How-To: Step by Step Windows 11 Installation Guide for PC and VM

INTRODUCTION

Hi everyone. Welcome to the Techaptic channel. My name is Melih, and today we are going to install Windows 11 on a virtual machine.

Although I will perform the installation in a virtual environment, by the end of this video, you will also understand how to install Windows 11 on your personal or physical computer.

Let’s get started.

𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗦 𝟭𝟭 𝗦𝗬𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗠 𝗥𝗘𝗤𝗨𝗜𝗥𝗘𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗦

Like other operating systems, Windows 11 has specific hardware and system requirements.

You can review these requirements on Microsoft’s official Windows 11 requirements page. To make it easier for you, I will share the link in the video description.

When you open the page, you will see the minimum processor, memory, storage, firmware, TPM, graphics, display, and internet requirements for Windows 11.

I strongly recommend checking all of these requirements before starting the installation. If even one or two important requirements are not met, you will most likely encounter an error during Windows Setup.

If your computer meets the requirements, you can continue with the Windows 11 installation on either a physical computer or a virtual machine.

𝗪𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗡𝗟𝗢𝗔𝗗 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗦 𝟭𝟭 𝗜𝗦𝗢

The next step is to download the Windows 11 ISO file.

Microsoft provides different sources for obtaining Windows 11 installation media. One option is the public Windows 11 download page. Another option is the Microsoft 365 or Volume Licensing portal available to eligible organizational customers.

The public Windows 11 download page is accessible to everyone. The Microsoft 365 and Volume Licensing portals, however, require an eligible organizational account, subscription, or license agreement.

Before downloading the ISO, you need to determine which edition of Windows 11 you want to install because the editions available through these portals may be different.

For example, Windows 11 Enterprise installation media is generally obtained through an organization’s Microsoft 365 or Volume Licensing portal. The public Windows 11 download page is normally used to obtain consumer editions such as Windows 11 Home and Windows 11 Pro.

For this demonstration, I am going to install Windows 11 Enterprise. I have already downloaded the appropriate ISO file through the Microsoft portal available to my organization.

Depending on your license and the edition you need, you can use either the public Windows 11 download page or your organization’s Microsoft portal.

The basic Windows installation steps are similar, and we will cover the important parts throughout this video.

𝗜𝗡𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗦 𝟭𝟭 𝗢𝗡 𝗔 𝗩𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗨𝗔𝗟 𝗢𝗥 𝗣𝗛𝗬𝗦𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗟 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗣𝗨𝗧𝗘𝗥

In this video, I will install and configure Windows 11 in a virtual environment.

Because I am using a virtual machine, I only need the virtualization software and the Windows 11 ISO file.

If you are installing Windows 11 on a physical computer, you will also need a USB flash drive and a tool that can write the Windows ISO file to that drive.

Microsoft provides the Media Creation Tool on the Windows 11 download page. You can use it to prepare a bootable Windows 11 USB flash drive.

For this demonstration, however, I will explain another widely used method with a tool called Rufus.

Rufus can write the Windows 11 ISO file to a USB flash drive and provides additional options for customizing the installation media.

𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗡𝗟𝗢𝗔𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗥𝗨𝗡𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗥𝗨𝗙𝗨𝗦

Open the Rufus website and scroll down to the Download section.

For a standard 64-bit Windows environment, you will normally see both standard and portable versions.

The standard edition can be installed on the computer. The portable edition can be run directly without completing a traditional installation.

For this demonstration, I will use Rufus without installing it.

I will click the Rufus executable file to open the application.

Windows displays a User Account Control prompt asking whether I want to allow the application to make changes to the device. I will click Yes.

Rufus is now running.

𝗖𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗔 𝗕𝗢𝗢𝗧𝗔𝗕𝗟𝗘 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗦 𝟭𝟭 𝗨𝗦𝗕 𝗗𝗥𝗜𝗩𝗘

Under the Device section, Rufus displays the USB drives connected to the computer.

In this example, I have one 64-gigabyte USB flash drive connected. This is more than enough because the Windows 11 installation media requires a USB drive with at least 8 gigabytes of available capacity.

Make sure that you select the correct USB drive because all existing data on the selected drive will be erased.

Under Boot Selection, we need to select the Windows 11 ISO file that will be written to the USB flash drive.

I will click Select and choose the Windows 11 ISO file that I previously downloaded from Microsoft.

After selecting the ISO file, click Open.

The default Rufus settings are suitable for this installation.

The Image Option should be Standard Windows Installation.

The Partition Scheme should be GPT, and the Target System should be UEFI.

Under Volume Label, we can rename the USB flash drive. For example, we can name it Windows 11 Installation Disk.

I will keep the File System as NTFS and leave the Cluster Size at the default value of 4096 bytes.

We are now ready to write the Windows 11 installation files to the USB flash drive.

Click Start.

𝗖𝗨𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗠𝗜𝗭𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗦 𝟭𝟭 𝗨𝗦𝗕 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗥𝗨𝗙𝗨𝗦

After clicking Start, Rufus displays additional Windows installation customization options.

These options can be useful depending on your deployment requirements.

For example, if you plan to use the same USB flash drive to install Windows 11 on multiple computers, these options can significantly reduce the amount of manual work required during installation.

As mentioned earlier, Windows 11 has additional hardware requirements compared with earlier Windows versions. Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 are among the most important requirements.

If the target computer does not support these technologies, Rufus provides an option to remove the Secure Boot, TPM 2.0, and memory requirements from the installation media.

Rufus can also remove the requirement to sign in with a Microsoft account during setup.

Additional options can apply the current regional settings, reduce privacy questions, and disable some data collection prompts.

You can select the options that match your own requirements.

For this example, I will select the required customization options and click OK.

Because I will perform the actual demonstration by mounting the ISO file directly in a virtual machine, the changes written to the USB drive will not affect the virtual installation. The USB preparation process is being shown for viewers who want to install Windows 11 on a physical computer.

Rufus now warns that all data on the selected USB flash drive will be destroyed.

After confirming that the correct drive is selected and that no required data remains on it, click OK.

Rufus begins writing the Windows 11 installation files to the USB flash drive.

𝗖𝗛𝗢𝗢𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗔 𝗩𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗨𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗭𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗧𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗠

Next, we need to configure the virtualization environment.

Two commonly used desktop virtualization platforms are VMware Workstation and Oracle VirtualBox.

In this video, we are going to use VMware Workstation.

𝗖𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗔 𝗡𝗘𝗪 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗦 𝟭𝟭 𝗩𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗨𝗔𝗟 𝗠𝗔𝗖𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗘

After opening VMware Workstation, click the option to create a new virtual machine.

Select the Typical configuration and click Next.

I want to configure the installation media manually, so I will select the option to install the operating system later and continue.

VMware then asks us to select the guest operating system and its version.

Because we are installing Windows 11, select Microsoft Windows as the guest operating system and Windows 11 x64 as the version.

Click Next.

For the virtual machine name, you can enter any meaningful name. In this example, I will name the virtual machine Windows 11 English.

Next, choose the location where VMware should store the virtual machine configuration files, virtual disks, snapshots, and related folders.

I will keep the selected location and click Next.

𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗙𝗜𝗚𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗣𝗠 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗩𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗨𝗔𝗟 𝗠𝗔𝗖𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗘 𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗥𝗬𝗣𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡

Windows 11 requires TPM 2.0 in a supported configuration.

To add a virtual Trusted Platform Module to the virtual machine, VMware Workstation requires the virtual machine to be encrypted.

VMware may allow you to encrypt only the files needed to support the virtual TPM or encrypt all virtual machine files.

Either supported option can work. For this demonstration, I will keep the default encryption option and specify a password.

Make sure that you record and securely store this password because it may be required later when opening, moving, or changing the encrypted virtual machine.

𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗙𝗜𝗚𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗩𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗨𝗔𝗟 𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗞

The wizard now asks us to define the virtual disk size and how the disk file should be stored.

Select a disk size that provides enough capacity for Windows 11, updates, applications, and your test data.

VMware can store the virtual disk as a single file or split it into multiple files.

I generally prefer storing the virtual disk as a single file. Splitting the disk can make it easier to move the virtual machine between some storage systems, but a single virtual disk file may provide better performance in certain environments.

Select Store Virtual Disk as a Single File and click Next.

𝗖𝗨𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗠𝗜𝗭𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗩𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗨𝗔𝗟 𝗠𝗔𝗖𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗘 𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗗𝗪𝗔𝗥𝗘

The main virtual machine configuration is now ready, but I want to adjust the hardware resources and attach the Windows 11 ISO file.

Click Customize Hardware.

For memory, I will increase the allocation to 8 gigabytes.

For the processor configuration, I will assign enough processor cores for the Windows 11 test environment. In this example, I will use two processor cores.

The exact values you should use depend on the hardware resources available on your physical computer.

Next, open the CD/DVD settings. This virtual device allows us to mount the Windows 11 ISO file in VMware Workstation.

Instead of selecting Use Physical Drive, select Use ISO Image File.

Browse to the Windows 11 ISO that you downloaded from Microsoft. In my case, this is the English Windows 11 Enterprise ISO.

Select the ISO and click Open.

Make sure that Connect at Power On is enabled. If this option is not selected, the virtual machine may not detect the Windows installation media when it starts.

For the Network Adapter, I will keep the NAT configuration.

I will explain bridged, NAT, and host-only networking in more detail in another video. For this basic Windows 11 installation, NAT is sufficient.

The USB controller, sound card, and display settings can remain at their default values.

Click Close and then click Finish.

The Windows 11 virtual machine is now ready.

𝗕𝗢𝗢𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗙𝗥𝗢𝗠 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗦 𝟭𝟭 𝗜𝗦𝗢 𝗢𝗥 𝗨𝗦𝗕 𝗗𝗥𝗜𝗩𝗘

To start the Windows 11 installation, power on the virtual machine.

The virtual machine will use the mounted ISO file as its bootable installation media.

When the message asks you to press any key to boot from the CD or DVD, press a key before the message disappears.

If you are installing Windows 11 on a physical computer, you must boot from the USB flash drive instead.

Many computer manufacturers provide a temporary boot menu key that can be pressed immediately after powering on the computer.

I will share common manufacturer boot keys in the video or description. If the boot menu key does not work on your computer, enter the BIOS or UEFI firmware settings, open the boot order, and move the USB flash drive to the first position.

Save the BIOS or UEFI configuration and restart the computer.

The system should then boot from the Windows 11 USB installation drive.

𝗦𝗘𝗟𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗦 𝟭𝟭 𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗨𝗔𝗚𝗘 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗞𝗘𝗬𝗕𝗢𝗔𝗥𝗗

Windows Setup is now asking us to select the installation language, time and currency format, and keyboard input method.

Because I downloaded the English version of the Windows 11 ISO, English is the installation language.

I can still change the time and currency format according to my location. In this example, I will select Turkish settings.

Because I am familiar with the Turkish keyboard layout, I will also select the Turkish keyboard.

You can choose the language, regional format, and keyboard layout that are appropriate for your own environment.

Click Next.

𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗦 𝟭𝟭 𝗜𝗡𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡

Because we want to perform a new Windows 11 installation, keep the Install Windows 11 option selected.

Windows Setup may ask you to confirm that the installation will remove files, applications, and settings from the selected disk.

Review the warning carefully and continue only when you are certain that the correct computer and disk are being used.

Click Next.

𝗦𝗘𝗟𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗦 𝟭𝟭 𝗘𝗗𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡

As mentioned earlier, the editions displayed by Windows Setup depend on the ISO file you downloaded.

For this demonstration, I am installing Windows 11 Enterprise, so I will select Windows 11 Enterprise and click Next.

It is important to select an edition that matches your product key, digital license, or organizational activation method.

Windows Setup then displays the Microsoft software license terms.

Review the license terms, accept them if you agree, and continue.

𝗦𝗘𝗟𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗜𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗞

Windows Setup now displays the available disks and partitions.

In this virtual machine, I have only one virtual disk, and its capacity is sufficient for this test installation.

If your physical computer has a larger disk, such as 150 or 500 gigabytes, you may want to create a separate partition for Windows and another partition for personal or important files.

For example, you can create a 100-gigabyte Windows partition and use the remaining capacity for a separate data partition.

To calculate approximately 100 gigabytes in the Windows Setup size field, enter 1024 multiplied by 100, which is 102400 megabytes.

Select the unallocated disk space, click New, enter the required size in megabytes, and click Apply.

Windows Setup may automatically create additional EFI, Microsoft Reserved, and recovery partitions. This is normal.

Separating data from the operating system can make some maintenance or recovery operations easier, but it is not a replacement for a proper backup.

In this test environment, the virtual disk is only large enough for the operating system and basic applications, so I will not create a separate data partition.

𝗟𝗢𝗔𝗗𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗔 𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗥𝗔𝗚𝗘 𝗗𝗥𝗜𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗜𝗙 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗜𝗦𝗞 𝗜𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗩𝗜𝗦𝗜𝗕𝗟𝗘

In some installations, the target disk may not appear in the Windows Setup disk list.

This can happen when the storage controller driver is not included in the default Windows 11 installation media.

If the disk is missing, click Load Driver and provide the appropriate storage or RAID controller driver from the computer, motherboard, or storage controller manufacturer.

After loading the correct driver, click Refresh.

The target disk should then appear in the list, allowing you to select it and continue.

𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗙𝗜𝗥𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗜𝗡𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗦 𝟭𝟭

I will select the only available disk and click Next.

Windows Setup confirms that Windows 11 Enterprise will be installed and warns that existing partitions or data on the selected disk may be deleted.

If you cannot reach this stage and receive an error, return to the Windows 11 system requirements and confirm that the processor, memory, storage, UEFI, Secure Boot, and TPM requirements are satisfied.

These hardware requirements are among the most common reasons Windows 11 installation cannot continue.

If everything is correct and you have reached the confirmation screen, click Install.

Windows Setup begins copying and installing the Windows 11 files.

The computer or virtual machine may restart several times during this process.

I will fast-forward the recording so that you do not have to wait through the entire file-copy and installation process.

𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗙𝗜𝗚𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗦 𝟭𝟭 𝗖𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗧𝗥𝗬 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗞𝗘𝗬𝗕𝗢𝗔𝗥𝗗

After Windows finishes installing the core files, the out-of-box experience begins.

Windows first asks us to select the country or region.

I will select Turkey. You should select the country or region where the computer will be used and click Yes.

Windows then asks for the keyboard layout again.

The first keyboard selection was used by Windows Setup. This second selection configures the keyboard layout for the installed operating system and user experience.

I will select Turkish Q and click Yes.

Windows asks whether we want to add a second keyboard layout. I do not need an additional layout, so I will click Skip.

𝗖𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗔 𝗟𝗢𝗖𝗔𝗟 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗦 𝟭𝟭 𝗨𝗦𝗘𝗥 𝗔𝗖𝗖𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗧

Windows now asks us to sign in with a Microsoft account.

For this demonstration, I want to create a local account that uses only a username and password.

I will open Sign-In Options and select Domain Join Instead.

Despite the name, this option allows us to continue by creating a local user account. The computer can be joined to an Active Directory domain later if required.

Enter the username and click Next.

Then enter a strong password and continue.

Windows asks us to define security questions that can be used if the local account password is forgotten.

Because this is only a test installation, I will provide simple test answers. In a real environment, make sure the questions and answers are meaningful, memorable, and protected from unauthorized access.

𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗙𝗜𝗚𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗦 𝟭𝟭 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗩𝗔𝗖𝗬 𝗦𝗘𝗧𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗦

Windows now displays several privacy options.

These may include location services, Find My Device, diagnostic data, tailored experiences, advertising identifiers, and related settings.

Review each option and enable or disable it according to your personal preferences or organizational security policies.

In this demonstration, I will keep the displayed options enabled and click Accept.

When Windows 11 must be installed on many computers, manually answering all of these setup questions can take a significant amount of time.

For larger or repeated deployments, I strongly recommend preparing the USB drive with appropriate Rufus options or using an unattended installation answer file such as AutoUnattend.xml.

These methods can automate the regional settings, account creation, privacy selections, disk configuration, and many other stages of Windows Setup.

𝗜𝗡𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗦 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗭𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗘𝗧𝗨𝗣

During the installation and initial configuration, Windows periodically checks for updates.

If updates are available and the computer has internet access, Windows may download and install them before displaying the desktop.

The system has found several updates and is now downloading and installing them.

I will fast-forward this part of the video and continue when the update process is complete.

After installing the updates, Windows finalizes the user profile and completes the remaining configuration.

𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗗𝗢𝗪𝗦 𝟭𝟭 𝗜𝗡𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗣𝗟𝗘𝗧𝗘𝗗

Windows asks us to enter the username and password that we configured earlier.

After signing in, the Windows 11 desktop is displayed, and the operating system is ready to use.

Our Windows 11 installation has been completed successfully.

We have now reached the end of this video.

Thank you for watching. I will see you in the next video.

Take care. Goodbye.