Installing Windows 10 directly onto an SSD

Marakith

Marakith

Marakith

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Hi there

I'm fixing up my mum's old PC. It's an HP Pro 3500.

I've removed the old hard drive and replaced it with an SSD.

I've created a Windows 10 installation USB drive to boot the new system with and install Windows 10 onto it.

Annoyingly, the PC won't recognise the USB. It's not appearing in any boot menu options. IO have disabled secureboot as well.

My other option is to get hold of a dual layer DVD-R and make a disk with that. Also annoyingly, I only have single layer disks to hand.

I do have a hard drive cradle. So I'm wondering if I can put the files from the Windows USB stick onto the SSD and boot into that to install?
 
Marakith said:
No
Click to expand...

Try creating the USB drive in legacy mode, if you already used UEFI and it isn't being recognised.

Just use the MCT to download the ISO then use something like ISO2Disc to create the USB drive, change the partition style to Legacy CSM.
 
Journey said:
Try creating the USB drive in legacy mode, if you already used UEFI and it isn't being recognised.

Just use the MCT to download the ISO then use something like ISO2Disc to create the USB drive, change the partition style to Legacy CSM.
Click to expand...
Thanks - I'll give that a go!
 
Marakith said:
Sadly no cigar - the USB stick wasn't recognised. :-(
Click to expand...

Try https://rufus.ie/ and then set partition to MBR and target system to BIOS or UEFI, and see if that works.

Just to check, are you using the USB 2.0 ports at the back? The USB 3.0 ports on the PC seems to be controlled via a PCIe USB controller card and the BIOS may not be picking that up.
 
Check usb options in bios, some stuff may need tinkering with in regards to compatibility, I would keep it as GPT, MBR is obsolete and secure boot is important, to install windows as GPT, you need the install USB to be GPT as well.
 
Does all seem a bit strange.
Google says Sandy Bridge without USB 3.0, so should be easy to boot from.
I'd probably try and make small simple bootable Linux in case the Windows 10 installation USB thing is at fault.
If that shows up, I'd then try making my own Win10 (assuming the OP used the Microsoft tool).
Other options include setting up network boot (a lot of work but a HP Pro whatever should support it), or as watercooledman suggested, install on another machine. My take on that would be to run install until the first reboot, Turn off the machine and then swap to the other machine. Might still end up with the wrong HAL though.
 
KompuKare said:
Does all seem a bit strange.
Google says Sandy Bridge without USB 3.0, so should be easy to boot from.
I'd probably try and make small simple bootable Linux in case the Windows 10 installation USB thing is at fault.
If that shows up, I'd then try making my own Win10 (assuming the OP used the Microsoft tool).
Other options include setting up network boot (a lot of work but a HP Pro whatever should support it), or as watercooledman suggested, install on another machine. My take on that would be to run install until the first reboot, Turn off the machine and then swap to the other machine. Might still end up with the wrong HAL though.
Click to expand...

I was using a USB 3 stick. Just tried with a USB 2 stick and it worked!! Many thanks to everyone for your help here.
 
The format of the USB drive has no relation to what the BIOS sees. If it can see a usb drive it will show it regardless of if it's bootable or not.

What you may be experiencing is a USB 3 host controller whose drivers don't load until Windows is running, so make sure you try another usb port.

For laptops, one complete side of the USB bus can be driver specific and only operate at an OS level. For desktops it's typically the front USB ports that won't boot for the same reason.
 
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