Windows 10 USB stick distribution format (FAT32 or NTFS)

[Jimesl]

I'm having a difficult time finding a straight answer to what I think is a straightforward question. I have purchased, but not yet received, a full version of Windows 10 home. It will be supplied on a USB thumb drive. I intend to install it on a bare metal build, using a Samsung 950 Pro 512 GB SSD as the bootable drive, and an Asus Z170 Sabertooth Mark 1 motherboard. I understand that several steps are required in the BIOS to make this happen, and I've found what I think I need to know in that regard. Except for one thing - it appears the USB thumb drive must be UEFI bootable. I see numerous references that indicate it must be FAT32, not NTFS, formatted. So my question is this - is the Windows 10 USB thumb drive distribution FAT32, and UEFI bootable? Or, must I go through the additional step of creating my own bootable USB stick, using one of the available utilities?

I've seen posts on various forums that indicate both of those possibilities. But nowhere have I found a definitive statement. I am obviously not the only one with this question, and with the push toward adoption of UEFI, I am struck by the continuing confusion over this. I'm an engineer, having built several machines over the years, but not recently. I haven't stayed in touch with the more recent developments, thus my confusion.

Anybody out there with the patience to say, one way or the other, is the Windows 10 USB UEFI bootable or isn't it?

 

[Colif]

Microsoft wouldn't sell you a USB that isn't bootable.

Windows 10 USB will install on either an MBR or UEFI based machine, it depends on what the bios is set to do. If the bios is set to legacy boot method will use the old partitioning scheme like windows 7 before it. whereas if it is set to UEFI it will use GPT instead which is the newer one and so much better than Legacy.
Legacy max HDD size is 8tb, GPT max hdd size is so big its unlikely to be made for a few years to come. GPT can have 128 partitions on a drive and each one can be 256tb in size)

 

[Jimesl]

Thanks, I had picked up on the advantages of UEFI based systems already, and was aware that Windows 10 could be installed on MBR or GPT based drives. What was confusing, as I scoured forum after forum, was the series of posts denigrating various Asus Z170 based motherboards in combination with the Samsung 950/951 ssd's. It became clear, as I dug into the details of bios settings to configure a drive for UEFI, the majority of OPs had not done their homework and did not understand the technology and/or their hardware. I got all that.

But a recurring theme was mention after mention of configuring a bootable USB, then installing Win 10 from that, always with the added mention of the USB drive formatted as FAT32, not NTSB. The implication for me being that MS shipped the Win 10 USB distribution on NTSB formatted USB sticks. I knew, of course, the MS supplied USB stick will boot. It is fair to say my question here is premature, since I have not received any of the hardware or the Win 10 software. It may be that all those references to preparing a bootable USB stick assumed Win 10 had been downloaded, instead of starting with a boxed USB stick from MS. I'm just putting my game plan together for the build after everything arrives, which should be tomorrow. I'm looking forward to a long Memorial weekend getting everything working, with fingers crossed.

This will be a full scale, ground up build with plenty of bells and whistles. The final product will be used for engineering simulations, and the crucial bit of software I use is old school in that it does not make use of current hardware efficiently. The core calculation engine and data manipulations are based on software that originated in the 80s, and rely heavily on disk swapping data to and from memory, instead of using the full expanse of memory actually available. It is, nonetheless, a standard platform in my industry and specialty. I'm forced to use it. For these reasons, I chose the 950 pro as my primary operating drive. I might consider a raid configuration in the future, but I wanted to keep it a little simpler while I worked through the kinks of a new system build. In the office, we use pretty beefy workstations, with dual 6 core Xeons. But my company has strict IT imposed equipment standards, and will only sanction machines using SATA SSDs. Better than spinning platters, but we still have to slice the work into lots of parallel instances, and put the results back together afterward to achieve reasonable run times. I'm building this machine for smaller jobs that I like to run at home while I play with ideas on my own time. More information than you wanted, I know...

 

[Colif]

For a few months last year you couldn't use the windows media creation tool to make bootable USB, you had to use rufus to make your own and that is perhaps where all the confusion about what format USB needs to be comes from. Now the tool can make USB and I never thought about what format it makes them as the bios can boot it. It may well be FAT32 just so more bios can run it... I have not got one to see.

Asus Z170 boards, like Z97 boards before them, can be a pain in neck to boot from a USB. There are settings you can change to overrule the default behavior of ignoring USB at boot. The easiest way I have found is just use a internal blue ray drive and change boot settings, since no one uses Optical drives anymore they aren't as hard to boot from. I expect its to do with making pc secure but when it stops people installing the actual operating system it becomes annoying.

Some people trying to install onto Z170 boards also might be trying to install Win 7 and that is becoming an uphill battle as with the combo of less boards having more than 2 USB 2 slot and win 7 not knowing what a USB 3 slot is, its becoming hard to install the os, then more fun trying to install drivers

 

[Jimesl]

For a few months last year you couldn't use the windows media creation...

No problem installing Windows 10 using the USB drive the retail version comes with. Now, still dealing with DisplayPort use and the GeForce 970 GTX. Reading everything I can find, with partial success. I want to daisy chain two Viewsonic VP2772s, and haven't given up on DisplayPort. Is nVidia the only manufacturer with these problems?

 

[Colif]

“Daisy chaining” is a term that describes the ability to connect a series of devices together using a single connection between each two devices. The new DisplayPort v1.2 daisy chainable displays have both a DisplayPort input and a DisplayPort output. The DisplayPort output connects to the next downstream display. This cabling arrangement, with one DisplayPort cable between each set of monitors, provides a less cluttered system configuration.

As you may have already experienced, a key benefit of a multi-monitor setup is increased productivity and seamless multi-tasking. And when you aren’t feeling so productive, it offers a wonderfully immersive gaming experience as discussed here in a previous blog post.

When configuring a daisy chained monitor setup, it is important to take into consideration two aspects. First, GPUs usually have an inherent limitation in how many simultaneous displays they can drive; some can drive up to three displays, while others can drive four or even six. Second, even though DisplayPort 1.2 offers the higher pixel rate available, there is a limitation in how many pixels can be sent down the display pipe.

http://www.displayport.org/cables/driving-multiple-displays-from-a-single-displayport-output/

So that shows you should be able to do it as Nvidia has DP 1.2. You monitor has the output on back allowing it to do it (I checked) and everything i find says a 970 can do it too. Who made the 970?

http://multimonitorcomputer.com/solved/displayport-daisy-chaining-of-3-or-4-monitors-quick-guide.php

 

[Jimesl]

“Daisy chaining” is a term that describes the ability to connect a series of devices together using a single connection between each two devices. The new DisplayPort v1.2 daisy chainable displays have both a DisplayPort input and a DisplayPort output. The DisplayPort output connects to the next downstream display. This cabling arrangement, with one DisplayPort cable between each set of monitors, provides a less cluttered system configuration.

As you may have already experienced, a key benefit of a multi-monitor setup is increased productivity and seamless multi-tasking. And when you aren’t feeling so productive, it offers a wonderfully immersive gaming experience as discussed here in a previous blog post.

When configuring a daisy chained monitor setup, it is important to take into consideration two aspects. First, GPUs usually have an inherent limitation in how many simultaneous displays they can drive; some can drive up to three displays, while others can drive four or even six. Second, even though DisplayPort 1.2 offers the higher pixel rate available, there is a limitation in how many pixels can be sent down the display pipe.

http://www.displayport.org/cables/driving-multiple-displays-from-a-single-displayport-output/

So that shows you should be able to do it as Nvidia has DP 1.2. You monitor has the output on back allowing it to do it (I checked) and everything i find says a 970 can do it too. Who made the 970?

http://multimonitorcomputer.com/solved/displayport-daisy-chaining-of-3-or-4-monitors-quick-guide.php[/

Thanks for ignoring my breach of etiquette and veering off topic. The GeForce line of GPUs is made by nVidia, who designs the reference boards for all brands carrying the GeForce moniker. In my case, the brand on the box is MSI, but others put their brand, and flourishes, on what amount to the same board. The 900 series has had issues with the DisplayPort output from day one, with many posts on many forums regarding one variation or another. I worked through some of those issues, but now have a strange variation which seems to be an odd interaction between Win 10 and the card. I have a display, but all running applications stay minimized and will not change from that status. I can click the rectangle in the lower left corner, and turn the machine off, but that is it. Most likely another driver reinstall, and maybe Windows too, is in my future. We'll leave it there, I'll play nice and respect the forum rules. Thanks!

 

[Colif]

make another thread about it and more people apart from me will answer it.

 

[Jimesl]

make another thread about it and more people apart from me will answer it.

Did that already, no response yet.