How to Customize Windows 11 Installation (OOBE)

One of the really cool features of Windows 11 with a lot of potential is something called OOBE (Out of Box Experience).

For you to understand what it is, we are talking about a set of scripts that perform certain tasks to configure both the hardware and software of our computer.

To make it even clearer to you, the OOBE process is the first part in which we configure any version of the Redmond operating system.

It’s not that Windows 11’s OOBE is radically different from Windows 10, but it’s different in its look, brighter, smoother colors, layouts, and style, and above all, with a great high-quality feel.

However, beyond the design, Windows 11 OOBE has some new features and even some limitations.

We must make it clear that depending on the updates and versions of Windows that we have, the OOBE may be slightly different, so it may be that not everything you will see below is accurate, but it is very similar, although it can always be be a last minute addition.

Anyway, let’s see what we can expect from the Windows 11 Out of Box Experience.

Let’s start with the region, keyboard and connection

The look you see is new, although always within the limits of what Microsoft is developing.

Windows 11 starts exactly like Windows 10, prompting you for configuration options. region and keyboard.

In this sense, the operating system has not changed much, and we are doing the same thing again, but with a different interface.

Then this look for updates and here again we notice that the design is a step forward, it seems more modern, beautiful and elegant.

This is the moment it asks us to connect to the internet before we can continue. This change in the design of this part is relatively recent, so it may not appear in all versions of Windows 11. You can skip this step, but to be honest, it is not recommended.

computer name

Now Windows is asking us to give it name for our PC, something we’ve seen before, so we’re not talking about something new. As in previous versions, the moment we give a name, system reboots.

Don’t worry about this fact, you won’t have to do it all over again, OOBE will continue where it left off before the restart. Anyway, this part can also be omittedso if you don’t want to call it now, it’s okay, you can do it later.

After a reboot, there comes a time when distinguish different versions that exist in Windows 11, that is, if we are going to install the home version or one of those designed for work.

This also happened in Windows 10, so it’s not new either.

Microsoft account, PIN, or recovery options

This is where we can really start to notice the differences between Windows 11 OOBE and Windows 10 OOBE.

If we already have a Microsoft account (most likely) we can come in at this point and continue with the setup.

If you want to create a new account, you will be able to do so if you have a regular connection. Perhaps you didn’t have it before, or you want to change it.

we can press Login Options to see if you’re on a version that makes it easy to create an offline account, just in case we missed the Wi-Fi sync step.

If we use an online account, we will be asked let’s generate a PIN just like Windows 10. If you’re using an offline account, you’ll need to skip this step.

Anyway, if you want skip this step for whatever reason, you can do this by pressing the “Cancel” button on the screen where the PIN comes from.

Another important difference from Windows 10 is the ability to restore previous system installations using OneDrive. If we have any recovery files, Windows 11 will offer us this option. If we did not have them, this button will not appear.

Privacy, personalization and copying

Now we can set up some privacy optionsin much the same way as in Windows 10. Among other things, we will be able to manage location tracking, sending diagnostic data to Microsoft or enabling interest-based advertising.

Depending on what we choose, it may be that the configuration ends at this time, or we need to tweak some other added options and additional configurations.

By the time they arrive settings we will be allowed to select some general categories, being Microsoft, which then recommends apps and features to us.

The categories we’re talking about Entertainment, Games, School, Creative, Business & Family. When we enable these options, we will have other additions at our disposal to ensure that the configuration of each category is as polished as possible.

Further, as in previous versions such as Windows 10, the configuration will allow us to create backing up files with OneDrivehaving the option to skip this step if we don’t want to or we don’t have enough cloud space for this task, which can also be done later.

Finally, Windows will allow us to install the Office apps from Microsoft 365. As usual, this is an optional step.

This allows us to add or receive a subscription that we have in order to be able to use Microsoft office software. If we still continue without wanting to, just click “No thanks” to continue and thus complete OOBE.

As you can see, we are talking about an OOBE very similar to Windows 10 with some additions, but with the significant difference that the interface is much better, clearer, with more options and much more modern.