How to Install Windows 11 from USB via CMD
According to Microsoft's official announcement, Windows users can free upgrade to Windows 11 from their Windows OS. However, some computers can’t directly upgrade to Windows 11 because they can’t reach the minimum requirements of the upgrade like GPT disk or TPM 2.0. So, people might need to install Windows 11 from USB.
The other spot is that some users wish to fresh install Windows 11 on another computer. No matter which situation you’re in, creating Windows 11 bootable USB is a nice choice for these two.
But, nice doesn’t mean easy. Creating Windows 11 bootable USB is a little challenging for many users, especially if you want to use CMD to create it. Thus, we make a clear tutorial to help you finish it, let’s do it!
How to install Windows 11 from USB?
Before we start, you’ll need to: Prepare a USB with at least 8GB and make sure it’s OK to be wiped all data on it.
1. Download Windows 11 ISO files
To do a clean Windows 11 installation, please download Windows 11 ISO from Microsoft web.
2. Create Windows 11 bootable USB via CMD
After the download, click “Start”, search “Command Prompt”, right-click the best match, and select “Run as Administrator” to open CMD.
▶ Section 1. Delete data on your USB
Step 1. Type “diskpart”, press “Enter”.
Step 2. Type “list disk”, press “Enter”.
Step 3. Type “select disk 1” (You need to change“1” to the number of your USB), press “Enter”.
Step 4. Type “clean”, press “Enter”.
▶ Section 2. Create a primary partition
Step 1. Type “create partition primary”, hit “Enter”.
Step 2. Type “select partition 1”, hit “Enter”.
Step 3. Type “format FS=FAT32 quick”, hit “Enter”.
Step 4. Type “assign letter=X” (“X” is the letter of the partition, change it to the letter you wish to use.), hit “Enter”.
Step 5. Type “exit” and hit “Enter” to quit the tool.
▶ Section 3. Move ISO files to USB
Step 1. Open CMD again, type “PowerShell Mount-DiskImage -ImagePath "C:\path\to\Windows11.iso"(make sure the path is right), press “Enter”.
Step 2. Type “diskpart”, press “Enter”.
Step 3. Type “list volume”, press “Enter”.
Step 4. Type “exit” to exit Diskpart, press “Enter”.
Step 5. Type “E:” to access ISO files, press “Enter”.
Step 6. Type “cd boot”, press “Enter”.
Step 7. Type “bootsect /nt60 X:”, press “Enter”.
Step 8. Type “xcopy E:\*.* X:\ /E /F /H”(change E and X to the drives with Windows 11 ISO image and your USB.)
Then your USB is ready, let’s move to the installation.
3. Install Windows 11 from a bootable USB
In this part, we’ll install Windows 11 from the bootable USB we made, make sure the computer you’re going to install Windows 11 is UEFI boot mode.
Step 1. Connect the USB to the computer, start the computer and enter BIOS, change the USB as the first boot order. Then save the change, reboot the computer.
Step 2. You see the Windows Setup window, please follow the order to finish the settings.
Step 3. Click “Install now”.
Step 4. Choose “I don’t have a product key”.
Step 5. Choose an OS edition you wish to install and click “Next”.
Step 6. Accept the License Term and click “Next”, click “Custom: Install Windows only (advanced)” in the next window.
Step 7. Choose the target disk you wish to install Windows 11 OS, then click “Next”.
Step 8. Please wait for the process and your PC will reboot.
After your PC boot successfully, you can enjoy Windows 11 OS.
An easier way to install Windows 11 on your disk
Although using CMD to create a Windows 11 bootable USB can help you, it takes too much time, and with a load of complex orders, you need to type, many users might feel troublesome. Does there have any easier methods to install Windows 11 on your disk?
Yes, Qiling Disk Master Professional can simplify the sophisticated operations of CMD. Users can migrate a Windows 11 OS to their disk and they don’t need to install it from scratch. The “Migrate OS to SSD” function can copy all OS files and settings to the destination disk, so users can keep all settings from the source system.
And due to the hot clone way, you don't need to reboot the computer several times to complete the migration. All running programs can keep the current status during the process.
Step 1. Connect the disk of the target computer to a Windows 11 computer. Then, install and run Qiling Disk Master, choose "Tools and utilitis"> “System Clone” in the top pane.
Step 2. Click “Next’ in the new window.
Step 3. Choose an unallocated space on your disk.
Step 4. Now you need to resize the size of the partition.
Step 5. Click “Proceed” in the bottom corner to continue.
Step 6. The warning message will be showing, Click "Yes" to migrate os.
Then, plug the disk back into your computer, start it.
Warning: You might need to change the boot order if your computer has one more disk.
Ending
This is how to install Windows 11 from USB. You can choose CMD to create Windows 11 bootable USB if the difficult orders won’t trouble you. However, if you need an easier way to install Windows 11 to your computer, migrating one Windows 11 will be a better choice for you.
Qiling Disk Master can do more than OS migration, you can use it to convert system disk from MBR to GPT without data loss, extend partition for a low capacity drive, and move installed programs to another drive/disk…
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