Excerpt from my Windows installation doc

Windows Setup Excerpt.md

Windows Installation

Creating Partitions (gdisk)

• (Setup-dependent) Run blkdiscard or nvme format -s [1/2] -r (followed by blkdiscard) for the disk.
• EFI:
  • Size: 100MiB
  • Type: EF00 (EFI System Partition) (Type may be optional depending on modern UEFI firmware)
• MSR (Microsoft Reserved):
  • Size: 16MiB
  • Type: 0C01 (Microsoft Reserved Partition)
  • Always discard/zero the MSR after creation.
• Root/OS Partition:
  • Size: ((Disk Size * 0.9) - (EFI + MSR))
  • Type: 0700 (Microsoft Basic Data)

Installing Windows (Windows ISO)

1. Boot from the Windows installation media and press Shift + F10 to open CMD.
2. Partition Formatting:
   • Run diskpart
   • List disks: list disk
   • Select disk: select disk [number]
   • List partitions: list partition
   • EFI Partition:
     • Select partition: select partition [number]
     • Format: format quick fs=fat32 label="EFI"
     • Assign letter: assign letter=S
   • Microsoft Reserved (MSR) Partition: No action needed.
   • Root/OS Partition:
     • Select partition: select partition [number]
     • Format: format quick fs=ntfs label="Windows"
     • Assign letter: assign letter=W
   • Creating a ReFS Volume (Optional):
     • Select partition: select partition [number]
     • Format: format quick fs=ReFS label="[label]"
     • Letter is assigned automatically.
   • Exit diskpart: exit
3. Windows Image Deployment:
   • Assumptions:
     • E:\ is the installation medium
   1. Get Index Number of Available Editions:
      • dism /Get-WimInfo /WimFile:"E:\sources\install.wim"
   2. Apply Selected Windows Edition:
      • dism /Apply-Image /ImageFile:"E:\sources\install.wim" /index:[edition_index] /ApplyDir:W:\
   3. Install Bootloader:
      • W:\Windows\System32\bcdboot.exe "W:\Windows" /s S:
4. Finalize Installation:
   • Shutdown the system: wpeutil shutdown
   • Ensure networking is disconnected.
   • Start PC and press F12 repeatedly for EFI binary selector.

OOBE (Out Of Box Experience)

1. Press Shift + F10 to open CMD.
2. Start PowerShell with Scripts/PowerShell_BypassExecPol.bat
3. Import Group Policy: Scripts/OOBE/Import_Template_GPO.ps1
4. Deprovision bloat apps: Scripts/OOBE/Deprovision_Bloat_Appx.ps1
5. Run C:\Windows\System32\oobe\BypassNRO.cmd - Expect automatic restart
6. Complete OOBE Setup:
   • Use empty (no) password.

Initial Offline Setup and Configuration

• Set user password from Ctrl+Alt+Delete menu

@CodeAsm

Ow, how would one start PowerShell from within the installer environment? or just start one from the CLI ?

(I just checked back on some of my GH Gists and saw your edit)

I use Shift + F10 to pull up command prompt, then start powershell.exe.

Edit: You can also do powershell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass to be able to run unsigned .ps1 scripts temporarily.