Installing Windows

WARNING

Do not use Windows 8 or older. Only recent Windows 10 and 11 builds are supported.

DANGER

Do not use unofficial versions of Windows, such as Ghost Specter or tiny10/11. They are not supported and may contain undetectable malware and/or security vulnerabilities.

TIP

If you want to create a Windows installer from ChromeOS, see the Installing Ventoy page.

1. Get a USB containing a Windows image. Ventoy, Rufus, and the official Windows media creation tool are the only methods that can be used to create a Windows USB.

2. Bypassing Windows 11 installation checks:

   1. At the Windows installer, select "Repair my Computer".
   2. Select "Command prompt". (May be hidden under an advanced section)
   3. Type in regedit and press Enter
   4. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup
   5. Right click Setup and create a new Key called LabConfig
   6. Right click LabConfig and create new DWORD (32-bit) called BypassSecureBootCheck and set its value to 1
   7. Right click LabConfig and create new DWORD (32-bit) called BypassTPMCheck and set its value to 1
   8. Close Registry Editor.
   9. Run setup in the command prompt.
   10. Install Windows as you would normally.

3. Install drivers:

• See Coolstar's Windows Install Helper for drivers. Some of the drivers may be paid.

Installing .cab drivers

Cab drivers are a little weird, but they're easy to install.

1. Create a new folder.
2. Open your cab driver using Windows Explorer. 7Zip will not work.
3. Copy all the files to that empty folder.
4. Enable the option to show file extensions.
5. Right click on all the .inf files, and select install.
6. Reboot.

Paid Drivers

Please see CoolStar's driver portal for a step by step tutorial on purchasing drivers.

What drivers do I need to buy?

CPU Generation	Paid Drivers	Notes
Sandybridge	n/a
Ivybridge	n/a
Haswell	n/a
Broadwell	n/a
Baytrail	n/a
Braswell	n/a
Skylake	AVS	Models with a Celeron, Pentium, i3 or m3 CPU are eligible for a AUE discount.
Apollo Lake	AVS or SOF	Can use either SOF or AVS
Kaby Lake	AVS
Amber Lake	AVS
Gemini Lake	SOF
Comet Lake	SOF
Picasso / Dali	n/a
Tiger Lake	SOF, TB4	TB4 and SOF can be purchased as a bundle.
Jasper Lake	SOF
Alder Lake	SOF, TB4	TB4 and SOF can be purchased as a bundle.
Cezanne	SOF
Mendocino	SOF