Windows 11 installation problems

Windows 11 Install Problems – Long List

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You should always be able to do a fresh installation of Windows 11 if you are a licensed user. This post goes over several Windows 11 install problems I encountered on a dual-boot system with Linux. The specific hardware is a Cybergeek mini PC with an Intel 12th gen Alder Lake N100 processor and a problematic Intel I225-V networking setup. My initial positive experience using Linux on this computer is described in my Cybergeek Nano A1 article.

Correct Windows 11 installation media or ISO

Be sure to go directly the the Microsoft website for the download. Check that your browser’s address bar ends in “microsoft.com” and not any other address.

At the Microsoft Download page for Windows 11, the first choice will only offer to fix your computer if it has problems. Read down to the second choice to install a fresh copy of Windows 11 using Windows Media Creation Tool. Make sure you UN-check the part about using settings for the current computer if it is for another computer. The third choice will give you a straight ISO file that you need to burn as an image to a bootable disc* (not covered here). I used the second choice.

*It may sound a little silly, but I’ve doing this as a consumer (not developer) for over twenty years and I used to be able to use a CD burner program in linux and choose the option for “burn an image” and it just worked. Now I cannot even make a bootable Fedora USB stick on a Ubuntu system. I have the same problem with Windows. There is some trick to everyone’s “media creation tool” and I missed the memo.

Unplug the Linux drive for dual-boot systems

The first thing you should do when reinstalling an operating system is making sure you know the BIOS and boot-order keys for your computer. You are going to have to change the order in the BIOS boot tab at different times. This page is not about how to do that but you can search “change boot order in bios”. For my hardware example, BIOS=F2 and Boot=F12, which are common but not universal choices.

This may or may not be necessary, but I strongly suggest you open up the computer and unplug the drive with the linux system on it in a dual-boot system. Along these same lines, with computer drives being extremely cheap these days, I hope you are not dual booting on a single disk any longer. I can say from experience that it is too easy to mess up both operating systems when messing up one that way. It also guarantees you cannot accidentally format the wrong drive!

Installation of Windows 11

After booting the installation media, there are a few initial questions like language, keyboard, etc. For a completely new installation, I deleted all the partitions on the disk and then chose “Create New” partition. The Windows installer automatically created the three partitions it needed. This wasn’t obvious ahead of time, but I was happy to see. For “Location to install Windows” you would choose the “Primary” partition that is MUCH larger than any of the others (formatted NTFS).

Windows 11 install problems

Starting Windows 11 with NO NETWORK

The network LAN card in this computer seems to be problematic with a fresh install of Windows 11. After making several choices at the start of the installation, the installer says something like, “you cannot proceed with the installation without getting online”.

So, I had to learn a trick to bypassing the Windows “phone home” requirement. During the beginning of the installatin process, do the following to Bypass Network Requirement Option in your Out Of Box Experience:

  • Press “Shift + F10” to get a command prompt.
  • Enter this (no quotes) “OOBE\BYPASSNRO”, press Enter.
  • Computer restarts to region, keyboard.
  • At Network page, select “I don’t have internet”.
  • Choose “Continue with limited setup”.
  • Confirm local computer account (not MS account).

If this seems EXTREMELY STUPID, that’s because it is. I understand that there is a problem with the network card and therefore I cannot get around using another computer to download the driver for it. Still, without knowing this hidden trick, you CANNOT install the driver that you went and got because the installer won’t let you get to the desktop! However much you hate Microsoft, know that it is not enough. I hope everyone passes around the “BYPASSNRO” trick.

After finishing an installation with a local account, I went to the Intel website (on a second computer) and searched for I225-V drivers. I got a zip file with drivers for lots of cards (something like “29.4.zip” as of November 2024), unpacked the files to a USB stick and put it in the problem computer. Then I went to the Device Manager, right-clicked on the network device and chose “update driver”, then “load from local computer”, browse to the TOP level Intel folder and make sure the “check subfolders” box is checked. This allowed me to get online.

Did I happen to mention that the network, sound, video, bluetooth, etc., were all supported in Ubuntu 24.04 with no extra effort on my part?

You can’t customize Windows 11 without activation

Once you get online, the nagging and advertiseme– sorry, “suggestions”, begin. The first thing you should do after an installation is go to Settings… Windows Update and get all the latest updates. I did this, but the minute I tried to use a dark theme I got a message like “You can’t customize Windows without activating it. Sign in to your Microsoft account to activate.” There is some convenience to not having to find a product key, but a significant loss of privacy by needing to be signed in. After activation, I was told it was the last I would see of the local account!

Many newer PCs don’t have a product key and the hardware becomes linked to your Microsoft account for activation so you may be leaving the product key empty. This should not be a problem, but after my first reinstallation I was told my computer could not be activated. I used the Feedback link to complain that I just bought the computer on X date from Y seller. I have no idea if anyone ever read that message, but after a day I was able to activate it by just signing in again to my Microsoft account.

To be completely clear, there is a way to create a local account after activation that involves complicated moves but I’m not going over it here. The local account that is not signed in will not be able to do updates or install software.

Windows boots with no choice for Linux OS

It’s likely that when you do a fresh install of Windows 11 it will take over the “Boot” part of the BIOS and not include an option for Linux (even after you re-plug your drive in). This is when you need to get into the BIOS and change the boot order to make the Linux disc number one. Press the BIOS key (unique to a BIOS) repeatedly on boot, go to the tab called “Boot” and follow the instructions to move things around (often you can only use the keyboard).

Hey Microsoft, this is yet another reason (not the biggest) that I barely boot into Windows: When Linux boots it gives me the choice of operating systems and Windows does not offer this convenience, so I’m forced to make Linux the first boot item!

Add-on: You want to know another reason not to use Windows 11? It is 2025 and the Windows 11 OS still names screenshots as “Screenshot(1)”, “Screenshot(2)”, etc. One search in January 2025 and I can find no way to change this. This is a joke. Every time you dump your screenshots from different computers into a common folder, you have to deal with the “Do you want to overwrite Screenshot(x)” message. Ubuntu Linux distros have been naming their screenshots with the date and time for a VERY long time.

Update drivers with “Intel Driver and Support Assistant” app

After the operating system and all updates are installed, if there is still hardware that is not supported you can find out what it is by using the System Information app in Windows and click on Problem Devices in the left-hand pane. Search in the box or go to All Apps… Windows Tools… System Information.

Windows 11 Problem Devices

Once you have a list of problem devices, it may be easier to add drivers and see the status using the Windows Device manager. Start typing “dev” in the search box or go to System… About… Device Manager in the “Related” section.

You can see I had quite a few hardware pieces that were a problem. In the case of Intel-based motherboards, Intel provides a tool that will scan your computer and detect drivers for their hardware. Other companies may simply have a Driver Download section at their Support web page.

The Driver-Support Tool is someone else crawling your computer, but the idea is you use the tool immediately after installing the OS and then you can delete it when you are done.

Intel Driver and Support Assistant

So Intel officially recognized and installed driver for its Graphics, Bluetooth, WIFI but did NOT detect its own sound hardware! At this point, I was suspicious that the computer was not put together properly, but then I remembered that the sound worked immediately in Ubuntu 24.04 with no special actions from me!

Using computer manufacturer’s drivers

My personal preference is to get the hardware drivers directly from the hardware manufacturer. Still, Intel mentions that the PC manufacturer may make customizations and have their own drivers, so using the driver’s from the PC manufacturer is not unheard of.

In the case of Cybergeek, they do supply a bundle of drivers for the hardware but the files are not kept at their website. There is a cryptic message like “Google will say it’s too big to check, just trust us” and then they send you to a zip file on their Google drive account.

All this personal experience aside, here are the steps to adding drivers you have downloaded yourself. I went through all the “Unknown Device” entries in the Device Manager.

Windows 11 Device Manager
  1. Unpack (unzip) any driver files to a single directory (folder).
  2. Find the item in the Windows Device Manager.
  3. Right-click the item and choose “Update Driver”.
  4. Then choose “load from local computer”.
  5. Browse to the TOP LEVEL folder with all the drivers in it and make sure the box is checked to “check subfolders”.
  6. Receive a “Success” or “Failed” message from the Windows OS.

For the Sound Device entry I actually did this three times with three success messages before the sound fully worked! I repeated for all the unknown devices and all but two gave a “Success” message on the first try.

Cybergeek NanoA1 Problem Devices

So the computer works without using the “Unknown Devices”, but why there are still problem devices (pic above) in my computer after all of this work is still a mystery to me and not a good feeling. I have two other Windows 11 computers and there are no “Unknown/Problem Devices” on them. Is it because it’s a tiny motherboard used for putting in other things? Shouldn’t Intel at least mention them in the “Support Assistant”? Weird.

Intel processor diagnostic tool

Just to add a little salt in the wounds to all these other problems, the Intel processor fails one of the tests provided in the free diagnostic tool.

Intel Processor Diagnostic Tool

I have no idea what a IPDT64 test is and the computer runs fine, but I would expect more of response / explanation from the Intel website than is given.

Remarks

The computer is running fine for daily web browsing and media tasks (no gaming), but I will probably spend more money a computer from a larger manufacturer in the future.

I use the Linux installation almost exclusively. When support runs out for Windows 10, everyone should consider extending the life of their computer using a free version of Linux like Ubuntu or Linux Mint.


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