The secrets of the Windows installer

Hello, my friends! Let's hit 20K likes? Check out my website! enderman.ch
Today I am going to uncover a couple of less known or completely hidden features in the Windows 11 installer. It just so happens that the source code for the part of the Windows installer is available. I'll review it and explain how it works.
Links:
Windows 11 build 26052 (24H2) OOBE - go.enderman.ch/GG5Kg
Password:
mysubsarethebest
Still got questions? Don't hesitate, send them to [e-mail]!
Hope you have a great day!
#endermanch #experiments #windows

[@mix3k818]

Microsoft was so generous to you, providing both an open source OOBE program and a dev console!

[@tubbunny]

Wonderful! The Rectify community is going to be happy about this.

[@stupidfuckingrat]

This will have a positive impact on the Rectify11 community

[@OverTheHorizon840]

Imagine Modifeding the OOBE intro to have Never Gonna Give You Up on the OOBE intro

[@s._81]

@@OverTheHorizon840 thank you for the idea 🤫

[@OverTheHorizon840]

@@s._81 That will be a instant Rickroll After booting into windows

[@iamdarkyoshi]

Ah, the real reason for the CPU requirements for windows 11. The intro video file.

[@UJustGotGamed]

i have never seen the intro video run smoothly

[@xanderplayz3446]

@@UJustGotGamedSame

[@naxzed_it]

@@UJustGotGamed I saw it run smoothly one time on an Envy x360 that didn't even have the Windows 11 logo on it's keyboard 😭

[@XethIsDefinitelyCool]

@@naxzed_it Did it have the windows 7 or 10 logo?

[@Paolog_]

The only time it was smooth it was on a gaming pc with a RTX 3070 TI :,)

[@snowmaske]

A 4k video is played for the windows 11 intro??? What were they thinking? Don't they know that generic drivers are installed at the time you are installing the OS itself? Imagine the stutters!

[@thepikachugamer]

Holy shit. That's why

[@Endermanch]

That video was playing for 30 seconds on my Pentium 4 rig... this is really painful.

[@glitch1039]

they probably want you to think it's "loading" something when in reality you're just dropping a shit ton of frames lmfao

[@drboom2]

Because the vast majority of people are experiencing the OOBE on new pre-built machines with pre-installed drivers? Most people aren't clean installing Windows...

[@oklol681]

no wonder it lags so bad

[@le9038]

I can't believe the OOBE has been a web app the whole time...

[@thesupremeorg]

The entire Windows 11 Metro UI is. Even the taskbar.

[@aaaalex1994]

​@@thesupremeorgI heard that it runs on EdgeHTML, but I'm not sure about that.

[@grogroge]

@@thesupremeorg wait your telling me it’s also based on web technologies?

[@RuriYoshinova]

​@@thesupremeorgoh hell nah, that's why it's laggy

[@aaaalex1994]

​@@thesupremeorg I heard that it uses the deprecated EdgeHTML engine... Not sure if that's true, though.

[@stolentrevin]

babe wake up new endermanch video

[@user-rx7qc4xm3y]

Yay :D

[@kubune.]

frfr

[@Eggupsidedown]

fr fr f r ffrfrfrfrfrf You still there wow you are still here wow listen to this MUSIC EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE AMD END

[@ViridFlare]

Was about to comment that

[@CEOofYTPHs]

yey

[@btarg1]

Considering how many different frameworks MS uses for their apps I'm very surprised to see them use JavaScript+HTML here rather than UWP/MAUI or a Win32 Windows Forms app.

[@CyberWord]

Or just native C/C++ app

[@_LGD]

I *think* it might be easier to do that thanks to Windows ARM, 64-bit and RIP 32-bit (Win10)

[@HAKANKOKCU]

or just wpf

[@DanTDMJace]

They cant do UWP under SYSTEM. oh wait defaultuser0

[@thesupremeorg]

Metro apps are web based. I'm not exactly sure about Win8x apps but some 10 and lots of 11 apps.

[@DavidMounder9598]

Hahaha, you're a genius dude! I hope Microsoft won't have any claims after this video..

[@Endermanch]

We shall see...

[@iDontProgramInCpp]

They had better not since it is THEM that made it public in the first place.

[@akurasubject9617]

There's no reason to claim since the code was there the whole time without any external program's help.

[@SysDataSoftOffical]

​@@iDontProgramInCpphi cool sm64 modder

[@Vimposh]

“Metallica Live” zamn, never thought that enderman likes metal

[@acountdontexistanymore]

16 seconds later i replied

[@pine_and_appl]

@@acountdontexistanymore How did you reply to their comment before they commented it? You comment says 6 hrs ago and theirs says 4.

[@TacticalAllRounder]

​@@pine_and_appl Nuh uh, both are 7 hours ago.

[@mayhair]

8:08

[@Vimposh]

@@TacticalAllRounder huh, that’s my first popular comment on endermanch channel… and you guys just only say about “replied” thing..?

[@Kwpolska]

The Windows XP OOBE was a web thing as well. An IE6-based web thing. And it was much longer on some OEM systems. Perhaps try looking into hacking that next?

[@coleisforrobot]

i'm SORRY? the XP oobe was a web app? ms knew what web apps could do back then..

[@Kwpolska]

​@@coleisforrobotYeah, there were a few others in XP, like the User Accounts control panel. The help was heavily HTML-based too, although the shell around it might have been more traditional.

[@XeZrunner]

Even more fun is when you realize you could press [Ctrl+O] to navigate to any other page during OOBE or the activation screen.

[@Atlasim]

@@XeZrunner didint work for me

[@clementpruvost8670]

The Gateway OEM Windows XP OOBEis more longer to get through in my experience. There's ads for AOL (lol) and others more clogged things.

[@DimDima09]

never thought this would be 1) open source 2) web app

[@starnumber_alt]

Not quite open source, most of its logic is compiled exe but the UI is “open” as in code, not as in freedom

[@vlc-cosplayer]

"Source-available" is the correct term ("open source" has a very specific definition, given by the OSI).

[@batterygamer1]

I knew Ctrl-Shift-F3 to avoid OOBE when i wass installing Win11 on laptop without TPM 2.0 and SecureBoot

[@batterygamer1]

@@OverTheHorizon840 I know but i used it on Windows 11 22H2

[@aaaalex1994]

Control + Shift + F3 has been there at least since Windows Vista...

[@Bathgate3]

Well time to wait for someone to make a OOBE customizer with a GUI Edit: thank you for 100 likes

[@gamer_pc8422]

THAT would be nice

[@grogroge]

I think any frontend dev can customize it

[@xenonorsomething]

bet

[@Bathgate3]

@@xenonorsomething ok

[@teamredstudio7012]

I can do that

[@XIeepy1]

>HEY ITS NEW 1NSTALLER >Windows 7 Theme

[@gabriledyt]

Time to make a dark oobe version

[@5eda]

AYYYYYYYYYY

[@YodaComedy]

gimme lol

[@gabriledyt]

@@YodaComedy a guy done it on 21h2

[@YodaComedy]

@@gabriledyt alr

[@Reycko]

Really interesting video, didn't think that the OOBE would be a simple webapp whose code is available this easily.

[@Mango-cn7gj]

That's honestly just disturbing, a js dev console in a production environment used by millions of people everywhere... What else could there be that we don't know of?!

[@starnumber_alt]

That’s a good thing for modding tho

[@TheColonThree]

I don't see the harm in including that. It's like saying DevTools shouldn't be included in browsers

[@TheRailroad99]

Also, this is not a random website, it's YOUR pc. A hidden dev console on that is totally fine.

[@Mango-cn7gj]

@@TheColonThree I am not talking about it from the modding side but from the average user side. Like, if there's a freaking js dev console in a prod environment, then what else could be in different areas of the system?! DevTools in browsers are a very different thing than a development tool in your almost core system components

[@TheColonThree]

@@Mango-cn7gj I have never mentioned any "modding side" whatsoever, and even then there's still no harm in including it. The worst thing you can do is just break your own Windows installation. Not mentioning no one's gonna do the key combination normally ever, and even if they did, they'd just think there's something wrong and restart their device which will run OOBE again. Your claim about DevTools in browsers being different from this is true, because the OOBE's DevTools is much more restrictive and would require a lot more effort to break anything without editing the files themselves. *You're just paranoid*

[@supermilkdude1380]

holy crepes this is one of the most based videos about windows 11 I have ever seen, not only did you mod windows 11's oobe to be more... appealing, but you were also listening to ride the lightning by metallica in the background, that's just epic 👌🔥

[@temnij52]

I'm not sure about the benefits of custom solutions... If OOBE were modular, then there would be no questions, and I would even make a beautiful version myself now. But since it's part of the installer, I don't want to distribute or download custom Windows builds of them because of the nice installer, because there are often viruses... Thanks for the video! I'm wondering why js isn't minified. Usually, when I come across web application reversing, it's just a mountain of garbage of minifications, obfuscations, and webpack.

[@Endermanch]

Part of it is minified, the rest isn't.

[@tibo5078]

Hey! The video is truly amazing Andrew! The music choise especially at the start is great too!

[@mohamad20zx34]

You did a great job discussing the secrets behind the new windows 11 installer I really wish you can take a look at other windows editions

[@narpwa]

really cool video and really like the new end user agreement :)

[@rukirgaming]

Half thought the channel got termed. Glad its still up and alive

[@s._81]

it should’ve been PasteLeft MacroHard 2024 😂

[@alvitodev]

exactly xDDD

[@wynneve]

Well, you see, “copyleft” is an actual term and not a playful word transmutation. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyleft

[@qoombert]

sometime ago i looked inside the oobe dolder on windows 8.1 and noticed that it was a html file

[@Dariuk712_]

Replace that file with the windows 11 one

[@mollthecoder]

​@@Dariuk712_Wouldn't work without some extra effort

[@Dariuk712_]

@@mollthecoder I said to put the windows 8.1 one on windows 11

[@MDShaijjuddinShaheen]

After 2 whole months of waiting you finally posted a video!!! Thank you

[@dcid]

"I dare you." LMAO

[@OverTheHorizon840]

I think windows XP music shoud match with the setup of windows 11

[@skittleproductionsYT]

Windows 11 makes Windows Vista look like a stable operating system.

[@supermilkdude1380]

true

[@ltecheroffical]

*and Me

[@Cheddy]

Vista quite literally is more stable lol

[@skittleproductionsYT]

@@Cheddy yeah lol

[@_kitaes_]

stability has started going downhill since windows 8

[@WINDOWSXP9013]

I am finnaly going to enjoy an other masterpiece from ender

[@LiamFrancisOlarte]

Yeah. We waited for so long.

[@WINDOWSXP9013]

@@LiamFrancisOlarte yes

[@ewenlau727]

Any time an Enderman video comes out it just makes my day.

[@johnpatrickadem6294]

the oobe setup has been a web app all this time? time for me to test out my wonky javascript skills, i guess...

[@johnpatrickadem6294]

i just copied the entire *"Microsoft.Windows.CloudExperienceHost_cw5n1h2txyewy"* folder to a usb drive, dragged the *default.html* file into a browser, pressed the ctrl + shift + j and it also works there only problem is that i'm seeing this error when i press those said keys: Unhandled exception: Script error. file: line: 0

[@johnpatrickadem6294]

i also had fun with the *jsConsole.js* file, i tried including it in my test html files and it was convenient to just press three keys than pressing f12 for the console

[@lytexwz]

Amazing job and amazing discovery, definetly creating my custom installer now. Ty Endermman :)

[@endedech7746]

Great to see you after 2 months❤

[@Jonas43]

Sysprep is what for example companys use as well. They customize their install with it for mass deployments. Although Sysprep struggles with all that bloatware preapplied by Microsoft. It will fail to sysprep your machine because of all the AppXPackages preinstalled. They need to be removed before you can sysprep your machine.

[@lilalexthe1stofficial]

Even though most videos I have no idea what you're doing it is very educational and I try to learn as best as I can! ❤

[@thinkfired]

Actually autorun installer used to work in PE perfectly fine, at some point I was installing almost everything, even XP, that way, because I was working with old motherboards that had issues with booting from large (127+ GB?) USB drives

[@EvilDudeGG_HD]

Finally another vid from you 🎉🎉 I missed you ❤

[@sheivongamboa]

Great Job bro.. keep up the good work

[@MacBack123]

I know im about 6 years late, but maybe modify the installer and make a new version of CTAC. Great video!

[@Player-fg4ub]

you are in fact one hour late

[@MacBack123]

@@Player-fg4ub lmao

[@MarcosCartridge]

ctac 2.0: windows 11 but more consistency and intentionally broken

[@whereiz_real]

This will be an banger again. Thanks Enderman ;)

[@neomoustro]

who can dislike this masterpiece kek, now jokes aside; it was actually pretty much obvious the oobe was a web app at first glance, pretty much sad how microsoft is making all a web app.

[@milktoast56]

10/10 tbh would watch again

[@JustKali.]

making an interesting code analysis video is insane

[@dpqb-web]

wait, i am curious, can you add a Windows XP OOBE music into Windows 11 OOBE as well? like, embed it through tag?

[@camwrite7222]

Endermanch just has a nice vibe alongside with experimenting with windows

[@theoshaviolation]

Ah yes, how can you be DMCAed when you can change the terms of service at will.

[@xpower7125]

This inspired me and a friend to work on a dark OOBE on win11 (fully functional)

[@YodaComedy]

gimme

[@progamer3000-uz7pj]

You know It's a good day when a enderman Video comes out

[@jasimadnanmir]

Enderman Respawned

[@BrigedMccarthy]

you should try to add a effect to the entire oobe

[@Goofy_McGee69420]

THE LEGEND IS BACK! :D

[@LAUCHGeorge]

Great Video!

[@martinpolevka6752]

Wow, this was a webpage all along. Good job Enderman ! 😄

[@alesamcippa]

Worth to wait 2 months for a new 17 minute enderman banger

[@catbugtf]

so win11 finally (kinda) has a live environment 30 years too late but hey, we have it now at least

[@thesupremeorg]

Always had.

[@phonl1]

WinPE is technically a live environment

[@trimidsmod6391]

We've had sysprep for years

[@keneshindev]

sysprep was made long before windows 11

[@_seaweed_]

Hope this video doesn't get taken down by Microsoft

[@Piano_Board]

I love your channel, enderman

[@OGuiBlindao]

Why the hell is 4k video played at oobe? The generic drivers are the only thing in place by that time, must lag like hell, and since 800x600 is the max resolution with generic drivers if im remebering correctly, you're viewing 4k video at 17 times lower resolution

[@Endermanch]

We need to ask Microsoft. Actually scarilegious

[@laglife]

Possibly because most people see the OOBE after buying a new PC or upgrading Windows, in which case there's already GPU drivers installed. Windows might also try to install drivers automatically as it prepares for OOBE after a fresh install if you have ethernet. I still to this day wonder why Microsoft does not preload drivers for various GPUs that get installed whenever said GPU is detected.

[@eDoc2020]

The generic drivers have been at full resolution for years. If I"m not mistaken even the XP ones can be manually set to higher resolutions.

[@eDoc2020]

@@laglife Microsoft used to include drivers for common video cards through Windows 7. I don't know about 8 but in 10 they only included the "Microsoft Basic Dispaly Adapter". Modern video card drivers are absolutely huge and they probably wanted to save a bit of space for their own "features".

[@Zodex_Official]

Honestly, the customization of the OOBE would be useful for OEM's too! My HP laptop (which I have Ubuntu on right now due to driver issues) uses a dark mode theme by default, so a dark mode OOBE would fit right at home!

[@skejeton]

man microsoft really gave up huh plain text source code OOBE running as a goddam webview it can't get any cheaper lol

[@gairisiuil]

windows has nothing for wasm

[@phonl1]

The same thing happened with Windows XP too

[@aaaalex1994]

Microsoft has been using webview stuff since the IE4/Win98 days lol

[@skejeton]

@@aaaalex1994 Yes but its very different now. Before that it was ActiveX and IE runtime

[@DaDescriptor]

And this, kids, is why you don't use web in desktop apps

[@aaaalex1994]

It's 1997 all over again!

[@UJustGotGamed]

electron apps are decent but they eat up memory

[@user-rx7qc4xm3y]

Yay enderman finally uploaded :D

[@TheMAZZTer]

Honestly HTML/CSS is the best UI framework I've ever used as far as customization and ease of use goes. Pair it with a advanced framework like Angular and you've got a powerful toolbox for UI development. Could be done for customization purposes but it could also be done simply because HTML/CSS is great to develop with. (JS not so much, but TypeScript helps a lot.) Another benefit is that you can develop UIs that work in a web browser, on mobile, and on the desktop, and they all can share the same code. Of course that wouldn't apply in this case.

[@runed0s86]

It's the exact same technology used for the wii system settings!

[@Lohkat]

This is some next level stuff. Incredible. Maybe I should create a version myself hahaha that's epic

[@ArsenTech]

Everytime Endermanch Uploads, It Makes My Day Better

[@LetzBlend]

**192834 missed calls from Microsoft**

[@lilauxy]

FINALLY A NEW UPLOAD

[@prathamgupta2036]

Awesome Video

[@SignedAdam]

Oobe is nothing new, I use the crt shift f3 to customise customers backups so that they have all their drivers pre installed before they enter the desktop, I knew windows xp oobe could be edited along with the installer, but I had no idea it was this easy to do it, thanks for sharing, you haven’t found America but you have highlighted the easiness of editing the out of box experience menus

[@knokbak.mp4]

enderman is finally back !

[@GaberSamir-ed6wk]

Thank you so much. Time for comeback.

[@surv5k]

Enderman uploaded?? is this a dream??

[@Ale111Ale]

No

[@lightspeed-jz9pn]

Next video: I the secrets of the leaked windows XP source code

[@larrythethird4816]

Damn look to that resources files it reminds me the good old day of programming win32 api with c++. It gives me flashback to my childhood programming journey 😌

[@user-gq5bc6zy5p]

quick question: can I convert this to my own ISO file I always wanted to make a operating system can I change the menu left right like chain pictures and more? thank you for this what's the name from your iso converter

[@immjs]

For anyone wondering, console.log didnt work probably because console.log is native to the browser and is "unreadable" to the dev console - which is probably just an eval and only has "access" to the expression's return value

[@ghastyy09]

Enderman slid in Metallica and thought we wouldn't notice

[@pepsilover1658]

at the end of the day, it all loops back to the dreaded OOB

[@_nightlake]

what happens when oobe on linux

[@terasestHammasratas]

it's a webapp so it could theoretically at least mostly work

[@aaaalex1994]

​@@terasestHammasratasI'm not that sure, since I heard that it uses EdgeHTML (Edge Legacy) instead of Blink (Chrome/current Edge)...

[@_c2]

@@aaaalex1994 you’re assuming the default browser on most Linux distributions is Chrome instead of Firefox

[@UJustGotGamed]

​@@aaaalex1994it also uses this weird way of organizing each page in that it just requires a few other files, probably built in-house

[@PinkiePurple_]

u have to create a partition and then click next it will work fine

[@windowsdefender7259]

Next idea : Open a iso file in windows 7 with the explorer

[@DimaIdiHafig6556]

Thanks to enderman for some tutorial, now I’ll do it Windows 10 in 11 style

[@conath]

This is amazing and very insightful. I also don‘t mind the music playing, but I do find it annoying to have to read the baked-in captions and then follow the other content on screen as well. Makes it tiring to watch, especially at this length. Please consider adding voiceover narration, thank you.

[@lelanceflamer]

Time to completly remake that OOBE for fun

[@starnumber_alt]

This reminds me of my dark oobe project

[@UmarBlox5124]

hopefully this doesn't get copyright striked

[@andresbravo2003]

The source code kept its secrets

[@splatsville347]

can you send me the download of the mouse cursor you have? it looks cool

[@Oatea]

hey btw. for those wondering, the reason why sometimes you cant allocate space for drives on windows is because it isnt formatted correctly. and no, windows does not make the tool easy to find :)

[@GuyWhoChad]

beautiful, im just thinking what what happen to oobe if Gaber Samir made 11 bootleg and realises this.

[@regav62]

oh shit

[@cookies5129]

finally a new thing after a year

[@kubune.]

17 MINUTES? NO WAYY THANKSSS

[@bielclashfire]

Thank you for your videos bro. Thank you for continuing and not giving up. May God be with you and whoever is reading.

[@hazem2012]

great vid

[@leonpano]

Fallback OOBE is default used in windows server(form 2016 until now, not including server core)

[@matthewboyer4212]

Reminder: open source != source available. You can't redistribute the source, thus it isn't open source. It's source available.

[@SUSmanYT8844]

finally a new video !

[@sussus-nx2dx]

i think audit mode was used for oems installing bloatware like mcafee like what most laptop manifactures do

[@viniciuslucianomoreiravinicius]

Idea: Windows 7 and Windows 11 Instalar

[@OverTheHorizon840]

Plus its the first video of 2024

[@viniciuslucianomoreiravinicius]

@@OverTheHorizon840 Why

[@dyl518]

@@viniciuslucianomoreiraviniciuswtf dym why?

[@viniciuslucianomoreiravinicius]

@@dyl518 why

[@bc100dev]

​@@viniciuslucianomoreiravinicius why

[@suchy.chomik]

Gosh just came from school had a very bad day but this cheered me up

[@luhgarlicbread]

Yo I’m curious my bro, what happened?

[@suchy.chomik]

@@luhgarlicbread eh, im that one kid that's almost always bullied for literally nothing (its hard to explain but in my school theres ppl who "chooses ppl to bully every year" if ya know what i mean (basically like 2 years ago somebody else was bullied, then another person, now me)) and also got an f from history class

[@lovrito2008]

If someone told me a few years ago that one day Enderman will be using Microsoft Edge on his main PC, I would've thought he was crazy.