One Windows instance not working without the other

[aexel05]

Hi,

I've got a fucking wierd problem.

About a month ago or so I did a fresh install of WIndows (as I usually do every few months) but this time something went wrong.

When I first built the PC I used an then up to date 60GB Kingston SSD as boot drive. About 2 years ago I upgraded to an 512GB Samsung SSD and from then on used the Samsung as Boot drive and the kingston as additional fast storage.

 

When I refreshed windows the last time, I somehow (maybe by accident) installed windows to the Kingston 60GB. When I found out I thought "never mind, just gonne format the drive when the Samsung is done".

As soon as I had W10 installed on the Samsung I tested both drives with the other plugged out and it turns out, that the old Kingston is working with the Samsung plugged out but not the other way around.

I tested a bit and found out, that the Kingston need to be plugged in in order to boot the Samsung but as soon as Windows splashes I can plug out the Kingston and operate the Samsung without the Kingston

When only having the Samsung plugged in following error appears: 

 

When I boot with both drives plugged in, I need to choose from the OS selection screen (its just german- nothing to be afraid of  )

 

I know that I could just totally wipe both of them, but I dont really want to do that that at the current file situation I'm in and secondly I want to find out how to avoid the problem in the future.

 

Does anyone of you have some experience with this?

[Master Disaster]

Yep.

 

When using MBR boot mode (AKA CSM ON or Legacy Boot Mode) it's possible for Windows to install the bootloader on to a different drive than the actual operating system, or as in your case, if there's already a bootloader present on another drive to piggyback off that and not install it's own.

 

It's a remnant of the days when drives were expensive and owning 2 drives didn't happen. People would dual boot 2 OSes on one drive so Microsoft programmed Windows to look for a bootloader and if it finds one to use that instead of installing a fresh one and destroying the other OS install. When multiple drives became popular it turned out that Windows would happily use the bootloader of a different drive entirely. I've personally had a situation where Windows was using an old bootloader left over on a storage drive and if the storage drive was removed Windows wouldn't boot. It sounds strange but back in the days of multiple OSes on one drive it made perfect sense.

 

Rather than type a huge list of instructions I'll simply link you an article, just be sure to unplug the other non Windows drive entirely before trying anything.

 

https://neosmart.net/wiki/reboot-and-select-proper-boot-device/

 

But honestly, if you have a UEFI system I'd STRONGLY recommend that you unplug the non Windows drive entirely, go into your BIOS, disable the CSM (Compatibility Support Module) then do a complete wipe and reinstall of Windows. This will convert the drive from MBR to GPT which fixes this problem entirely (so you'll never encounter it again) and should also allow your computer to boot faster. MBR is long deprecated as there's no reason to use it on a modern system.

[aexel05]

8 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

Yep.

 

When using MBR boot mode (AKA CSM ON or Legacy Boot Mode) it's possible for Windows to install the bootloader on to a different drive than the actual operating system, or as in your case, if there's already a bootloader present on another drive to piggyback off that and not install it's own.

 

It's a remnant of the days when drives were expensive and owning 2 drives didn't happen. People would dual boot 2 OSes on one drive so Microsoft programmed Windows to look for a bootloader and if it finds one to use that instead of installing a fresh one and destroying the other OS install. When multiple drives became popular it turned out that Windows would happily use the bootloader of a different drive entirely. I've personally had a situation where Windows was using an old bootloader left over on a storage drive and if the storage drive was removed Windows wouldn't boot. It sounds strange but back in the days of multiple OSes on one drive it made perfect sense.

 

Rather than type a huge list of instructions I'll simply link you an article, just be sure to unplug the other non Windows drive entirely before trying anything.

 

https://neosmart.net/wiki/reboot-and-select-proper-boot-device/

 

But honestly, if you have a UEFI system I'd STRONGLY recommend that you unplug the non Windows drive entirely, go into your BIOS, disable the CSM (Compatibility Support Module) then do a complete wipe and reinstall of Windows. This will convert the drive from MBR to GPT which fixes this problem entirely (so you'll never encounter it again) and should also allow your computer to boot faster. MBR is long deprecated as there's no reason to use it on a modern system.

Hey,

thank you for your fast and detailed answer.

 

I guess then it's the best to do a fresh install of Windows and dont mess around with the system anymore.

 

Now that you mentioned MBR and GPT.. I know how that happened:

The mentioned last time I refrehed windows installing from the bootstick didnt work because windows always replied with errors like "drive is gpt. use mbr". when I formated the drive it said "please use gpt"

I called the Windows support which said, that BOTH my drives seem to be broken overnight and that they cant help. I tried around a bit until I got it working.

I guess I will just try to wipe both drives totally and hope that helps 

[Master Disaster]

8 minutes ago, jonahadami said:

Hey,

thank you for your fast and detailed answer.

 

I guess then it's the best to do a fresh install of Windows and dont mess around with the system anymore.

 

Now that you mentioned MBR and GPT.. I know how that happened:

The mentioned last time I refrehed windows installing from the bootstick didnt work because windows always replied with errors like "drive is gpt. use mbr". when I formated the drive it said "please use gpt"

I called the Windows support which said, that BOTH my drives seem to be broken overnight and that they cant help. I tried around a bit until I got it working.

I guess I will just try to wipe both drives totally and hope that helps 

Theres no need to wipe both, here's how to solve your problem...

 

1) Unplug all drives you DON'T want Windows installed on, have only one drive connected

2) Boot into your BIOS and disable CSM

3) Boot your Windows installer

4) Run through setup to the partition screen then stop

5) Press Shift & F10

6) Type diskpart and hit enter

7) Type select disk 0 and hit enter

8 Type clean and hit enter

9) Type convert gpt and hit enter

10) Type exit and hit enter

11) Close the command prompt window

12) On the partition screen click next, do not partition the drive yourself, Windows will do it automatically

 

When install is finished you can reconnect all your other drives.