Unable to install Windows

[mjmalec]

I've had some trouble recently reinstalling Windows. No matter what I try, the installer will get to the end, but right before "finishing up", it'll tell me "Windows could not prepare the computer to boot into the next phase of installation." And sometimes, it'll say that even before giving me any green checkmarks.

 

I've tried:

- Using different ISOs

- Using different USB drives (Lexar & Sandisk) for the ISOs

- Using a disc installer

- Removing all other drives when installing

- Removing all additional peripherals besides keyboard and mouse

- Using different USB ports for the USB and disc installers

- Flashing USB drive as MBR then GPT

- Using UEFI and CSM

- Using an entirely different drive to install onto

 

When flashing the ISO to the USB drive, I used Rufus 3.13. I tried using an ISO downloaded from Microsoft's website, an ISO from Windows Media Creation tool, and an ISO from a Windows 10 ISO archive. But none of these gave any successful results.

 

I'm completely at a loss as to why this won't reinstall - none of the above worked. I was able to install Arch Linux and a Hackintosh to that same drive with no issues, but not Windows.

 

If anyone has some insights, I'd appreciate the help.

Thanks in advance.

[Radium_Angel]

20 minutes ago, mjmalec said:

I've had some trouble recently reinstalling Windows. No matter what I try, the installer will get to the end, but right before "finishing up", it'll tell me "Windows could not prepare the computer to boot into the next phase of installation." And sometimes, it'll say that even before giving me any green checkmarks.

 

I've tried:

- Using different ISOs

- Using different USB drives (Lexar & Sandisk) for the ISOs

- Using a disc installer

- Removing all other drives when installing

- Removing all additional peripherals besides keyboard and mouse

- Using different USB ports for the USB and disc installers

- Flashing USB drive as MBR then GPT

- Using UEFI and CSM

- Using an entirely different drive to install onto

 

When flashing the ISO to the USB drive, I used Rufus 3.13. I tried using an ISO downloaded from Microsoft's website, an ISO from Windows Media Creation tool, and an ISO from a Windows 10 ISO archive. But none of these gave any successful results.

 

I'm completely at a loss as to why this won't reinstall - none of the above worked. I was able to install Arch Linux and a Hackintosh to that same drive with no issues, but not Windows.

 

If anyone has some insights, I'd appreciate the help.

Thanks in advance.

Bad RAM perhaps?

Test with MemTest86.

If you use it, turn off XMP

[mjmalec]

Currently testing with MemTest86 & XMP disabled. Why would bad RAM would cause Windows to not install?

 

UPDATE: There were no errors after 3 passes.

Edited January 6, 2021 by mjmalec

[DavidKalinowski]

What you might try, use gparted to to just blank the drive, dont partition or any thing, just blank it. Then check your BIOS for secure boot options. enable secure boot if its not enabled. IF it is enabled you could try disabling it and turning on Legacy(CSM) I've had weird issues with this kind of thing my self before. linux boots differently than windows and is honestly more forgiving of BIOS issues in my experience. (no idea on the hackintosh working, unless its using the linux boot loader.

[boringashell]

Maybe flashing Windows to USB with Windows's own tool might work. I never trusted Rufus for Windows. 

[WhitetailAni]

1 hour ago, boringashell said:

I never trusted Rufus for Windows. 

Rufus worked fine with 7 and XP for me.

[mjmalec]

2 hours ago, boringashell said:

Maybe flashing Windows to USB with Windows's own tool might work. I never trusted Rufus for Windows. 

I've actually tried this, but the results don't differ regardless.

 

6 hours ago, DavidKalinowski said:

What you might try, use gparted to to just blank the drive, dont partition or any thing, just blank it. Then check your BIOS for secure boot options. enable secure boot if its not enabled. IF it is enabled you could try disabling it and turning on Legacy(CSM) I've had weird issues with this kind of thing my self before. linux boots differently than windows and is honestly more forgiving of BIOS issues in my experience. (no idea on the hackintosh working, unless its using the linux boot loader.

I'll try using gparted -  it's an SSD if that makes any difference. I've secure boot disabled, but both Legacy & UEFI don't make a difference besides the screen resolution on the Windows installer. For the Hackintosh, I'm using OpenCore.

[DavidKalinowski]

Thats weird.  what brand is the SSD? I have a WD Blue SSD that suddenly would not work correctly, WD software said it was fine, but windows stopped loading, and Linux would not install. I formatted it three ways from Sunday, and gave up (It was outside warranty). left it setting in a drawer for like 5 months, pulled it out the other day to throw it into a junk tower and see what happens (as I was bored lol).. I restored a backup from another system to it and its working like a champ now.. so yea.. Good luck. I'm out of ideas.

[mjmalec]

3 minutes ago, DavidKalinowski said:

Thats weird.  what brand is the SSD? I have a WD Blue SSD that suddenly would not work correctly, WD software said it was fine, but windows stopped loading, and Linux would not install. I formatted it three ways from Sunday, and gave up (It was outside warranty). left it setting in a drawer for like 5 months, pulled it out the other day to throw it into a junk tower and see what happens (as I was bored lol).. I restored a backup from another system to it and its working like a champ now.. so yea.. Good luck. I'm out of ideas.

I've got a Samsung 860 EVO. Brand new as well. I had Windows running fine on it, then I just restarted my PC and it wouldn't boot back into Windows. That's why I went ahead with the reinstall. Wiped the drive using the Windows installer and haven't been able to get it working since. I'll let you know how gparted works. Thanks for the help so far.