SOLVED: Install Windows 10 from USB (created on Mac)

[varioso]

Hello HP community,

I got a new laptop (model: HP 15-ra056nu) running FreeDOS and would like to install Windows 10.

I don't have access to a PC, so I set up a bootable USB on a Mac (formatted with Terminal and copied the ISO file, again in Terminal).

However, no matter how I change the DOS configurations, it won't recognize the USB. I know this question has been asked numerous times and I did read all the answers from the past couple years but didn't seem to find a solution.

I tried MBR and GPT, Legacy Mode Enabled/Disabled, reordered the Boot Order in any possible way (both UEFI and Legacy), tried to boot from EFI File, etc. but to no avail.

In System Configuration, I have the following options:

USB Diskette on Key/USB Hard Disk
USB CD/DVD Rom Drive
OS Boot Manager
Internal CD/DVD Rom Drive
Network Adapter

No matter what I do, I would always get one of the two:

1. Legacy Support enabled

Tapping away on F9 right after Power on, I would get a Boot menu on a white screen with different options (incl the USB). Selecting the USB however, takes me to a second Boot Menu on a black background with the HP logo and only two options:
FreeDOS
HP Documents

If I power on normally (without F9), I would go straight to the second, black screen boot menu with only FreeDOS and HP Documents.

2. Legacy Support Disabled

a) tapping F9 after power-on:

A Boot Option Menu with: 
Network Adapter (IPv4 UEFI)
Network Adapter (IPv6 UEFI)
Boot from EFI File

b) without F9, I get:

"Boot device not found, please install an OS on your device"

Any tips highly appreciated. I spent a few days researching the topic and watching videos without much progress.

Also, could the fact that I formatted the USB on a Mac be causing any issues?

Thanks a lot in advance.

[iomare]

Hi,

I would try creating the USB drive on another Windows PC. It needs to be bootable in EFI mode. So you can either use the iso you have already downloaded and created the drive with software such as Rufus or just create directly using the media creation tool on another Windows PC.

Have you also tried putting the drive in a different USB port?

Hope it helps,

David

[varioso]

Thanks so much for your suggestions, David.

Unfortunately, I don't have access to a PC right now, otherwise, I agree that would have been the best route.

Thank you for your idea to try another port. I did try it a few days back but to no avail.

Yet, I've been able to resolve the issue. What did the trick for me ultimately was formatting the USB as MS-DOS (FAT) as opposed to exFAT previously. Some of the ISO downloads from MS's site are larger than 5GB and you can't copy the ISO to the USB under FAT. Instead, I downloaded another, slimmer Windows 10 version (earlier or newer) which was compatible with FAT.

Then the USB booted and installation completed without any issues.

Again, thanks a lot to the community.