Win10 bootable refuses to work. help!!!!

[Inky08]

I'm trying to get windows 10 on a old pc and it wont recognise my storage drives with win10 on them even after installing it through the iso bootable.

 

CPU: AMD A4-4000 APU

MOB: GIGABYTE GA-F2A88XM-D3H (rev. 3.0) 

BIOS Version: F9, 25/12/2015

PSU: Gigabyte P550SS 550W

RAM: 4x4GB 1333MHz ECC but they're different brands(I know) with different timings (I think)

 

Edit: DOES ANYONE KNOW IF THE MOTHERBOARD SUPPORTS BOOTING VIA SSD THROUGH SOMETHING LIKE A PCIE -> M.2 SSD ADAPTER?

 

I downloaded the win10 22H2 ISO and put it on a SD card and plugged it in through a USB.

It launches into BIOS fine and recognises the SD Card and works with it fine but its a installer and not the actual operating system. 

I installed it into an M.2 SSD through a PCIE adapter and it refuses to show up in my bootable drives. This also has happened to two other HDD i own where it will install into it but then not show in bios to boot off. I am so utterly lost and i have no idea what to do. Any recommendations are appreciated!!

[whispous]

3 minutes ago, Inky08 said:

I'm trying to get windows 10 on a old pc and it wont recognise my storage drives with win10 on them even after installing it through the iso bootable.

 

CPU: AMD A4-4000 APU

MOB: GIGABYTE GA-F2A88XM-D3H (rev. 3.0) 

BIOS Version: F9, 25/12/2015

PSU: 

igabyte P550SS

 

Can you clear something up:

Are you trying to boot from a USB Windows 10 installation stick you made, or from an INSTALLED Windows 10 on a drive?

[Inky08]

4 minutes ago, whispous said:

Can you clear something up:

Are you trying to boot from a USB Windows 10 installation stick you made, or from an INSTALLED Windows 10 on a drive?

I literally googled "windows 10 iso" downloaded it and burned it onto a random sd card i had. I plugged that in to boot off and to download win10 onto my main storage drive (the pcie adapted ssd)

edit: i am trying to download win10 onto a different storage device and i am not trying to boot off/use the usb as a os drive

[Inky08]

8 minutes ago, Inky08 said:

I literally googled "windows 10 iso" downloaded it and burned it onto a random sd card i had. I plugged that in to boot off and to download win10 onto my main storage drive (the pcie adapted ssd)

edit: i am trying to download win10 onto a different storage device and i am not trying to boot off/use the usb as a os drive

im going to try re install win10 installer to the sd card. theres no reason it shouldnt work before but idk what else to do right now

 

[Blasty Blosty]

1 minute ago, Inky08 said:

im going to try re install win10 installer to the sd card. theres no reason it shouldnt work before but idk what else to do right now

 

Could possibly try a USB stick rather than an SD card

[Inky08]

3 minutes ago, Blasty Blosty said:

Could possibly try a USB stick rather than an SD card

its an sd card with an adapter. ive done this EXACT thing like a month ago on my brothers pc so idk why it wont work right now. im hoping that maybee i messed up the process when it downloaded the installer so im trying again 

[Apemanonline]

What you using to "burn" the iso to the drive?

 

Rufus is favorite latest version will guide you and tell you if you need to change any settings and will also download anything you need to get it working. 

[Inky08]

5 minutes ago, Apemanonline said:

What you using to "burn" the iso to the drive?

 

Rufus is favorite latest version will guide you and tell you if you need to change any settings and will also download anything you need to get it working. 

I only have a mac right now avalible so i followed this yt vid which was highly recommended to work. I finally got my hands on a windows laptop so i now have another install drive im trying at the moment

 

[tilenbox]

1 hour ago, Inky08 said:

I literally googled "windows 10 iso" downloaded it and burned it onto a random sd card i had. I plugged that in to boot off and to download win10 onto my main storage drive (the pcie adapted ssd)

edit: i am trying to download win10 onto a different storage device and i am not trying to boot off/use the usb as a os drive

If I understand this correctly, you want to install WIN10 on a drive in your PC?

 

You need to create an installation USB, not a "portable" WIN10 installation. 

This is the official Microsoft Support page for it. Follow the steps in the guide.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/create-installation-media-for-windows-99a58364-8c02-206f-aa6f-40c3b507420d#id0ejd=windows_10

 

 

[Mark Kaine]

So regarding the version you need this 

https://www.microsoft.com/de-de/software-download/windows10ISO

 

And you also need to use a USB stick and not a sd card with adapter, formatted in FAT32.

 

for some unfathomable reason windows is designed to be installed from an usb stick or cdrom, that this once worked for you with a sd card may be, but it typically doesn't. 

 

I also recommend to use Rufus as others have said.

[Lurking]

Not sure why you want to install W10. but try to put W11 on an USB-drive with Rufus. then see if that works. Then at least you know your hardware is good and you can decide if you replicate the same with W10, or use W11. 

 

Don't do janky things with SD cards. Remove all possible obstacles.

[Inky08]

10 hours ago, tilenbox said:

If I understand this correctly, you want to install WIN10 on a drive in your PC?

 

You need to create an installation USB, not a "portable" WIN10 installation. 

This is the official Microsoft Support page for it. Follow the steps in the guide.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/create-installation-media-for-windows-99a58364-8c02-206f-aa6f-40c3b507420d#id0ejd=windows_10

 

 

I used the media creation tool and installed it to the sd card. I also tried to burn an iso on but had to manually burn it in as I only had my macbook with me at the time. neither worked. ill try the link you sent 

edit: I already tried the media creation tool. it didnt work either.

[Inky08]

9 hours ago, Lurking said:

Not sure why you want to install W10. but try to put W11 on an USB-drive with Rufus. then see if that works. Then at least you know your hardware is good and you can decide if you replicate the same with W10, or use W11. 

 

Don't do janky things with SD cards. Remove all possible obstacles.

The mobo i have doesnt have TPM so i am unable to use win11. 

[Lurking]

Use Rufus or any of the other options to circumvent TPM. 

 

And don't use an SD card 

[Inky08]

Currently have win10 running on a sata ssd. I believe the mobo is just so old it might not support modern m.2 ssds or something. Thanks for all the ideas and help!

[tilenbox]

On 12/6/2025 at 4:07 AM, Inky08 said:

Currently have win10 running on a sata ssd. I believe the mobo is just so old it might not support modern m.2 ssds or something. Thanks for all the ideas and help!

Your motherboard does not support booting from an NVMe SSD. 

 

see link https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/problems-booting-from-nvme-drive-on-older-motherboard.3694902/

 

[Lurking]

On 12/5/2025 at 9:07 PM, Inky08 said:

Currently have win10 running on a sata ssd. I believe the mobo is just so old it might not support modern m.2 ssds or something. Thanks for all the ideas and help!

Normally the MB manual will tell you if m.2 via PCIe riser is bootable. On a very old MB, this likely is not possible. 

 

I know that because i happen to have one remaining PC without m.2 on the MB. but fortunately that allows PCIe riser card boot with m.2. but it says so specifically in the manual. 

 

Since that seem to be the case for you, use SATA SSD for OS, and the m.2 for data. OR you need a new MB/system.