Setup guide · from scratch
Boot a machine from the Decolla stick, and open a command prompt during Setup
How to reach the one-time boot menu on each laptop brand, and how to open the hidden Setup command prompt with Shift+F10 - including the Fn-key trap that makes Shift+F10 do nothing on most modern laptops.
≈ 10 min
Windows — Autopilot & USB provisioning · step 8 of 12 · ≈ 10 min‹ PreviousNext ›
Do these first — this guide assumes you already have:
The Decolla way — skip the clicks.
Every step below can be done by hand. Or connect your Microsoft tenant to Decolla once, and Decolla performs this for you over Microsoft Graph in your own tenant — then hands back a verified result you can see and roll back per item. It also puts the fundamentals this step depends on in place — the target group, the licence allocation — so a build is never blocked half-way by a missing dependency.
⏱ By hand: about 10 min of clicking, every build. The Decolla way: part of one tenant connect, then automatic.
Before you start
- The finished Decolla stick, and a target machine you are content to wipe - booting it erases disk 0, so be certain it holds nothing you want.
- The target's make, so you know its one-time boot key: Dell F12, HP F9, Lenovo F12 (or the Novo pin-hole), Surface Volume-Down + Power.
- The machine's BIOS/UEFI setup key to hand (Dell/Lenovo F2, HP F10, Acer/ASUS F2 or Del) in case the stick will not appear or Secure Boot blocks it.
The steps
- Insert the Decolla USB stick BEFORE powering the machine on. Booting from a stick…
- Power on and immediately tap the one-time boot-menu key, repeatedly, about twice a…
- Choose the entry beginning 'UEFI:' that names your USB (for example 'UEFI: Kingston…
- If the stick does not appear at all: enter BIOS/UEFI setup (Dell/Lenovo F2, HP F10,…
- TO OPEN THE HIDDEN COMMAND PROMPT during Windows Setup, press Shift+F10. THE TRAP:…
- The command prompt opens as X:\Sources. Drive letters in Setup are NOT the same as…
- To confirm the machine's internal disk is healthy and visible, run: diskpart, then…
- Close the command prompt with 'exit' when finished. Setup carries on from where it…
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Step 1. Insert the Decolla USB stick BEFORE powering the machine on. Booting from a stick inserted later often needs another restart.
Screenshot: USB inserted in a laptop that is powered off (captured during a live customer build — coming to this page)
Why: The firmware only scans for bootable USB devices as it powers up - a stick already inserted is there to be picked the first time.
Watch for: Plug it in after the machine is already on and it often will not show, costing you a restart to get it seen.
Don’t: Do NOT power on first and insert the stick afterwards hoping to catch the boot menu.
Step 2. Power on and immediately tap the one-time boot-menu key, repeatedly, about twice a second. Dell: F12. Lenovo (ThinkPad/IdeaPad): F12, or the small Novo pin-hole button beside the power socket. HP: F9 (Esc first on some models, then F9). Acer: F12 (may need enabling as 'F12 Boot Menu' in BIOS first). ASUS: Esc, or F8 on some models. Microsoft Surface: hold Volume-Down while pressing and releasing Power. Samsung: F10 or Esc. MSI: F11. Apple hardware running Windows: hold Option/Alt at the chime.
Screenshot: One-time boot menu listing the UEFI USB entry (captured during a live customer build — coming to this page)
Why: The one-time boot menu boots the stick for this boot only, leaving the machine's normal boot order untouched.
Watch for: The key only registers in the first couple of seconds - if Windows starts loading you have missed the window and must restart. On Lenovo the Novo pin-hole is the reliable fallback when the F-key timing is fiddly.
Don’t: Do NOT tap once and wait - keep tapping about twice a second from the moment you press power.
Step 3. Choose the entry beginning 'UEFI:' that names your USB (for example 'UEFI: Kingston DataTraveler'). If the same stick is listed twice, once with 'UEFI:' and once without, ALWAYS pick the UEFI one - the non-UEFI entry installs in legacy mode and the disk layout will be wrong.
Screenshot: Boot menu with a UEFI entry highlighted (captured during a live customer build — coming to this page)
Why: The 'UEFI:' entry boots the stick in UEFI mode, which is the disk layout the build was made for.
Watch for: The one stick can be listed twice - identical names, only one prefixed 'UEFI:'.
Don’t: Do NOT pick the non-UEFI copy - it installs in legacy mode and the disk layout comes out wrong.
Step 4. If the stick does not appear at all: enter BIOS/UEFI setup (Dell/Lenovo F2, HP F10, Acer/ASUS F2 or Del) and check that USB boot is enabled. If it still refuses, temporarily disable Secure Boot. Re-enable it after the build if your policy requires it.
Screenshot: BIOS boot configuration screen (captured during a live customer build — coming to this page)
Why: USB boot switched off, or Secure Boot refusing the media, are the two firmware settings that hide a perfectly good stick.
Watch for: If enabling USB boot alone does not fix it, Secure Boot is the usual second culprit.
Don’t: Do NOT leave Secure Boot off for good - turn it back on after the build if your policy requires it.
Step 5. TO OPEN THE HIDDEN COMMAND PROMPT during Windows Setup, press Shift+F10. THE TRAP: on most modern laptops the top row is media keys by default, and F10 is shared with another function - on many Dell and HP machines F10 is Print Screen or the microphone-mute key. Pressing Shift+F10 then does that instead, and nothing happens. If Shift+F10 appears dead, press Shift+Fn+F10. If that also fails, look in BIOS for 'Function Key Behavior' / 'Action Keys Mode' / 'Hotkey Mode' and set the top row to behave as F1-F12 first.
Screenshot: Black command prompt window open over the blue Windows Setup screen (captured during a live customer build — coming to this page)
Why: Shift+F10 is the hidden way into a full command prompt while Setup is still on screen - the only place to run diskpart or diagnostics mid-install.
Watch for: On most modern laptops the top row is media keys, so plain F10 fires Print Screen or mic-mute and Shift+F10 does nothing - use Shift+Fn+F10.
Don’t: Do NOT decide the console is blocked when Shift+F10 seems dead - add Fn, or set the top row to F1-F12 in BIOS, before giving up.
If this step errors: Intune device shows as personal despite corporate identifier
If this step errors: Intune Win32 install fails: SYSTEM vs user context
Step 6. The command prompt opens as X:\Sources. Drive letters in Setup are NOT the same as in Windows: X: is the RAM disk Setup runs from, the USB is usually D: (sometimes E:), and the machine's own disk is usually C:. Run 'dir D:' and look for the 'sources' folder to confirm which letter is the stick before typing any command that names a drive.
Screenshot: Command prompt showing dir output with the sources folder (captured during a live customer build — coming to this page)
Why: Setup runs from a RAM disk with its own drive letters, so knowing which letter is the stick keeps a drive-naming command off the wrong disk.
Watch for: The letters are 'usually', not 'always' - X: is the RAM disk, the USB is often D: but sometimes E:, and C: is the internal drive.
Don’t: Do NOT assume the USB is D: - run 'dir D:' and confirm the 'sources' folder is there before any command that names a drive.
Step 7. To confirm the machine's internal disk is healthy and visible, run: diskpart, then 'list disk', then 'exit'. The internal drive shows its real capacity (for example 476 GB for a 500 GB SSD). If the only disk listed is your USB, Setup cannot see the internal drive - usually a BIOS storage-mode setting (switch RAID/Intel RST to AHCI) rather than a failed disk.
Screenshot: diskpart list disk output showing an internal disk and the USB (captured during a live customer build — coming to this page)
Why: 'list disk' proves Setup can see the internal drive at its true capacity - the quickest way to tell a firmware storage-mode problem from a genuinely dead disk.
Watch for: If the only disk listed is your USB, it is nearly always the BIOS storage mode (RAID/Intel RST), not a failed drive.
Don’t: Do NOT write off the SSD when it is missing - switch RAID/Intel RST to AHCI in BIOS and look again.
Step 8. Close the command prompt with 'exit' when finished. Setup carries on from where it was.
Screenshot: Setup screen after the command prompt closes (captured during a live customer build — coming to this page)
Why: 'exit' hands you straight back to Setup, which carries on from where it paused - no restart needed.
Don’t: Do NOT reach for the power button to leave the console - exit returns you to Setup without losing its place.
If it goes wrong
The failures people actually hit on this process, each with the diagnosis and fix:
- Intune device shows as personal despite corporate identifier — Windows corporate identifiers only apply at enrolment — devices can still show as personal in Intune. Why it happens, and how to fix ownership properly.
- Autopilot ESP stuck at Account Setup: causes and fixes — Why Autopilot's Enrollment Status Page hangs at Account Setup, how the Intune Management Extension tracks ESP state, and how to diagnose and unstick it.
- Intune Win32 install fails: SYSTEM vs user context — Why a Win32 app installs manually but fails from Intune: SYSTEM vs user context, HKCU and %APPDATA% traps, and how to pre-test with PsExec -s.
‹ Upload your own app (MSI/EXE) - install it via Intune, the USB stick, or bothCapture logs from a failed build (run Decolla-Diag) ›
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