Windows 10 Clean Installation Stuck in Boot Loop

mckensie · 24 Feb 2019

The hard drive on my HP Pavilion laptop went out not too long ago and recently I decided to attempt replacing it myself. I purchased a new hard drive with no operating system installed and borrowed a friendÂ’s computer in order to download a Microsoft image onto a USB and boot my computer from the aforementioned drive to install it that way.
However, after changing my boot order to access the USB, my computer proceeds to continuously reboot until I shut it off.

IÂ’ve tried booting from safe mode, but F8 yields no response. I canÂ’t access System Recovery either, maybe because the new hard drive is blank? I have no idea. I just know that I have no clue how to fix the issue, a simple google didnÂ’t seem to give me what I needed.

FreeBooter · 24 Feb 2019

Please use Rufus to create Windows 10 bootable USB flash drive.

You can also use Windows 10 Media Creation Tool to create Windows 10 bootable USB flash drive.

mckensie · 24 Feb 2019

Thanks for responding!
I used the creation tool to get the Microsoft image onto the USB from a friend’s computer..
I’m not sure how to stop the boot loop if I can’t access safe mode or system recovery, because everything I’ve googled seemed to point at those two things being my only solutions.
It may be worth noting that when booting, I can’t even get past the ‘HP’ bootup logo right after turning it back on before it reboots itself. I get no prompt offering to carry me through the installation process for Windows 10 or anything like that, and before I plugged in the USB the computer would tell me that I had no operating system installed while trying to boot it up so I feel like the USB might not be the problem... Maybe my BIOS boot sequence or something like that?

FreeBooter · 24 Feb 2019

Did you make sure USB device is the first boot device in BIOS?

Samuria · 24 Feb 2019

What did the system have on it to start with is it uefi if it is you may need to turn off secure boot

mckensie · 26 Feb 2019

My computer is set on UEFI and I disabled secure boot after you suggested it, but it didn’t seem to make a difference..
I’ve got it set to boot from a USB Diskette/ Flash Drive

FreeBooter · 26 Feb 2019

You can test the bootable USB flash drive with Qemu Simple Boot program to see it boots.

axe0 · 01 Mar 2019

mckensie said:

Thanks for responding!
I used the creation tool to get the Microsoft image onto the USB from a friend’s computer..
I’m not sure how to stop the boot loop if I can’t access safe mode or system recovery, because everything I’ve googled seemed to point at those two things being my only solutions.
It may be worth noting that when booting, I can’t even get past the ‘HP’ bootup logo right after turning it back on before it reboots itself. I get no prompt offering to carry me through the installation process for Windows 10 or anything like that, and before I plugged in the USB the computer would tell me that I had no operating system installed while trying to boot it up so I feel like the USB might not be the problem... Maybe my BIOS boot sequence or something like that?

Plugin your USB, before the HP boot logo appears, press Esc key a couple of times to get the boot menu to appear. Then select the USB stick to boot from and you should be able to install Windows.

Please don't change the BIOS boot sequence since there is really no need for this.

TheRealSwede · 01 Mar 2019

Hi! I have had similar problems for a long time with a HP at work..
I had to install a regular (non work-related) windows 10 on this computer...
And was stuck with the same issues.. At first i disabled safe boot (to get any install running)

I had a heck of a problem getting the install to keep installing..

Until I buy an installation guide from another swede
And thats when i finally got the install running, I really do not know what i did..
If its the autounattend-file that changes something or if its the suggestion to keep hammering the F9-button AT THE FIRST REBOOT and selecting: UEFI-Windows Bootmanager (and repete this at every reboot, as long as the USB is connected to the computer..)

You should try something similar...

dalchina · 01 Mar 2019

I've tried booting from safe mode, but F8 yields no response.

i. Safe Mode is only meaningful if you have a working Windows installation on your system disk. You don't yet.
ii. F8 is near enough redundant in Win 10.
iii. The key to press to access your BIOS will depend on your PC. Presumably you know how to do that as you've changed the boot order

If you wish to verify that your PC can access the hard disk successfully, you can use Kyhi's boot disk iso (avaialble from the top of the Software and Apps section here... but that still means you need to create a bootable disk or DVD if relevant.

You could check your created bootable flash drive works on a system known to be able to boot from one.