Help with windows boot

[Cheerial]

im on an msi b550 mag mortar motherboard, i have my windows boot usb installed and be the first boot option, i power off and on my computer and it asks me to select  a boot device from UEFI:partition 1 and enter startup. when i press enter on partition 1, the screen turns balck and then shows the same screen again.... any help?

[Robchil]

go in bios and set disk to primary boot disk?  usually under startup. 

 

and save it and restart

[Cheerial]

1 minute ago, Robchil said:

go in bios and set disk to primary boot disk?  usually under startup. 

it already is set to my primary boot disk...

 

[Robchil]

ah.. to boot to the uefi usb partition... try turning on uefi/legacy boot. 

 

and select the not uefi version

[Cheerial]

5 minutes ago, Robchil said:

ah.. to boot to the uefi usb partition... try turning on uefi/legacy boot. 

 

and select the not uefi version

that was also already enabled...

 

 

[Cheerial]

I just changed a setting from uefi to csm, dont know what it does but its booting nto windows now so yay?

 

[Robchil]

not all that makes sense.. but yeah hey it works

 

[alexjzim]

CSM = legacy bios. You will not be able to upgrade to windows 11.

 

The fact that you can now boot means this: Your windows USB installer is in MBR more and not GPT mode.  You can use Rufus and the .iso to manually specify you need GPT.  CSM/MBR will work with Windows 10, but is less secure. I personally would get it working with GPT/UEFI for future proofing

[Robchil]

3 minutes ago, alexjzim said:

CSM = legacy bios. You will not be able to upgrade to windows 11.

 

The fact that you can now boot means this: Your windows USB installer is in MBR more and not GPT mode.  You can use Rufus and the .iso to manually specify you need GPT.  CSM/MBR will work with Windows 10, but is less secure. I personally would get it working with GPT/UEFI for future proofing

if you do clean install and wipe all partitions.. shouldn't it make it GPT/UEFI automatic? 

 

or would you need to reinitialize it as GPT disk. not MBR? 

 

[alexjzim]

Just now, Robchil said:

if you do clean install and wipe all partitions.. shouldn't it make it GPT/UEFI automatic? 

 

No the partition table for MBR vs GPT is decided at the time the USB installer is created.  Usually if you create the installer on a MBR/Legacy BIOS computer, you get a MBR/Legacy USB installer.  And if you create the on a GPT/UEFI computer, you get a GPT/UEFI installer.

 

Why it shows up as UEFI in the BIOS, I am not sure. But I would bet money if you inspected further the USB installer is in MBR mode.

[Robchil]

2 minutes ago, alexjzim said:

No the partition table for MBR vs GPT is decided at the time the USB installer is created.  Usually if you create the installer on a MBR/Legacy BIOS computer, you get a MBR/Legacy USB installer.  And if you create the on a GPT/UEFI computer, you get a GPT/UEFI installer.

 

Why it shows up as UEFI in the BIOS, I am not sure. But I would bet money if you inspected further the USB installer is in MBR mode.

thank you for confirming.. yeah what i thought too..  so make USB GPT before creating windows USB out of it.. 

 

[alexjzim]

1 minute ago, Robchil said:

thank you for confirming.. yeah what i thought too..  so make USB GPT before creating windows USB out of it.. 

 

Its more confusing than that!

 

Even you convert/format a USB drive with GPT, the windows installer from microsoft can still decide to create the installer in MBR mode.  It is not a user facing setting with the installer from microsoft.  If you are using an old legacy bios computer to make the installer, it will decide for you to use MBR mode on the USB.  That is why I recommend using rufus to manually specify GPT

[Cheerial]

12 minutes ago, alexjzim said:

CSM = legacy bios. You will not be able to upgrade to windows 11.

 

The fact that you can now boot means this: Your windows USB installer is in MBR more and not GPT mode.  You can use Rufus and the .iso to manually specify you need GPT.  CSM/MBR will work with Windows 10, but is less secure. I personally would get it working with GPT/UEFI for future proofing

I can do that later though right, like it doesnt matter until i need to upgrade?

[alexjzim]

Just now, Cheerial said:

I can do that later though right, like it doesnt matter until i need to upgrade?

It will wipe your data, so I recommend getting it out of the way now.  Perhaps some 3rd party programs can do it without data loss though.

 

Here are the instructions from microsoft to convert it, if you feel comfortable following it: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/storage/disk-management/change-an-mbr-disk-into-a-gpt-disk .  Converting is not the best option (not sure if it removed the old MBR partitions), but it should work.  I think you would be best fresh installing with a GPT installer.  You will have to go back to BIOS and turn off CSM/Legacy after either option.

[Cheerial]

16 minutes ago, alexjzim said:

CSM = legacy bios. You will not be able to upgrade to windows 11.

 

The fact that you can now boot means this: Your windows USB installer is in MBR more and not GPT mode.  You can use Rufus and the .iso to manually specify you need GPT.  CSM/MBR will work with Windows 10, but is less secure. I personally would get it working with GPT/UEFI for future proofing

als, if i just bought a clean brand new usb stick, would that be in gpt mode? or would i still have to change it?

[alexjzim]

9 minutes ago, Cheerial said:

als, if i just bought a clean brand new usb stick, would that be in gpt mode? or would i still have to change it?

Probably GPT but I am not positive.  When you create the installer media it formats the drive anyways.  If you are creating the USB drive on an old legacy bios MBR computer, it might be switching the USB  back to MBR during the creating process.

 

Follow this guide: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-create-windows-10-usb-bootable-media-uefi-support

When you get USB flash drive or iso file, choose iso file

then scroll down and follow the instructions using rufus for the rest of the guide