Windows 10 installation issue - the non-removable parasitic hard drive

Hi All!

I built a new system. I used the official Media Creation Tool from Microsoft to create a windows installation drive on my removable SSD. I used that to install Windows 10 onto another internal HDD on my computer.

Everything went smoothly. I can use my system fine. I am offered to enter Windows or Setup at the start of each boot no matter what my boot disk order is set to. When I remove my SSD installation drive and leave the successful installation on my internal HDD to boot, because why wouldn't I, my computer says that there is no windows installed.

I reinstalled Windows to check and it placed the old Windows into a windows.old folder - so it does exist, it simply can't find it when I remove my SSD installation drive.

Why? I'm baffled. Any wisdom is gladly received

When you installed Windows to the internal HDD, did you create a partition on the HDD first then install Windows to that partition? If you did, that was your mistake.

It is easily corrected by creating a system partition on the internal HDD to boot from, though.

Hi, thanks for the help!

So I created the installation drive externally without making a partition (the program did it itself) and then connected it internally. Do you think that this made a difference? If I installed without connecting it internally and used my external enclosure, would it treat the drive differently?

WindowGrinch said:

Hi, thanks for the help!

So I created the installation drive externally without making a partition (the program did it itself) and then connected it internally. Do you think that this made a difference? If I installed without connecting it internally and used my external enclosure, would it treat the drive differently?

At this point, we need to see a screenshot of disk management.
Disk Management - How to Post a Screenshot of | Tutorials

You are going to have to create a system partition on the drive that you want to boot from, which is easy to do. Also, run:
Diskpart
List disk

Are the drives GPT?

The SSD was formatted as NTFS and the media creation tool created a 32GB FAT32 partition which it placed the windows installer on.

And my previous post still applies. We need to see a screenshot of disk management and know if the drives are MBR or GPT partitioned.

Forgive me I didn't see your GPT question. Both are MBR.

Well, without seeing disk management... you can try this to create a system partition on your internal HDD:

Open a command Prompt (Admin) or Powershell (Admin) and run:

diskpart
select volume c:
shrink desired=100 minimum=100 <-IF THIS FAILS do NOT go any further!
create part pri
format fs=fat32 quick
active
assign letter=w
exit
bcdboot C:\Windows /s w: /f ALL
exit

If all that succeeds without errors, then you should be able to boot your computer from the internal HDD. Once it is done, you can remove the drive letter from W: if you want to so it doesn't appear in file explorer.

Succeeded in creating the new partition but wasn't able to complete bcdboot. BFSVC Error: Could not open the BCD template store. Status = [c0000022]

Do you think it would treat the install differently if I installed from an external SSD?