Introduction
Note that unlike other versions of the Framework Laptop 13, AMD Ryzen 7040 Series & AI 300 Series uses an AMD RZ616 or RZ717 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.
Tools
Parts
No parts specified.
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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.
Partial Fix for Anyone Struggling
1 - Go to Microsoft and install the "Windows Media Creation Tool" for Windows 11
2 - Create a bootable USB Drive using the windows media creation tool by simply plugging in your USB and running the tool. Wait for this step to complete before moving forward
3 - In order to bypass the network issue which Rufus is supposed to prevent, download the drivers for your Framework laptop from the Framework website. Make sure to download the correct installer.
4 - With WinRAR or 7Zip, open the downloaded .exe you got from the Framework website and locate the folder which has the name WiFi in the folder name.
5 - Using your chosen program, drag this ENTIRE folder to the USB drive you installed the bootable windows on.
6 - Now try to boot from your USB on your Framework laptop. When asked to "Install driver to show hardware" click browse and select the folder named WiFi on your USB and it should appear in the menu below.
7 - Continue as normal with the windows installation.
I cant get the ISO to download in chrome or edge
Error
We are unable to complete your request at this time. Some users, entities and locations are banned from using this service. For this reason, leveraging anonymous or location hiding technologies when connecting to this service is not generally allowed. If you believe that you encountered this
I have starlink internet
I am not using a VPN (no extentions instaled)
What is the other way this can be done?
Thanks
Andrew McNeish - Resolved on Release Reply
skip the rest of this guide - ie no need for rufus. just find the comment by 'Forissier - Oct 25, 2023' in the thread at the bottom that explains how to avoid windows needing network
henry widd - Resolved on Release Reply
I found the ISO wouldn't download in Firefox. I used Edge with no problem. I guess Chrome would be okay too.
Brian Gregory - Resolved on Release Reply
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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.
Followup to my earlier comment:
No, balenaEtcher won't do the trick, as raw burning of that Windows install ISO to a USB stick won't create anything the machine wants to boot from. It seems like you'd need the USB stick partitioned with a GUID partition map, then a FAT EFI partition it'll know how to boot from, and another partition capable of holding files as large as some of them in this installer (so, in this context, ExFAT or NTFS).
I eventually ended up right where @zeroconf already pointed us – Ventoy being fed the whole intact Win11 installer ISO. That worked a treat once I read all the directions.
Rufus... appears to be something which only runs on Windows. Yes, these are instructions for installing Windows on our shiny Framework laptop, but just because we're choosing or forced to install Windows on a new machine, that doesn't mean that we actually have a working Windows machine available already. I'll be looking for a way to create the USB-stick installer using either a Mac or a headless Linux machine, the latter from the command line. I guess I'll investigate balenaEtcher on a Mac first.
Even with the USB inserted I am directed to the Boot Manager, but I see no option to select my USB to upload the OS. I have downloaded Windows 11 OS and Rufus on the USB. What step am I missing? I have shutdown and restarted the laptop multiple times and same result.
LionsandMen - Resolved on Release Reply
Without the operating system the computer starts by opening the BIOS (?). It is not clear from your instructions how to get to the USB drive (with the Windows 11 ISO image and Rufus) from this screen. So, I am completely stuck. I feel like saying something nasty.
Mark G Catlin - Resolved on Release Reply
Would propose Ventoy to prepare USB-storage. Easy-to-use for many different ISO-files. Has GUI for Linux and Windows - very easy to use. Much more comfortable and faster than writing ISO content to USB-storage. Just copy ISO-files like regular files and Ventoy makes boot menu of ISO files found on USB-storage. Much easier also keep ISO-files up-to-date. Has also tweaking for MS Windows 11 installation, in future might contain similar hacks.
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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.
"Once the USB drive is connected launch Rufus."
How, when it automatically goes to setup first, even when I move everything but rufus to a sub folder.
Alan Estes - Resolved on Release Reply
This is on the other laptop, not the framework laptop, right? If so, why are you mentioning the storage expansion card? Can that expansion piece be used with other computers?!
omg, I'm just now realizing it's a USB/jump drive in and of itself, just with a different insert. So, had I bought the storage expansion card, I could have downloaded the Windows installation and Rufus onto it beforehand and not have had to do all this ahead of time?? How are you not selling that option already??
No, wait, it says I plug the USB into the computer with Windows OS and Rufus already installed and I can't get (as far as I know) to that point of installing programs like Rufus if I can't "boot up" at all.... You need a separate how-to guide for dummies...
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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.
The "show advanced drive properties" "List USB Hard Drives" selection didn't work. It showed one of my SSDs but not the 120GB jump drive. Stuck.
Mark G Catlin - Resolved on Release Reply
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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!
@Jonathan Kamens approach is by far the simplest way to do this. I'd strongly recommend re-writing this guide to be
1. Create Windows 11 USB media
2. Copy Driver Exe to the USB key
3. Install Windows to the point it connects to the network
4. Hit shift F10
5. Change to the USB drive (likely D:)
6. Execute the driver bundle
7 Machine reboots and you can continue normally
David Hayes - Open Reply
Rufus did not prompt me for the Windows User Experience and I was forced to connect to the network during setup but couldn't because of the missing drivers. I copied the Framework driver bundle onto the thumb drive created by Rufus, typed Shift-F10 to open a cmd window, and executed the driver bundle to install the drivers. Then windows rebooted, after which the setup resumed where it left off and I was able to connect to the network.
Jonathan Kamens - Resolved on Release Reply
@squid why should we "make sure Remove requirement for an online Microsoft account remains selected"? Is this just a privacy recommendation or is there a reason why windows needs to be installed as a local account? I am on framework 16 amd 7040.
It's because you're kind of forced to install Windows without any Internet connection, since the Wi-Fi drivers are not included in Windows and you have to install them separately afterwards. Without the Internet connection, a Microsoft account is fairly meaningless because it can't be created and/or logged in to.
Now, if you have a way of providing an internet connection without Wi-Fi (such as the Ethernet "expansion card" or some other USB to Ethernet adapter that works with Windows 11), I personally would recommend doing that. With Windows 11 24H2, I found things went more smoothly with an Internet connection.
This step did not work for me as described: the "Windows User Experience" screen never showed up, on several attempts. Tested on a Windows 10 install (inside VirtualBox VM on a Linux host), using both Rufus V4.2.2074 as shown, as well as with the most recent V4.3.2090. The iso I am flashing is Win11_23H2_French_x64.iso.
Otherwise, the USB stick is written correctly and usable. I successfully used the workaround recommended by @Forissier in their comment below to install Windows without network access.
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Cancel: I did not complete this guide.
38 other people completed this guide.
23 Comments
Finally succeeded in installing Windows 11 Pro.
TLDR: The issue seemed to be multiple faulty USB drives (including a legitimate Microsoft USB installer). In the end I used Ventoy and loaded the Windows 11 (multi-edition ISO for x64 devices)
Longer version:
Stubborness + fear that I bricked a beautiful DIY laptop -> multiple older Windows installations including trial version and linux installations via ventoy. These worked. So loaded the Windows 11 ISO onto ventoy too (as an experiment). Solved. I had already changed the wifi module during assembly and was also using the ethernet module.
Extra Tips:
1) The OOBE\BYPASSNRO command didn't work on the build I was using
2) Used this reference to make a local user https://www.pcworld.com/article/2514125/...
3) Installed the framework drivers as normal
4) Uninstalled distractions (rotating wallpaper, windows search with advertising, etc)
5) Imaged the drive so a restore would be easier in the future
This guide needs to be updated to mention the external device audio issue that can cause very strange problems after the install. It certainly did for me using an external monitor which happened to have speakers. The fix is at https://community.frame.work/t/solved-us... . There are quite a number of posts in the support forum where this has been needed
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?
Curt Knudsen - Resolved on Release Reply
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...
John Klehm - Resolved on Release Reply
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.
Jim Peterson - Resolved on Release Reply
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.
John Klehm - Resolved on Release Reply
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.
Frederic Laing - Resolved on Release Reply
While not official, and perhaps it shouldn't be, this worked for me:
1. Complete the framework guides, including downloading the windows iso and the driver bundle
2. Download the WinDiskWriter
3. Use the WinDiskWriter to create a bootable windows usb; also copy the driver executable to that same USB stick
4. During installation, when the step for connecting to a network comes up, hit fn+shift+F10 which will bring up a powershell window
5. In the powershell window, execute the .exe for the driver bundle (e.g. D:\drivers/file_name_of_driver_bundle.exe)
6. Wait patiently for the drivers to install
7. When it asks to press a key to restart, do so, and when the installation wizard runs again, it will be able to use the WiFi card
8. Continue the Windows Installation
no need for rufus! save yourself a lot of trouble by finding the comment by 'Forissier - Oct 25, 2023' in this thread below.
henry widd - Resolved on Release Reply
I have a Laptop 13 DIY with AMD. It arrived with BIOS 3.03. The Windows 11 23H2 installer doesn't include drivers for the included RZ616 Wi-Fi adapter. Using Rufus I found I could install Windows 11 with no Internet connection, but the result seemed somewhat unstable, even after I later installed the AMD driver bundle. I tried again right from the beginning with a wired Internet connection using the Ethernet "expansion card" and the result seemed much better. Presumably, you could also use any USB to Ethernet adapter that doesn't need drivers in Windows 11. Since then, I have updated everything, including all optional driver updates under advanced options in Windows update. The result has always been good and stable, especially once I upgraded beyond BIOS 3.03 (3.03b and now 3.05). Take all this only at its face value — one user's experience setting up one laptop one time.
Brian Gregory - Resolved on Release Reply
I can't thank you enough. I used Win32DiskImager and it looked fine, except the SSD would never appear. Rufus 4.4.2103 saved me.
Justin Howard - Resolved on Release Reply
I built a DIY FW13 Ryzen 7040 and I’ve followed the instructions regarding the Rufus/Windows download etc. I’m setting up windows and I’m now at the screen that says, “Lets connect you to a network” but the next button is greyed out. I followed the instruction on this page line by line.
How do I get past this screen? Also, from here there are no instructions how to install the driver package and update BIOS.
Thank you.
golz@yahoo.com - Resolved on Release Reply
Where to get missing drivers after finish of the windows installation? I can not find the driver pack everyone is talking about.
You can find the latest BIOS and Drivers here, this is the final step of the Windows installation guide we link to at the end of this guide, however based on feedback we will consider consolidating these steps into one guide for Framework Laptop 13 (AMD Ryzen™ 7040 Series) in future.
Is there a Rufus alternative for Mac that works well in this case? I have balenaEtcher, that I have used to make Raspberry Pi images. There's a lot of other choices too.
Matthew Shook - Resolved on Release Reply
[SOLVED]
This thread addresses the problem of the Win11 install asking for drivers. You need to create the thumb drive with the Microsoft media creation tool or Rufus.
I had to drag out an old Win7 machine that could only use an older version of Rufus; the Microsoft tool didn't run on Win7. Eventually I got it all working with the command line tip above.
I think it is possible to use the command prompt to bypass the "let's connect" screen. You can download the ISO and flash it to your USB stick (no need for Rufus in particular), this is possible on a any OS (step 1). Boot from the USB key (the guide presented in the step 6). When you are on the Internet connection screen, you can press Shift + F10 to open the command prompt. In the command prompt , type OOBE\BYPASSNRO. The PC will restart and a new option should appear in the setup screen "I don't have Internet"...
This article is really interesting if you want to know other methods to achieve the bypass.
If the command prompt does not come after pressing Shift + F10 then hit fn + esc first. Then it worked for me with the rufus-version for Win7. Thank you.
Is this required if you have the Ethernet expansion card?
Alex Wilson - Resolved on Release Reply
I can confirm: the ethernet expansion card drivers are recognized by Windows 11 so no need for Rufus if plugged in to ethernet during installation.
BAK -
I have the same question, did you ever get an answer? Rufus only runs on Windows and I don't have easy access to a Windows machine.
BAK -
Shift + F10 then enter OOBE\BYPASSNRO to bypass Wi-Fi for those stuck at the network page.
Justin - Open Reply