Windows 10 USB flash drive -clean installation-

[ImRed]

Hello, I don't know if this is the right place to post but,

My product, almost 2 years old, (HP Notebook - 15-f271wm (ENERGY STAR)) has recently had its hard drive corrupted. I need to do a clean installation of Windows 10. Microsoft support helped me identify this, as the BSOD's that kept happening on start up had been both NTFS File System and FAT File System. I cannot boot at all without a BSOD coming up. This meaning that I CANNOT LOG INTO THE SYSTEM. I can, however, access BIOS via F10 on startup. I have decided tonight to try to sit down and fix my PC and I can't do it without assistance. With Microsoft's help, I found out I needed to install a Windows 10 ISO on a flash drive (which I did). I also found out how to access BIOS (which I had no idea it existed lol). Microsoft can't tell me how to boot from the USB because of manuafacter, which is why I went here. 

How do I boot from the dang USB flash drive????

My UEFI boot order is as follows:

OS boot Manager (has a little arrow pointing to it on the left)

Internal CD/DVD ROM Drive

USB Diskette on Key/USB hard Disk

USB CD/DVD ROM Drive

! Network Adapter

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

See if this works...assuming you made the bootable W10 flash drive correctly...

You must plug the flash drive into the PC's USB 2 port. 

According to the specs for your model, there are 2 USB3 ports and 1 USB2 port.

The user guide for your model indicates that the USB 2 port is on the right side of the notebook.

With the usb drive plugged into the USB2 port, restart the PC and tap the ESC key at the beginning of the HP wlecome screen to get the various menu of options.

Select the F9 boot options menu from the list and then select the USB Diskette on Key/USB hard Disk and hit the enter key.

Then the PC should boot from the W10 installation flash drive.

When you get to the install screen, you will be given two options...enter a product key (which you don't have), or check the box labeled 'I don't have a product key.'

Check that box and proceed with the installation.

Upon completion, W10 should automatically activate once you are reconnected to the internet, since your PC was previously upgraded to W10.

[ImRed]

I am with you until I go to the boot options via ESC+F9.

My Boot Option Menu is as follows:

USB Hard Drive (UEFI) - PNY USB 2.0 FD

OS boot manager (UEFI) - Windows Boot Manager (ST500LT012-1DG142)

Boot From EFI File

I plugged the usb into where you directed me to and then I went to boot options. I didn't have USB diskette on key/USB hard disk, but had the USB flash drive, so I chose that. The system ended up BSOD'ing again with FAT FILE SYSTEM (I tried this 2 times). I then went to BIOS via F10 on startup and chose USB diskette to boot from and that doesn't help either..

Am I doing something wrong?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

Sounds to me like you did the right thing, so I unfortunately, don't know why the notebook didn't boot from the flash drive.

The notebook sees the flash drive (PNY USB 2.0 FD)

You can try one of the USB 3 ports...I don't think that will work, but I don't see that you have anything to lose by trying it.

[ImRed]

Do I have any other options to fix this? I saw that you could do a CD but I don't know how that works.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Yes, you do...

To install W10 via a CD you have burn the ISO file you downloaded onto a DVD.

I prefer to use the Burn ISO option in my DVD burning program, but you can also use this tool to transfer the ISO file you download onto a DVD.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/windows-usb-dvd-download-tool

Now if you still have the W10 ISO file you downloaded, you can burn it to a DVD using your DVD burning software or the above microsoft tool.

If you need to re-download the file, you can use the W10 media creation tool below.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Then when you are ready to boot from the DVD, you select the UEFI Internal CD/DVD ROM Drive from the F9 menu.

If it fails to boot from the DVD, go into the BIOS, enable legacy mode, save the settings, restart the PC, and boot from the legacy DVD drive in the boot options menu.