Clean Install

[Lenster]

I have three NVME ssds installed. One has Windows 10 19H1, another has Windows 10 20H1 Preview and the third has WIndows 7. All are MBR and I choose the boot device via BIOS prompt.

In the past, if I wanted to do a clean install, I would unplug all the drives except the one I wanted to install on and be done. Now with NVME, this has become more problematic.

If I try setting the target drive first in the boot order, then booting from the Windows 10 install usb, the install works up until the first reboot. Then I am told there is no operating system.
I have also tried creating a Wintousb removable installation and then using Macrium Reflect to make a backup of the removable drive and restoring it to my target NVME. This works, but If I try to do a Winodws update, Windows think I am trying to update on a portable drive and won't let me.
I have also tried creating the clean install in a Virtualbox guest, then imaging it with Macrium Reflect and restoring it to the NVME. this works, but I get some quirky issues with the mouse.
There must be some way to do the clean install directly to one of the MVNE drives without unplugging the other two.

Len

 

[Saltgrass]

We need info on your system. Is it UEFI capable and how old?

NVMe drives normally need the driver available when using the UEFI version of the Bios. Those drives can be run in the manner you are trying but you would need to load the F6 floppy drivers during the install. A cloned or imaged install may already have the drivers loaded which are necessary.

Do your M.2 slots have to capability to be used as PCIe SATA or NVMe? On my system, one is dedicated to PCIe NVMe and the other is switchable.

In addition, If you have three drives installed, who knows exactly where the boot files will go so the only to make sure is to remove the other drives. For SATA ports, a Legacy install will use the primary drive, and I don't mean first boot device, to place the Active partition and the Boot files. I do not know what the pecking order of M.2 slots are but maybe they can be set the same way.