Notepad and list apps that you want to install. For example, if you want to install Mozilla Firefox, Visual Studio Code, and SumatraPDF, this is what I will write:

Firefox
Visual Studio Code
SumatraPDF

As seen in the above instance, each app name is seperated by a new line. Use this syntax to create your own list of apps you will install, and WinRice will do the rest for you: You do not need to visit numerous app download websites and go through hundreds of confusing download buttons!
This is the Winstall feature in WinRice. You can read more about it: winstall doc.

  1. Use Win+R to open Run dialog, then write the following and press Enter: https://github.com/pratyakshm/WinRice.

  2. Run WinRice, which installs your apps, uninstalls unused apps, sets up privacy policies, Windows Update policies, and much more - to make your user experience better.

  3. After all of this is done, restart your device - this is extremely important to make sure no pending restarts are left and all drivers are working in their normal state.

Conclusion

This tutorial covered installation of vanilla/original Windows Pro edition on a device and setting it up properly.

Related

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