Install OS After Replacing HDD

[NathanCFD]

I have a HP Laptop, BIOS says it's HP Laptop 17-by4XXX

I have installed a new HDD.  I have Windows 10 installation media on a USB stick.

I have enabled "Boot from USB" in the BIOS.

I have set the boot priority for USB to the first location in the BIOS.

...the Laptop will not boot from the USB.

...the USB does not appear as an option upon hitting ESCAPE -> F9 during startup.

I have disabled Secure Boot in the BIOS; but the BIOS has no way to enable Legacy.

How do I install my OS on a new HDD installed into this laptop?

[banhien]

@NathanCFD 

For (original) Windows 10/11. please use Cloud Recovery tools

                https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c06162205

                https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/ish_4511095-4511141-16

Regards.

[NathanCFD]

Hello Bahnien, thank  you for your suggestion.

However, I've already researched that solution - it is not applicable to this situation as the problem is the laptop will NOT recognize USB as a boot option.  Creating recovery media via the Cloud Recovery Tools is useless as the BIOS will not allow booting from USB.  My problem is "how can I make this system boot from USB".

I have take the following steps:

Enabled USB boot via BIOS

Set USB device as the first boot priority

USB Device will not appear in the boot menu - even when ESCAPE -> F9 is selected.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, @NathanCFD 

Sometimes you have to disable the secure boot setting in the BIOS in order to boot from a USB flash drive.

See this link for the setting to change.   

Your notebook being so new may not have a legacy mode setting, but if it does, enable that too.

HP Notebook PCs - Cannot Start Notebook Computer From a Bootable CD or DVD | HP® Customer Support

Then see if the USB flash drive shows up in the F9 boot options menu.

If by chance there is a legacy mode setting and you enable it, make sure you boot from the UEFI USB boot source and not the Legacy one, or you will not be able to set the secure boot setting and W11 will indicate your PC is not supported for W11.

[NathanCFD]

Hello Paul,

Thank you for responding; I appreciate the help.

I'm uploading screenshots of the BIOS workflow; maybe someone can see something that I've overlooked:

Boot Options Showing USB Enabled and Secure Boot DISABLED With The First Boot Priority Set To USBVerification That The New HDD Is Available On The System As Non-RAID SATANo Boot Option Appears For USB BootSetting Secure Boot To DisabledAgain, No Boot Option For USBBoot Media Is Inserted Into USB On Boot

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

The changes you made look fine to me, so I am surprised that the USB flash drive isn't appearing on the boot device listed along with 'boot from efi file,' after you disabled the secure boot setting.

I do have one other suggestion for you to try.

Download the W11 ISO file (3rd option) from the link below instead of having the media creation tool make a bootable USB installation flash drive.

Download Windows 11 (microsoft.com)

Then use the free Rufus utility to transfer the ISO file to a USB flash drive so that it is bootable.

Set up Rufus as you see in the below illustration...You don't need to change anything.

Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way

What I am hoping for is that the PC will detect the EFI files that Rufus adds to the flash drive so that the doggone USB flash drive is detected as a bootable device.

Since your PC has an Intel 11th gen core processor, you will need to install the storage controller drivers so Windows can find the drive (unless Microsoft has revised the ISO file to include them, which I doubt).

See this related discussion...

Solved: Win 10 install not recognizing the NVME - HP Support Community - 8510047

[NathanCFD]

Hi Paul, Thanks.

You may be on to something there: We have two of these units and we must use W10 due to company proprietary software; I do use Rufus to create the boot stick, but I think I formatted it for a MBR install not EFI.  I'll re-create the boot media and give it a shot!  If it works, I owe you a beer.

[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

You're very welcome.

Yes, you can make the bootable W10 ISO file instead with Rufus and then use the same storage controller driver I posted in the discussion above.

And yes, since your notebook does not have a legacy boot option to enable, you can only install Windows with a GPT partition scheme and not MBR.

I sure hope it works.

[NathanCFD]

Hi Paul, that was it! Thank you so much for responding. Had to add the EFI to the iso. 

Funny side-note: I think the new HDD is bad, windows couldn't create a partition to install and it's making a ton of noise.  So, I'm going to have to take it out and replace.  BUT, at least I know how to get the install media on there going forward.  I really appreciate you help!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Anytime.

Glad to have been of assistance.