UEFI fails to boot from USB stick

Lumia925

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Downloaded Windows 10 ISO, created a bootable flash drive using "Windows 7 USB DVD download tool" which I also got from Microsoft.
Set first boot device to USB in BIOS.
Saved changes and turned laptop off.
Turned it back on, with the flash drive plugged in, but computer boots to Windows 8.1 instead of the Windows 10 installation.
Restarted again, and pressed F9 to show a list of boot devices, it just shows OS boot manager, and DVD drive, not the flash drive.
Tried with Windows 8.1 USB installer, same thing happens.
Went back to BIOS, enabled "Legacy Mode" and turned off "Secure Boot", restarted, the computer can now boot to the USB stick.. for both Windows 8.1, and Windows 10.
Disabled Legacy Support, the computer fails to boot to USB devices again.

So, I cannot boot to a USB device if I have Legacy Mode disabled in my BIOS.
And if I boot using Legacy Mode, Windows wants to convert my GPT HDD to MBR.
How do I boot to USB using UEFI instead of Legacy?
 
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Solution
Hi

I have no idea what a AIO image is, or where you got it from
I presume you have a legal key for it

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

Microsoft recomend this program to download the upgrade win 10 ISO and put it on a bootable DVD or USB
It can then be used for a upgrade or a clean install

Win 8 or 10 and some Linux distributions satisfy the signed boot loader standard to pass the UEFI secure boot test

Is this a upgrade from an activated Win 7 or 8.1 or a clean install on a new PC?

regards
Mike Barnes

Lumia925

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Oct 16, 2014
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It's an HP Envy touchsmart laptop, ALL 3 USB ports on the computer are USB3, I don't have a single USB2 port.
If I set "Legacy Mode" ON in BIOS, it boots up. BUT if I disable Legacy Mode, and use it normally, it doesn't :(
 

Lumia925

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Mine's Envy 15, it does have an optical drive, but i don't have any blank DVDs :-X
If nothing works, i will get a blank DVD tomorrow.

But I have now created a bootable USB using Rufus instead of the Microsoft tool, the system is now able to recognize the USB flash drive and starts to boot from it.

Unfortunately, it doesn't complete the bootup, it instead shows a bunch of messages..



WP_20151023_02_14_53_Pro.jpg


Here's what my BIOS looks like:
WP_20151023_02_16_02_Pro.jpg


Once again, if I enable "Legacy Support", the computer boots up from USB fine, and gives me the option to install Windows 10. This above error is triggered when the BIOS is set as in the given picture.

Why's this happening? This is a 3 month old laptop, HP said this computer will support Windows 10 when I purchased it.

Strangely, if I create an Ubuntu Live USB, the system is able to boot to Ubuntu from the USB stick, even with Secure Boot ENABLED,
Is my Windows 10 image corrupt? It's an AIO Image, it gives option to install ANY version, from W10 home 32bit, all the way up to W10 Enterprise 64Bit.
 
Hi

I have no idea what a AIO image is, or where you got it from
I presume you have a legal key for it

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

Microsoft recomend this program to download the upgrade win 10 ISO and put it on a bootable DVD or USB
It can then be used for a upgrade or a clean install

Win 8 or 10 and some Linux distributions satisfy the signed boot loader standard to pass the UEFI secure boot test

Is this a upgrade from an activated Win 7 or 8.1 or a clean install on a new PC?

regards
Mike Barnes
 
Solution

Lumia925

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Oct 16, 2014
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When I start the computer in legacy mode, the installer DOES GIVE ME THE OPTION TO INSTALL any version of W10, from home to enterprise, and both 32bit and 64bit.

But when I click on Setup.EXE from within my OEM windows 8.1 installation, it shows this message:
Capture.jpg


And the ONLY file present in my F:\efi\boot directory, is "bootia32.efi", there's nothing named bootx64.efi

Does this mean my ISO is bad? Did the guy who merged all these editions of Windows into a single ISO, somehow screwed it up? I did not download the ISO from Microsoft as i could not find a way of downloading it directly without using their stupid download manager, which always fails on my unstable connection, it downloads like 2GB, then something goes wrong, and it starts to download from beginning again... The process keeps repeating until i use up ALL my data, and the download never completes :-/
 

Lumia925

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Oct 16, 2014
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I don't have a KEY, but i thought it's a Free offer? I have a properly licensed Windows 8.1 Pro installed on one PC, and a properly licensed Windows 7 Home Premium installed in another.
The Windows 7 laptop has a sticker with a key, but the 8.1 laptop doesn't have such a sticker, HP says the key is built into the BIOS and I don't need to enter it during installation..

I thought instead of downloading 2 ISOs, i will download this ALL-in-one ISO, and save on some data, I am not on an unlimited plan.
Furthermore, I could not find a direct download link on the MS website, I have to use their media creation tool to download, and that tool is flawed, it doesn't work good on unstable connections. It downloads 2 GB, or 2.5GB, says "something went wrong", and starts downloading from the beginning again.. until i end up using all my data, and the download still stays incomplete...


I got the ISO from HERE

Thought as long as I am not using a "crack", i am not doing anything illegal??
 

Lumia925

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Oct 16, 2014
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Well, I really think my ISO is screwed. It was a BAD idea to download it from a non-MS page.
A bit of googling around, and I found THIS page.
This looks like a Microsoft page, and it's letting me download the ISO directly, without having to use their software.
Can you please confirm if a download from this new page will be genuine?

PS: Don't click on the "TechBench" thingy, scroll DOWN, it gives the option to choose an edition, then chose language, then chose architecture, and then begins to download the ISO directly using my internet download manager, instead of using that Microsoft Media Creation Tool.