Cannot get bootable usb windows 10 2004 to work

Hi,

Just a quick note.. Acronis ignores the MSR partition I have found..

The good news is that it is not required... at least to boot..

I tested this by deleting it and leaving the partition Unallocated.. Booted right up..

Good to know a boot is possible without it. Here's what I've come to believe...

(1) The MSR (Microsoft Reserved) partition doesn't exist in a Legacy installation that uses the MBR (Master Boot Record) partition style. That has a System Reserved partition instead, which really is more like an EFI partition (of a UEFI installation) which holds the boot files. But it may also hold WinRE.wim (Recovery Environment), which would be in its own Recovery partition in a UEFI install. It could be 3rd-party apps & Bitlocker use the System Reserved partition too.

(2) The MSR exists in a UEFI installation that uses the GPT (GUI Partition Table) partition style. It used to be 128 MB in size, but in later versions of Windows became a mere 16 MB. I think 3rd-party apps & Bitlocker may use it, if turned on.

(3) Windows system image backup doesn't mention the MSR in any of its screens, but it gets put into the .vhdx made of Windows & is separated out again by a restore. I saw it in there once, but can't remember how for the life of me. EFI & Recovery get their own .vhdx's.

(4) DiscWizard (a version of Acronis) had a page/two worth of spiel on the MSR that made me go first to the Windows version on that day I needed to recover an image. It was no fuss, no bother, & I had everything back.

If the moderator would split us into a separate thread, we could continue. Otherwise, no need to respond.

Found a video of a guy wanting to boot from his dvd drive and had to alter in bios secure boot to disabled and his boot mode to csm. However he has a dvd that is non uefi so the last part the boot mode may not need changing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8Ml1IbVp-8

My secure boot is currently enabled, my boot mode is uefi and to change this I have to disable the CSM, my options if I were to do so are auto, csm boot or uefi boot.

(1) You should make the Windows system image backup (as I posted on page 4), so that you can get back to your current state, in case things get worse. The last few I made took well under 15 minutes.

(a) If you do a clean install, only the system image can bring you back (if necessary).

(b) If you do an upgrade/repair-install, you do get an option to "go back to previous version", but it only lasts ten days.

(2) I don't like the looks of the following...

"After reset and pressing F12, brings up the "startup device preference" for which 

USB HDD:SANDISK, PARTITION 1

>>UEFI: SANDISK, PARTITION 1

Is selected"

(a) You meant "restart" (reboot), not "reset" which is like a clean install. OK.

(b) Why does it say "HDD"?

(c) Why does it say "Partition 1"?

(d) What was plugged in?

Your Disk Management showed this...

That looks fine, but I think Rufus must have done something wrong for F12 to think it has more than one partition & that it is an HDD. You should make your Installation USB flash drive directly from the MediaCreationTool to the USB drive instead of using Rufus & an ISO, as Igor Leyko said. Or speak to Slance310 on how to use Rufus right, I don't know.

Then, always boot it with the UEFI option. That means F12 for you. But it has to look better than what Rufus did. It should just say just: "UEFI: SANDISK". And the Windows Boot Manager must be the first item to boot in BIOS setup (as Slance310 said) -- not the USB drive or anything else.

If it fails to boot, then try turning off Secure Boot &/or Fast Boot in BIOS, as the others said. But turn at least Secure Boot back on afterward, as that is a major advantage of your UEFI installation. It protects against root kit viruses.

(3) But I think you should try an upgrade-install from a USB flash drive. Sometimes it works better that way than taking it from Windows Update. Make it here...

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Download Windows 10 - This is always the latest finalized Windows version, currently 2004.

As Igor Leyko said, download MediaCreationTool2004.exe & run it to make a Windows 10 Installation USB flash drive. Follow the instructions under "Using the tool to create installation media". As it says, match it to the Language, & Architecture (x64/64-bit or x86/32-bit) of the computer on which it will be used. The Windows Edition to take is "Windows 10", which includes both Home & Pro. That is all prefilled, if the tool is run on the computer in question. Instructions are at the site how to use it to do an upgrade. Basically, you boot to Windows, plug in the media, open it in File Explorer, & click Setup.exe. It may work better this way.

But, if it fails, let us see 

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/windows-feature-update-to-1903-fails/e25d4223-ddf1-4334-aa39-f240ce7e3859?tm=1569698848056

SetupDiag

Show us the full contents of SetupDiagResults.log. It should be small enough.

(4) "Under startup the current settings are:

CSM - DISABLED

BOOT MODE - UEFI ONLY

BOOT UP NUM LOCK STATUS - ON

If I change CSM to ENABLED then:

BOOT MODE has the option of: AUTO, UEFI ONLY or LEGACY ONLY

(NEW OPTION) BOOT PRIORITY: UEFI 1ST or LEGACY FIRST

BOOT UP NUM LOCK STATUS - ON"

You've definitely got the superior UEFI installation (I saw your EFI). So, I would leave that alone. CSM is for Legacy.