Tried Rufus upgarde to Windows 11 and now cannot boot up

Question

Tried Rufus upgarde to Windows 11 and now cannot boot up

CG Stroh 46

Computer had windows 10 Pro 64 bit. Tried to upgrade to Windows11 with rufus and now computer says it cannot find a bootable device. I can run F2 and change boot options but no luck. Ran F5 and system checks out to be good.

During rufus effort, the computer went through a lengthy install of windows 11 but ended with a disk read error telling me to use a ctrl-alt-del with no result. Is there any way to fix this or go back windows 10?

CG Stroh 46 Reputation points

2025-10-14T16:51:21.2766667+00:00

I have the BIOS back to where it was and I still get the ctrl-alt-del to press with no result. One question is if we have to do a fresh boot back to windows 10, where might get the file necessary to do that?

5 answers

Your answer

CG Stroh 46 Reputation points

2025-10-14T16:51:21.2766667+00:00

I have the BIOS back to where it was and I still get the ctrl-alt-del to press with no result. One question is if we have to do a fresh boot back to windows 10, where might get the file necessary to do that?

Answer 1

David-M 95,200 Independent Advisor

Thanks for the clarification.

There was no chance of this working with a Windows 8 DVD.

Try this with Windows 10 installation media.

If that doesn't work either, your best option is to perform a clean installation of Windows 10. Below, I'll share a procedure you can follow to try recovering your files if needed, along with a article that walks you through the clean install process step by step.

Follow the instructions below to be able to transfer the files to an external storage device.

Start your computer using the installation media;
Choose the language, select "Next", and press "Shift + F10" to open the Command Prompt;
In Command Prompt, type the command below and press Enter.

notepad

Notepad will open. Click on "File" and select "Save As";
A window will open that allows you to browse the files on your computer. Through this window, you can make a copy of your files.

Note: There will be other partitions that are usually hidden in Windows. The system partition, which is usually (C:), should be (D:), and your files will be in the "Users<username>" folder.

Access the article below, go to the end of the article, and expand "Clean install" under "Steps to reinstall Windows with media" to see the instructions.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/reinstall-windows-with-the-installation-media-d8369486-3e33-7d9c-dccc-859e2b022fc7#:~:text=Steps%20to%20reinstall%20Windows%20with%20media

In your case, start the computer using the installation media and proceed from step 2.

Feel free to ask back any questions.

CG Stroh 46 Reputation points

2025-10-15T19:04:44.8766667+00:00

I got the usb flash drive set up as you suggested. I set the boot up sequence to only the usb drive and the installation went as with windows 8. It gets to the end and then wants to re boot and starts the process all over again. I stopped it at this point to change the bootup to include the hard drive and on boot up got the same disk read error with the same ctrl-alt-del key request and the same result.
David-M 95,200 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-10-15T19:09:13.5333333+00:00

In this case, I believe your best option is to perform a clean install of Windows 10 as instructed in the article I suggested.

Feel free to ask back any questions.
CG Stroh 46 Reputation points

2025-10-15T22:51:00.4433333+00:00

Do I really want to delete all 3 partitions?
David-M 95,200 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-10-16T12:12:44.73+00:00

Sorry for the delay in reply. I've been offline.

Yes. If you have a backup of your personal files stored on the "Windows" partition, delete all partitions and proceed with a clean install.

If you don't have a backup, use the method I suggested in my answer before deleting all partitions.

Feel free to ask back any questions.
CG Stroh 46 Reputation points

2025-10-16T13:36:27.4533333+00:00

deleted all partitions and initiated install. Went through all the steps and then did a restart and now is back at install? Do I just keep repeating install?
David-M 95,200 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-10-16T13:52:47.3866667+00:00

After you initiate the Windows installation and the system restarts for the first time, make sure not to boot from the installation media again. When prompted to "Press any key to boot from the DVD or USB", simply ignore it; this ensures the setup continues from the hard drive. From there, the Windows installation should proceed normally.

In your case, restart your computer and ignore what I mentioned.

Feel free to ask back any questions.
CG Stroh 46 Reputation points

2025-10-16T14:47:00.5566667+00:00

System does not let me in to your last answer so I will respond here. Everything is up and running, thanks. The problem I last wrote you about was due to my having selected only the usb for bootup and so after the first install, that is what it had to do. I exited the installation and used F2 during boot up to get into the bootable file and selected the hard drive first and the usb second and upon exit the installation proceeded.

Answer 2

David-M 95,200 Independent Advisor

Hi. I'm David, and I'm happy to help you.

Could you clarify a few things to help me better understand the situation?

Was there a particular reason you chose Rufus instead of Microsoft's official installation tools? Was it because your computer doesn't meet the minimum requirements for Windows 11?
Did you use a USB flash drive to perform the upgrade?
And when you try to start the computer without the USB plugged in, what exactly happens? Does it display another error message, or only say "no bootable device found"?

I await your reply.

CG Stroh 46 Reputation points

2025-10-14T14:04:37.3766667+00:00

the computer does not meet the min requirements.

Used a usb flash drive

Went through the total process and ended with an error message that said there was an error in reading a disk drive, press ctrl-alt-del to continue. Pressing the suggested key combination did nothing. I am not sure what disk drive it is referring to. I am able using F2 to look at the boot drive, so I tried changing to UFEI with secure boot. That is when it could find no boot drive device.
David-M 95,200 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-10-14T16:38:05.16+00:00

Sorry for the delay in reply. I've been offline.

Thanks for the clarifications.

Your Windows 10 may have been installed in legacy mode. Therefore, the options you changed in the BIOS may have caused the installation to no longer be recognized.

Revert the changes you made to the BIOS (this will have to be done manually) and see if the error you received before appears again.

Let me know the outcome so I can guide you through the steps to recover the Windows 10 boot. Just keep in mind that, depending on the extent of the damage caused by Rufus, recovery might not be possible. In which case, a clean installation of Windows 10 may be necessary.

Feel free to ask back any questions.
CG Stroh 46 Reputation points

2025-10-15T17:17:39.1733333+00:00

I happened to have a windows 8 dvd installation so I loaded hoping to revert back to a windows It seemed to go thru the process but ended with the same press crtl-alt-del and nothing happens.

Answer 3

What exactly did you do with the Windows 8 DVD?

Depending on the action, it's unlikely you'd get any meaningful results, since the files on that disc are specific to Windows 8. Your best option would be to use Windows 10 installation media instead.

If you don't have a Windows 10 installation media, create one using the Media Creation Tool.

You can create the installation media on an empty USB flash drive with at least 8GB.

Below are instructions for creating installation media on a USB flash drive.

(You will need to create the installation media on a working Windows computer.)

Access the link below and click "Download now";

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

Double-click on the downloaded file to run the tool;
If prompted by UAC (User Account Control), click on "Yes";
Read the terms and click "Accept" if you agree;
Select "Create installation media (USB flash drive, DVD, or ISO file) for another PC" and click "Next";
Uncheck the "Use the recommended options for this PC" box. Then, select the Language, Edition, and Architecture you want, and click "Next".

(Most computers use the "64-bit (x64)" Architecture.)

Select "USB flash drive" and click "Next".
Connect the USB flash drive you want to use, click the "Refresh drive list" link, select the USB flash drive, and click "Next";

(Note that the files on the USB flash drive will be deleted. Make a backup of the files if necessary.)

Wait for the procedure to finish and click "Finish" when the USB flash drive is ready.

Don't forget to let me know what you tried with the Windows 8 DVD so I know if you're on the right track.

I await your reply.

Feel free to ask back any questions.

CG Stroh 46 Reputation points

2025-10-15T18:32:17.9533333+00:00

As to the windows 8 attempt, it was on a dvd and I set boot sequence to use only the dvd player. I had the option to upgrade or replace and I choose replace. It went all the way to the end and then gave me a disk read error and requested the alt-ctrl-del key to restart but nothing happened.

Answer 4

CG Stroh 46

System does not let me in to your last answer so I will respond here. Everything is up and running, thanks. The problem I last wrote you about was due to my having selected only the usb for bootup and so after the first install, that is what it wanted to do. I exited the installation and used F2 during boot up to get into the bootable file and selected the hard drive first and the usb second and upon exit the installation proceeded. It appears that everything is working great. Thanks for all your help. I guess I cannot say anything positive about my experience with rufus.

David-M 95,200 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-10-16T17:26:12.13+00:00

Glad to help.

I've had my fair share of issues with Rufus. While it's not a bad tool, it tends to have more quirks than I'd like. That's why I generally prefer using official tools provided by the operating system developer. Rufus is something I reserve for last-resort situations.

Feel free to ask back any questions.
CG Stroh 46 Reputation points

2025-10-16T19:30:56.6733333+00:00

whenever you respond, I get two emails. The one has your response and second cannot open and gives a 404 error.
David-M 95,200 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-10-16T19:50:23.2966667+00:00

Unfortunately, I'm not sure what the second email refers to. I don't have any control over how Microsoft Q&A handles notifications.

The important thing is that the issue has been resolved, so there's no need for concern.

Feel free to ask back any questions.
David-M 95,200 Reputation points Independent Advisor

2025-10-16T20:05:28.57+00:00

If you'd like, you can post this behavior in the Microsoft Q&A "Community Center" tag. Maybe someone there can help you understand why this happens.

If I were you, I wouldn't worry about it. Maybe it's a bug that will be fixed soon.

Feel free to ask back any questions.
CG Stroh 46 Reputation points

2025-10-16T22:17:33.4666667+00:00

One more question, if I may, on the boot sequence. How should you set it up, so it reads the USB on the first run and then on a reboot, it uses the hard disc.

Answer 5

Sorry for the delay in reply. I've been offline.

In my experience, BIOS setups don't offer a way to configure the system to boot from a USB drive just once and then automatically revert to the hard drive. To achieve this behavior, you typically need to manually select the USB drive during the first boot and ensure the hard drive remains prioritized in the BIOS boot order.

However, as I mentioned before, if you're installing Windows using a USB installation media, once the installation begins and the system restarts for the first time, you'll see the prompt "Press any key to boot from the DVD or USB". At this point, ignore the prompt. This allows the setup to continue from the hard drive instead of restarting the installation. From there, the Windows setup should proceed normally.

Another detail and a personal recommendation: I always configure my BIOS to prioritize the USB drive. That way, in case of an emergency, I can plug in a bootable USB and start from it without needing to access the BIOS. If no bootable USB is connected, the system automatically boots from the SSD/HDD. And if the USB is just a regular storage device, it won't interfere with the boot process.

Feel free to ask back any questions.

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Tried Rufus upgarde to Windows 11 and now cannot boot up

5 answers

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