Windows 11 installation media can be used to perform an upgrade or clean install the system on your PC/laptop. It can also be used to troubleshoot your PC while offline and clean install systems on multiple PCs. This post teaches you how to create Windows 11 installation media on Windows/Mac.
How to Create Windows 11 Installation Media on Windows
Windows 11 Media Creation Tool, a Microsoft tool, can be used to create a bootable USB drive or CD/DVD. Before starting the following steps, make sure your PC has an Internet connection and prepare a DVD or USB drive of at least 8GB. If there are important data on the DVD/USB, it’s recommended to back up it in advance.
Step 1: Go to Microsoft’s Windows 11 Installation Media download page.
Step 2: Under the Create Windows 11 Installation Media part, click the Download Now button.
Step 3: The download process will start. You need to choose a path to store the download package and click Save.
Step 4: Find the mediacreationtool.exe file and run it by double-clicking it.
Step 5: On the Applicable notices and licence terms page, click the Accept button. Then, Choose the language and edition. Click the Next button.
Step 6: Choose which media to use and there are two options for you – USB flash drive and ISO file. Here, we take choosing the USB flash drive option as an example. If you choose the ISO file option, the rest steps you can refer to this post – Rufus Windows 11 Download & How to Use Rufus for a Bootable USB.
Step 7: Follow the on-screen instructions to finish the rest operations.
How to Create Windows 11 Installation Media on Mac
To create Windows 11 installation media on Mac, follow the instructions below:
Step 1: Go to the Microsoft Download Windows 11 page (the link is same as in Windows) to download the Windows 11 ISO file.
Step 2: Go to Applications > Utilities in Finder to launch the Boot Camp Assistant app.
Step 3: Check the Create a Windows 10 or later install disk box. Then, uncheck the Install Windows 10 or later version option.
Step 4: Choose the Windows 11 ISO file you have downloaded, select your USB flash drive and click Continue.
Step 5: Then, Boot Camp Assistant will format your USB and start burning the ISO file to your USB drive.
How to Install Windows 11 with Windows 11 Installation Media
Before installing Windows 11 with Windows 11 Installation Media, it’s highly recommended to back up your important data since your data may be lost due to the clean installation. To do that, there is a professional backup software for you – MiniTool ShadowMaker. It supports backing up systems, disks, partitions, folders, and files. Now, let’s see how to back up data using it.
Step 1: Go to the MiniTool official website to download the MiniTool ShadowMaker Trial edition. After installing it, run it and click Keep Trial to enter its main interface.
Step 2: Go to the Backup tab. Click the Source part and choose Folders and Files. Then, choose the data you want to back up.
Alt=choose the backup source
Step 3: Click the Destination part. There are four options and you can choose one as your backup destination.
Alt=choose the backup destination
Step 4: At last, click Back up now to perform the backup task directly.
Alt=perform the backup task
After backing up important data, you can start to install Windows 11 via the Windows 11 installation media.
Step 1: Connect the created Windows 11 bootable USB drive to your computer.
Step 2: Enter BIOS during the PC boot process by pressing a certain key (the key differs from different PCs). Next, change the boot order.
Step 3: Customize the language, time and currency format, and Keyboard or input method.
Step 4: Click the Install now button to continue. Follow the on-screen instructions to finish the rest steps.
Here are all details about creating Windows 11 installation media on Windows/Mac.
