W10 fails install on PC with 6 HDD's (solved)

Hi folks
For some reason I kept getting Windows can't install at the "Copy Windows installation files" stage even though HDD (actually SSD) formatted and was assigned correctly.

Computer is HP micro proliant Gen 10 Server where there's 4 quick release 4 HDD bays and I fitted an extra pcie 1X sata 4 port card to add some SSD's (2 so far).

Just disconnecting the 4 HDD's (takes seconds via quick release -- no case to open and unmount things to do) Windows installed normally . Put the 4 HDD's back again -- no problem with boot and the HDD's all recognized.

So there *may be* a problem installing (not running) Windows on a machine with "Too many HDD's" !!!!!

so for some who get weird problems installing W10 - check that you at install time don't have too many HDD's or Primary partitions (GPT) connected .

It might just be co-incidence -- but my fix worked --- "The Wonder of Windows ". I use the other SSD for Linux -- if you do that ensure Windows is installed first otherwise GRUB (Linux bootloader) will "Hog the Windows boot" --and I want my Linux and Windows boot disks to be totally separate !!

Cheers
jimbo

Good advice! Generally, I prefer to keep the OS on a separate drive. When I install, only that drive is connected. When I boot, I connect the OS drive and whatever data drives I need. This way I never have any problems with dual boot - different OSs have no idea about each other, no bootloader conflict, etc. Also, this way my data is always safe during updates or installs - it's always on a different physical drive.