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My old computer SSD died, and a friend lent me an HD with a temporary install of Windows 10. The borrowed drive works perfectly, but it's a loaner. So I downloaded the Windows 10 formatting/installation tool and installed it on an 8 gig USB stick, then went to the BIOS and changed it so the USB booted first. I installed Windows 10 on a 120 gig partition on a new 1 TB SSD drive. I bought a serial number, and put it in, followed by all the startup mumbo-jumbo. Fresh new drive with Win10 installed on it, and everything looks perfect. I had the borrowed HD with Win10 on it, the new SSD with Win10 on it, and an HD with a copy of Vista on it, in that physical/plug order.

However, once I shut down, I unplugged the borrowed HD, went into BIOS and changed the first bootable to the new SSD. The first plug was empty, then the second had the new SSD, and the third had the old HD.

The next time I powered it on, Vista startup repair came on and tried disk repair to no avail. I double-checked I had set the BIOS settings correctly, and again, Vista startup repair. Tried using the advanced settings to check on whether the disk had other issues, then turned it off and replugged-in the borrowed HD and rebooted. Now it gave me the choice which Win10 HD I wanted to boot with, and it booted without major issue. I have done disk repair on the new drive, I have tried switching it so the new SSD is the first plug and the old HD is the second, and nothing seems to work -- if I don't have the borrowed disk in the lineup, the entire thing won't boot.

Where should I be looking next?

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    Check your SSD if there is an EFI-Partition before the system partition. For BIOS in UEFI mode an EFI partition is required. Most likely the Windows installer used the EFI partition on the HDD and now it is require, or because you partitioned the disc manually. When installing Windows always disconnect all drives that contain other Windows installations.
    – Robert
    May 24, 2021 at 17:17
  • So I can manually (via command prompt) create a partition for Windows, but I should let the tool create this EFI partition (with everything unplugged but the SSD and the USB)?
    – Carduus
    May 24, 2021 at 17:41
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    Disconnect the burrowed device and simply reinstall Windows to the new device you purchase. Something seriously went wrong if you are getting a Vista recovery environment.
    – Ramhound
    May 24, 2021 at 20:44
  • @Robert That worked perfectly. Why not put it up as an answer so I can give it a green check?
    – Carduus
    May 25, 2021 at 14:18

2 Answers 2

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Check your SSD if there is an EFI-Partition before the system partition. A computer that uses an BIOS in UEFI mode an EFI partition is required to start an operating system.

Most likely the Windows installer used the EFI partition on the HDD and found by the Windows installer and reused. Therefore this EFI partition on the HDD is now required for booting up your system. Additionally that you partitioned the disc manually may have an effect, too.

When installing Windows my recommendation is to always disconnect all drives that contain other Windows installations.

To fix an existing installation you can try to create an EFI partition manually and set the correct type. Afterwards restart the Windows installer and execute "Startup Repair" process.

If this does not work you could back-up the Windows partition, delete all partitions, re-install Windows and the overwrite the new Windows system partition with your backup.

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What happened is that the new Windows 10 installation is installed on the new SSD as intended but its boot-loader is added to the pre-existing EFI bootloader on one of the other harddisks. That creates that dependency on the other disk.

Windows is really stupid in dealing with situations when there is already another OS present on the system. It usually doesn't do what you want/expect.

You should have installed the new W10 installation WITHOUT the other HDDs/SSDs in the system. That way you can be certain that Windows, during the setup will setup the proper EFI and bootloader on the new SSD.
You can always reconnect those other drives later if you need to transfer files from them.

And that is the quickest and easiest way to fix this: Just start over with the Windows 10 installation, but make sure first that only the new SSD is connected (and you might as well put it to the first SATA port too while you are at it).

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