Clean install on a Surface Laptop 3

[DeaconFrost]

I'm trying to boot from USB to do a clean install of Windows 11 on my Surface Laptop 3. The BIOS options are extremely limited, but I have them configured the way Microsoft recommends. I can boot to USB just fine. The problem is, when the initial screen loads, asking me to choose a language, the system is frozen. No mouse cursor, no keyboard response, no touch screen response.

I can duplicate this with three different working USB drives, including one Windows 10 flash drive. I've tried disabling Secure Boot and even disabling Bitlocker on the internal drive as well. NO matter what, I hit a wall with the system freezing after loading the initial screen.

Has anyone gotten a clean install to work on Surface Laptops?

 

[GotNoRice]

By chance have you tried using an external keyboard or mouse?

If you have not nuked the existing install yet, you can use the "Reset this PC" option from within windows to do a re-install.

 

[DeaconFrost]

I ended up using the Windows 11 Upgrade Assistant to upgrade the current install. I wanted to do a clean install, but this works for now. I was not using an external keyboard. I had no other USB devices connected besides the bootable flash drive. I was able to get a Macrium Reflect flash drive to boot, so I could image the drive, but none of my other, working USB flash drives were getting me passed the initial Windows setup screen where you select languages.