How to install windows 10 on a drive with no OS

[RainOfPain125]

I took apart my all-in-one PC that I got around 2 years ago (which had 8.1, later it upgraded to 10) and I used the hard drive on my older PC from about 4 years ago

The HDD in the older drive is really corrupted / messed up, so I wanted to switch the OS to D: drive

When I booted up the D: drive it simply showed a _ in the top left, so after a bit of moving all my files from the D: drive to my C: drive I formatted the D: drive to remove that installation of windows (I really don't know what was wrong with it, I tried diagnosing it with my USB and all of that, it just wouldn't work. I couldn't even use some kind of software to recover the windows serial key from that HDD)

So now I have my corrupted HDD full of all my precious files and I want to install win 10 OS on my D: drive (which I can't find anything about online. I installed windows media creation tool but when I booted that it simply said "no hard drive found with an OS" or something alike

Thanks in advance

 

[White Quacker]

You should not need to get the product key from your old hard drive, as nowadays Windows product keys are embedded in the UEFI/BIOS. Simply hook up any empty and undamaged hard drive and install Windows 10 through USB.

 

[USAFRet]

I took apart my all-in-one PC that I got around 2 years ago (which had 8.1, later it upgraded to 10) and I used the hard drive on my older PC from about 4 years ago

The HDD in the older drive is really corrupted / messed up, so I wanted to switch the OS to D: drive

When I booted up the D: drive it simply showed a _ in the top left, so after a bit of moving all my files from the D: drive to my C: drive I formatted the D: drive to remove that installation of windows (I really don't know what was wrong with it, I tried diagnosing it with my USB and all of that, it just wouldn't work. I couldn't even use some kind of software to recover the windows serial key from that HDD)

So now I have my corrupted HDD full of all my precious files and I want to install win 10 OS on my D: drive (which I can't find anything about online. I installed windows media creation tool but when I booted that it simply said "no hard drive found with an OS" or something alike

Thanks in advance

I think we need a clearer description of what happened and where you are.

Forget the "installing on the D drive" thought.

What drives do you have, what is on them, what system(s) do you have....

 

[RainOfPain125]

You should not need to get the product key from your old hard drive, as nowadays Windows product keys are embedded in the UEFI/BIOS. Simply hook up any empty and undamaged hard drive and install Windows 10 through USB.

Can you give me a direct link to the download? Because I've looked everywhere

 

[USAFRet]

And for now, do NOT worry about the license key.
You don't really have one, and it is not needed (yet).

 

[RainOfPain125]

I took apart my all-in-one PC that I got around 2 years ago (which had 8.1, later it upgraded to 10) and I used the hard drive on my older PC from about 4 years ago

The HDD in the older drive is really corrupted / messed up, so I wanted to switch the OS to D: drive

When I booted up the D: drive it simply showed a _ in the top left, so after a bit of moving all my files from the D: drive to my C: drive I formatted the D: drive to remove that installation of windows (I really don't know what was wrong with it, I tried diagnosing it with my USB and all of that, it just wouldn't work. I couldn't even use some kind of software to recover the windows serial key from that HDD)

So now I have my corrupted HDD full of all my precious files and I want to install win 10 OS on my D: drive (which I can't find anything about online. I installed windows media creation tool but when I booted that it simply said "no hard drive found with an OS" or something alike

Thanks in advance

I think we need a clearer description of what happened and where you are.

Forget the "installing on the D drive" thought.

What drives do you have, what is on them, what system(s) do you have....

C: drive is the original drive for this computer I am using. It had win 7 and I upgraded to win 10
D: drive is the original drive for my all-in-one computer (that stopped working) It had win 8.1 and I upgraded to win 10

I opened up my tower computer I took out the disc drive (which I didn't need nor ever used) and used the sata / power cable to power my D: drive. I was doing this to access my old files and put them on my C: drive

Then I remembered that my C: drive is really messed up / corrupted so I wanted to install windows 10 on my D: drive and move all my files to there (and ofc start using that HDD)

So my C: drive has all my files and a windows 10 OS on it while my D: drive currently has nothing on it

 

[USAFRet]

I took apart my all-in-one PC that I got around 2 years ago (which had 8.1, later it upgraded to 10) and I used the hard drive on my older PC from about 4 years ago

The HDD in the older drive is really corrupted / messed up, so I wanted to switch the OS to D: drive

When I booted up the D: drive it simply showed a _ in the top left, so after a bit of moving all my files from the D: drive to my C: drive I formatted the D: drive to remove that installation of windows (I really don't know what was wrong with it, I tried diagnosing it with my USB and all of that, it just wouldn't work. I couldn't even use some kind of software to recover the windows serial key from that HDD)

So now I have my corrupted HDD full of all my precious files and I want to install win 10 OS on my D: drive (which I can't find anything about online. I installed windows media creation tool but when I booted that it simply said "no hard drive found with an OS" or something alike

Thanks in advance

I think we need a clearer description of what happened and where you are.

Forget the "installing on the D drive" thought.

What drives do you have, what is on them, what system(s) do you have....

C: drive is the original drive for this computer I am using. It had win 7 and I upgraded to win 10
D: drive is the original drive for my all-in-one computer (that stopped working) It had win 8.1 and I upgraded to win 10

I opened up my tower computer I took out the disc drive (which I didn't need nor ever used) and used the sata / power cable to power my D: drive. I was doing this to access my old files and put them on my C: drive

Then I remembered that my C: drive is really messed up / corrupted so I wanted to install windows 10 on my D: drive and move all my files to there (and ofc start using that HDD)

So my C: drive has all my files and a windows 10 OS on it while my D: drive currently has nothing on it

ok...forget "drive letters". Think physical drives.

1. Do you have access to a different working system?
If so, create a Win 10 install USB, here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
Download that tool, and 'create an install for a different system'

Once you have that, then we can continue.

 

[RainOfPain125]

I took apart my all-in-one PC that I got around 2 years ago (which had 8.1, later it upgraded to 10) and I used the hard drive on my older PC from about 4 years ago

The HDD in the older drive is really corrupted / messed up, so I wanted to switch the OS to D: drive

When I booted up the D: drive it simply showed a _ in the top left, so after a bit of moving all my files from the D: drive to my C: drive I formatted the D: drive to remove that installation of windows (I really don't know what was wrong with it, I tried diagnosing it with my USB and all of that, it just wouldn't work. I couldn't even use some kind of software to recover the windows serial key from that HDD)

So now I have my corrupted HDD full of all my precious files and I want to install win 10 OS on my D: drive (which I can't find anything about online. I installed windows media creation tool but when I booted that it simply said "no hard drive found with an OS" or something alike

Thanks in advance

I think we need a clearer description of what happened and where you are.

Forget the "installing on the D drive" thought.

What drives do you have, what is on them, what system(s) do you have....

C: drive is the original drive for this computer I am using. It had win 7 and I upgraded to win 10
D: drive is the original drive for my all-in-one computer (that stopped working) It had win 8.1 and I upgraded to win 10

I opened up my tower computer I took out the disc drive (which I didn't need nor ever used) and used the sata / power cable to power my D: drive. I was doing this to access my old files and put them on my C: drive

Then I remembered that my C: drive is really messed up / corrupted so I wanted to install windows 10 on my D: drive and move all my files to there (and ofc start using that HDD)

So my C: drive has all my files and a windows 10 OS on it while my D: drive currently has nothing on it

ok...forget "drive letters". Think physical drives.

1. Do you have access to a different working system?
If so, create a Win 10 install USB, here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
Download that tool, and 'create an install for a different system'

Once you have that, then we can continue.

"a different working system"

Assuming you mean a different computer yes, I do (I don't know why I'd need to download that on a different computer when this one is already functional)

I already downloaded that, ran it, installed the files, booted my USB, and it did nothing (as I already said)
"I installed windows media creation tool but when I booted that it simply said "no hard drive found with an OS" or something alike"

 

[RainOfPain125]

I'll reinstall it to my USB and try booting it again I guess?

 

[USAFRet]

"a different working system"

Assuming you mean a different computer yes, I do (I don't know why I'd need to download that on a different computer when this one is already functional)

I already downloaded that, ran it, installed the files, booted my USB, and it did nothing (as I already said)
"I installed windows media creation tool but when I booted that it simply said "no hard drive found with an OS" or something alike"

OK...I was given to believe that your current OS was too corrupted to function.

With the USB install...did you simply copy that exe to the USB, or did you go through the whole process of building the proper install?

Assuming it is built correctly, on to Question 2.

What system is this going in? The desktop?

 

[RainOfPain125]

"a different working system"

Assuming you mean a different computer yes, I do (I don't know why I'd need to download that on a different computer when this one is already functional)

I already downloaded that, ran it, installed the files, booted my USB, and it did nothing (as I already said)
"I installed windows media creation tool but when I booted that it simply said "no hard drive found with an OS" or something alike"

OK...I was given to believe that your current OS was too corrupted to function.

With the USB install...did you simply copy that exe to the USB, or did you go through the whole process of building the proper install?

Assuming it is built correctly, on to Question 2.

What system is this going in? The desktop?

With the USB install...did you simply copy that exe to the USB, or did you go through the whole process of building the proper install?

did you simply copy that exe to the USB

copy

. _.

No, I ran the exe on my computer (which I made it install the files onto the USB)

What system is this going into? Well my all-in-one broke, and I completely salvaged all the parts (the HDD works fine, the mobo didn't work though and I didn't feel like replacing it or anything alike) so that only leaves my tower that I am currently using. So yeah the "Desktop" or "tower" is what it's going onto

 

[White Quacker]

You should not need to get the product key from your old hard drive, as nowadays Windows product keys are embedded in the UEFI/BIOS. Simply hook up any empty and undamaged hard drive and install Windows 10 through USB.

Can you give me a direct link to the download? Because I've looked everywhere

This should help: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/15088/windows-create-installation-media

 

[USAFRet]

OK.
This is going into the desktop system.

On to Question 3...

The target drive you want this installed on...does it have anything you wish to keep? Anything at all?
What size/type is this drive?

 

[RainOfPain125]

OK.
This is going into the desktop system.

On to Question 3...

The target drive you want this installed on...does it have anything you wish to keep? Anything at all?
What size/type is this drive?

Drive D: is a seagate 500 GB HDD. It has zero files on it (well besides hidden windows files like the recycling bin that my OS put on there) it's formatted to be NTFS on the default allocation size. It's GPT and not MBR

 

[USAFRet]

OK.
This is going into the desktop system.

On to Question 3...

The target drive you want this installed on...does it have anything you wish to keep? Anything at all?
What size/type is this drive?

Drive D: is a seagate 500 GB HDD. It has zero files on it (well besides hidden windows files like the recycling bin that my OS put on there) it's formatted to be NTFS on the default allocation size. It's GPT and not MBR

OK, good.
Again...disregard 'drive letters'. This 500GB Seagate will become the new C drive.

Disconnect ALL other drives.
Connect your Win 10 USB stick.
Power up and boot from that. You may need to adjust the BIOS boot order.
Assuming that USB stick is properly constructed, it should start up the install process.

 

[RainOfPain125]

OK.
This is going into the desktop system.

On to Question 3...

The target drive you want this installed on...does it have anything you wish to keep? Anything at all?
What size/type is this drive?

Drive D: is a seagate 500 GB HDD. It has zero files on it (well besides hidden windows files like the recycling bin that my OS put on there) it's formatted to be NTFS on the default allocation size. It's GPT and not MBR

OK, good.
Again...disregard 'drive letters'. This 500GB Seagate will become the new C drive.

Disconnect ALL other drives.
Connect your Win 10 USB stick.
Power up and boot from that. You may need to adjust the BIOS boot order.
Assuming that USB stick is properly constructed, it should start up the install process.

Installation of the files to the USB didn't work

 

[USAFRet]

OK.
This is going into the desktop system.

On to Question 3...

The target drive you want this installed on...does it have anything you wish to keep? Anything at all?
What size/type is this drive?

Drive D: is a seagate 500 GB HDD. It has zero files on it (well besides hidden windows files like the recycling bin that my OS put on there) it's formatted to be NTFS on the default allocation size. It's GPT and not MBR

OK, good.
Again...disregard 'drive letters'. This 500GB Seagate will become the new C drive.

Disconnect ALL other drives.
Connect your Win 10 USB stick.
Power up and boot from that. You may need to adjust the BIOS boot order.
Assuming that USB stick is properly constructed, it should start up the install process.

https://s17.postimg.org/hqkzdhrov/uwot.png

What was the steps that brought you to that error?
You were creating the USB installer?

I think that needs to be run from an Admin account.

 

[RainOfPain125]

OK.
This is going into the desktop system.

On to Question 3...

The target drive you want this installed on...does it have anything you wish to keep? Anything at all?
What size/type is this drive?

Drive D: is a seagate 500 GB HDD. It has zero files on it (well besides hidden windows files like the recycling bin that my OS put on there) it's formatted to be NTFS on the default allocation size. It's GPT and not MBR

OK, good.
Again...disregard 'drive letters'. This 500GB Seagate will become the new C drive.

Disconnect ALL other drives.
Connect your Win 10 USB stick.
Power up and boot from that. You may need to adjust the BIOS boot order.
Assuming that USB stick is properly constructed, it should start up the install process.

https://s17.postimg.org/hqkzdhrov/uwot.png

What was the steps that brought you to that error?
You were creating the USB installer?

I think that needs to be run from an Admin account.

I am on an admin account

 

[USAFRet]

I am on an admin account

As the error message said..."We're not sure..."

Try a different USB stick?

 

[RainOfPain125]

I made an iso file and extracted it onto my USB and now I'm trying to install windows to my seagate HDD. My other drivebwith windows no longer works / boots up (0xc00000e9 error)

Now that I'm in the iso thingy I can't "repair my computer" and fix the current windows installation - clixking that just makes the whole box disappear, leaving nothing but the blue background

Now I'm installing windows (custom: install windows only) and I can't pick the partition I want because "windows cannot be installed on this disk. the selwcted disk is of the GPT partition style"

also side note - I formatted my seagate yet theres still other partitions such as "recovery" "system" "MSR" "recovery (another)" ?

 

[USAFRet]

Since you are at the point of a full install...

When it asks where, select Custom.
You'll be presented with a list of all existing partitions.
Delete ALL of them, leaving one large blank space.
Create a single partition with that space, and let the install continue.

 

[RainOfPain125]

heres some funky stuff -

When I disconnwct my western digital hdd and boot from USB I am fully capable of clicking "repair my computer" with no errors or problems (not that i can do much considering theres nothing on this hdd)

 

[USAFRet]

heres some funky stuff -

When I disconnwct my western digital hdd and boot from USB I am fully capable of clicking "repair my computer" with no errors or problems (not that i can do much considering theres nothing on this hdd)

No idea...

 

[RainOfPain125]

Ok. I'm doing that now. Thankuou so much c:

 

[RainOfPain125]

Since you are at the point of a full install...

When it asks where, select Custom.
You'll be presented with a list of all existing partitions.
Delete ALL of them, leaving one large blank space.
Create a single partition with that space, and let the install continue.

soooooo

yay. I installed windows 10 OS onto the seagate HDD as I wanted

not so great thing is that my other HDD is completely ruined for some reason. I can't get to any data on it, dskchk says that the data is RAW and when using m3 data recovery to try and easily convert it from RAW to NTFS it gave me an error. Asking M3 support gave me no answers and simply said "According to your situation, your hard drive should have hardare issue, the software cannot help you, please send it to a local data recovery professional for help."

Could you by chance (even though it's a little off topic) tell me what may be wrong with my western digital HDD?

Here is some things that me and the support guy talked about -

Please let us know the following information so that we can provide you exact solution:
1. How did your drive become RAW?
2. What error message did you receive when accessing RAW drive in My Computer?
3. Please take a screenshot of your disk management (Right click My Computer or This PC -> Manage -> Storage -> Disk Management) for further analysis.
4. Please take a screenshot of the error you received when trying M3 software.

1 - Well I'm not very sure. One day it was fine and the morning after I was given the error code 0xc00000c9. That HDD was quite corrupted and I was trying to move all of the files the day before onto another HDD (but I couldn't get windows to install on that one) so I held off on it (after I could not boot up the HDD with all the files I wanted to recover I tried harder to get win 10 installed on the other HDD, and I got it working) I tried running kaspersky rescue disk to scan for malware and it made me mount the OS or drive, something alike, if that is important
2 - Error message while accessing raw drive in file explorer? It takes incredibly long to try and open it, and when it is done the operation I get the error "G:\ is not accessable. The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error"
3 - "Unable to connect to Virtual Disk Service"
4 - I'd have to re-do the entire raw-to-ntfs again which took hours. Do I have to take a screenshot? It simply said something about not being able to convert the raw drive to ntfs. Or is there a error code I missed that you need?