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M2 drive ssd problems

GBX

I'm posting on behalf of a friend who's having trouble trying to get an M2 up and running as boot drive:

"So originally I had it in just as a storage but I wanted it as my boot drive so installed windows onto USB and then started to go through normal boot like a new computer and I unplugged my hard drive that was the original boot device.
It shows up in the bios as a hard drive the new m. 2
Then got to the windows install like a new pc. Installs it and says needs to restart to finish restarts and when It restarts instead of going choose ur language and setup it just goes back to the start of it.
It sees the m. 2 just won't install windows onto it"

Has anybody encountered this or offer any advice to a solution. Thanks in advance

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CoBo55

Have you booted from the usb and then chosen the M2 as the install destination, does it copy files, expand etc onto the M2?
If so, maybe on the reboot it's booting from the usb as it's top of the queue. Try setting the usb as second, tapping F12 during boot, select usb and install windows, then on reboot it will boot from the M2.

Serephucus

Yeah, sounds like it's just booting from USB again, rather than the M.2.

GBX

Yeah it boots on USB then install on m.2 but instead of continuing install when it restarts just goes back to start of install page for windows.

Serephucus

Easy solution: When it restarts, pull the USB. It should find the M.2 as the next device. If not, your friend will have to hop into BIOS to change boot order.

CoBo55

sugarman wrote: »

You just need to unplug the USB when it reboots to finish setup.

That can be tricky as sometimes the new install will pull files from the usb.

GBX

From my friend:

I've tried it that way taking out USB and doesnt work. Also tried when it restarts going back into bios and changing boot order both with the USB still in and not. Just doesn't work
When USB isn't in it shows up black screen saying put in boot device and restart and when it is in just goes back to start of Windows install.

Tried many things for hours today and yesterday.

fritzelly

In bios disable CSM/UEFI and enable Secure Boot if not already enabled

Try again

GBX

"When I go to secure boot the ssd doesn't show up anymore as an option to pick for boot drive"

CoBo55

Turn off secure boot, it's useless anyway. Can you see the M2 in the bios with secure boot disabled? Are you sure the usb is setup for GPT/ UEFI when it was being created and it's not set for MBR. I use Rufus to create the bootable usb and the latest version will download W10 and then create the usb.
Another thought, is the mb using the latest bios? Maybe booting from the M2 type interface isn't supported.

GBX

With secure boot off it sees the M2.
Mobo is up to date. With the previous drive it says win10 WHQL enabled to run win 10. With this on it doesn't see the M2 drive. Disabled it shows the M2 drive.

Triangle

GBX wrote: »

With secure boot off it sees the M2.
Mobo is up to date. With the previous drive it says win10 WHQL enabled to run win 10. With this on it doesn't see the M2 drive. Disabled it shows the M2 drive.

It sounds as if your friend installed windows onto the USB - he shouldn't have done this.

As a previous poster said, make sure you use a tool to create an installable USB.

Google for 'create windows USB install'

CoBo55

GBX wrote: »

With secure boot off it sees the M2.
Mobo is up to date. With the previous drive it says win10 WHQL enabled to run win 10. With this on it doesn't see the M2 drive. Disabled it shows the M2 drive.

How was the bootable USB created? My advice is to use Rufus on your own computer to create the usb drive, select download and make sure gpt/uefi is also selected. It will download whichever version of Windows you choose and create the drive. With that done you can eliminate the usb drive as being the problem. On the problematic computer make the usb second in the bootable order, shut down, tap F12 on the restart select the usb drive and install windows. On the restart it should boot from the M2. I think myself that booting from M2 drives isn't supported by the motherboard but it's worth one last shot just to be certain. As they'd say here in Wexford, quare bloody annoyin'

GBX

Thanks all. I'll pass on the info. Hopefully get it sorted. Appreciate the posts.

CoBo55

GBX wrote: »

Thanks all. I'll pass on the info. Hopefully get it sorted. Appreciate the posts.

Let us know how it works out, I'm dying to know.

GBX

Another question on Rufus ( I've never used it)

Which do you pick for boot selection ?

Spear

GBX wrote: »

Another question on Rufus ( I've never used it)

Which do you pick for boot selection ?

The bootable image that you're making the USB disk from also provides the boot files, so you just the pick image that you would've picked anyway.

GBX

CoBo55 wrote: »

How was the bootable USB created? My advice is to use Rufus on your own computer to create the usb drive, select download and make sure gpt/uefi is also selected. It will download whichever version of Windows you choose and create the drive. With that done you can eliminate the usb drive as being the problem. On the problematic computer make the usb second in the bootable order, shut down, tap F12 on the restart select the usb drive and install windows. On the restart it should boot from the M2. I think myself that booting from M2 drives isn't supported by the motherboard but it's worth one last shot just to be certain. As they'd say here in Wexford, quare bloody annoyin'

Rufus was used to create the USB.

GBX

He's tried to reboot it, reset the bios with the new windows USB but still doing the same thing.

At a bit of a loss now.

mickuhaha

What's the motherboard and CPU?

CoBo55

GBX wrote: »

He's tried to reboot it, reset the bios with the new windows USB but still doing the same thing.

At a bit of a loss now.

Booting from M2 isn't supported by the motherboard is the only conclusion I can draw from it. Are you certain gpt/ uefi was selected in the drop down menu in the Rufus GUI. Can the motherboard be changed from uefi to legacy just in case the M2 was created using MBR. It happened to me when I was getting to grips with gpt/uefi a few years ago. There is a way of changing from MBR to uefi without losing everything if does boot in legacy mode.

GBX

"Gpt was definitely selected in rufus. Can only choose the m. 2 in legacy mode. But because USB was made as gpt won't load now as its saying it might need to be a mbr. "

He's bringing it to a place tomorrow. Hopefully they can remedy the situation. Thanks again all for your thoughts and suggestions.

CoBo55

GBX wrote: »

"Gpt was definitely selected in rufus. Can only choose the m. 2 in legacy mode. But because USB was made as gpt won't load now as its saying it might need to be a mbr. "

He's bringing it to a place tomorrow. Hopefully they can remedy the situation. Thanks again all for your thoughts and suggestions.

Remake the usb in MBR, you never said it needed to be in legacy to see the M2. Make sure secure boot is off too.

GBX

An update: So the motherboard as it was one of the first out for Ryzen it doesn't actually support m.2 nvme as a boot drive. Can still use it as storage. He is getting a 2.5" ssd 256gb though as a boot drive. So will have ssd as boot. M.2 for games and a hdd for just random storage.

smuggler.ie

Unless there is disk use heavy app in use, good 2.5 will be just fine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DKLA7w9eeA