[SOLVED] Newly installed Windows only boots if old SSD is plugged in

[donutcoffee]

I was using Windows 10 on a SATA SSD. I decided to install Windows 11 on an NVMe using a Windows 11 ISO file that I flashed onto an external drive.

However, I noticed that the Windows 11 installation on my NVMe did not boot up by itself—it would go straight into the BIOS. Now when I want to boot into my NVMe, I need to connect my old SATA SSD to my computer, turn it on, and then select Windows 11 as my boot option (from choices of Win 11 and Win 10).

Why is the UEFI not recognizing my NVMe as a bootable disk even though I can run Windows just fine on it? How do I make it so that it can boot into Windows on its own without my needing to keep the old SSD plugged in?

 

[USAFRet]

I'm guessing you did this install with the old SSD still connected?
This is what happens.
The boot partition exists on the old drive.

Redo the install, with ONLY the new drive connected.

 

[donutcoffee]

I'm guessing you did this install with the old SSD still connected?
This is what happens.
The boot partition exists on the old drive.

Redo the install, with ONLY the new drive connected.

Yes, I think that's what I did. And oh no! Do I need to reinstall windows from scratch? I spent a lot of time setting it up, transferring my files over, and installing my favorite applications

 

[donutcoffee]

I'm guessing you did this install with the old SSD still connected?
This is what happens.
The boot partition exists on the old drive.

Redo the install, with ONLY the new drive connected.

I tried to reinstall Windows with only the new drive installed, but it didn't detect that version of windows so I could not do an "upgrade" install. Does that mean I have to format it and then do an install that way?

 

[USAFRet]

I tried to reinstall Windows with only the new drive installed, but it didn't detect that version of windows so I could not do an "upgrade" install. Does that mean I have to format it and then do an install that way?

Did you boot directly from your USB?

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[donutcoffee]

Did you boot directly from your USB?

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

So that means I really do reinstall it from scratch? No way to reinstall just the EFI partition?

 

[USAFRet]

So that means I really do reinstall it from scratch? No way to reinstall just the EFI partition?

The Win 11 is the one that is screwed up?

Yes, reinstall it.

 

[donutcoffee]

The Win 11 is the one that is screwed up?

Yes, reinstall it.

Darn. Is there any way to make it easier, like making a backup first and then restoring from it after reinstallation? Sorry, I'm a noob at Windows and don't really know about any similar procedures. I don't want to reinstall all my applications and re-configure them and customize all my settings all over again 😢

 

[USAFRet]

@SkyNetRising - Your assistance with an errant boot partition, please.

 

[SkyNetRising]

I don't want to reinstall all my applications and re-configure them and customize all my settings all over again 😢

You can create bootloader partition on nvme drive manually.
Show screenshot from Disk Management first.
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

 

[geofelt]

Can you boot to your original C drive?
If so, perhaps you can clone your C drive to the m.2 ssd and proceed from there.

 

[donutcoffee]

You can create bootloader partition on nvme drive manually.
Show screenshot from Disk Management first.
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

Yes sir, here you go:

https://imgur.com/a/Fw5Zv3U

View: https://www.imgur.com/a/Fw5Zv3U


Disk 0 is the old SSD with Windows 10 installed. Disk 1 is the one I am running, the NVMe drive with Windows 11 installed. Being able to create a boot partition manually would be the ideal option for me!

 

[donutcoffee]

Can you boot to your original C drive?
If so, perhaps you can clone your C drive to the m.2 ssd and proceed from there.

That's a good suggestion although unfortunately I did want a clean start so didn't want to copy stuff off the old drive to the new drive. However I suppose I could clone things from my "old" NVMe to a new NVMe

 

[SkyNetRising]

Disk 0 is the old SSD with Windows 10 installed. Disk 1 is the one I am running, the NVMe drive with Windows 11 installed. Being able to create a boot partition manually would be the ideal option for me!

Execute following from elevated command prompt.

diskpart​

list disk​

select disk 1​

list partition​

select partition 1​

(select 200MB EFI system partition)​

assign letter=H​

exit​

bcdboot C:\windows /s H: /f UEFI /v​

Show screenshot with command output.

If there are no errors, you should be able to disconnect old SSD and boot from new nvme drive.
Make Windows Boot Manager as first option in boot priority in BIOS.

How to Open the Command Prompt as Administrator in Windows 10

Much of the time, opening the Command Prompt as a regular user is all you need. Sometimes, though, you’ll need to open the Command Prompt as an administrator so that you can run commands that require administrative privileges.

www.howtogeek.com

 

[donutcoffee]

Execute following from elevated command prompt.

diskpart​

list disk​

select disk 1​

list partition​

select partition 1​

(select 200MB EFI system partition)​

assign letter=H​

exit​

bcdboot C:\windows /s H: /f UEFI /v​

Show screenshot with command output.

If there are no errors, you should be able to disconnect old SSD and boot from new nvme drive.
Make Windows Boot Manager as first option in boot priority in BIOS.

How to Open the Command Prompt as Administrator in Windows 10

Much of the time, opening the Command Prompt as a regular user is all you need. Sometimes, though, you’ll need to open the Command Prompt as an administrator so that you can run commands that require administrative privileges.

www.howtogeek.com

Thanks for the suggestion! Here is what I got as my output: www.pastebin.com/fZTZ9irF

As you can see, I'm getting a lot of "Unable to open file" errors

 

[donutcoffee]

Okay never mind I used a capital letter for the C:/Windows folder and it worked! I rebooted without the old SSD and voila. Thanks so much!