Boot menu shows no USB ports listed. System fails to power on despite screen activation.
Boot menu shows no USB ports listed. System fails to power on despite screen activation.
I created a bootable USB drive to install Windows 10 on my new SSD. I've handled this many times before. Everything looks correct—proper format, right settings. I removed all drives from the PC and left just the empty NVMe SSD and the USB stick. When I power on the PC, pressing F11 only shows the SSD, not the USB. Google recommended checking if it's set to UEFI. In BIOS I found "LEGACY & UEFI" and then switched to the plain "UEFI" option. After restarting, the PC starts but doesn't turn on at all. Now I'm trying to enable a setting for Windows 8.1/10 USB installation in BIOS, but it's blocking the screen. What should I do? (motherboard is MSI H170 M3 Gaming)
Is this Windows 10 installation media the official one from Microsoft or some random ISO mounted with rufus? What M.2 drive are you using? Sounds like the USB installation media isn't using UEFI style boot manager partition, whatever the term for that is. CSM/legacy boot shouldn't be required for a Windows 10 installation media if you're using the first party media creation tool. Tools like rufus let you make CSM/legacy compatible bootable images, but usually those aren't CSM and UEFI compatible. Download Windows 10 (microsoft.com) Otherwise, the 'NVMe drive' you're referring to isn't NVMe and is some weird legacy SATA M.2 drive. I have a weird cocktail of M.2 drives, including ancient AHCI type PCIe M.2 drives that require LEGACY boot to function, going as far back as my 4790k and 2015.
You're using Microsoft's Media Creation Tool to generate a bootable USB drive. You can install Windows 10 on your friend's PC by connecting it to your SSD, but you're having trouble getting the BIOS to load properly and restore the screen. The goal now is to get the screen working first. Think about checking the BIOS setup options or trying a different recovery method.
Another machine isn't useful here because if it can't detect the drive from the Windows installation media, the problem is likely with the firmware or hardware. Which specific M.2 drive are you attempting to install Windows on? Essentially, what's the model number?
Intel 6th generation would have positioned as a technical milestone akin to M.2 storage being generation 1.5 and representing an early NVMe standard. It functioned on certain 4th generation boards (Intel omitted the 5th generation for desktop models) such as my Z97 Impact VII, though setup remained challenging. Ensure you have the most recent BIOS for your hardware. MSI Global – The Top Choice for High-End Gaming & Professional Work MSI Global – A Leading Brand in High-End Gaming & Professional Creation In 2015, M.2 PCIe drives were scarce, and NVMe technology didn’t exist when Intel released its 6th gen. BIOS version likely played a significant role. You might need to adjust several UEFI parameters and possibly preload NVMe drivers to make it bootable. Just note, you can’t simply install Windows via CSM or UEFI and then modify the firmware later; the image and boot process are fundamentally different, requiring considerable effort to resolve.