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I was living under a stone: Rufus has gotten some learned some great Windows 11 tricks in 2022

Posted by jpluimers on 2025/12/29

I totally agree with [Wayback/Archive] Dustin (BusySignal) on Twitter: “when did the disk utility rufus become so awesome?” as Rufus 3.20 has added these Windows User Experience features when creating bootable Windows installation media:

  • Remove requirement for 4GB+ RAM, Secure Boot and TPM 2.0
  • Remove requirement for an online Microsoft account
  • Disable data collection (Skip privacy questions)
  • Set a local account using the same name as this user’s
  • Set regional options using the same values as this user’s

So below are some links explaining more about this feature (and how it is implemented).

First the repository, releases and site:

Then about the new features:

  • [Wayback/Archive] FAQ · pbatard/rufus Wiki

    …

    Help, I don’t see the option to bypass the need for a Microsoft account with Windows 11!

    Okay, the first thing you need to understand about this option is that it is designed to make the Windows installer restore a feature that exists in Windows 11 21H2 and that Microsoft removed in 22H2.

    So, obviously, the option is only offered to you in you use a Windows 11 22H2 image or later with Rufus.

    If you use a Windows 11 21H2 image, you will of course not be presented with the option in Rufus, because the feature you are after comes by default with 21H2!

    Second, just like with 21H2, what the option to bypass the need for a Microsoft account with Windows 11 22H2 or later does is restore the ability to use a local account when the installer is unable to connect to the internet during the account creation process.

    That last part is very important, because, regardless of whether you use (regular) 21H2 or (bypassed) 22H2, you will only be offered the ability to create a local account if you make sure that your network is unplugged on the account creation page. As long as the Windows installer does have network connectivity, it will default to using a Microsoft online account, regardless of whether the bypass is in use, so you do need to make sure that the network is inaccessible then.

    …

    Help, I no longer see the option to bypass TPM/Secure Boot with Windows 11!

    These options have been moved to a new dialog that you will see after you press the START button. Please press the START button and you will find what you’re looking for.

    Also, as what the case with previous versions of Rufus, you MUST run Rufus on Windows 8 or later to be offered the bypass options, as these are not proposed to you if you run Rufus on Windows 7

    …

    Help, I created an extended media to bypass TPM, but it still says my PC doesn’t support Windows 11!

    That’s because you are trying to perform an upgrade instead of booting the media to perform a clean installation of Windows.

    Rufus is designed to create bootable media only. It is not designed to be used if all you want to do is perform an upgrade of Windows by running the setup.exe from the ISO. That’s because, you don’t actually need to go through Rufus to create an installation media then. Instead, all you need to do is right click the ISO in Windows, then select Open With → File Explorer, and you will have access to the Windows setup.exe to perform an upgrade.

    So, unless you are actually booting from the media you created, the TPM and Secure Boot bypassed applied by Rufus will not work, because the bypass of the Windows 11 installation restrictions enacted by Rufus are only applied for the installation checks that are performed when booting from the media, and NOT for the installation checks that are performed when running setup.exe from within Windows.

    So you have two choices:

    • Actually boot from the USB media created by Rufus and perform a clean installation of Windows (not an upgrade)
    • Create the AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU registry key as documented here if you want to perform an upgrade.

    …

    …

  • [Wayback/Archive] Release Rufus 3.20 · pbatard/rufus
    • Enable applicable Windows User Experience options for Windows 10
    • Remember last Windows User Experience selection between sessions
    • Add automatic local account creation and regional options duplication
      (This is limited to creating an account with the same name as the current user and with an empty password that the user will be prompted to change after first reboot)
    • Add a workaround for ISOs that have a syslinux symbolic link to /isolinux/ (Knoppix)
    • Revert to offline insertion of registry keys for the TPM/SB/RAM bypass where possible
    • …
    • Fix Microsoft Account bypass not being applied unless TPM/SB/RAM bypass is selected

    …

  • [Wayback/Archive] [0x00000057] Error While Formating – Only on Windows 11 · Issue #1779 · pbatard/rufus

    Like AveYo, we use the LabConfig registry keys that (in the absence of clear indication of a researcher having reverse engineered this process, which would have been publicized otherwise) were most likely leaked from Microsoft themselves.

    So that’s HKLM\SYSTEM\Setup\LabConfig\BypassTPMCheck, HKLM\SYSTEM\Setup\LabConfig\BypassSecureBootCheck and HKLM\SYSTEM\Setup\LabConfig\BypassRAMCheck.
    I didn’t apply the BypassStorageCheck as I see that one as a real requirement if you want to be able to update Windows 11 to feature updates.
  • [Wayback/Archive] rufus/ChangeLog.txt at master · pbatard/rufus
  • [Wayback/Archive] Ways to install Windows 11 – Microsoft Support

    …

    • If you choose to install Windows 11 on a device that does not meet these requirements, and you acknowledge and understand the risks, you can create the following registry key values and bypass the check for TPM 2.0 (at least TPM 1.2 is required) and the CPU family and model.
    • Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\MoSetup
    • Name: AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU
    • Type: REG_DWORD
    • Value: 1

    …

  • [Wayback/Archive] Installing Windows 11 on devices that don’t meet minimum system requirements – Microsoft Support
  • [Wayback/Archive] Universal MediaCreationTool wrapper for all MCT Windows 10 versions – MOVED TO github.com/AveYo/MediaCreationTool.bat

Queries

–jeroen

ImageImage from the above Tweet:

https://twitter.com/DustinFinn/status/1625512551738929160

This entry was posted on 2025/12/29 at 12:00 and is filed under Power User, Rufus, Windows, Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows 8.1. Tagged: , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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