Install media

Make the Windows 11 installation stick

The BC-250 has no TPM 2.0 and no Secure Boot. Windows 11 Setup looks for both, and it stops on this board with a message that this PC cannot run Windows 11. This page makes a USB stick that installs Windows 11 anyway, from an official Microsoft image.

Read this page before you start. You need a second computer with Windows to write the stick.

The installation deletes everything on the drive that you install Windows on. Choose the drive by its size and its number, and read the drive again before you continue. Copy the files that you want to keep to another drive first. If the drive has BitLocker on it, write down the recovery key first. Windows Setup does none of this for you.

1. Why the board needs this

The requirement of Windows 11	The BC-250 with a stock BIOS
TPM 2.0	Not there. The BIOS has no TPM option, and the firmware holds no TPM module.
UEFI, Secure Boot capable	UEFI yes, Secure Boot no. The BIOS versions P2.00, P3.00 and P5.00 have no Secure Boot.
4 GB of memory or more	The board has 16 GB and gives 8 GB to the graphics chip. Windows sees about 7.8 GB.
64 GB of free space or more	Your NVMe drive.

The memory check and the disk check pass. The TPM check and the Secure Boot check cannot pass on this board, so Setup needs the steps below.

Secure Boot must also stay off after the installation, because our driver is test-signed. The stock BIOS has no Secure Boot option, so there is nothing to switch off. Read Installation, section 2.

A modified BIOS can behave in another way. The driver is tested on the stock BIOS only.

2. What you need

• A USB stick with 8 GB of space or more. Writing the stick deletes everything on it.
• A second computer with Windows, and an internet connection on it.
• An official Windows 11 image. The Microsoft download page has Download Windows 11 Disk Image (ISO) for x64 devices and Create Windows 11 Installation Media, which is the Media Creation Tool. Both give the newest version of Windows 11 only (26H2 since September 2026), and that is the version to take. Take Windows 11 Home or Pro, x64. Installation names the versions that we support.
• For route A: Rufus, from rufus.ie. Rufus is open-source software under the GNU General Public License version 3. It writes the stick, and it switches the checks of Windows Setup off.

Use the Microsoft page or the Media Creation Tool for the image. Do not use an image from another source.

3. Route A: Rufus writes the stick (recommended)

Rufus does all the work on your second computer. The installation itself then needs no special steps.

1. Download the ISO file from the Microsoft download page.
2. Start Rufus. Accept the administrator prompt.
3. Device: select your USB stick. Read its name and its size, because Rufus deletes it.
4. Boot selection: select DISK OR ISO image, then SELECT, then your ISO file.
5. Image option: Standard Windows installation.
6. Partition scheme: GPT. Target system: UEFI (non CSM). Rufus sets both by itself for a Windows 11 ISO file.
7. File system: keep the value that Rufus gives.
8. Select START. Rufus shows a window with the title Windows User Experience.
9. Put a mark in the box Remove requirement for 4GB+ RAM, Secure Boot and TPM 2.0. This is the box that makes the stick work on the BC-250.
10. The same window has more boxes. Two of them help on this board, and you can leave the others as they are:
    • Remove requirement for an online Microsoft account.
    • Create a local account with username:. Our driver installer needs a local account with administrator rights.
11. Select OK. Rufus asks again about the data on the stick. Select OK and wait for READY.

What that box does

Rufus writes three values into the registry of the setup program on the stick: BypassTPMCheck, BypassSecureBootCheck and BypassRAMCheck, under HKLM\SYSTEM\Setup\LabConfig, each one a REG_DWORD with the value 1. It also empties sources\appraiserres.dll on the stick, which is the compatibility check of Setup.

It changes the checks of the setup program. The Windows files that Setup then installs are the files of the Microsoft image.

4. Route B: a stick from the Media Creation Tool, and the three values by hand

Use this route when you already have a stick from the Media Creation Tool, or a stick from another tool.

1. Write the stick with the Media Creation Tool, or keep the stick that you have.

2. Start the board from the stick. Section 5 says how.

3. At the first screen of Setup, push Shift+F10. A command prompt opens.

4. Type these three lines, and push Enter after each one:

   reg add HKLM\SYSTEM\Setup\LabConfig /v BypassTPMCheck /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
   reg add HKLM\SYSTEM\Setup\LabConfig /v BypassSecureBootCheck /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
   reg add HKLM\SYSTEM\Setup\LabConfig /v BypassRAMCheck /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f
   

5. Type exit and push Enter. Continue with the installation.

Microsoft does not document these three values. Tests of other users in October 2025 report that they still work with the setup program of Windows 11 25H2. The screens of the setup program changed in 24H2 and 25H2. Take route A if Shift+F10 does not open a command prompt, or if Setup stops although you wrote the values.

5. Start the board from the stick

1. Connect the stick to a USB port on the back of the board.
2. Power the board on and push Del at once, again and again, until the BIOS setup opens. The BIOS waits one second for that key. F2 opens the setup too.
3. Open the page Save & Exit. Under Boot Override select your stick. The board starts the stick one time, and the boot order stays as it is.
4. The page Boot does the same for every start: under Boot Option Priorities put the stick in Boot Option #1. Push F10 to save and restart.

The stock BIOS starts UEFI images only. A stick from Rufus with GPT and UEFI (non CSM), and a stick from the Media Creation Tool, are UEFI sticks.

If the board starts Windows from the NVMe drive instead of the stick, try another USB port on the back of the board, and look at the list in Boot Override again.

6. Install Windows

1. Choose the language and select Install now.
2. Setup asks for the product key. Select I don't have a product key. Windows installs and runs without a key, and our driver needs no key.
3. Choose the edition Windows 11 Home or Windows 11 Pro. The ISO file holds more than one edition.
4. Choose Custom: Install Windows only (advanced).
5. Select the lines of your NVMe drive and delete them, one after the other, until the whole drive is Unallocated Space. Read the drive number and the size first. This step deletes the data on that drive.
6. Select the unallocated space and select Next. Setup installs Windows and restarts the board.
7. Take the stick out at that first restart. The board then starts Windows from the NVMe drive.
8. Answer the questions of the first start. Make a local account with administrator rights, or make a Microsoft account and add a local administrator later.
9. Continue with Installation.

The setup screens of 24H2 and 25H2 are new, and they use other words for the same steps. The order of the work stays the same: the edition, the drive, then the questions of the first start.

7. What the three values do not do

• They switch the checks of Windows Setup off. They give the board no TPM and no Secure Boot.
• Microsoft calls an installation on hardware that does not meet the requirements "not recommended". Its words for such a device: it "won't receive support from Microsoft", and such devices "aren't guaranteed to receive updates, including but not limited to security updates". Setup can show the same text, which ends with "your PC will no longer be supported and won't be entitled to receive updates". We cannot promise you more than Microsoft does here.
• Secure Boot stays off, and it must stay off. Windows loads our test-signed driver only in test mode.
• The BC-250 is a board for mining, and Microsoft never made Windows 11 for it. Your warranty, your data and your backups stay your own work.