The simple answer is not to download the ISO direct from MS, because that has an install.wim that's almost always larger than 4GB. If you want to download from MS then use the MCT to make an ISO. This will always have an install.esd in the sources folder, and MS make sure that their install.esd is always less than 4GB.
Hi there
There's also a problem (or potential problem) with the MCT as it may do a "W11 compatibilty check" before even allowing the download !!!! -- OK if your hardware is "W11" compatible -- but there are still loads of PC's out there with CPU's etc that aren't on the Ms approved list.
The easiest way on this type of thing is to create a small efi 100MB fat32 partition on your USB device, create a tiny 128mb unformatted msr partition on the device and format the rest as NTFS.
Now copy the Windows install ISO to the data area on the device (as an ISO image) , boot the WINPE system, mount the iso and then simply use dism /Apply-Image to the target Windows destination.
Remember to select the correct image if you have made an iso with several different editions of Windows from UUPDUMP. In the Dism /Apply-Image the image files are in /sources/install.wim and the one you want is selected by the /index:n parmeter where n is the image number -- usually 1 if you only opt for a single W11 build from UUPDUMP.
The destination can be a VHDX physical file (attach VHDX and mount as a disk) a Virtual machine image, or a physical standard Windows partition or Disk.
After that simply run the bcdboot command to install the bootloader on the target Windows device and then boot into your new Windows system.
To create Winpe iso -- simply follow easy (and that's rare from Ms) documentation from Ms site.
Create bootable WinPE media
docs.microsoft.com
Simple, easy, all Windows (and coming from a serious Linux user !!!) , no 3rd party things needed. 8GB USB device more than sufficient !!!
I'd also recommend getting your iso via UUPDUMP -- as you can choose what you want etc.
Cheers
jimbo
