Windows Setup Checklist

Author

github.com/blairw

OOBE (Out of Box Experience) Initial Setup

Setup with offline account

In Windows 11, this is now almost unreasonably difficult but there is still a way around it:

  1. During the OOBE (“Out of Box Experience”) initial setup, disconnect all network cables and do not connect to WiFi. ⚠️
  2. Even though OOBE looks like a fullscreen guided app, you can actually open up a command prompt using SHIFT + F10
  3. At the command prompt, enter: OOBE\BYPASSNRO (yes, without any spaces; yes, with a backslash)
    • This will trigger a reboot, this is expected behaviour.
  4. In the now-rebooted OOBE, again, do not connect any network cables and do not connect to WiFi.
    • Use SHIFT + F10 again to pull up a command prompt again
    • This time: ipconfig /release
  5. Now, during this OOBE second run, you will be allowed to click I don’t have Internet when prompted to connect to the Internet
    • Then you can click Continue with limited setup and you will be allowed to create an offline account. 👍

Adapted from: https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/install-windows-11-without-microsoft-account

After OOBE

Then proceed to next section (Security).

Security

Basics

Block AAD/Workplace Join

  • Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WorkplaceJoin

Sensible Start Menu

    • Go to start menu, type Cloud Search settings, then open up that relevant part of the Settings app
    • Turn OFF everything under “Cloud content search”
    • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows
      • Add Explorer, and in it, add:
        • DisableSearchBoxSuggestions DWORD (32-bit) = 1
        • HideRecentlyAddedApps DWORD (32-bit) = 1

See also:

  • https://pureinfotech.com/disable-web-search-windows-10-version-1803/
  • https://www.thewindowsclub.com/show-or-hide-recommended-list-in-start-menu-on-windows-11

Performance

Windows Settings

  • System → Display → Brightness & color (heading) → Brightness. Open this part of the accordion.
    • Switch OFF “Change brightness automatically when lighting changes”.
    • Switch OFF “Change brightness based on content” (defaults to “On Battery Only”, we want it OFF completely).

Old Alt+Tab

Adapted from https://winaero.com/enable-classic-alttab-dialog-in-windows-11/

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

Set DWORD AltTabSettings = 1.

This will require a reboot.

Software Setup

Initial setup of Scoop first

Use Powershell:

https://scoop.sh/

Then:

scoop install 7zip btop git git-lfs fastfetch nodejs-lts rclone
git lfs install # as per https://docs.github.com/en/repositories/working-with-files/managing-large-files/installing-git-large-file-storage

# Python 3.11
scoop bucket add versions
scoop install versions/python311

# Quarto
scoop bucket add extras
scoop install extras/quarto

Using Python in Powershell

python -m venv .venv
.\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1

# Equivalent of `which python`
(Get-Command python).Path

# If you need to delete a folder, this is the equivalent of `rm -rf`
rm some_folder -Recurse -Force

Initial setup of Chocolatey

In an admin cmd, run:

@"%SystemRoot%\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\powershell.exe" -NoProfile -InputFormat None -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Command "[System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = 3072; iex ((New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://community.chocolatey.org/install.ps1'))" && SET "PATH=%PATH%;%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\chocolatey\bin"

(Source: https://docs.chocolatey.org/en-us/choco/setup)

Google Chrome

Install software using Chocolatey.

For each of the following, first check the package status at:

https://community.chocolatey.org/packages/PLEASE_PUT_PACKAGE_NAME_HERE

If all relevant tests are passing, then you can run the choco install command. If there are relevant tests that are not passing, consider installing manually.

In other words, do these one at a time.

# Get these started first.
choco install -y sudo
choco install -y chocolateygui
choco install -y dropbox
choco install -y nextcloud-client

# Should be OK, but please check, the status might have changed by the time you're reading this.
choco install -y audacity
choco install -y audacity-ffmpeg
choco install -y audacity-lame
choco install -y brave
choco install -y cryptomator
choco install -y everything
choco install -y firefox
choco install -y irfanview
choco install -y irfanviewplugins
choco install -y libreoffice-still
choco install -y logioptionsplus
choco install -y mp3tag
choco install -y monitorian
choco install -y nettraffic
choco install -y notepadplusplus.install
choco install -y paint.net
choco install -y passwordsafe
choco install -y powertoys
choco install -y signal
choco install -y sumatrapdf.install
choco install -y thunderbird
choco install -y vlc.install
choco install -y vscodium.install
choco install -y zoom

# Optional, you may not need them
choco install -y greenshot
choco install -y logitech-options
choco install -y mactype
choco install -y slack

# VirtualBox - first check https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads for any notices about the most recent release - sometimes the most recent release causes BSOD
choco install -y virtualbox

# Potentially problematic, but please check, they might be OK by the time you're reading this.
choco install -y atom.install
choco install -y librewolf
choco install -y processhacker.install

# Syncthing - if the status on Chocolatey is problematic, use https://github.com/Bill-Stewart/SyncthingWindowsSetup/releases/
# As advised by https://syncthing.net/downloads/
choco install -y syncthing

# TBC
choco install -y filezilla
choco install -y zotero

whatsapp???

cinst -y ant-renamer cinst -y git-fork cinst -y handbrake.install hwinfo cinst -y qttabbar tabby

Only if you want battery bar:

cinst -y batterybar

Only if you want xampp:

cinst -y xampp-81

Only if you want nordvpn:

cinst -y nordvpn

Only if you want docker:

cinst -y docker-desktop

DO NOT install the following programs using Chocolatey:

  • Spotify
  • WhatsApp

CSVed

Install manually

Window-switcher

Install manaully: https://github.com/sigoden/window-switcher

Explorer++

Use https://github.com/derceg/explorerplusplus

Latest beta supports hidpi scaling.

Microsoft Office

  • Manually install from office.com

Three Finger Drag

  • https://github.com/ClementGre/ThreeFingerDragOnWindows/
  • If it complains that you dont have .NET Desktop Runtime 6, get it from https://community.chocolatey.org/packages/dotnet-6.0-desktopruntime

WSL/Ubuntu

Follow instructions at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install - be careful not to install using other legacy methods.

  • Note that Ubuntu will be automatically installed so you do NOT need to download Ubuntu from the App Store
  • wsl -l -v # check current version

Ubuntu handy installs

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install bat btop dos2unix ffmpeg libreoffice lolcat neofetch pandoc python3-venv rclone

Git config

Note: For GitHub, you’ll need to generate a Personal Access Token (PAT) at https://github.com/settings/tokens

git config --global credential.helper store
git config --global user.name "YOUR_NAME_GOES_HERE"
git config --global user.email "EMAIL_ADDRESS_GOES_HERE"

pbcopy equivalent

Is just clip.exe. :)

Please note, if you want to be able to copy characters that non-ascii Unicode (e.g., mdash), you will need to go to: System settings → Time & language → Language & region → Administrative language settings → Language for non-Unicode programs → Change system locale… And then enable Beta: Use Unicode UTF-8 for worldwide language support.

Source: https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/11047#issuecomment-1946510386

Cron

Make sure your user account is actually added to the crontab group otherwise nothing will happen:

sudo usermod -a -G crontab blair

Check cron status (start and stop only if needed):

sudo service cron status
sudo service cron start
sudo service cron stop

     

Favicon by Yusuke Kamiyamane. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Device-Specific Instructions

If needed: block Windows 10 Update to Windows 11

Use the TargetReleaseVersionInfo method documented at https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/further-evidence-of-forced-upgrade-to-win10-version-2004-possibly-due-to-a-pause-updates-bug/#post-2275152

The following commands in sudo cmd

reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate /f /v TargetReleaseVersion /t REG_DWORD /d 1
reg add HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate /f /v TargetReleaseVersionInfo /t REG_SZ /d 22H2

Be sure to check latest release version (e.g., 22H2) as per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_10