Installing windows 10 from usb no drives show ?

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Hi all

I am trying to install windows 10 on a relatively new Acer Aspire 11 Gen i7 but for some reason the system will not see any installed drives. When installing from USB I get to the “Where do you want to install windows” and no drives are showing? It has a sata m.2 and a sata 3.5” installed. Took out the m.2 but it still can’t see the 3.5” drive.

Any ideas Guys

Dee

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Dee, I’m SO glad to see your post! I had a very similar experience about a month ago. My elderly mother (97) has a Windows 10 laptop that I gave her, and it upgraded to Windows 11 on its own. She didn’t know that’s what happened, but she complained to me that her laptop was not working right. When I saw that it had upgraded to Windows 11, I tried to roll it back to Win 10, but it wouldn’t roll back, so I took out the SSD and erased all the partitions and re-formatted it as a simple partition with the intent of re-installing Win 10 from scratch. To my surprise, it did not detect the blank SSD at all. (just like your experience) The laptop was an Acer Aspire 5. I took it to a repair shop and the technician said it was because I had erased the recovery partition. Windows 11 requires a recovery partition and UEFI Bootloader partition. He was able to reload the SSD with the required partitions and re-install Win 11. He told me that once you upgrade to Win 11, you can’t really roll back to Win 10. If you do, it will just re-install Win 11 later. I’m not sure he was correct about that last part, but he was right about the hidden partitions. Here’s an article that tells you how to repair your drive: https://www.diskpart.com/windows-11/repair-windows-11-uefi-bootloader-0725.html

I find it interesting that both laptops were Acer Aspire models. They might have something in their BIOS that causes this to happen, maybe a secure boot feature, but that’s just speculation on my part. Good luck fixing your laptop! –Alan

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R-Type

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When that happens to me (I do lots of re-installs out of warranty machines) I use the installer for 1903 instead of a newer one. That one finds the SSD or NVMe and installs.
Then I use the Update Assistant for 21XX and bring it up to where it should be.

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R-Type

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Thanks, Don, for that great tip. I’ll have to try that out. I did try to replicate my problem with the Acer Aspire laptop not seeing any drives with a Windows 11 desktop, and the problem did not replicate. When I used a Windows 10 boot flash drive, it was able to see the blank SSD. So I think there’s something in the Acer Aspire BIOS that causes this, since both Dee and I had Acer Aspires with the same problem. But I’m still speculating at this point.

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R-Type

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I’ll try 1903 nothing else working even disk part. Where can I get an iso for 1903 ?

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I’m going under the assumption that there is already an installed version of Windows on your Acer Aspire.

R-Type wrote:

I am trying to install windows 10 on a relatively new Acer Aspire 11 Gen i7 but for some reason the system will not see any installed drives.

If you have an installed version of Windows, that drive is unavailable for another installation.  The Windows installer looks for an empty partition for installation.  Similarly, your 3.5″ drive does not have an empty partition.

I’m also assuming that if there is a Windows installation there, you don’t want to keep it and want to replace it with Windows 10.  If my assumptions are incorrect, ignore the following, and instead give me a clear explanation of what you’re intending to do.

If you haven’t already, put the m.2 drive back in the machine and try the install again.  When you get to the “Where do you want to install windows” hit Shift + F10 to get a Command Prompt.  Next type (without the quotes) “diskpart” and hit Enter.  Type (without the quotes) “list vol” and hit Enter.  You will see your existing Windows installation.  There should also be a hidden (no drive letter) EFI partition and a hidden recovery volume on the same disk.

You can delete the Windows partition, and that will give the USB installation an empty partition to “see”, and installation should proceed.  To delete the installed Windows partition, type (without the quotes) “sel vol <Windows partition volume number>” and hit Enter.  You’ll see

Volume <Windows partition volume number> is the selected volume.

To delete the partition, type (without the quotes) “delete volume” and hit Enter.  Type (without the quotes) “exit” to exit diskpart, then type (without the quotes) “exit” again to exit the Command Prompt.

If the installation process stalls, you can reboot and start it again.  If it still doesn’t “see” a place to install Windows 10, you may need to go back through and create a partition where you deleted the Windows partition.  I can tell you how to do that, as well.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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RetiredGeek

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It’s not a resurfacing of the old Acer “frozen” drive problem is it? (you could set a drive password, indeed sometimes the facility turned on though it wasn’t set and showed as “frozen” in the BIOS security menu.. if you see that, go google..)

There is a similar security option in drive firmware, locking the drive and motherboard as a pair – if its that you have to issue a secure erase command from the BIOS menu to clear the drive and setting, but I only had to use that on a Dell..

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Oldguy, I’m not familiar with that previous “frozen drive” problem, but the problem I ran into was with an Acer Aspire, when I removed the Windows 11 boot drive (NVME SSD) and erased all the partitions. I reformatted the same SSD as a basic data partition, put it back in the Aspire, and when I tried to boot up the Aspire with a flash drive, it could not find any internal drives. I also tried a different SSD, with the same result. I think this problem is specific to Acer Aspires, because I tried to replicate the problem in a different computer with the same SSD, and booted with a Windows 10 boot flash drive. The Win 10 setup program WAS able to see the blank drive without any problems. My Acer Aspire was fixed by a computer repair tech who loaded the UEFI and recovery partitions on the same SSD as before, then installed Windows 11 on that. So there was nothing wrong with the hardware, just the lack of those partitions.

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That sounds like poor firmware – the drive isn’t bootable so the device is excluded from detection to ensure the machine passes secure boot as it left the factory with a system to fix everything else from a recovery partition. Usually you can get around that  by partitioning the drive with an older operating system as indicated (or maybe boot the install media CSM mode if you have a boot menu?)- basically the newer versions understand the layout too well and start setup with full security as the platform supports it.

Perhaps having achieved legacy boot enter the command console and partition by script (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/configure-uefigpt-based-hard-drive-partitions?view=windows-11) then  running setup from the install media without rebooting could sort it.. second stage setup should resolve the boot situation.

 

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DonBosman wrote:

When that happens to me (I do lots of re-installs out of warranty machines) I use the installer for 1903 instead of a newer one. That one finds the SSD or NVMe and installs.
Then I use the Update Assistant for 21XX and bring it up to where it should be.

Anyone know where I could get a clean 1903 iso ?

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R-Type wrote:

DonBosman wrote:

When that happens to me (I do lots of re-installs out of warranty machines) I use the installer for 1903 instead of a newer one. That one finds the SSD or NVMe and installs.
Then I use the Update Assistant for 21XX and bring it up to where it should be.

Anyone know where I could get a clean 1903 iso ?

At heidoc.net

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R-Type

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Made a USB in Rufus of 1909 but it won’t boot I get “reboot and select proper boot device”. My 21H2 USB boots no problem?

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Did you select EFI boot or MBR? It should probably be EFI.

The usual reason you can’t see drives after a USB boot is a lack of drivers for the disk controller / motherboard.
According to this thread you need the BIOS in AHCI, non-RAID mode. https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=327138
See this thread as well. https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/842090/#Comment_842090

cheers, Paul

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R-Type

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Paul T wrote:

Did you select EFI boot or MBR? It should probably be EFI.

The usual reason you can’t see drives after a USB boot is a lack of drivers for the disk controller / motherboard.
According to this thread you need the BIOS in AHCI, non-RAID mode. https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=327138
See this thread as well. https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/842090/#Comment_842090

cheers, Paul

Only option is UEFI or GPT Paul

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Tried installing the sata ACHI drivers from the Acer site but setup won’t recognise them…Grrr

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You need to inject the drivers into the Windows WIM. See this page:
http://woshub.com/integrate-drivers-to-windows-install-media/

cheers, Paul

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R-Type

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Ok Paul injecting the drivers worked phew …..

Thank you all keep an eye on those Acers !!!

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