Reinstall Windows 10 from DVD but no DVD drive

Hi

I inadvertently set my new laptop with 256 Mb SSD to sync with my OneDrive of 1 Tb. My laptop synced until it ran out of storage and now when I try to boot up, I get Attempting to Repair, Diagnosing Problem, etc. etc. I have worked my way through every option to no avail. It can still see the USB port. How do I reinstall Windows 10 from the DVD as my laptop does not have a DVD drive?

I (obviously) have access to another computer which is also running Windows 10.
Any advice gratefully received.

Thank you - perfect

Hi

I created a bootable USB. I insert the USB stick into my laptop, fire it up, and the USB light flashes. I get the Preparing Automatic Repair (the USB light flashes), then the Diagnosing Your Computer and finally the Automatic Repair with the sub-heading Your PC did not start correctly. I select Advanced options>Use a device>USB Storage Device. The laptop reboots, the USB light flashes, and I get the message No Boot Device Found.

Where did I go wrong? Where do I go from there?

Brisbanebob said:

Where did I go wrong? Where do I go from there?

You probably selected the wrong options in Rufus when you created the USB flash drive. Rufus is one of the worst ways to make a Windows 10 installation flash drive because it is too easy to get the settings wrong and it is completely unnecessary to use in the first place.

The easiest way to make a USB flash drive that will universally boot in both UEFI and legacy BIOS computers is just to let the Media Creation Tool create it for you.

If you have the ISO file already saved, you can use Windows to create the same flash drive as the Media Creation Tool. Insert the flash drive with Windows running. Open a Command Prompt (Admin) or Powershell (Admin). Run:

diskpart
list disk
select disk # <-replace # with the number of the USB flash drive.
clean <- this will erase the drive selected above - make sure it is the USB flash drive!
create part pri
format fs=fat32 quick
active
assign
exit
exit

Then mount the ISO file you have saved and copy all the files and folders from the mounted ISO file to the USB flash drive.

Windows 8/8.1 and 10 will mount the ISO file just by right clicking on it and selecting mount. Windows 7 requires a third party program such as WinCDEmu:
WinCDEmu - the easiest way to mount an ISO. And more...

Giving it a bash now. Thanks

I ran the Media Creation Tool (Windows 10) and then copied it across to the flash drive. When I insert the flash drive in the laptop, the drive flashes, but after I've gone through the full routine of Advanced Options>Use a device>USB storage device, the laptop goes through the re-boot and I get the No Boot Device Found even though the flash drive 's light flashes.

When I look at what is on the flash drive, among others, it has a Boot folder and and autoexec.exe. Why won't the reboot see the autoexec?

Help!

Just had a thought. The Dell laptop originally came with Win 8.1 which I then upgraded via the MS website download to Win 10. Is this part of the problem? Do I have to put a 8.1 boot folder on the drive? If so, how do I do that?

Grateful for any help out there.

So, I just ran the newest Media Creation Tool and created a USB flash drive with it. This is what is on my flash drive:



There is no autoexec.exe on it. If your flash drive doesn't look like the above, then you did something wrong creating it.

Also, some computers won't boot from a USB flash drive from the Advanced Options menu you are attempting to use. When you first power on the computer, there is a key to press (usually repeatedly) just as soon as the computer first powers on that will enter either BIOS/UEFI setup or a boot menu. If you can get to the boot menu, that is where you would select the USB flash drive. If you get into BIOS/UEFI setup then you might have a boot menu if you go to the last tab to save changes. If there isn't a boot menu there, then you will have to set the USB flash drive as the first boot device in the boot priority settings.

Also, the flash drive should be FAT32 formatted and the partition marked as active:

My apologies - it wasn't autoexec but setup.exe.