STAGE 1: CREATING A WINDOWS 11 USB STICK

STEP 1 Download Windows 11

Your first step is to download Windows 11, which you can do by heading to microsoft.com/en-gb/software

download/windows11. You’re offered three options here: download the Windows 11 Installation Assistant, create Windows 11 installation media or download a Windows 11 disk image (ISO).

The Windows Installation Assistant is well worth investigating if you want to do an in-place upgrade.

After all, this means that all your installed programs will be carried over with you. By all means, give it a try and see if it works.

However, there are also obvious advantages to a clean install. If that’s your preferred choice, then scroll down to “Create Windows 11 Installation Media” and click “Download Now”.

Microsoft’s download assistant will save the installer to your machine and run it. You may need to twiddle your fingers while the software sorts itself out.

STEP 2 Choose your options

Accept the licence agreement and, after another short wait, the Select language and edition options will appear. This mimics the settings of the machine doing the work, so if you want to choose alternative language options, untick the box and make your choice. Press Next when ready.

STEP 3 Select USB flash drive

For this guide, we’ll select USB flash drive. Insert a USB stick (8GB or larger) and press Next. Now is the long wait as Windows 11 downloads; it weighs in at 4.1GB, which is around 1,500 floppy disks in old money. After about a week (depending on your broadband speed), the process will complete. Click Finish.

You now have a bootable USB drive for Windows 11. Congratulations.