Installing Windows 11 on a computer from a system integrator like Dell, or Lenovo can be tricky. If you use the media creation tool to create the Windows 11 installation media, and then attempt to install it on a computer that is not a “custom build”, i.e, from Dell or Lenovo, then the version of Windows 11 installed is tied to whatever was originally purchased with the computer.
I recently purchased a Dell XPS 15 9520 laptop, and it originally came with Windows 11 Home. I purchased a legitimate Windows 11 Professional license, and attempted to create a Windows 11 installation media using the media creation tool.
When I had booted to the installation, I found that the insallation had defaulted to installing Windows 11 Home rather than my intended choice of Windows 11 Professional! ☹️
Here is how you can make sure that you can actually create a Windows 11 installation media and be able to use the version that you want!
The Process
Download Rufus
The best way to do this is through the use of Rufus. You can get Rufus here: https://rufus.ie/en/
Download the Windows 11 ISO
Don’t download the media creation tool at the Microsoft website. Instead, download the ISO image. Choose the platform of your choice and make sure it is the multiple edition version.
Create a USB Bootable Media
Use Rufus to create the installation media using the ISO. You can just leave everything by default when you are creating the USB bootable media.
Perhaps the only thing you may want to customize is the Windows 11 user experience, which is a popup that will be presented. For myself, I tend to leave everything unchecked.
ei.cfg
After Rufus creates the bootable USB bootable media, you can create an ei.cfg file that will make sure that the insallation does not automatically select the Windows 11 version based on the firmware of the computer.
ei.cfg should have this content:
[Channel]
_Default
[VL]
0After saving ei.cfg to your hard drive, copy it over to the USB bootable drive at the Sources directory.
Installing Windows 11
Boot into the USB drive, and you will be presented with the Windows 11 installation where you can pick the version you want.
Once Windows 11 is finished installation, you may be forced to connect to a network to complete the insallation.
You can avoid this by actually bringing up the command prompt using Task Manager (CTRL+ALT+DELETE) and typing:
OOBE\BYPASSNROThe computer will restart and come back to the same screen. However, when you are back in the same screen asking to connect to the network, you will notice that you can now actually set up a Local Account instead.