Feb 5, 2023
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so i got a new m.2 SSD and my motherboard only has 1 m.2 slot with an ssd in it already. this ssd has windows on it. i also got a 1tb hdd though and I really want to upgrade from my installed ssd to this newer one i got but how do i literally swap them out and fresh install windows with an usb stick ( i prepared win11 on it) without breaking things?

to make things clear i want to clean install win11 on my new ssd thats all
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
so i got a new m.2 SSD and my motherboard only has 1 m.2 slot with an ssd in it already. this ssd has windows on it. i also got a 1tb hdd though and I really want to upgrade from my installed ssd to this newer one i got but how do i literally swap them out and fresh install windows with an usb stick ( i prepared win11 on it) without breaking things?

to make things clear i want to clean install win11 on my new ssd thats all
Assuming the drive is compatible, just create a new Win 11 USB to install with.

Swap the drives, boot from the USB, install.

https://www.microsoft.com/software-download/windows11

This procedure is for Win 10, but almost identical:

Have ONLY the SSD connected when you do the install.
Reconnect the HDD later.
 
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Feb 5, 2023
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what do you mean with create another win11 usb? i got a usb stick with the win11 boot image whatever you call it to boot the pc from usb but i just recovered my pc from trying that by just swapping and then booting from usb because i had a blackscreen and whatever. so i literally just need to put the win11 boot thing on the usb and then swap and boot from usb thats it?
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
what do you mean with create another win11 usb? i got a usb stick with the win11 boot image whatever you call it to boot the pc from usb but i just recovered my pc from trying that by just swapping and then booting from usb because i had a blackscreen and whatever. so i literally just need to put the win11 boot thing on the usb and then swap and boot from usb thats it?
Well, if you already have a known good Win 11 install USB, then use that.
Where did that USB stick come from?

But if booting from that results in a black screen, something is not right.
 
Feb 5, 2023
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Well, if you already have a known good Win 11 install USB, then use that.
Where did that USB stick come from?

But if booting from that results in a black screen, something is not right.
well ok so to clear things up or basically long story short: i just managed to fix this oddly dumb problem of me having an blackscreen all the way through POST until Windows Login screen but i managed to fix that with a Nvidia uefi firmware updater so now i can actually see a logo and reach the bios instead of a Blackscreen. but i dont know if it is still the case when i casually swap out the windows ssd with a new ssd that has nothing on it. does it still give me the option to open boot selection or do i need to do that before swapping drives?
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
well ok so to clear things up or basically long story short: i just managed to fix this oddly dumb problem of me having an blackscreen all the way through POST until Windows Login screen but i managed to fix that with a Nvidia uefi firmware updater so now i can actually see a logo and reach the bios instead of a Blackscreen. but i dont know if it is still the case when i casually swap out the windows ssd with a new ssd that has nothing on it. does it still give me the option to open boot selection or do i need to do that before swapping drives?
The BIOS happens long before Windows.

You should be able to access the BIOS even with NO drive or Windows.