If you could complete the first part but setup would not resume after restart, maybe your boot priority is wrong. Go to BIOS and make sure the m.2 is the first (top priority) from the rest hard disks. Also remove the USB when restarting to avoid automatically boot into Windows Setup instead of the m.2. I have seen some systems boot from the USB while installing Windows unattended.
I could NOT complete anything -- so far as I can determine, the install never begins. That's not to say I don't have something set wrong in the bios but it isn't obvious to me what it could be and I'm getting nothing from MSI support (so far, it's been four days but that counts the weekend).
Can you post a screenshot of your BIOS pages? Maybe we can guide you. You can also tell us the model to find the User Manual.
I may have tumbled into the solution -- at least, so far as getting the windows install to finally work. There is/was a particular bios setting (I'm afraid I'll have to go look it up again, I don't remember what it was labelled as) which was a choice between 'cms' and uefi. It is one of several places where one can make a similar choice. I've been following (or, at least, I thought I was) the advice of pushing everything to uefi then doing the install. Turns out that this one particular setting needed to remain cms until after the install. Then it can be (and has been) changed to uefi. I thought of trying this about four days ago and wanted to be sure that the install was stable before I reported back to here. I've been tweaking the system for several days, all my hardware has been successfully added back in (I took out everything except the install drives and the video card in an attempt to get it to work) and I have one last hurdle that I intend on working on this afternoon: getting my modified Emu 1820m installed and recognized by windows 10. If that successfully completes then I finally have my DAW back and I can move on to reinstalling the DAW softwares.
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So . . . yeah. Something is happening that is either screwed up or I missed the memo. Windows 10 pro is installed and updated to the latest version. I've tweaked the system some (like divesting myself of cortana), started moving backed up files onto the system to be redeployed, etc. etc. etc.
The last hurdle in restoring the DAW is getting my legacy sound card to work again. I have the recipe for doing that but now an odd problem arises -- the recipe calls for rebooting into safe mode which I can sort of do up to a point then the screen goes black and I can't see squat until I force a restart. My first thought was to check the bios -- except I can no longer access the bios. I no longer see the standard message to mash the del key when the system boots nor can I use the 'repair' feature that is supposed to call up the firmware settings.
1) why can't I see anything when I try to get to safe mode?
2) why can't I get to my bios anymore?
Do you have two monitors? In safe mode most cards default to Display Port (if any) or HDMI disabling the other monitors. Try connecting only the monitor you want to use in Safe Mode.
Yes, I have two monitors mounted. well, that doesn't seem reasonable (not a reflection upon you, just the idea that, in the modern era of computing, we can't cope with more than a single monitor) but I hadn't thought of it and it is well worth considering and trying. The particular video card (EVGA Nvidia gtx 970) has both a displayport and an hdmi for the two monitors. I can trying pulling one or the other and then retrying the whole safe mode thing.
I use a Sony TV connected with VGA and a second monitor connected with HDMI. In Safe Mode it always default to HDMI unless I have the second monitor disconnected.
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