Why did windows install across two disks?

[Dreamer758]

Can i move it to the c drive or should i try to install from scratch

[Najila42]

Did you make this changes manually during the installation of windows? Or did this occur recently?

[Dreamer758]

Just now, Najila42 said:

Did you make this changes manually during the installation of windows? Or did this occur recently?

I hit install windows instead of upgrade selected the drive pushed continue and thats about it 

[Najila42]

Something wasn't configured right in the install, moving the c partition to the other drive seems to be ok to do, as that space is already unallocated. is there/was anything important on that drive?

 

[Dreamer758]

2 minutes ago, Najila42 said:

Something wasn't configured right in the install, moving the c partition to the other drive seems to be ok to do, as that space is already unallocated. is there/was anything important on that drive?

 

No both are new just want everything windows related on the nvme one and only games on the hdd mabe ill use windows install usb to format both of em 

[Najila42]

A utility like macrium reflect will allow you to move an resize partitions just fine, no reinstall needed

[Master Disaster]

37 minutes ago, Najila42 said:

Something wasn't configured right in the install.

 

Not true.

 

43 minutes ago, Dreamer758 said:

Can i move it to the c drive or should i try to install from scratch

Windows has had this issue going back as far as Windows XP (possibly earlier). When you have multiple drives plugged in to your computer and install Windows it will scan them all for a BCD record, if it finds one then it it throws the bootloader onto that drive no matter where you're actually installing to. Its nothing you have selected that caused this, its just something Windows has done for a very long time.

 

Its the sole reason why the majority of people giving help about installing Windows on a lot of forums still suggest you unplug all other drives except the one you're installing to before you install. Its the only way you can guarantee Windows won't install the bootloader and Windows on different drives.

[Master Disaster]

46 minutes ago, Najila42 said:

A utility like macrium reflect will allow you to move an resize partitions just fine, no reinstall needed

Won't work. THE BCD Store that Windows is booting from contains the UUID of the drive it is booting from, if you move the store the UUID is no longer correct and you get a BCD Error BSOD at boot.

 

If you move the store you have to delete it and recreate a new one with the correct UUID. Its a complicated thing to do and in my experience its normally faster & easier to just unplug all the extra drives then reinstall.

 

These days you can reinstall in 15 minutes.

[GoodBytes]

Windows makes multiple partitions on your system. This will vary if your run your system in legacy BIOS mode or UEFI mode.

The essentially, the 2 important ones are (to make it short, I won't dive in the others... I already explained it here several times):

• Boot
• Windows (C:\)

The partition where Windows will install will be the one your selected

The partition where the boot partition will be, is the the first drive reported by your motherboard. If you have multiple drive, it is critical to plug your main drive to your SATA-1 (or SATA-0, depending where your motherboard manufacture start its numbering) connector. Now, the issue comes with NVMe drive mixed with SATA... some motherboard considers M.2 NVMe last, others first. There is no fix for this. The BIOS needs to be reworked to make the switch.

 

Your only solution is to unplug your secondary drive before starting Windows installation.

 

Please note that this issue has to do with compatibility with dumb BIOSs who only look for boot partition on the first connected drive. Please think outside of DIY systems. Think ultra budget system from OEMs, where every corner are cut to save each penny.

[Master Disaster]

10 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

Windows makes multiple partitions on your system. This will vary if your run your system in legacy BIOS mode or UEFI mode.

The essentially, the 2 important ones are (to make it short, I won't dive in the others... I already explained it here several times):

• Boot
• Windows (C:\)

The partition where Windows will install will be the one your selected

The partition where the boot partition will be, is the the first drive reported by your motherboard. If you have multiple drive, it is critical to plug your main drive to your SATA-1 (or SATA-0, depending where your motherboard manufacture start its numbering) connector. Now, the issue comes with NVMe drive mixed with SATA... some motherboard considers M.2 NVMe last, others first. There is no fix for this. The BIOS needs to be reworked to make the switch.

 

Your only solution is to unplug your secondary drive before starting Windows installation.

 

Please note that this issue has to do with compatibility with dumb BIOSs who only look for boot partition on the first connected drive. Please think outside of DIY systems. Think ultra budget system from OEMs, where every corner are cut to save each penny.

No it doesn't. Windows has had this issue dating back to Windows XP at least, long before UEFI, long before GPT, long before SSDs, M.2 & NVMe.

 

Windows will ALWAYS put the bootloader files on to a drive it finds that has existing boot data present. If you do a full format of all your drives it will put the bootloader on the same drive as Windows but if one of your drives has existing boot data it throws it on there instead. Doesn't matter if its MBR or EFI either.

 

Its not very likely your ultra budget system would ever encounter this issue as it wouldn't have multiple drives in it to begin with. Its ultra low budget after all.

 

Plus Linux can handle multiple drives fine, it even gives you the choice of where you want the bootloader to be installed. You can pick any drive in your system and it will install GRUB to it no problem.

[GoodBytes]

54 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

No it doesn't. Windows has had this issue dating back to Windows XP at least, long before UEFI, long before GPT, long before SSDs, M.2 & NVMe.

 

Windows will ALWAYS put the bootloader files on to a drive it finds that has existing boot data present. If you do a full format of all your drives it will put the bootloader on the same drive as Windows but if one of your drives has existing boot data it throws it on there instead. Doesn't matter if its MBR or EFI either.

In the case of re-install, yes. I was refer clean installs. OP is extremally vague. I assume a new system build.

 

Quote

Plus Linux can handle multiple drives fine, it even gives you the choice of where you want the bootloader to be installed. You can pick any drive in your system and it will install GRUB to it no problem.

Nope. Happens as well. Force things has negative consequences.

 

There is no bug anywhere. It was designed that way. 

[Nayr438]

I have seen weird scenarios with windows in the past, it usually searches for a boot entry regardless of the drive you select and tries to re-use it.

Automated Linux installers have a habit of this as well. It has nothing to do with which port your drive is in or your BIOS. It's just your OS assuming where it should go without asking.

 

It's a simple fix in Linux for those who use Grub, just issue the grub install command for mbr or for EFI create and mount a Fat32 partition flagged with boot and run grub install.

For Windows I however have no idea. I Would just recommend unplugging all the drives except for the one and reinstalling.