Can't Re-install Windows 8 on a Newly Installed SSD on my new MSI GE60 Laptop

vindictivegnome · May 20, 2014

I recently purchased a MSI GE60 Apache Pro 003. I'm trying to re-install Windows 8 on a newly installed SSD. I made a recovery disk on a 16gb flash drive. Windows detects the SSD under disk management. I formatted it as NTFS, MBR. I unplugged/removed the regular HDD and tried installing Windows 8 on the SSD and no luck. I've tried the re-install while removing everything option and the refresh option. Remove everything option always ends in the computer telling me I can't do that, there's a windows partition missing. When I try to refresh install, it says the hard drive is locked and that I need to unlock it to move on. BIOS is set to ACPI. Also, BIOS won't recognize the SSD (Crucial) so I can't reorganize the boot priorities. I even updated the BIOS, which again didn't help. While I only had the SSD installed (and no HDD), I used command prompt to mark the SSD as active to see if that would do anything, but nothing. While the regular HDD is installed, I can reset the laptop to factory, but it won't ask me where I want to re-install Windows 8. I've never had this much trouble installing a SSD on my desktop. Anyone have a solution?

unksol · May 20, 2014

A restore/refresh is designed to reinstall from the recovery partition on the ORIGINAL drive to the OS partition on the ORIGINAL drive. You cannot use the built in restore menus to install it on a different drive. Burn the recovery disks or get a windows 8 disk and boot off it and do a clean install

vindictivegnome · May 20, 2014

unksol :

I'm confused by that, though. I made a recovery USB stick from the "Create a Recovery Drive" option in Windows 8. What other option is there in Windows 8? My laptop didn't come with a recovery disc.

popatim · May 20, 2014

During startup press the f-key that corresponds to 'select boot device' and then chose the UEFI device that corresponds to your flash drive.

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/2328-uefi-unified-extensible-firmware-interface-install-windows-8-a.html

vindictivegnome · May 20, 2014

unksol pretty much nailed it. I called MSI support and he said to use burnrecovery and NOT Windows 8's recovery program. I took out the HDD, left the SSD installed, and successfully ran the recovery. Had a bit of an issue with Windows saying it can't be activated because the product key was installed on another machine (the regular HDD), but I figured that out. All is well! Thanks for the help!

VivTrail · Sep 1, 2014

vindictivegnome :

Sorry vindictivegnome, I'd like to know how you solve the product key issue? I have the same laptop and am trying to clean install on a new SSD. I have removed the HDD and the Burn Recovery is currently installing on the SSD. I'd just like to know how you solved it if I run into the product key issue. Also after the clean install on the SSD is done and I reconnect the HDD, how do I set it to boot to the SSD instead? As I also have the issue where I can't see separate drives under hard disk. All I see is Hard Disk - Windows Boot Manager.

vindictivegnome · Sep 2, 2014

VivTrail :

I used some kind of program to extract the key, but I actually never needed it. Just use the MSI recovery software (Not the one built into Windows 8). Windows will automatically detect the key. Well, you should probably keep the harddrive disconnected while you install windows on the SSD, then, I think, you won't have to change any boot order stuff in the BIOS. And I have no idea about that last part. Hope this helps and sorry I'm a day late.

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Can't Re-install Windows 8 on a Newly Installed SSD on my new MSI GE60 Laptop

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