You can use winpe, boot to the PE desktop, load the ISO and install directly via SETUP I don't think the two tools you mentioned are very useful.
Slightly off topic, but for those still burning to USB, may I suggest using Ventoy, best tool I have come across in a long time for hosting ISOs, for installing on bare metal. I purchased a £10 Multibao USB3-to-mSata off Amazon, stuck in an old Dell 120GB drive and never looked back.
Im using dism to integrate the driver in the iso on the file boot.img but continue setup stuck. The setup stop before appearing the screen with the ssd drive.... The setup stuck screen has only the "Exit" button option....
I install Windows Server 2025 Preview no problems with Xeon 2.60ghz 28 cores LGA 2011 with 32GB Ram and SSD ! NO trouble install with including my X99 Drivers.. ATGPUD2003
I tried with Rufus in the latest version, same error at the same point.... Windows 11 24h2 installs fine with Ventoy or Rufus, Server 2025 stuck in that error screen....
I tried with uupdump. Server 2025 Standard (with Desktop Experience) alone ISO. My iso of Windows 11 24h2 Pro is from uupdump too.
I use the Server edition only as a desktop replacement of the bloated consumer versions. That's why I can't comment on any server specific features intended to be used accordingly. Server 2022 was a beast on my laptop but once the new 26100.560 was out I gave it a try. Downloaded from uupdump and used NTlite to pre-configure it to my liking and to save countless tweaks afterwards. Making the touchpad work on a Server edition is a nightmare. The trick I used on 2022 did not work on 2025 and had to additionally disable driver signing options. Once that was out of the way everything works flawlessly. Driver update from official driver website or a third party tools installed latest without a single problem. 2022 had some trouble with the stupid Intel SST Audio in combination with the horrendously awful Realtek. It runs every single piece of software I throw at it with absolutely no problems. There is a very slight but noticeable lag (more like a hesitation) in all activities compared to 2022. The latter had THAT snappiness and quickness to it that is kinda missing here. Needed more tweaking than 2022 to make it equally configurated. Stardock Start10 was superior to Start11 and that's a shame. Some design decisions are ridiculous especially that they got it right with Windows 10. Strangely enough, some options on my laptop are now enabled i.e brightness slider was totally missing from 2022. Overall, it feels rock solid and capable OS that is also superior in every respect to the consumer versions. Speed and stability at their best. Hope that helps someone using the Server the same way I do.
No comments I totally agree P.S. We are not looking for easy ways. We create problems and then heroically solve them.
In my PC any ISO of Windows Server 2025 has problems to boot and install from USB and i dont know why... I tried the ISO from uupdump because i wanted Standard Edition only, iso size is smaller and a little more faster to copy to USB. But its okay now.