[SOLVED] I wanna make a windows 11 installer from my preview build

HOLDMYPC

Reputable
Aug 1, 2020
98
8
4,565
I want to make an USB installer from the Windows 11 i have installed, and not use the media creation tool , please help me, is this possible? help me pleaseee
 
Solution
My answer to your win 10 question about same thing still applies. No - https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/can-i-create-a-usb-flash-drive-of-my-current-os.3716221/

An installed version of Windows cannot make an installer without a source. Clearly, for some reason, it can't use the image file it uses to rebuild itself after a reset. I don't know why.

And even more so now with Win 11 being in alpha and only available via 2 methods, Insiders is a download and UUP is many updates all merged together. Win 11 isn't finished yet so why you would want to stay on a weekly build that is missing parts still

This says its ISO, No mention of Media Creation Tool - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-insider/isos
I've never heard of such a thing being successfully done. As part of its copy protection, Windows is specifically designed so that it will not run from a USB. That's how they make their money. Once its completely installed and running, the process can not be reversed.
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
My answer to your win 10 question about same thing still applies. No - https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/can-i-create-a-usb-flash-drive-of-my-current-os.3716221/

An installed version of Windows cannot make an installer without a source. Clearly, for some reason, it can't use the image file it uses to rebuild itself after a reset. I don't know why.

And even more so now with Win 11 being in alpha and only available via 2 methods, Insiders is a download and UUP is many updates all merged together. Win 11 isn't finished yet so why you would want to stay on a weekly build that is missing parts still

This says its ISO, No mention of Media Creation Tool - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-insider/isos
 
Solution
I haven't looked into it but you could possibly sysprep your Windows 11 as is. There are limitations to sysprep though. Moving a syspreped (generalized) Windows 11 image to different system hardware shouldn't be a problem then. You could then deploy it via whatever PXE/DISM deployment method you are using.
Alternately, you can 'sneakernet' the image to other systems but you'll need to boot off a Windows 11 install USB to run fixboot/fixmbr to get it booting.