Install Windows 11 the hard way

Wu Yu Wei published on
5 min, 944 words

Recently, I got my hands on a Framework Laptop DIY Edition. I wanted to set up a dual boot system, but I didn't want to install Windows 11 on my primary SSD due to some bad experiences in the past.

I planned to install Windows 11 on an storage expansion card. While this is possible theoretically, Microsoft's boot driver may not work with its default interface for various reasons. We will have to create the required partitions manually. In this article, I will share my experience for installing Windows on an external drive and provide some tips during the process.

Create a USB Installer

First of all, we need to create a USB installer for Windows 11. If you have a device with any Windows OS, you can download the installation media from the official page. Download it, plug in a USB drive, and follow the instructions. You should complete it in no time.

Boot into Installer

Once you boot the laptop, repeatedly press F12 to enter the boot selection screen, and then select your USB device. When the installer appears, proceed through each step until you accept the license agreement. After this point, we won't be able to use the installer any longer. We'll need to create the partitions ourselves.

Create Partitions Manually

Proceed with caution during this step, as you will need to create several partitions, and selecting the wrong disk may potentially overwrite the internal disk.

Essentially, Windows requires the following partitions to be created:

  • Windows RE Tools partition
  • System partition
  • MSR partition
  • Windows partition
  • Recovery image partition

Now let's use diskpart to open the bult-in partition tool. And then select the disk x where x is the number of you expansion card:

diskpart

list disk

select disk x

Now, we need to format the disk to GPT format. Please double-check that you have selected the right disk before proceeding!

clean

convert gpt

Windows RE Tools partition

Let's start with RE Tools partition. Note that I increase the size slightly since the size of Windows build has grown too. Some following partitions will also apply to this tip. There's lots of 0 when assigning gpt attributes. Just remember there are 14 zeros:

create partition primary size=670

format quick fs=ntfs label="Windows RE Tools"

assign letter="T"

set id="de94bba4-06d1-4d40-a16a-bfd50179d6ac"

gpt attributes=0x8000000000000001

System & MSR Partition

Next is system partition and MSR partition:

create partition efi size=100

format quick fs=fat32 label="System"

assign letter="S"

create partition msr size=128

Windows Partition

Now here the important part: you should choose proper size for Windows partition depending on the size of your expansion card. If you use 250GB drive, then set the size to 23000. If you use 1TB drive, then set the size to 949044.

create partition primary size=230000

format quick fs=ntfs label="Windows"

assign letter="W"

Recovery Image Partition

The last is recovery image:

create partition primary size=5120

format quick fs=ntfs label="Recovery Image"

assign letter="R"

set id="de94bba4-06d1-4d40-a16a-bfd50179d6ac"

gpt attributes=0x8000000000000001

View the disk volume to confirm that the partitions were created successfully. Take note of the drive letter assigned to your USB drive containing the Windows installer. In my case, it's E. If everything goes well, you can exit the diskpart tool.

list volume

exit

Copy Windows Data to Partitions

Now we install the Windows 11 by copy data to partition manually. When you see E:\ in following instructions, you should replace it to the letter you have. And when you see index, you should enter the Windows 11 version you want to install. Here's overall list, but you probably just need to enter 1 or 6:

  1. Windows 11 Home
  2. Windows 11 Home N
  3. Windows 11 Home Single Language
  4. Windows 11 Education
  5. Windows 11 Education N
  6. Windows 11 Pro
  7. Windows 11 Pro N
  8. Windows 11 Pro Education
  9. Windows 11 Pro Education N
  10. Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
  11. Windows 11 Pro N for Workstations

One last thing to note is that the extension of some files may differ depending on the installer you use. If you can't find install.esd, for example, try looking for install.wim, and vice versa.

md R:\RecoveryImage

copy E:\sources\install.esd R:\RecoveryImage\install.esd

E:\Windows\System32

dism /Apply-Image /ImageFile:R:\RecoveryImage\install.esd /Index:1 /ApplyDir:W:\

md T:\Recovery\WindowsRE

copy W:\Windows\System32\Recovery\winre.wim T:\Recovery\WindowsRE\winre.wim

bcdboot W:\Windows /s S: /f UEFI

W:\Windows\System32\reagentc /setosimage /path R:\RecoveryImage /target W:\Windows /index 1

W:\Windows\System32\reagentc /setreimage /path T:\Recovery\WindowsRE /target W:\Windows

Restart and Boot into Windows

If everything goes well, we can exit the installer! Remove the USB drive, restart the machine, and keep pressing F12 again to choose the drive containing Windows 11 to boot. If you want to default to boot Windows, you can press F2 instead to change the boot order. It's in Boot > EFI Boot Order.

Install Driver Bundle

Once you boot into Windows, you will be prompted to complete the setup process. Just proceed as usual. If you finally reach the desktop, you should have a functional Windows installation! However, we're not done yet. We have to install Framework's Driver Bundle.You can install the bundle and just copy to the USB drive you use for installer. And then plug into the laptop to install it.

Restart and congratulation! You have a Windows installed in an external disk!