Windows 10 new install stuck at "Preparing files - 30%"

Hi guys,

Have been running Windows 10 on an older desktop since I upgraded from Windows 7 during the free upgrade period a couple of years ago. Digitally registered to my MS account.

Now moving to a new machine - ASUS P9-X79 Pro motherboard, 32G RAM, 240G SSD main disk.
Using a Windows 10 installation DVD I made from my old machine before I pulled it apart to salvage usable parts.

Booting from DVD the install starts fine, I answer the initial questions about languages, skip the product key because I will link it to my MS account later. The install starts and then hangs at the second bullet point of the main screen - "Preparing files for use - 30%".

I have tried this several times, tried installing to a different SSD and left it overnight. This morning the screen said "Windows cannot be installed". Have also tried booting from a second copy of the DVD and got the same result.

At the start I deleted all partitions off the 240G SSD so it was completely fresh and let W10 create the 4 partitions it wanted.

This motherboard was previously running Windows 7, using a different 128G SSD as the C drive and had no problems. I want to preserve that disk so I can copy needed files off it afterwards.

This mobo has a UEFI BIOS - my first experience with this.

Power supply is a Corsair 1000W so I don't think its a power supply problem.

Any tips / pointers / clues gratefully received !

Sal

Masterchiefxx17 said:

Hi and Welcome to TenForums!

I would recommend you use the Windows 10 Upgrade Assistant to create a bootable USB drive instead and install Windows using that over a DVD.

Thanks Masterchief.
I forgot to mention that I did also try a USB key boot, but that didn't seem to give me an option to do a clean install, it only wanted to upgrade (from memory - that was late last night and my recollection is hazy).

Are you suggesting I put the W7 disk back in and try to upgrade that to W10?
Potentially I can try that. I want the W10 to be on the new 240G SSD though, but I assume I can put both disks in, boot from the USB, hope it sees W7 and offer to upgrade which I can then put on the new disk?

I will try that tonight, thanks for the pointer.

Ztruker said:

1. Create a bootable Windows 10 installation USB.
2. Then follow these instructions: How to Clean Install Windows 10

You need to boot the USB flash drive once you create it, delete all partitions on the drive you are installing to then let the installer start and it will create the partitions it needs.

Make sure you have only the drive you are installing to connected. It's the safest and surest way to get a good, clean install.

Thanks very much for this.
Will create another bootable USB key now and do as you suggested !

Sal

Silly question time

I was just reading through the link above on "How to Clean Install Windows 10" and it says I need to make sure that my motherboard supports UEFI 2.0 or later. How do I check that?

(I'm not in front of the machine ATM, I'm at work so will poke around when I get home, but I don't recall seeing a UEFI version number anywhere, but I'm sure there is ! - This is my first foray into the improved world of UEFI !)

Thanks to Masterchief and ZTrucker for your input - W10 install is now almost complete.
Booting clean from the USB did the trick and its now installed.

My next challenge is activation.
For some reason, despite me entering my Windows account, and then selecting the option that "Hardware has changed on this PC", it tells me that it cannot activate Windows now and I should try again later.

I'm guessing this is either:
a) a genuine problem accessing the activation site and that I should try again later
OR
b) something is amiss in the Windows ID I entered.

I did install a couple of MS apps that I had previously installed and it said that I already owned that app, and went ahead and installed them, so I am assuming that my Windows ID is correct.

Thanks again for the tips so far - very happy to have progressed !

Sal

Update: Activation issue now solved as well thanks to some helpful assistance from a Microsoft tech who dialled in and resolved it for me. Not sure what the underlying issue was, but its now resolved and apparently linked successfully to my MS account so should be good moving forward.