Is it normal to have problems installing Win10 on SSD?

tl;dr: Installing fresh Win10 on SSD using Win10 USB gives errors, BIOS says corrupted, have to use macrium/acronis to clone HDD to SSD otherwise cannot boot

I have a Windows 10 USB and have installed it successfully on 3 different computers (Spinning hard drives), but when I added SSDs on those three computers, every time I would try installing Windows 10 on the SSDs, it always gave me boot errors.

I had to resort to cloning my HDD onto my SSD, only then was the SSD able to boot. Now I have a third computer with the exact same problem.
Am I doing something wrong? (EDIT: all my SSDs are Sata connected)

Specs of first three computers:

• i5-8700, RX580, 500GB WD SSD, 3x 2TB HDDs
• i5-3570k, GTX460, 120GB HyperX
• X4-965 Black, AMD7850, 120GB Crucial

Specs of this last comp I'm having problems with:
i3-6300, 120GB Kingston SSDNow, 500GB HDD

zijincheng said:

I have a Windows 10 USB and have installed it successfully on 3 different computers (Spinning hard drives), but when I added SSDs on those three computers, every time I would try installing Windows 10 on the SSDs, it always gave me boot errors.

I had to resort to cloning my HDD onto my SSD, only then was the SSD able to boot. Now I have a third computer with the exact same problem.Am I doing something wrong?

Specs of first three computers:

• i5-8700, RX580, 500GB WD SSD, 3x 2TB HDDs
• i5-3570k, GTX460, 120GB HyperX
• X4-965 Black, AMD7850, 120GB Crucial

Specs of this last comp I'm having problems with:
i3-6300, 120GB Kingston SSDNow, 500GB HDD

No, it's not normal with problems when switching to SSD. I just made a backup of my hard drive with Macrium Reflect (Free) and did a recover to the new SSD with MR. I also helped my friends to do the same switch without any problems.

snickie said:

No, it's not normal with problems when switching to SSD. I just made a backup of my hard drive with Macrium Reflect (Free) and did a recover to the new SSD with MR. I also helped my friends to do the same switch without any problems.

What do you mean? Macrium works perfectly for me. I just cannot successfully install fresh Win10 on SSD using the Win10 USB

Confused so bear with me :
Are the Hdds mbr or Gpt?
Is Uefi (secure boot) enabled in Bios? Is Sata set to correct mode in the Bios?
When using the media creation tool did you use it to delete all partitions on the ssd and create a gpt one?

If I may make a suggestion:

As a test, try swapping the SATA cable between the HD and SSD (assuming they are both connected at the same time). Try the install to SSD again. If that works, it's possible that the BIOS / UEFI is not correctly configured to boot from the correct device.

I know that this may sound odd given that it boots when cloning the HD, but there is a logic behind my suggestion .

As an alternative, and an even better test, if you could disconnect all other HDs / SSDs from the system (just temporarily) and then install Windows, see if it boots up.

If I may make a suggestion:

As a test, try swapping the SATA cable between the HD and SSD (assuming they are both connected at the same time). Try the install to SSD again. If that works, it's possible that the BIOS / UEFI is not correctly configured to boot from the correct device.

I know that this may sound odd given that it boots when cloning the HD, but there is a logic behind my suggestion .

As an alternative, and an even better test, if you could disconnect all other HDs / SSDs from the system (just temporarily) and then install Windows, see if it boots up.

zijincheng said:

What do you mean? Macrium works perfectly for me. I just cannot successfully install fresh Win10 on SSD using the Win10 USB

Sorry. I was to fast on the keyboard so I misunderstood your problem :-(

thomaseg1 said:

Confused so bear with me :
Are the Hdds mbr or Gpt?
Is Uefi (secure boot) enabled in Bios? Is Sata set to correct mode in the Bios?
When using the media creation tool did you use it to delete all partitions on the ssd and create a gpt one?

HDD: MBR
SSD: GPT

Tried installing onto SSD in legacy mode, UEFI secure & UEFI unsecure, still doesn't work.
Also yes, when using media creation tools, I always delete all partitions and create a GPT.

hsehestedt said:

If I may make a suggestion:

As a test, try swapping the SATA cable between the HD and SSD (assuming they are both connected at the same time). Try the install to SSD again. If that works, it's possible that the BIOS / UEFI is not correctly configured to boot from the correct device.

I know that this may sound odd given that it boots when cloning the HD, but there is a logic behind my suggestion .

As an alternative, and an even better test, if you could disconnect all other HDs / SSDs from the system (just temporarily) and then install Windows, see if it boots up.

I've tried swapping the SATA cables, but I have not tried disconnecting all others, will do that later tonight.

hsehestedt said:

If I may make a suggestion:

As a test, try swapping the SATA cable between the HD and SSD (assuming they are both connected at the same time). Try the install to SSD again. If that works, it's possible that the BIOS / UEFI is not correctly configured to boot from the correct device.

I know that this may sound odd given that it boots when cloning the HD, but there is a logic behind my suggestion .

As an alternative, and an even better test, if you could disconnect all other HDs / SSDs from the system (just temporarily) and then install Windows, see if it boots up.

Oh by the way now I remember sometimes cloning the HDD to the SSD doesn't work either on the computer in question. I've had to clone the SSD from another computer and stick it in this one and then reset windows to get a clean install. But yes, will disconnect all others.

AddRAM said:

How did you setup the usb stick ?

I think I used rufus, windows media creation tool never worked for me.