{"id":8038,"date":"2025-05-20T20:20:12","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T19:20:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/untangleit.tech\/?page_id=8038"},"modified":"2025-05-20T21:44:37","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T20:44:37","slug":"windows-installation-fresh-install","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/untangleit.tech\/index.php\/windows-installation-fresh-install\/","title":{"rendered":"Windows 11 Installation: Fresh Install"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Follow this process if you wish to perform a fresh install of Windows 11. <strong>You will lose any and all data kept on the drive<\/strong>. Do <strong>NOT<\/strong> proceed if you have data on the drive that you wish to keep. If you do not wish to perform a fresh install, <strong>and <\/strong>you are able to boot into Windows, <a href=\"https:\/\/untangleit.tech\/index.php\/windows-installation-fresh-install\/\">follow this guide instead<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udd27\u00a0What You Need:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Bootable Windows Installation USB drive<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A PC or Laptop that you wish to install (or reinstall) Windows 11 on<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Approximately 30 to 60 minutes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udcc1\u00a0Step 1: Prepare Your Computer<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Plug in the USB drive<\/strong>\u00a0to the target computer.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Power on the PC<\/strong>, and immediately start pressing the key to enter the\u00a0<strong>boot menu<\/strong>\u00a0or\u00a0<strong>BIOS\/UEFI settings<\/strong>.<br>Common keys include\u00a0<code>F12<\/code>,\u00a0<code>F2<\/code>,\u00a0<code>DEL<\/code>,\u00a0<code>ESC<\/code>, or\u00a0<code>F10<\/code>. This depends on your PC\u2019s manufacturer.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In the\u00a0<strong>boot menu<\/strong>, select the USB drive to boot from. If there is no boot menu, go into the BIOS\/UEFI and change the\u00a0<strong>boot order<\/strong>\u00a0so that the USB drive is first.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udcbf Step 2: Begin the Windows Installation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Once booted from USB, you&#8217;ll see a Windows logo, then the <strong>Windows Setup<\/strong> screen.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Choose your <strong>language<\/strong>, <strong>time and currency format<\/strong>, and <strong>keyboard<\/strong> input method. Click <strong>Next<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Click <strong>Install Now<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udd10 Step 3: Enter Product Key (if prompted)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>If you&#8217;re reinstalling Windows on a PC that already had it activated, click <strong>\u201cI don\u2019t have a product key\u201d<\/strong> \u2013 Windows will activate automatically later.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Otherwise, enter your valid product key &#8211; if you need to purchase a product key, you can do so <a href=\"https:\/\/untangleit.tech\/index.php\/product-tag\/windows-license-key\/\">here<\/a>.<br><br><strong>Tip:<\/strong> <em>If you are any doubt, click &#8220;I don&#8217;t have a product key&#8221;, you may have a suitable license and not realise it, and if not, one can be always be purchased and added later.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udcbb Step 4: Choose the Windows Version<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Select the edition that matches your license (e.g., Home, Professional, Enterprise, etc).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Read and accept the license terms and click <strong>Next<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83e\uddf9 Step 5: Choose Installation Type<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Select <strong>Custom: Install Windows only (advanced)<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udcc1 Step 6: Choose Where to Install Windows<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>You\u2019ll see a list of partitions.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>If you\u2019re doing a <strong>clean install<\/strong>, delete the partitions on the main drive (be careful \u2013 this will erase all data).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Select <strong>Unallocated Space<\/strong> and click <strong>Next<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Windows will begin installing. This can take 10\u201330 minutes and your PC may restart multiple times.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83c\udf89 Step 7: Complete Setup<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After installation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Follow the on-screen prompts to:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Set up region, keyboard, and preferences.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Connect to Wi-Fi (if available).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Sign in with a Microsoft account or create a local account.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Customize privacy settings.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2705 Done!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You&#8217;re now ready to use your fresh Windows installation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\ud83d\udcdd Notes:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Activation<\/strong>: If Windows was previously activated on this hardware, or if your Microsoft account has a suitable license attached it should auto-activate once online. <a href=\"https:\/\/untangleit.tech\/index.php\/product-tag\/windows-license-key\/\">If you need to purchase a license key please view our options here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Drivers<\/strong>: Windows usually installs most drivers, but you may want to visit your PC or motherboard manufacturer\u2019s website for specific drivers (e.g., graphics, chipset).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Follow this process if you wish to perform a fresh install of Windows 11. You will lose any and all [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8038","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/untangleit.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/untangleit.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/untangleit.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/untangleit.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/untangleit.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8038"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/untangleit.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8056,"href":"https:\/\/untangleit.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8038\/revisions\/8056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/untangleit.tech\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}