I have searched over and over and can't get a straight answer, so I am going to try here. I want to take a brand new SSD out of the box and boot it without cloning. I know it requires a GPT boot partition, will Windows 10 Media create it?
There should be no Operating System, absolutely nothing, on a new oob drive, would have to install it in the computer then boot to installation media such as a DVD disc or USB Thumb drive. And Yes, Win10 tends to create what it needs based upon what it sees in the BIOS.
Install new drive. Unhook or disable any other drives. Boot to Install Media which will handle the rest.
peace
wanna
My thanks to all of you... From everything I had seen before, I had to clone a drive or use some other means to make the drive bootable.
Hello @rdwray,
Have a look at these . . .
Clean Install . . .
How to Clean Install Windows 10
Custom Install . . .
How to Custom Install Windows 10
Create a Bootable USB Flash Drive to Install from . . .
How to Create Bootable USB Flash Drive to Install Windows 10 from
I hope this helps!
Take a look at 11 here: How to Clean Install Windows 10 and read what the yellow highlighted area says about partitions and 13B, they appear to be saying that the drive has to have a boot record before it can be used.
Custom install says that you have to be connected to the internet and signed in as administrator.
At this point, it still looks like there has to be an installed boot record of some kind installed before installing the OS. Berton in #2 above seems to say that Windows media will do the job.
The drive can be 100% empty, brand new out of the box. You don't have to be connected to the Internet, you aren't logged in as an adminstator as there is nothing to be logged into. Just boot from the DVD, or USB Key or however you will be booting off the windows rescue media and the system should find your empty hard drive, you should be able to select it and hit install. That's it.
Quote