Difficulty
Easy
Steps
6
Time Required
00:05:00 - 00:20:00
Prerequisite Only
This guide is only used as a prerequisite for other guides and is not a complete or useful guide when viewed independently.
Introduction
The Framework Laptop 16 DIY Edition 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.
Note that if you have an Ethernet Expansion Card and a wired connection, you can use the Microsoft Media Creation tool instead.
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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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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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 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_22H2_English_x64v2.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 16, and proceed to install Windows
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