Introduction
Note that unlike other versions of the Framework Laptop 13, AMD Ryzen 7040 Series uses an AMD RZ616 WiFi card that the Windows 11 installer doesn't currently include drivers for. To avoid getting stuck during installation, we recommend using Rufus to create the installer, which allows you to bypass the network requirement. This guide takes you through the steps to use Rufus to create a Windows 11 installer.
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If you purchased Windows from Framework, log into your Framework account and navigate to Digital Purchases to redeem your Product Key.
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Once you redeem your Product Key for Windows, you will not be able to return it for a refund. You can always choose to redeem your key and activate Windows after you complete installation, as the installer lets you skip the Product Key entry step.
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If you don't have a Windows Product Key yet, you can still proceed with installation and then activate Windows later. You can pick up a Windows Product Key from the Framework Marketplace.
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On a different computer, download the Download Windows 11 Disk Image (ISO) for x64 devices from here.
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In the dropdown select Windows 11 (multi-edition ISO for x64 devices) as pictured, and click Download Now.
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Under Select the product language, choose your preferred language from the dropdown and click Confirm.
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Click on the 64-bit Download button to start the download.
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Download the latest version of Rufus from here.
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If you are on Windows you will typically need the Standard version outlined here in red or the Portable version if you prefer to run Rufus without installation.
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Plug in a USB thumb drive of at least 8GB in size (note that this will be wiped during installation, so use a blank drive or one with data you don’t need to preserve) into the computer you have Rufus and the Windows 11 ISO on.
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A Storage Expansion Card can also work for this if you have one.
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Once the USB drive is connected launch Rufus.
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Under Device, choose the USB thumb drive.
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Note that if you’re using a very large thumb drive like a 1TB Storage Expansion Card and no drives appear, you may need to click Show advanced drive properties and select List USB Hard Drives
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Click SELECT next to Boot selection and choose the Win11_24H2_English_x64.iso that you downloaded earlier.
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You can keep the rest of the settings as the defaults. Click START. You’ll get a screen that says “Windows User Experience”. You can keep those settings as the defaults also, and click OK. You can also adjust the settings if you’d like at this screen, but make sure Remove requirement for an online Microsoft account remains selected.
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After you click OK you'll see a warning that the USB Thumb Drive will be erased during, click OK on this and Rufus will create your install Media
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Once the Green Status Bar is complete you can remove the USB Thumb Drive, plug it into your Framework Laptop 13, and proceed to install Windows by following this Guide from Step 3 onwards!
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21 Comments
I did not see this guide before installing windows 11. It seems I can not boot from flash drive now that windows install has started. Where can I get the RZ616 wifi driver to get past the network issue?
One follow up here; I had gotten a blue screen after resuming from sleep. This appears to be corrected by applying a firmware update to the SSD.
My ssd is this model: WD_BLACK™ SN770 NVMe™- M.2 2280 - 250GB
I did the update using the Western Digital Dashboard firmware update too: https://wddashboarddownloads.wdc.com/wdD...
I attempted this with Windows 11 24H2 and it did not even recognize the hard drive. My old windows 10 installation media did, though. Not sure what's going on. I've gotten the WiFi driver installed from John Klehm's post. I'm hoping I'll be able to upgrade to Windows 11 once Windows 10 gets up to speed.
For creating a win11 bootable usb from linux here's what worked for me:
This guide for partitions on usb stick: https://www.dell.com/community/en/conver...
Then to add the drivers for RZ616 you can download them here https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com...
That's a list of all RZ616 drivers.
I used this one: MediaTek, Inc. - Net - 3.4.0.1046 Windows 11 Client, version 24H2 and later, Servicing Drivers, Windows 11 Client, version 24H2 and later, Upgrade & Servicing Drivers.
I extracted the files from the .cab file and copied them into a folder on the usb stick (you can call it aything I called mine "mediatek - amd rz616 -3.4.0.1046")
After that I was able to select that folder from the win11 installer and it found the wifi.
I'm on a FW13 Ryzen 7040 running Linux and would like to create a Windows 11 USB stick for another FW13 Ryzen 7040. Unfortunately, Rufus is only available for Windows and I do not have access to a Windows device currently.
It would be awesome if someone could please write a guide target for creating this special Windows 11 USB stick on a Linux or maybe even macOS host. This would make the transition to a Framework laptop or setting up a Framework laptop for someone at lot easier.
