Back up all your drivers before a clean install — via Microsoft Learn

Commandlow riskNeeds adminWindows 11Windows 10 (1607+)

pnputil can copy every third-party driver package in the Windows driver store to a folder. After a clean install you can put them all back in one go, which is a lifesaver when Wi-Fi or storage drivers aren't included in Windows.

Takes effect right away

The easy way

Use an elevated Command Prompt and a destination on a USB stick or another drive, not the disk you're about to wipe.
After reinstalling Windows, restore them with pnputil /add-driver D:\DriverBackup\*.inf /subdirs /install.

Command

Run in an administrator Command Prompt / Terminal window.

mkdir D:\DriverBackup
pnputil /export-driver * D:\DriverBackup

This copies files and changes nothing on the PC. To undo, delete the backup folder. Restore only drivers for the same hardware.

Sources

PnPUtil command syntax — by Microsoft Learn

Source reviewed: 2026-11-02
Link checked: 2026-11-02
Tested hands-on: Not by Oddbyte.Me

Oddbyte.Me hasn't tried this on every Windows build, so keep the undo handy.

driversbackuppnputilclean installreinstall

More in Setup & Install

See which Windows editions are inside an ISO or install.wim — via Microsoft Learn

Commandlow riskAdmin

One ISO usually holds several editions (Home, Pro, Education and more), each stored as a numbered index in install.wim or install.esd. DISM lists them along with their version and size, so you know which index is which before you deploy or extract one.

Read the Windows product key stored in your PC's firmware — via Microsoft Learn

Commandlow riskAdmin

Most PCs that came with Windows have the key embedded in the UEFI firmware (OA3), and Windows activates from it automatically when you reinstall the same edition. One PowerShell line reads that key, for example to check which edition it belongs to.

Heads-up: the BypassNRO / ms-cxh local-account shortcuts are being removed — via Windows Insider Blog

MythAdmin

Typing OOBE\BypassNRO or start ms-cxh:localonly at the Shift+F10 prompt used to let you skip the Microsoft account during setup. Microsoft announced in October 2025 that it is removing these known mechanisms, so newer builds require internet and a Microsoft account to finish OOBE.