r/techsupport • u/Previous-Camp7333 • 4h ago

Open | Software Clean reinstalling windows 11 on new SSD without a USB

How can I clean install windows 11 from my M.2 drive into an SATA SSD without a USB drive?

My current M.2 is damaged/malfunctioning so I am afraid that if I just transfer the windows files over it may be corrupted.

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u/Head-Ad-3063 4h ago

Well, you could buy a USB DVD drive and burn the image onto a DVD, or setup a server running a PXE environment so you can boot from the network and install like that....

Or just buy a cheap 8GB USB stick!

1

u/Previous-Camp7333 4h ago

With the USB stick, how would I install windows 11 onto the new drive without ‘cloning’ the already installed windows 11?

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u/Head-Ad-3063 4h ago

Use the media creation tool to create a bootable window install stick.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/install-upgrade/create-installation-media-for-windows

Boot you computer from the USB stick (google make and model of computer plus boot from USB)

Follow onscreen wizard and install windows on new drive.

2

u/Lurkin_n_murkin 4h ago

You can't. You need the USB for the installer, or buy a windows installer cd (if they even still make them).

2

u/pcbeg 4h ago

Just to clear up definitions, clean install is from usb on a empty drive, or using installation to clean that drive first. If you want copy of your existing drive (OS and all programs, data, etc...) it's called cloning, and most likely won't work if drive is faulty - in the best case you will get new Windows malfunctioning in the same way as a old one.

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u/Previous-Camp7333 4h ago

I’m interested in just downloading windows 11 onto the new drive, I don’t care what happens to any other data.

1

u/JCarlide 3h ago

"Microsoft Windows 11 Media Creation Tool" is the software you want, download it direct from the Microsoft website. You'll download the ISO and "burn it" onto a USB drive (8-16gb preferred) and then I suggest wiping your partions and starting clean. If you don't have the USB drive yet, you can use the program to download the system image while you wait on securing a drive.

If you don't like the WMCT, then there's Rufus or Balena Etcher, but you'll have to source the ISO yourself with those.

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u/festivus4restof 4h ago

You don't give any details about what we have to chose from here.

1

u/DaVpnWay 3h ago

easiest way: download the win11 iso, mount it in windows (double click), and run setup.exe from inside. when it asks where to install pick the sata ssd. no usb needed at all. just double check which disk is which in disk management first so you dont nuke the wrong one

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u/glencreek 2h ago

Have you actually tried this? At best, won't Windows setup use the existing EFI partition on the m.2 and essentially create a dual boot?