Corrupt boot file during Win 10 ISO build

Megahertz · 26 Oct 2023

rzn6jw said:

Boot PC to USB drive. Did you booted as UEFI?
Click Install.
Select drive to install on. Did you deleted ALL partitions on the main drive till you have one and only one unallocated space and then proceed?
Info: Very briefly shows copying Windows files.
Info: Getting files ready for installation.
Info: Windows cannot install the required files.
End of install.

See above

rzn6jw · 26 Oct 2023

The USB is FAT32. CSM is disabled in the BIOS. Only 1 small unformatted partition and the main formatted partition. Partition was formatted within installation environment.

I'm getting confused here. Are you saying that the new SSD should be formatted on another PC then converted to GPT on that PC before installing on this PC?

Megahertz · 26 Oct 2023

rzn6jw said:

Only 1 small unformatted partition and the main formatted partition.

The main problem here is that you don't read the instructions.
You have to set BIOS to boot as UEFI.
You boot the installation drive as UEFI
Go to install and delete ALL partitions till you have one and ONLY one unallocated space and then continue.

Clean Install Windows 11 Tutorial | Windows 11 Forum

rzn6jw · 26 Oct 2023

The BIOS doesn't give me a choice. CSM is disabled. Secure Boot is disabled. There are no disk boot choices, just CSM and Secure Boot. Before this fiasco, there were boot disk choices and, if it was Legacy, there were disks to choose, or if it was UEFI, there was Windows Boot Manager.

There is Legacy USB Support which is disabled. Otherwise, nothing now except CSM and Secure Boot.

Megahertz · 26 Oct 2023

I'm going to read your MB manual. Give me some time.

Megahertz · 26 Oct 2023

GA-AX370-gaming-k7 manual

BIOS
BIOS tab (pag 28)- Windows 10 Features =Windows 10 (not other)
Chipset tab (pag 33)- SATA mode = AHCI (not RAID)
Disable fast boot and secure boot (you can turn it on after installation)

Windows can be installed in two ways: Legacy-MBR or UEFI-GPT
To install as Legacy-MBR you must boot the installation drive as Legacy
To install as UEFI-GPT you must boot the installation drive as UEFI.

As you have a UEFI BIOS, you should install as UEFI-GPT
Detach any other drives (SATA or Power cable) from the MB.

During POST (when you see AORUS eagle), press F12 to launch the boot menu. You will see two options for the USB drive. USB UEFI (Name) and USB (Name). Select USB UEFI (Name to install as UEFI-GPT.
Go to install and delete ALL partitions on the main drive till you have one and only one unallocated space and then proceed.

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rzn6jw · 26 Oct 2023

OK, after much chest pounding and hair pulling, I got the USB installer to finally delete all partitions and successfully install Win 11 Pro on the new ssd. Now to try to figure out the mess the old Windows 10 C: drive is in and see if I can get the data back.

Thanks again for all your help.

Megahertz · 27 Oct 2023

Glad you did.

Please post a whole window Disk Manager image of ALL your drives. Don't forget to expand the columns so we can read them. How to Post a Screenshot of Disk Management
If you have a MiniTool or AOMEI Partition use it instead or Windows disk manager.

jumanji · 28 Oct 2023

rzn6jw said:

............What can @jumanji do that hasn't already been tried?

@rzn6jw

If you want to recover data from the removed disk, you may open a new thread giving full details of the disk, and Windows Disk Management screenshot showing the disk. There will be many more questions once you respond.Its going to be a hectic task investigating and trying to recover the data if that is possible. ( I have also left a " Visitors Message" 12 hours ago.)