How to do a clean installation T8Plus

[Gabe]

Yes, the system available here is safe to use.

If you install Windows using installation media made with Microsoft's Media Creation Tool you'll likely need some drivers, which you can get from the same page I linked to. Having said this, I'm not quite sure why it would prompt you for a driver for the USB or disk drive when trying to install Windows this way. I've never seen that before with one of these systems, nor my own T8 Plus, which I also performed a clean install of W11 on using media made with the Media Creation Tool rather than the system available here. My only guess is that the particular USB flash drive being used is one that needs a unique driver.

For reference, with what I mentioned above regarding my own T8 Plus, it's not that I avoid using the systems available here. Heck, it would actually be easier for me to do so, as I wouldn't have to install the drivers afterward, nor would I have to add any of the apps for the "extras" with particular models, like the RGB light bar control and LCD panel program for my S1, the latter of which can be a bit tricky to set up properly when you install it yourself. With the factory system it's already set up and runs perfectly. I've just always done clean installs using Media Creation Tool media on my PCs, and continued doing so with these minis out of habit.

Another reason is that the systems available here are often a version behind current, but that's because they have to make sure the new versions, like 24H2, run properly on their PCs before they release installation files with that version. For instance, both my T8 Plus and S1 have a weird audio anomaly when I install W11 24H2 on them, but they don't have it with 23H2. They're both N95 based, yet my AD03, which is also N95 based, doesn't have the problem with 24H2.