How can i properly install WIndows 10 on a Freedos Laptop.?

Gust1704 · 22 Dec 2016

I recently got an HP G5 255, 4gb Ram and 500 Gb. It came with FREEDOS os and i have tried several methods to install the MICROSOFT 10 software but nothing seems to work. I got an ISO image burnt trough both DVD and USB Flash drive, im doing it from an OS X software so i thought it might have to do with the compatibility. I switched the USB comp to MS.Dos (FAT) but the HP Laptop just doesnt read it. I also arranged the boot start up preferences so that legacy is activated and so that , respectively, both USB and Internal cd/dvd rom were first in priorities . Sometimes in BIOS setup it does recognize the drive but when i hit enter to do start up it just goes back to Freedoos startup menu (Hp backing image with only two options: FREEDos Setup and some HP Documents that came with the laptop). I need help with this, i have literally tried everything withing my basic knowledge. Thanks in advance.

Samuria · 22 Dec 2016

Welcome to the forum. You will need to delete all paritions and leave the disk blank and then let windows create what it needs this leaves you no way back. It seems you can install 64 bit on this as there are all the drivers for it here Drivers & Software for HP 255 G5 Notebook PC - HP Support Center.

bobkn · 22 Dec 2016

At a guess, you haven't made a bootable DVD or USB drive so far.

The tutorials for doing it:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/...dows-10-a.html

are based on doing it from a Windows PC. I have no experience doing it from an OS X Mac. I doubt that the Media Creation Tool can be run from a web browser on a Mac, but it might be worth a try.

I usually do it a little differently, though. I use the command line utility Diskpart to prepare a bootable Fat32 USB drive, and simply copy the contents of the .ISO to it. Diskpart is a little dangerous because it's possible to remove the wrong partition, but with reasonable care, it works well. (And avoids using third-party software like Rufus.)

Perhaps it'd be easiest if you can get access to a Windows PC. It may well be possible to do it on a Mac, but I can't say how.

Berton · 22 Dec 2016

If it twere me I'd use the free bootable GPARTED LiveCD to wipe the partitions. MajorGeeks.Com - MajorGeeks

NavyLCDR · 22 Dec 2016

Berton said:

If it twere me I'd use the free bootable GPARTED LiveCD to wipe the partitions. MajorGeeks.Com - MajorGeeks

Why not just use the Windows 10 installation flash drive or DVD that has to be created anyway to both wipe the hard drive and install Windows?

Avocado · 23 Dec 2016

SOURCE: HP PCs - Secure Boot (Windows 10) | HP(R) Customer Support

Load the BIOS default settings. Then try one of the following options:

Legacy Support > Disabled
Secure Boot > Enabled

-or-

Legacy Support > Enabled
Secure Boot > Disabled

alphanumeric · 24 Dec 2016

NavyLCDR said:

Why not just use the Windows 10 installation flash drive or DVD that has to be created anyway to both wipe the hard drive and install Windows?

If it will do the job, why not just do it that way? It's quicker and less complicated than using a third party program. I haven't run into a situation yet that it wouldn't let me wipe the drive completely blank so its all unallocated.

Gust1704 · 25 Dec 2016

Hey everyone, thanks for your help just giving you a head´s up on how i managed to do it. For the burning process of the ISO image on MAC OSX there is an issue, for yosemite (and older soft) wich i have due to having a late 2010 MAC Boot camp does not let you direct burn from iso image on the disk (USB), it can be done trough the terminal by enabling the option but since i am a standar user with basic knowledge i didn´t want to get into it. After seeing a bunch of complicated videos and forum threads the solution was easier and less complex. The problem was that, since i did not had the boot camp option, i downloaded a RUFUS-like app for mac that let´s you do the same (Etcher), this app modified the format of the USB, making it unreadable for the FREEdos, also the ISO that Windows official site offers for download is corrupted (this can be seen on several forums on the web). In short, what i did is simply format the USB to MS-Dos and , listen well because i saw several people saying that it doesn´t work that way, but for mac, simply copy and paste the full content of the ISO to the drive once formated in MS-DOS (being carefull to copy all of the files within the iso, not the iso icon itself. After this i just changed the priorities on the Laptop for booting, and it worked PERFECTLY WELL. I had to format the internal drive for it to be able to let the windows install as a whole (simply by commanding the computer to clean the disk on the terminal).
Either way, this method works for any Mac with older OS, from el capitan on you can simply burn trough boot camp assistant.:

Thanks everyone.

NavyLCDR · 25 Dec 2016

Gust1704 said:

In short, what i did is simply format the USB to MS-Dos and , listen well because i saw several people saying that it doesn´t work that way, but for mac, simply copy and paste the full content of the ISO to the drive once formated in MS-DOS (being carefull to copy all of the files within the iso, not the iso icon itself.

That is actually the best and most reliable way of doing it. All you need is a FAT32 partition marked as active on the USB flash drive and copy the files and folders from the mounted ISO files over to it. Easy as pie and is the most reliable way of making a USB flash drive compatible with both legacy BIOS and UEFI.

Berton · 25 Dec 2016

NavyLCDR said:

Why not just use the Windows 10 installation flash drive or DVD that has to be created anyway to both wipe the hard drive and install Windows?

Well, since I need at times to reformat drives due to problems, I prefer to use a reliable and OS-independant program. Also, due to the limited native support for NTFS in Mac OS X [haven't checked macOS yet], I occasionally need to format/partition external drives of larger capacity such as 120GB, 250GB and 500GB to FAT32 which GPARTED does just fine. Additionally, being on a CD-R that can't be changed any infections on a target drive will not carry over.