Faulty Windows 11 ISO

Question

I downloaded a Windows multi-edition ISO from here.

I then flashed it to a USB drive using Rufus 20.0. Later, I booted it to Setup, with just having converted my SSD to GPT & formatting a partition to NTFS. In the part asking which partition to install Windows, if I select the empty partition I just formatted, & clicked Next, this will show:

Problem #1:

It says at the bottom: We couldn't create a new partition or locate an existing one. For more information, see the Setup log files.

Clicking the format button on said partition would only show the hour clock cursor & then nothing would happen. Then the same prompt would show upon clicking Next still.

The only way to get through is to start the Setup with said partition unallocated or Delete said partition to become unallocated right at this point.

From here, one can either:

• Press New would create a partition fit for Windows & that is what you select, pressing Next. Although not without creating at least another partition, which is System.
• Press Next & the partition fit for Windows & the other partitions are created. Partition fit for windows is selected. This is process is not shown.

Basically, a partition can't be located, if there are no accompanying System partition & such. I find this setup of having extra partition annoying.

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And yet this is not the real problem & only what compounds.

When I get to installation & when files have been copied to 81%, this pops up:

Problem #2:

It says at the bottom: Windows cannot install required files. The file may be corrupt or missing. Make sure all files required for installation are available, & restart the installation. Error code: 0x80070570

The installation just stops there. I'm pretty sure the image I flashed to my USB drive is the unmodified copy of what I've downloaded from the link above. I've tried it on Rufus 20.0 & Rufus 17.0... It should work. I'm reporting 2 issues right now (though only the latter really maters) because they could be symptoms of the same malady.

Lastly, pardon that I do not have my phone to take decent pics.

AFTERTHOUGHTS: You guys think maybe Bill Gates is after me? It's very easy to hide scripts that if the client has my IP address, the server gives a different file.

UPDATE: I downloaded a fresh ISO & had another one created from media creation tool. Both ISOs gets past the second problem. So the previous ISO is to be blamed (as asserted by Akeo). Now, I would like to turn the attention to the first problem. I want to stop the need to have extra System partitions. Specifically because in my autounattend.xml for my modified Windows Setup, I specifically refer to C: & D: as partition 1 & 2. Having more partition throws the numeric off.

Answer 1

I downloaded a Windows multi-edition ISO from here.

If you encounter issues, like the one you report, you MUST validate that your download hasn't been corrupted.

The way to validate that your image is not corrupted is very easy (taken from here):

1. Open your Windows ISO in Rufus and click the (✓) button that you can see in the UI right beside the SELECT button. This will compute the MD5, SHA-1 and SHA-256 checksums of your ISO and the one you are interested in is the SHA-1, so copy it
2. Go to https://sha1.rg-adguard.net and enter the SHA-1 you just copied (e.g. c5341ba26e420684468fa4d4ab434823c9d1b61f for Win11_English_x64v1.iso) into the search box, and click the search button.
3. If you do get a result (For the SHA-1 above, that would be Windows 11 [22H2] v1 (x64) - (English)), then it means that your ISO is a genuine retail Microsoft ISO, and that it has not been altered in any way.
   If, on the other hand, you do not get any result, then it means that the ISO you are trying to use is corrupted and you will need to both download and perform this validation check again until you get a match.

Now, if you find that your ISO is not corrupted, then, as others suggested, I would advise you to delete all the partitions from your disk during the installation process, and let the Windows installer create the partitions for you.

Answer 2

Problem 2 is solved already – the ISO may have indeed been corrupt, or cosmic radiation flipped a RAM bit or whatever. It happens.

The situation with problem 1 isn’t entirely clear. I will assume that the two partitions filled all available space on the drive. This means there is no space for the required EFI System Partition (ESP) and also no space for all the other partitions Setup likes to create.

The ESP is a required part of the UEFI boot process. Like it or not, you’re stuck with it. The other partitions are not strictly required, but you may run into problems in the future or when Windows breaks if you don’t have them. You better incorporate them into your install script.

Make sure to also check out gronostaj’s answer if you’d like to know more about the boot process.