BOOT INSTALL WIN

Question

Hello,

I am currently experiencing an issue while trying to install Windows.

When I boot from the installation media and reach the step where I need to select a drive for installation, I can see all of my drives correctly. However, when I select a drive and proceed, the installer immediately returns to the previous screen, preventing me from continuing the installation process.

All storage devices are detected properly, but I am unable to complete the Windows installation.

Could you please help me identify the cause of this issue and suggest a solution?

Thank you very much for your assistance.

Best regards,

Answer 1

Hi,

In your case, did you delete the partitions, recreate them, and still not proceed or give an error?

Thanks

Answer 2

The behavior described typically occurs when Windows Setup cannot properly access or prepare the target disk/partition, even though the drives are visible. From the provided context, the most relevant causes and fixes are:

1. The disk/partition is not suitable or not correctly configured for installation.
2. Required storage (controller) drivers are missing.
3. There are firmware/BIOS issues affecting disk access.

Use the following steps in order:

1. Verify the disk and partition layout

• At the disk selection screen, carefully check which disk and partition should host Windows.
• If this is a clean install and data is already backed up, delete all partitions on the target disk until it shows as a single Unallocated space, then select that unallocated space and continue.
• If multiple disks are present (SATA, RAID, NVMe), ensure the correct disk is chosen; disk numbers might not match SATA/RAID channel numbers. Always verify by size and existing volume names to avoid installing to or formatting the wrong drive.

2. Provide correct storage controller drivers (if needed)

• If the system uses a special SATA/RAID/NVMe controller, Windows Setup might see the disks but fail when trying to use them.
• On the disk selection screen, select Load driver and provide the correct driver for the hard disk controller (from a USB stick or other media). Windows Setup will guide through loading the driver.
• After the driver loads, reselect the target disk/partition and try the installation again.

3. Check that the target partition is active (legacy/MBR scenarios)

• If installing in legacy BIOS/MBR mode, an inactive or misconfigured system partition can prevent Setup from proceeding.
• On the disk selection screen, press SHIFT+F10 to open Command Prompt.
• Locate and open Setupact.log (path depends on whether this is an upgrade or clean install) and check the DumpDiskInformation section to see which partition is marked active.
• If the wrong partition is active or the disk layout is not suitable for Windows, use diskpart from the same Command Prompt to adjust the active partition as indicated in the documentation.

4. Check installation media and recreate if necessary Even when disks are visible, a corrupted ISO or bad USB/DVD can cause Setup to fail and bounce back to the disk selection screen.

• If using DVD:
  • Reburn the installation DVD at a slower speed.
  • Use a higher-quality DVD.
  • Test the DVD in another computer or with an official Windows installation DVD.
• If using an ISO:
  • Attach the ISO to a virtual machine to see if it installs correctly.
  • Verify the ISO integrity using the SHA1 checksum (for ISOs downloaded from MSDN or similar) with the Microsoft File Checksum Integrity Verifier tool.
• Prefer using the official Media Creation Tool to create a fresh, bootable USB drive and perform a clean install from that media.

5. Update firmware/BIOS

• Outdated system BIOS or storage controller firmware can cause disk access problems during Setup.
• Check the PC or motherboard manufacturer’s site for BIOS and storage firmware updates and apply them, then retry the installation.

If, after these steps, the installer still returns to the drive selection screen, focus on:

• Ensuring the target disk is fully cleaned (all partitions removed) and initialized in the mode that matches firmware settings (UEFI/GPT vs Legacy/MBR).
• Loading the exact storage/RAID/NVMe driver via Load driver.
• Recreating the installation media with the Media Creation Tool.

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References:

• "A media driver your computer needs is missing" or "A required CD/DVD drive device driver is missing" error message when you install Windows
• You cannot select or format a hard disk partition when you try to install Windows
• Disk drive numbers may not correspond to the SATA channel numbers when you install Windows on a computer that has multiple SATA or RAID disks
• Reinstall Windows with the installation media