Rufus Created Flashdrive Being wiped on first boot

[ajriedemann]

Hello,

For some reason after creating a new W11 USB drive with Rufus and coping over the autounattend.xml file I have here in the URL below. The first thing I see is it selected disk 0 and wiped it in diskpart. Then fails to continue further.

I moved the USB drive to my laptop and see it's been wiped.

What did I select or do to make this happen? I see it's using disk 0, but wouldn't disk 0 be the installed drive and not the USB?

https://schneegans.de/windows/unattend-generator/?LanguageMode=Unattended&UILanguage=en-US&Locale=en-US&Keyboard=00000409&GeoLocation=244&ProcessorArchitecture=amd64&ComputerNameMode=Random&CompactOsMode=Default&TimeZoneMode=Explicit&TimeZone=Central+Standard+Time&PartitionMode=Unattended&PartitionLayout=GPT&EspSize=300&RecoveryMode=Partition&RecoverySize=1000&DiskAssertionMode=Skip&WindowsEditionMode=Firmware&UserAccountMode=Unattended&AccountName0=adminAuto&AccountDisplayName0=&AccountPassword0=password&AccountGroup0=Administrators&AutoLogonMode=Own&PasswordExpirationMode=Unlimited&LockoutMode=Default&HideFiles=Hidden&ShowFileExtensions=true&LaunchToThisPC=true&TaskbarSearch=Hide&TaskbarIconsMode=Default&DisableWidgets=true&LeftTaskbar=true&HideTaskViewButton=true&DisableBingResults=true&StartTilesMode=Default&StartPinsMode=Empty&EnableRemoteDesktop=true&TurnOffSystemSounds=true&DisableAppSuggestions=true&HideEdgeFre=true&EffectsMode=Performance&DesktopIconsMode=Custom&IconRecycleBin=true&IconThisPC=true&WifiMode=Unattended&WifiName=CPC-Scan&WifiAuthentication=WPA2PSK&WifiPassword=B27FFB040AA32&ExpressSettings=DisableAll&KeysMode=Skip&StickyKeysMode=Disabled&ColorMode=Default&WallpaperMode=Solid&WallpaperColor=%230d0d60&Remove3DViewer=true&RemoveBingSearch=true&RemoveClipchamp=true&RemoveCopilot=true&RemoveCortana=true&RemoveDevHome=true&RemoveFamily=true&RemoveFeedbackHub=true&RemoveGetHelp=true&RemoveHandwriting=true&RemoveMailCalendar=true&RemoveMaps=true&RemoveMathInputPanel=true&RemoveMediaFeatures=true&RemoveMixedReality=true&RemoveZuneVideo=true&RemoveNews=true&RemoveOffice365=true&RemoveOneNote=true&RemoveOneSync=true&RemoveOpenSSHClient=true&RemoveOutlook=true&RemovePaint=true&RemovePaint3D=true&RemovePeople=true&RemovePhotos=true&RemovePowerAutomate=true&RemovePowerShell2=true&RemoveQuickAssist=true&RemoveRecall=true&RemoveSkype=true&RemoveSolitaire=true&RemoveSpeech=true&RemoveStepsRecorder=true&RemoveTeams=true&RemoveGetStarted=true&RemoveToDo=true&RemoveVoiceRecorder=true&RemoveWallet=true&RemoveFaxAndScan=true&RemoveWindowsMediaPlayer=true&RemoveZuneMusic=true&RemoveXboxApps=true&RemoveYourPhone=true&WdacMode=Skip

[ajriedemann]

I found the issue.

The installed drive was DOA. Was stumped why on all the installs I had used that autounattend file, that the USB was being wiped for now reason.

[ajriedemann]

Hmm, it did this even on a another new Dell with a working drive. Seems like using the interactive option is the my only option right now.

[ajriedemann]

If anyone looks at this post, is there a way to keep this from happening? A way to just stop the install if there is no other disk apart from the USB drive?

[cschneegans]

The Let Windows Setup wipe, partition and format your hard drive (more specifically, disk 0) using these settings option will unconditionally wipe disk 0.

The Use a custom diskpart script to configure your disk(s) option lets you target other disks.

In both cases, you can use a VBScript to assert that what you think is disk 0 matches what Windows Setup thinks it is: