Installing Windows on a New PC: USB Drive or Direct Key Input at BIOS Stage?

skankles

Hello, I'm assembling a PC with my kid for Christmas and I'm uncertain about the Windows installation process during the BIOS setup stage. Is it necessary to have Windows on a USB drive, or can I enter the Windows key directly in the BIOS? I haven't purchased the Windows key yet. Thank you.

minitrue

You need a windows bootable usb stick. Microsoft have their Windows media creation tool you can use to do it on another windows PC. It will wipe whatever is on the usb stick.

K.O.Kiki

1. Use Windows Media Creation Tool to create an installation "disk" (USB drive)
2. Install Windows
3. Enter key during/after setup

Since Windows is software, there is no way to use it in BIOS.

smuggler.ie

All here

Win11 including install instructions

Win10

Coyler

FYI, you don’t even need the key. Windows will limit some customisation without it and it has a watermark on the desktop but it’s not visible when something is full screen like games and videos. No time limit on this either.

Have a few desktops and virtual machines at home and only half have keys. Has no impact on use.

I even have a rule that I don’t buy or apply the key on physical builds for a least a month as it’s tied to the motherboard. If you have to change or replace the motherboard you can argue your case with MS but it’s a hassle. I let my machines “burn in” for a while before inputting the key.

Where is boards on buying cheap keys? Perfectly legal but I understand it’s a grey area.

MRTULES

Is there a way to avoid doing this? I have a blank ssd that I was hoping to just load windows onto from another pc. What is the best way to do this?

K.O.Kiki

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121533980#Comment_121533980

Honestly it's easier to get a flash drive for a tenner and clean install using that.

That way you can be certain all drivers are loaded properly.

Spear

Having the installer on a USB drive can also be used for repair and recovery should things go wrong down the road.

skankles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058327867/installing-windows-on-a-new-pc-usb-drive-or-direct-key-input-at-bios-stage

Cheers everyone, we've installed Windows, but hit a snag. Essentially, it's asking for an Ethernet connection to finalise the setup. Unfortunately, we don't have ethernet, the motherboard, the Gigabyte B650 AORUS ELITE has Wi-Fi, but Windows isn't detecting it. We've attempted several solutions from YouTube without success. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Spear

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121555455#Comment_121555455

Isn't detecting it at all, or just doesn't have the drivers for it? Check in device manager to see if it's there at all, or something like unknown network adapter or similar. If that's the case you can just copy the drivers onto the USB stick and install them from it.

smuggler.ie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121555455#Comment_121555455

welcome to Win11 world 😉

What it means M$ want you to sign in with your M$ account

But you dont have to do it. Last time worked form me was SHIFT+F10 (to get CMD), then this command

OOBE\BYPASSNRO

Thereafter continue with "limited setup" (scaremongering crap) and create local account instead M$

skankles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121555483#Comment_121555483

The device manager fails to show both the WiFi adapter and GPU. The GPU is working as we're getting HDMI output to the monitor. Whether there were any missed steps in the BIOS settings, particularly around enabling and recognising all hardware components, we didnt do a whole lot in bios, the system is an AMD Ryzen 5 7600X Processor, a Gigabyte B650 AORUS Elite AX motherboard, and a Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4070 WINDFORCE OC 12GB Graphics Card."

Spear

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121555612#Comment_121555612

The GPU will still show in device manager with a generic name like Standard VGA Adapter under display adapters. Simply installing drivers will fix that. I suspect it's the same for the Wifi.

newmember2

Download all the drivers off the Gigabyte website for the board and install the network drivers.

Inviere

I had this exact problem when setting up a fresh install of Windows 11. I couldn't proceed with finalizing setup because of no network device detected. In the end, I downloaded the Ethernet drivers into USB, and installed them via the command prompt from the setup screen. Once done, I was able to proceed.

skankles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121556358#Comment_121556358

Grateful for everyone's assistance - it turned out to be a problem with the drivers. It's now sorted, and just in time too! Wishing you all a Happy New Year.