I install Windows 11 a lot. Whether it’s for a clean slate on a working PC or a brand new PC, anyone who tinkers with computers will find themselves interacting with the Windows installer a lot. And it is far from perfection.
In the last year, it has become even worse. This is because Windows 11 now requires you to be connected to the Internet before proceeding with the installation. If you have no connection (or encounter some other problem, as I’ll explain in a bit), you’re out of luck. you’re stuck. Thankfully, there’s a Windows 11 shortcut that can open the installer and give you a lot more power: Shift + F10.
This is not a new shortcut. It’s been in the Windows Installer for years, but you probably never knew it existed. This shortcut pulls up the command prompt during installation, allowing you to do things like access the Task Manager.
You’ll need to know some commands to use Command Prompt, or you’ll need to have another PC to see what you need. But this keyboard shortcut solved a huge headache for me while trying to setup for Windows 11 countless times.
In my case, the Windows 11 installer did not pick up the drivers for my network connection during its initial setup. In the past this wasn’t a big deal, as the Windows Installer included a handy I don’t have internet Button that allowed you to proceed with a limited setup and receive updates later. For some reason, Microsoft decided to remove that button with the Windows 11 22H2 update released mid-last year.
I hope you see the problem here. Windows didn’t catch the basic networking driver, so I couldn’t connect to the Internet. And without internet connection, I could not proceed with the installation. Reboot doesn’t help here either. No matter how many times I forced the PC to shut down, created new Windows installation media, and banged my head against the wall, I got stuck on the same page asking me to connect to the Internet.
but we have Shift+F10. I’ll walk you through a series of steps to take to get the Windows 11 train back on track, so hopefully you won’t have to bother with the troubleshooting I did.
task manager to the rescue
The easiest thing you can do is end the network process in Task Manager. This will fail Windows 11’s network check and give you another chance to try. It’s like restarting your router when your internet is working.
Press Shift+F10 Pull up the command prompt and click in it. Note that you actually have to click on Command Prompt. It will not automatically raise your keyboard. Once there, type workmgr and hit enter. This will pull up a Task Manager window.
choose show details go further down networkflow Process. Right-click and End it before closing both windows. You should be on the failure page. Kill try again And hope your internet shows up.
being rough with drivers
If that doesn’t work, you’ll need to install your drivers manually. It’s annoying, but not too hard. Take a second USB drive and download the network drivers from your PC or motherboard manufacturer to a different PC. Unzip the folder and drag the files to the root of the formatted USB drive. You’ll probably see several subfolders in the driver package. Poking around until you find the area containing all the .inf files. This is what you are looking for.
Pull them out, eject the drive, and insert it into the PC you’re installing Windows on. Pull up command prompt with our friend Shift+F10 and enter diskpart before killing enter. This will list all the drives connected. Note the letter of the USB drive with its drivers and close the window.
Drag another command prompt window with Shift+F10, and enter pnputil /add-driver [drive letter]:\*.inf. Replace the drive letter with the one you noted. The final code should look something like this: pnputil /add-driver E:\*.inf.
The driver should install automatically. After that, try to close networkflow To force the process to close and connect to the Internet. If that doesn’t work, thankfully there’s a kill switch you can hit.
kill switch
If you are fed up and want to disable Windows installation, you can do so. pull up command prompt Shift+F10 and enter OOBE\BYPASSNO. Kill enter And the Windows 11 installation will restart from the beginning.
However, this time, when you access the page to set up your Internet, you will see the familiar I don’t have internet The button below, allows you to proceed with setup and install your network drivers later. Now, if only Microsoft could have done things like this from the beginning!
you’re still in control
Over the past several versions of Windows, Microsoft has taken away control from users in an effort to make Windows more accessible. This isn’t inherently a bad thing, but it can lead to situations where you feel like you’re stuck without any support. Thankfully, there are still ways to troubleshoot Windows, even if they’re hidden behind a series of shortcuts and console commands.
without paying attention, Shift+F10 If you find yourself frequently installing or reinstalling Windows 11 this is a great resource to keep in your back pocket. Let’s just hope that future versions of the installer will make it so you don’t have to resort to the command prompt.