The official ISO is free to download directly from Microsoft here. Grab your preferred flash drive and use Rufus to make the ISO bootable. Rufus is great because it lets you tweak the installation experience to your liking. I recommend disabling the requirement for a Microsoft account and turning off data collection, which helps you avoid some of Microsoft’s built-in telemetry.
Once Windows is installed and you've set up a local user account, open PowerShell as an admin and run the following command from massgrave.dev:
irm https://get.activated.win | iex
And just like that, your Windows installation is activated. Nice and easy.
Windows 11 comes with its share of bloatware and unnecessary features. To clean things up, I recommend using Win11Debloat. Simply run the following command in PowerShell:
& ([scriptblock]::Create((irm "https://win11debloat.raphi.re/")))
Running the default mode will disable all of Microsoft’s telemetry and remove the bloatware. If you ever want to undo these changes, you can find the necessary registry files in the /Regfiles
folder.
OpenShell is a must-have if you want to bring back the classic Windows Start menu. I prefer the Windows 7 style with the Midnight skin for a clean, functional look. You can download my customized settings by clicking here. You can import it directly to OpenShell.
ExplorerPatcher is another fantastic tool that restores the classic Windows Explorer, context menus, taskbar, and more. I use it to give my installation a more Windows 10-like feel (because, let’s face it, Windows 10 is the best OS of all time). What’s great about ExplorerPatcher is that it knows to auto-update when Windows updates, so you can keep things looking and functioning just how you like.
Here's a quick script you can use to run DISM ScanHealth, SFC ScanNow, and DISM RestoreHealth. These cross reference a clean Windows image from Microsoft and checks if your install is corrupted and restores them. Reboot when done. Download here or create your own from below.
# Run DISM ScanHealth
Write-Output "Starting DISM ScanHealth..."
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth
# Check if the previous command was successful
if ($LASTEXITCODE -eq 0) {
Write-Output "DISM ScanHealth completed successfully."
# Run SFC ScanNow
Write-Output "Starting SFC ScanNow..."
sfc /scannow
# Check if the SFC ScanNow was successful
if ($LASTEXITCODE -eq 0) {
Write-Output "SFC ScanNow completed successfully."
# Run DISM RestoreHealth
Write-Output "Starting DISM RestoreHealth..."
DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth
if ($LASTEXITCODE -eq 0) {
Write-Output "DISM RestoreHealth completed successfully."
} else {
Write-Output "Error: DISM RestoreHealth encountered an issue."
}
} else {
Write-Output "Error: SFC ScanNow encountered an issue."
}
} else {
Write-Output "Error: DISM ScanHealth encountered an issue."
}