Trying to install Windows 10 1909 on a nonUEFI, Core2Quad system

dustojnikhummer · 11 Mar 2020

I have a system here with Gigabyte EP43 S3L motherboard, Intel Xeon E5450 (with modified F9C BIOS), 6GBs of RAM, RX 460. Currently running Windows 8.1 64bit on a mechanical HDD. I want to upgrade it with a clean install to an SSD. However, the installer will just be stuck on the Windows logo and nothing happens. Tried both RUFUS and Windows Media Creation tool on the machine itself, so the installer should be for MBR.

It does NOT have UEFI.

Any ideas?

Disk2019 · 11 Mar 2020

i think you must use this script to fully debloat the final win10 1909 iso & remove all telemetry before installing it on an old machine which has no support for UEFI & GPT CSM.

GitHub - DrEmpiricism/Optimize-Offline: Optimize-Offline is a Windows 10 offline image optimization framework.

if you cant understand what to do then you may follow my easy tutorial on how to use via this Optimize-Offline - Win 10 iso Debloating Tool for 1903, 1909 and LTSC 2019

dustojnikhummer · 11 Mar 2020

So what you are saying is that I should break the OS before it is even installed?

I ran Windows 10 on this very PC year ago. I remember that. It was my daily driver for about half a year or so. Now, even 8.1 installer won't boot (which is the OS that is currently there)

Disk2019 · 11 Mar 2020

ok i was just suggesting you . its upon you to use that script or not . is there anybody forcing you .

bobkn · 11 Mar 2020

I don't know what you problem is, but I'm pretty sure that Windows 10 can be installed on a non-UEFI system. Prticularfly one that ran Win8.1. (There are some obscure CPU instruction requirements for installing Win10 X64 that were also present in 8.1.)

dustojnikhummer · 11 Mar 2020

It just won't boot the installer.

And to add to my frustration, after loading the BIOS default settings it won't boot to the HDD with 8.1! Great! Stuck on a black screen with no text what so ever.

rqt · 11 Mar 2020

I installed 1909 on a non UEFI Core2Quad Dell a few weeks ago with no problem. As I think you have now discovered your difficulty is caused by a hardware fault rather than your hardware specs.

Berton · 11 Mar 2020

Have you tried being booted into Win8.1 and accessing either the DVD made from the .iso download or the Bootable USB drive from within File Explorer [renamed from Windows Explorer] to run the setup.exe file from the appropriate folder? It would be an Upgrade with a couple of choices but should take what the running Windows is using for type of drive.

I've also created the Bootable USB drive using the MCT and booted it without consideration for the BIOS and have done the same with a DVD created/burned from the downloaded .iso file. If at all possible I prefer the Upgrade with Win7 or Win8/8.1 running to assure the drivers will work, most times not a problem.

And it is important, even critical, to use the same hardware version, either 32-bit/x86 or 64-bit/x64, as is installed. A clean install on a blank drive would be needed if changing from one version to the other.

I recently was given an SFF/Small Form Factor computer with Win7, made a hardware clone of the drive, booted to the clone and Upgraded to Win10, while still possible at no cost, put the the original Win7 back in then put the Win10 drive away 'just-in-case'.

dustojnikhummer · 12 Mar 2020

Yup. I just cloned the OS to the SSD and will try to upgrade it manually. But that does not solve the issue that I can't boot a Windows installer.

Berton · 12 Mar 2020

dustojnikhummer said:

Yup. I just cloned the OS to the SSD and will try to upgrade it manually. But that does not solve the issue that I can't boot a Windows installer.

But can you even access the drive or disc to view the contents? I have seen people want to boot to the DVD but they had simply copied the downloaded .iso file to it, not bootable. But the .iso file can be used to burn a DVD exact copy of the original disc. File Explorer may be able to do it but I've used Roxio Easy CD and DVD Burning program for several years, more features in it.