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Windows 11 @lemmy.world
boredsquirrel @slrpnk.net

How to upgrade to Windows 11 - most privacy, freedom and efficiency

There are a ton of people using EOL (end of life) Windows versions, which is kinda scary. Not few of them do so because Microsoft has made updating something negatively associated, which is also incredible.

Updating software is essential, please do so. If you don't want to and don't need Windows-only software, there are a bunch of penguin people that happily guide your way through Linux.

I recently installed Win11 for a friend who needs Adobe software, and I think I have achieved a near perfect result, with minimal hassle.

This guide will show you how to do a clean install of nearly unchanged Windows 11, and adapt it with a few free and open source tools, to be less invasive and resource intense.

If you don't want to reinstall, the german tech news channel Heise has made a Registry hack that allows upgrading normally to Windows 11, if your hardware is unsupported.

The following guide uses Rufus to disable these checks.

Prerequisites

  • Windows 10 machine
  • 2-3 pendrives / USB-sticks with 4 and 9GB storage
  • external backup drive (e.g. a SATA SSD in a USB case like this one)
  • internet connection

If you have a lot of drives, remove all of them apart from the one where Windows is installed.

1. Backup

No backup no mercy, now is the time to do it.

To do this, you best use an external drive that you can remove from the computer. So I recommend a big enough SATA SSD in a case, they are extremely reliable and cheap. I use a Crucial SSD, but also others which never failed on me.

Do not use any encryption tools made by Microsoft (i.e. Bitlocker), as you likely cannot get data back without Windows, and maybe even on another machine. Instead, we will use a different tool.

1.1 Filesystem

Windows is a very limited OS, and it only supports a handful of useful filesystems.

Normally Windows would format external drives with NTFS, which can be read on Linux, but not on macOS.

For a full backup, exFat would be okay, as it supports files bigger than 4GB (unlike Fat32, the default USB stick format). But I don't know how to format a drive with that filesystem and don't bother.

UDF is better suited for this job though. Like exFat it works on Linux, MacOS and Windows and it is mainly used in DVDs. UDF is more resistant to data corruption and fragmentation (relevant on spinning hard drives). Windows supports it, but does not easily allow creating it, so you need a Linux live USB too create a medium.

Formatting the external drive will remove all data, so make sure to copy it over to the current system first.

1.2 Encrypted Backup location

As we want to avoid storing our data without encryption, but also want to prevent Microsoft from locking us out from our own data, we do not use Filesystem encryption and instead use free tools that work on Linux, Windows and macOS.

We can use Veracrypt or Cryptomator. Veracrypt is old and reliable, Cryptomator also works well and is optimized for cloud storages, as it encrypts files as small snippets.

Both tools have passed security checks (audits) and can be used, but Cryptomator is a bit easier to use and might perform faster for updates, due to how it encrypts files.

  • Download and install Cryptomator from the website
  • Plug in the backup drive
  • Open Cryptomator
  • Create a new vault
  • Select a place in your backup drive
  • Set a password
  • Unlock the vault and open it.

Now backup all your things in here:

1.3 Backup

Make sure to copy Downloads, Images, Documents etc.

If you dont want to lose appdata, you can use this known trick to view it. Press Windows-Key+R and type %appdata%. The filemanager will show the folder where many apps save their configurations, Firefox profiles and more. Copy what you want to the backup drive. Do not compress it if you want to regularly back it up.

2. Download Windows ISO and Software

Download the Windows 11 ISO from this website. Do not install the "Media creation tool", as Rufus has additional features.

Meanwhile, download a bunch of software for later use

Check on "Alternative To" for alternative software you might need.

Optionally you can also use tools like Portmaster but this will create a more complex system to manage, if you want profound privacy improvements.

Do not pretend that Windows is a secure system where you can safely store personal files and do private browsing. Use this system as an appliance and no more.

Save the software to a pendrive. You can use the one with linux on it, but you need to reformat it with Windows (it will tell you nonsense like "there is a problem with that flashdrive" anyways, so this is pretty easy)

3. Create a Windows install media

  • Plug in the 8GB Pendrive
  • Open Rufus
  • Open the downloaded Windows 11 ISO
  • Select the correct pendrive as target
  • Rufus chooses default settings, they are fine
  • It shows a dialog window where you can enable changes. Select the ones you want. If you have supported hardware, do not disable that, for example.
    • local account
    • no onedrive
    • no forced bitlocker encryption
    • bypass hardware requirements (minimum RAM and TPM 2.0)
  • continue, wait until finished

4. Install Windows

Remove the backup drive, reboot the computer. See under hidden chapter 1.1.3 and 1.1.4 how to deal with issues booting into the Windows USB stick.

Follow the (damn ugly) installer. Remove all partitions on your PC that were previously used by Windows. Continue

When the install is almost done, the new fancy steps will be shown, where you should connect to Wifi. The option "I don't have internet" should be shown, use that to avoid tracking and forced online accounts.

5. Setup Windows

Once installed, you will have a Windows 11 desktop. It is likely Windows 11 Home, which has a bunch of bloatware preinstalled, but way less than at the beginning of Windows 11 or even Windows 10.

5.1 Debloating, Optimizations

Do not connect to the Internet yet, install BCUninstaller and DoNotSpy11. In BCU, enable "uninstall using checkboxes" and the configs to remove protected packages. It does not work often anyways. In DoNotSpy11 you can disable Windows Recall and more "AI" crap, but be aware that is also allows you to turn off random security features. Only disable what you understand.

Install the other software you want now.

5.2 WinUtil

Then connect to the internet, and use ChrisTitus' Windows Utility to set a bunch more things.

Open Powershell as Administrator, and enter

irm "https://christitus.com/win" | iex

in here you can do a lot of things, mainly

  • remove Edge
  • set updates to "security updates only" (you may or may not want that). DO NOT DISABLE UPDATES, this is stupid.
  • disable telemitry, Cortana, web search, ads and more

5.3 GUI changes

The huge search bar always annoys me as it has no purpose that the windows button does not serve. You can disable it in the panel settings (right click on the panel).

Uninstalling Software automatically fixes a bunch of things. Cortana, Ads, "Recommended Apps", News and the Edge Browser will be gone.

You may still want to change some minor things, like disabling transparency and animations to reduce hardware load.

6. Restore Backup

You should have Cryptomator installed, so now you can connect the backup drive, unlock it with your password and copy over all your files! Windows is pretty slow at handling many small files, the filemanager might hang when moving too many, simply wait until it is done.

7. Reboot

The account does not have a password yet! So you need to reboot, then you can set a user password.

8. Dual-Boot with Linux

Dual-booting on the same drive is kinda hacky and can result in breakages of the Windows or Linux system when done wrong. It is recommended to use separate drives when possible, but using the same drive IS possible.

Result

In the end you should have a minimal Windows system with removed and replaced software. It will consume less RAM and do less without you asking it to. It will likely not train AI models with your data, upload your data into the cloud, or force you into subscription software.

The system will be a bit more privacy friendly, but it still relies on Microsoft not reverting everything. Windows is a proprietary operating system, meaning even technical people cannot easily know what happens in there. You should never trust it with personal data and instead use a separate Linux system for that.

5 comments

  • Great guide! I learned some things. Thanks!

    By the way, number 4 says “you should connect to WiFi”, but then 5.1 says “Do not connect to the internet yet”. I was confused at first, and maybe others would be too.