I can't install Windows 8 or 10? Trying to reinstall Windows 10 and accidentally formatted my drives?

[Elf_Knight]

My PC wasn't booting up properly for some reason. Perhaps my SSD got corrupted but I tried to reinstall it from Windows 10 media creation tool and it was not working so I reformatted my HDD and SSD thinking that would work. Still nothing. I unplugged my memory stick and plugged in my external CD Drive to install Windows 8 Retail edition from the CD. Still wouldn't work and I get a strange error message saying that the USB memory stick is still plugged in even though I have disconnected it and it won't show up in the BIOS. how can i fix this to do a clean install of windows?

 

[COLGeek]

Restart the system between connecting/disconnecting the USB devices. That should remove the hardware "confusion".

 

[Elf_Knight]

That won't work. Anything else I can try?

 

[COLGeek]

Your UEFI/BIOS "select boot device" still shows devices not connected? You should be able to manually select the boot device there to initiate the installation.

 

[Hlsgsz]

Forget the W8 DVD. Use the W10 stick you created. Make sure you are using a USB2 port and not USB3. When you get that error, unplug the stick and plug it a different USB2 port, close the error dialog and the installer will start from scratch, but this time work.

 

[Elf_Knight]

Whenever I plug either my CD Drive or USB memory stick into my computer both are detected and I am able to switch between both things to pick one installation media. But I still cannot install Windows. I don't know what to do. I tried unplugging them and restarting my PC and then plug the CD drive in but nothing worked. I don't have money right now for a new hard drive and i would really hate to lose my SSD since it was a lot of money.

 

[Hlsgsz]

Whenever I plug either my CD Drive or USB memory stick into my computer both are detected and I am able to switch between both things to pick one installation media. But I still cannot install Windows. I don't know what to do. I tried unplugging them and restarting my PC and then plug the CD drive in but nothing worked. I don't have money right now for a new hard drive and i would really hate to lose my SSD since it was a lot of money.

Yours sounds like a software issue, so i wouldn't worry about losing either the HDD or SSD. They are not the culprits. See my post above.

 

[Elf_Knight]

I tried installing windows 10 from the media creation tool on my memory stick but it did not work because I had formatted the drives. Meaning I have to install Windows 8 first or something like that and THEN install windows 10 on top of windows 8. However my windows 8 is being really annoying and won't register as the primary installation version. How can I install Windows 8 without a CD drive? I have a license code and everything since I got the Retail version from Amazon. It worked before but I accidentally messed up my drives.

 

[Elf_Knight]

I will try to install windows 8 from my memory stick using the Microsoft media creation tool instead of the CD since that is having errors. Then I will upgrade to Windows 10. Hope this works!!!

 

[Hlsgsz]

Forget 8, don;t bother with it. W10 will install regardless of the state of your drives. Follow the instructions i gave and switch the USB port on the first error and you'll be fine.

EDIT: Since you seem a bit at a loss wiht these things, here's a complete guide on doing a clean W10 install step by step. Follow these, with the USB port switch i keep mentioning:

https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/1950-clean-install-windows-10-a.html