media creation tool Win 10 doesn't complete clean install

x509 said:

On my last two ASUS board, ROG Strix-E x570 and Strix-E x670a I can't set the BIOS to automatically boot from a USB device. (Am I missing something?) I always have to select the USB drive from the Override list.

USE the Boot Menu (F8) for ASUS

With the boot menu, you can put any connected device first in line... for one time only.

Ghot said:

USE the Boot Menu (F8) for ASUS

With the boot menu, you can put any connected device first in line... for one time only.

I know but I was hoping that I could a boot-enabled USB at the top of the list. That's how my Lenovo T14s (and earlier models) all worked.

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Megahertz said:

I don't think it is the case as an update is a single file. A Win 10 USB installer drive is a multi files and folders. Also if it said it was going to reboot it has just copied / expanded the Win 10 files to your drive.

I suggest you build the USB Win 10 22h2 installation drive using MCT
As you have a UEFI BIOS you should boot the Win 10 22h2 installation drive as UEFI. See my last post.

Even though I had used the MCT to create the earlier Win 10 install USB, I took @Megahertz 's suggestion and downloaded the MCT again, AND used a different USB drive for the installer. I verified in the ASUS BIOS that this was a UEFI bootable device.

When I booted this installer it opened up a window saying that a "driver was missing" and I had to supply the driver to proceed with the install. Which driver? I have never before seen this message doing an MCT-based install. And I had tried to do this install on a different SSD drive than the previous installs.

So I decided to revert back to the Win 11 installer, because that install process had gone smoothly, automatically creating a new Windows bootable partition a bunch of times previous.

THIS install also failed the same was as the prior Win 10 installs. Only two of the four necessary partitions created and no bootable drive detectable in BIOS. So clearly my idea about MS not providing a full install file, only an updater, was wrong.

So I think my next step is to haul the system case (pretty heavy now that there is a water-cooled AIO for the CPU)onto my desk. Then disconnect all the SATA SSDs and HDD, leaving installed only the main 1 TB NVMe and a second, reused 200 GB NVMe (which I was using for swap files, etc). I really don't want to start opening up the motherboard, because that involves removing the GPU card. I am not sure but I may need something like GParted to wipe those 2 NVMe drives absolutely clean and then re-init them as GPT drives. Only then can I try a clean install again

I also need to carefully read every post in this thread.

My main concern now is that I might go "radio silent" on this thread for almost 3 weeks. We are going on vacation leaving very early Friday morning. Tomorrow, Thursday, is my packing and setting up for the trip day. I may not have the time to do all the work in the paragraph above.

Anyway, comments welcome.

x509 said:

I know but I was hoping that I could a boot-enabled USB at the top of the list. That's how my Lenovo T14s (and earlier models) all worked.

Every computer has had a Boot Menu as long as I can remember. (Post #3)

x509 said:

When I booted this installer it opened up a window saying that a "driver was missing" and I had to supply the driver to proceed with the install. Which driver? I have never before seen this message doing an MCT-based install. And I had tried to do this install on a different SSD drive than the previous installs.

See @NavyLCDR's suggestions:
Test for possible NVMe missing - NavyLCdr #9 - ElevenForum
Source of necessary IRST driver - NavyLCdr #15 - ElevenForum
You then need to copy the driver to your installation USB and use a modified installation procedure to load it at the correct stage. This is described in
HP PCs - No Drives Can Be Found During Windows 10 Installation (Intel 11th Generation processors) - HP Customer Support


Best of luck,
Denis