Question Bootable USB Drive not showing up on Boot Menu

[j.j.jappiecraft]

I have a Ryzen 5 1600 build, paired with a Gigabyte A320-s2h. The PC posts itself, but the Lexar USB drive I have plugged in does not show up in the boot menu. I have tried with all USB ports, and have also reinstalled Windows 10 on the USB drive. Anyone have a solution?

 

[britechguy]

How did you create that drive? That can matter.

Have you checked in UEFI/BIOS to make sure that USB booting is enabled? Typically it would be by default, but sometimes not.

 

[j.j.jappiecraft]

How did you create that drive? That can matter.

Have you checked in UEFI/BIOS to make sure that USB booting is enabled? Typically it would be by default, but sometimes not.

I used the media installer right off windows website. Even reinstalled it.

This gigabyte motherboard is super weird, I couldn’t find this setting anywhere. It’s the Gigabyte A320-s2h

 

[britechguy]

I can't be of much additional help in this case, as I know nothing about the UEFI on that mobo specifically, and guessing is not something one should do in this case.

How long ago was this bootable USB media created? What have the storage conditions for the drive been?

I'd certainly suggest creating a fresh copy of the bootable USB media with the latest Media Creation Tool as a starting point unless you just created this thing since 1903 has been released.

 

[j.j.jappiecraft]

I can't be of much additional help in this case, as I know nothing about the UEFI on that mobo specifically, and guessing is not something one should do in this case.

How long ago was this bootable USB media created? What have the storage conditions for the drive been?

I'd certainly suggest creating a fresh copy of the bootable USB media with the latest Media Creation Tool as a starting point unless you just created this thing since 1903 has been released.

It’s a 16gb lexar usb drive, i installed windows on it prior to using it. It’s worked on builds on the past

 

[britechguy]

Whether it worked in the past is irrelevant, really.

You could, for instance, have install media from Version 1703, and that will not even work to install Windows at this point. Microsoft's servers recognize that it's an out of support version of Windows 10 and block it.

As I said, USB media can also get corrupted in other ways. The first thing you must do is to create a fresh copy of the USB bootable installation media. You can try reusing that drive if you like. Were I you, I would download the ISO file instead, and use Rufus or a similar utility to create the bootable USB media if you intend to try reusing this drive. That way you have the option of using a different drive if this one continues to be problematic and you don't have to go through the download process again.

See:

a) Completely Clean Win10 (Re)install Using MCT to Download Win10 ISO File


Even if you're only planning to do an upgrade using the bootable USB media, the steps given to create that in the instructions above apply. You just wouldn't go through the rest of them to wipe the drive and reinstall Windows.

 

[j.j.jappiecraft]

Whether it worked in the past is irrelevant, really.

You could, for instance, have install media from Version 1703, and that will not even work to install Windows at this point. Microsoft's servers recognize that it's an out of support version of Windows 10 and block it.

As I said, USB media can also get corrupted in other ways. The first thing you must do is to create a fresh copy of the USB bootable installation media. You can try reusing that drive if you like. Were I you, I would download the ISO file instead, and use Rufus or a similar utility to create the bootable USB media if you intend to try reusing this drive. That way you have the option of using a different drive if this one continues to be problematic and you don't have to go through the download process again.

See:

a) Completely Clean Win10 (Re)install Using MCT to Download Win10 ISO File


Even if you're only planning to do an upgrade using the bootable USB media, the steps given to create that in the instructions above apply. You just wouldn't go through the rest of them to wipe the drive and reinstall Windows.

The thing is that I installed a fresh copy of windows on two drives, both not working. If there was an issue with the version of windows, wouldn't the drive at least show up on the boot menu?

 

[britechguy]

Then we're right back to my first reply.

 

[SgtScream]

Can you test the flash drive to see if it will boot in another computer/laptop? That will tell you if the issue resides with the installation media or the computer.