This process is called a clean install, which is ironic as there's nothing particularly clean about it: Microsoft has enshittified Windows Setup.

In June 2025, Microsoft announced that, in June 2026, it would begin deprecating Secure Boot certificates of Windows systems from 2011, which were superseded by their 2023 counterparts.

Windows 11 hides a maze of settings behind the modern Settings app and the older Control Panel, which can turn simple tweaks ...