Windows installer doesn't work?

Anonymous
2019-03-03T03:18:06+00:00

So I'm having a bit of a weird issue. I've installed windows 10 on a few computers before and have never run into this until now. I recently bought an ssd to boot my OS from, but running the install media usb doesn't seem to work right. I only used windows 10's install media tool. I should also mention I only have a keyboard, mouse, monitor and the install usb plugged in.

I created the usb (twice now), then shut my pc off, removed the existing hdd, then plugged in the ssd and the usb with the install tool on it. I boot into setup, make sure the drive is all unallocated space, and then hit new. I let it create the necessary partitions and then click next. I've also tried just clicking next with a totally blank ssd.

The setup tool runs normally, prompts a restart which is when I remove the install usb, if I don't remove the usb then it loops back to the installer again. When I remove the usb and then restart though, my pc prompts me to insert boot media into the drive and press any key. It doesnt seem to actually install the necessary files to download and install windows 10. No matter what I do, after the install media tool finishes and causes a restart I cannot continue with the installation. 

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I know it isn't a problem with another component because plugging in the original hard drive works fine. I've also plugged both drives in and scanned for errors on the ssd to no avail. I checked and there are files being installed on the ssd. It seems to work normally otherwise so I dont think it's a bad drive either.

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Install and upgrade

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-03-04T01:16:12+00:00

    You said the previous installs were to CSM or Legacy MBR. You've only just now begun trying to install UEFI to GPT.

    The conversion is done when you wipe or delete all partitions down to Unallocated Space with an installer booted as a UEFI device. This both formats the drive GPT and invokes the Windows Boot Manager which is not showing up and is likely a firmware failure.

    Can you borrow a UEFI PC to swap your SSD into it to install, then move it back to the target PC. Windows 10 is remarkably adaptive to new hardware without needing adaptive restore. If it will start it will swap out all drivers requiring several restarts. This will tell us important information and may complete the install.

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-03-04T01:22:22+00:00

    I just wanted to try it. I know it shouldn't work running GPT on legacy or MBR on UEFI. I am definitely overthinking it now but I'm at a loss at this point. I don't know anything else I can try. I've looked all over google for answers. I do appreciate the help a lot it's just a bit discouraging. I figured this would be easy but it's been 2 days now. If the only thing I can't store on it is my OS it could be worse. But, I am only using the cmd you access by pressing shift+f10 while in the windows install media tool. From the legacy installer I can clean the disk and format it as MBR from there, which tells me it cannot continue because it has a MBR partition table. But a totally cleaned drive that isn't formatted can not continue either, then the error is that it may not be compatible with the hardware. The drive is formatted as FAT32, and while installing in legacy mode nothing works. If I switch to uefi mode and clean the drive again, then it continues up until the original issue. It will install but not boot past that. But this is further than I've gotten trying everything I could think of within the legacy usb. I thought it might be a hardware issue but changing to another setup with different hardware does not work. After finishing an install on UEFI and going back to the installer, all I did was use diskpart to select the drive and do these things. I could select and mark partitions I wanted to be active. I did so just in case the main partition wasn't already. I could also format the drives which is why I tried testing both MBR and GPT formats just in case. I figured I might as well just to be safe. CSM is needed for the HDD too though. Without it on I can't see anything at all to boot from. Going to uefi and pressing f8 for a boot override just gives me no options. So It has to be enabled to work unless I'm missing something. After scanning the drive I will try using rufus again in case I did something wrong. I'll let you know how it goes.

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-03-04T01:33:05+00:00

    Yes, the install on my hard drive had to be in legacy mode from what I remember. I believe I actually had the issue where it defaulted to uefi but it wouldn't work with my drive. Using the legacy installer fixed that. This drive I tried to install in legacy mode as well the first time. The install media will run but I got an error saying the drive isn't compatible. So that's when I tried the uefi disk which worked until it has to restart. That's correct though. When I wipe the drive with the uefi device and install, it formats it to GPT. I tried checking the drive using CrystalDiskInfo it seems to be okay. AS SSD Benchmark gives me this 

    The other pc i tried also has uefi, but the hdd in it was originally installed in legacy too, and the same error happened. But I will see if I can find another one to borrow where it was always uefi. Maybe something is stopping the hardware from booting to a uefi drive on both computers.

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  4. Anonymous
    2019-03-04T01:37:17+00:00

    Hi,

    Don't mess with the Diskpart stuff...

    Use the Custom Install option and do it from there...

    Once you boot with a UEFI flash drive you can not switch to Legacy and Vice\versa...

    Once you boot in a certain fashion, it sets the Bios to work a certain way... That's what the CSM does...

    You need to give up on all the tricky stuff and just try the basics...

    Configure a flash drive specifically for the bios you want to use...

    Boot the machine with it... Go to Custom Install... Delete everything... select the unallocated space, and go..

    Windows will configure the SSD as needed for the type of Bios setting and Flash Drive type that are currently in use...

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  5. Anonymous
    2019-03-04T01:47:29+00:00

    So what I'm im understanding is I need to install the legacy one then on the ssd, since I did with my old hdd. 

    Trying to go to custom install and setting the unallocated space in legacy mode tells me that windows cannot continue because it may not be compatible with the hardware though. Which is why I tried going in to diskpart to force it to format. But that didn't work either. I will try a legacy iso with rufus again and install as normal. It should automatically configure the ssd but I get that error about it not being compatible.

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