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How to Actually Clean Install Windows 11 (www.wired.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

152 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Basically, install Windows as you normally would, but when asked for Time and Currency format, select English (World) instead of your country.

Then let the installer do its thing. Eventually, you will see a window with an ice cream cone on the floor with the words “Something went wrong” and the error message “OOBEREGION.” This cryptic message means that the “out of box experience” (OOBE) didn't launch because it didn't know which region to launch.

Click Skip, though, and Windows will install just fine. You won't be prompted to buy Microsoft 365, you won't be prompted to pay for a OneDrive subscription, and your Start menu won't be cluttered with apps.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

It has been ages since I installed Windows 11. Does it require (as in, you can't continue without) an internet connection be enabled at an earlier stage in the installation process?

If not, then MS can patch all they want, if you have the installer on a USB drive already, they can't force you to update it and the installer won't fetch a patched OOBE installer with the internet disabled.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

It tries to, however you can bypass the 'Let's get you connected' screen. Since you'll probably need to manually install the wifi drivers, you can start that way with internet disabled.

If anybody needs the actual method: Shift + F10 at the Connection Screen, then in the command prompt, type: OOBE\BYPASSNRO

It'll restart and you'll have to go through a couple windows again (keyboard layout, language, etc.), but then you'll be set. One thing to remember, once you log in with your account and get the internet going (if you decide to), Onedrive will immediately start trying to sync and download everything. Literally the first thing I do is quit one drive and uninstall it so it won't!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah, you’ve got a point here. You do still have to use the older version of the installer but that can be pretty trivial, good point!

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago

It has been ages since I installed Windows 11

Ages? Really? It was released two years ago.