How to Download Windows 11 and Install It

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Whether you're building a new Windows PC or just want to make a completely fresh start on your existing computer you will need to download Windows 11, create an install disk and use it to write the the new OS to your boot drive. In order to create a bootable install disk, you will need to download a Windows 11 ISO file that you can burn to a USB Flash drive or use as a standalone file if you are installing Windows in a virtual machine .

Whether you have a valid product key or not (see how to get Windows 11 for free or cheap ), downloading a Windows 11 ISO never costs anything and there are two main ways to do so. First, you can download a Windows 11 ISO directly from Microsoft or use the company's Media Creation Tool to download the software and write it directly to a USB Flash Drive.

Second, you could use tools from a site called UUP dump to download the files from Microsoft's update servers and build a custom ISO that's fully up-to-date with an insider build that's even newer than release build.

Below, we'll show you all the ways you can download a Windows 11 ISO and write it to an installation disk.

How to Get a Windows 11 ISO

Before you can begin your install, you need to download a Windows 11 ISO file. If you've installed Windows 10 or even a build of Linux before, you'll know that ISO files are disk images you can use to create a bootable USB Flash drive, write to an optical disc or boot a virtual machine off of.

Downloading a Windows 11 ISO From Microsoft

The easiest way to get a Windows 11 ISO is by downloading one directly from Microsoft.

1. Navigate to the Windows 11 ISO page .

2. Select Windows 11from the menu under "Download Windows 11 Disk Image (multi-edition ISO for x64 devices)" if your computer has an Intel or AMD processor. If you have a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, click the link next to "Windows 11 ISOs for Arm64 devices are available here."

If you want to go straight to creating a USB Flash drive, you can download the Windows 11 Installation Media tool from here. See the section below for step-by-step details on how to do that.

3. Click Download Now

4. Select your languageand click confirm.

5. Click the download buttonthat appears.

The ISO file will now download to your computer.

Create a Windows 11 Install Disk with Media Creation Tool

If you don't want to keep a copy of the latest Windows 11 ISO on your storage drive and just want to have a bootable USB Windows 11 install disk, the easiest way is to use Microsoft's media creation tool. Here's how.

1. Connect a USB Flashdrive to your PC. It must be at least 8GB and have no data on it you want to keep. This process will overwrite the whole disk.

2. Navigate to Microsoft's Windows 11 Download page .

3. Click Download Nowunder Create Windows 11 Installation Media to download the Media Creation Tool.

4. Launch the Media Creation Tool.

5. Click Acceptwhen shown the license agreement.

6. Select your languageand Editionand click Next. The default choices will probably be correct.

7. Select USB flash driveand click Next. You can also select ISO file here and create an ISO file instead if you don't have a drive ready.

8. Select your USB Flash drive(if there's more than one choice) and click Next.

You will now have to wait several minutes while your computer downloads Windows 11.

9. Click Finishwhen it says your USB Flash drive is ready.

Creating a Windows 11 ISO with UUP Dump

If you download a Windows 11 ISO from Microsoft, you'll always get the latest release version, but what if you want to do a clean install from a Windows 11 Insider Release Preview, Beta or Dev channel build? A very helpful site called UUP Dump allows you to download any build as an ISO file you can use for installation.

The ISO files actually come directly from Microsoft's servers as UUP Dump just gives you a batch file that downloads all the necessary files and turns them into an ISO. Here's how to use it.

1. Navigate to uupdump.net .

2. Scroll down to find the recent build you want. You almost certainly want the amd64 (aka x64) version of any build. That's unless you have a laptop with a Qualcomm Snapdragon powered

Or, alternatively, you can click the x64 button next to the build version you want. There are four choices:

• Latest Public Release Build: This is the release, not necessary to get from UUP Dump.

• Latest Release Preview Build: This is the closest Insider build to being final.

• Latest Beta Channel Build:A level between the newest and most polished versions.

• Latest Dev Channel Build:Close to the newest, but still pretty reliable.

• Latest Canary Channel Build:The very latest but not necessarily stable.

3. Select the languageand click Next.

4. Choose the edition(s)you want and click Next. By default, your ISO will contain both Windows Home and Pro versions, but you can save space by picking just one of them.

5. Select "Download and convert to ISO"and check "Include updates"and then click" Create download package." A small zip file will download to your PC. This is not the Windows 11 ISO, but it will be used to download it.

6. Unzip the fileand place its contents in a dedicated folder. Make sure the folder name has no spaces in it.

7. Double-click uup_download_windows.cmdin the folder with the downloaded files.

8. Click "Run Anyway,"if Windows warns you that this is an unrecognized app.

9. Click Okif warned by Windows User Account Control.

A command prompt window will open, running a batch file that downloads all the necessary files from Microsoft and creates the Windows 11 ISO file for you. This process will take several minutes or perhaps longer, depending on your Internet connection.

10. Press 0 to exitwhen the script finishes downloading the Windows 11 ISO.

A Windows 11 ISO file will appear in the folder where you placed uup_download_windows.cmd.

The ISO file it creates will allow you to install Windows 11, even if you don't have TPM.

Making a Bootable Windows 11 Install Disk

Unless you're just installing Windows 11 onto a virtual machine , you will need to create a bootable Windows 11 install disk from the data in your Windows 11 ISO file. For that, you'll need an empty USB Flash drive that's at least 8GB.

To write or "burn" your ISO file to a USB Flash drive, it's best to use Rufus, a free, third-party utility that will take care of arranges the partitions properly and making the disk bootable. You can also use Rufus to bypass Windows 11's TPM and Secure boot requirements if you choose.

1. Connect your USB Flash drive. Please note that you will be erasing all the data on it.

2. Downloadand launch Rufus (it does not install).

3. Select your USB driveif it's not already selected by default.

4. Click Selectand choose the ISO filefrom your storage drive.

4. Click Startat the bottom of the window.

5. Create a second partitionand format it as NTFS. It should take all the remaining disk space.

6. Check remove requirement for TPM, 4GB and data collection if you want. These are optional, but recommended and you must click Ok.

7. Click Ok if warned that the process will destroy all data on your USB Flash drive.

Rufus will now take a few minutes to drive to your drive. When it is done, you will have a USB Flash drive that can boot to install windows.

Installing Windows 11 on the Target PC

1. Boot your target PCoff of the USB installation drive. You may need to hit a key or re-arrange the boot order to boot from USB.

2. Select your language(if it's not already selected) and click Next.

3. Click Install now.

4. Enter your product keyor click "I don't have a product key"if you don't have one. You can always enter it later or use Windows 11 as inactivated.

5. Select the Windows editionif given a choice of editions.

6. Accept the license agreementand click Next.

7. Select Custom Installif prompted.

8. Choose the installation driveand click Next.

The installer will copy some files and may reboot at this point.

9. Select your country or region(if it's not selected) and click Yes. Also, select your keyboard layoutwhen prompted.

10. Name your deviceand click Next.

11. Sign inwith your Microsoft account or see our article on how to install Windows 11 with a local account .

12. Create a PINfor quick logins.

13. Click "Set up as new device"(or you can restore a previous config).

14. Click Skipif asked to customize your user experience. This is not necessary.

15. Click Nexton the Microsoft Account and OneDrive screen.

16. Click Skip for Nowif Windows tries to get you to sign up for Xbox Game Pass

Windows should now reboot and give you the desktop. Note that this install process may vary based on when you install and what version.