Question Windows 10 / 11 install from USB on new prebuilt computer not working. Please help, getting desperate

[Ansaa]

Computer specs:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7700X
Processor: ASUS Prime AMD Radeon RX 9070 OC
Motherboard: MSI B650 Gaming Plus WIFI
BIOS ver: E7E26AKB.1MH
RAM: Kingston FURY Beast DDR5 5600MHz 16GB
SSD: Kingston NV3 SSD 1TB
Power: be quiet! PURE POWER 12 M | 650W
Cooling: be quiet! Pure Rock 3 LX
Phanteks XT Pro Ultra Mid Tower

I'm using a USB 3.1 flash drive with 32GB from PNY (bought completely new for this puprose)

Hello, I got this new prebuilt computer on monday, and since then have been frustratingly trying to install windows. Some friends told me it was easy to just install it yourself, only having to follow simple steps to get it downloaded. So I did. I'll be as detailed as I can and share what I've tried and my concerns, thoughts below.

It worked almost fine the first time. I made a bootable USB with windows 10, and followed the steps. Only problem was that I had to restart the computer a couple times cause sometimes my mouse and keyboard would stop working for some reason, and I couldn't progress. Also during the start of the install a message would pop up stating that "A media driver your computer needs is missing". But after switching the place of the USB drive to another port it went through and I started the installation. Wrote in the activation key, and everything seemed to be going fine. But after 5 hours of it being stuck on getting ready I thought it had gotten stuck somewhere and shut it off to try again.

This is where lots of problems started. It would usually boot up to a msi loading screen, and nothing would happen. Sometimes it would go to a black screen with a white underscore in the top left, and nothing would happen. Some rare times it would go to a completely blue screen and nothing would happen. But, maybe 1 of 5 times it would get to the installation screen of windows, and the same problem would arise "A media driver your computer needs is missing". But this time nothing I did worked. And I'll write down what I've done below:

I've formatted the USB drive and reinstalled windows 10 from another laptop. I've been in bios to check that it's in the right priority, that it's GPT and UEFI (not CSM) mode. What I found after using rufus to prepare the USB drive however was that it would show this message: Revoked UEFI bootloader detected. And after some more google searches I found that basically there's something wrong with the windows 10 installation media, so it's on Microsoft, all bootloaders prior to middle of 2023 have security flow, and it looks like MS hasn't fixed that for Windows 10
due to this malware called black lotus.

I've also found that "windows os configuration" option is missing in bios, and that that may mean that my computer don't recognise the boot on the USB stick (?). Could the first attempt at installing have corrupted or done something to the SSD so it won't boot from the USB? I've noticed that when I try to boot from the USB drive in the boot window (after pressing F11 on startup) both my mouse and keyboard shuts off. Could there be something wrong with the USB ports?

After this I sucked it up and gave up on windows 10 and hoped that I'd have better success with windows 11. I prepared the USB stick with rufus again, and plugged it into the computer. This time the only thing that happens when I boot from the USB (if it even boots from the USB?) is that same black screen showing with the white underscore in the top left corner.

At this point I need to admit my defeat, I'm not a tech guy at all, and I'm getting beyond frustrated after 5 full days of trying to fix it. I am so confused, and I have no idea where even to begin anymore. I'm really hoping someone on this forum might be able to help. If not I think my only option will be to return my computer. I appreciate any suggestions or help I can get, and thank you for taking the time to read through. Oh and if there's any information missing or pictures needed I'll be happy to provide that too.

Update: I changed back to default settings in bios with f6 in case I had done something wrong on accident. Set the boot priority with the USB drive first. Now when I boot: the msi logo appears, followed by a blue screen, and my mouse and keyboard shuts off (rgb lights turn off, that's how I can tell)

Update 2! I managed to get through the installation process after installing the AMD wifi driver at the "install driver to show hardware screen. Where it starts to download windows and states it will shut off a couple times. After the first restart it however goes to the black screen with the dashed white line in the top left corner again.

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

But after 5 hours of it being stuck on getting ready I thought it had gotten stuck somewhere and shut it off to try again.
I think you should try and install the OS in offline mode;

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_GuFH9KdHC0

the principle remains the same for both Windows 10 and 11, per my memory but in the event that the process spits out an error, read through this;
https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/install-windows-11-without-microsoft-account

Pertaining to your USB port, which one are you working with on your motherboard? Pertaining to the USB drive, can you source an older USB drive, that's 16GB in capacity?

 

[TerryLaze]

Update: I changed back to default settings in bios with f6 in case I had done something wrong on accident. Set the boot priority with the USB drive first. Now when I boot: the msi logo appears, followed by a blue screen, and my mouse and keyboard shuts off (rgb lights turn off, that's how I can tell)

The black screen with the blinking underscore means that the system is booting (from somewhere) which means that the bios can find the boot block but then the boot block does not have the correct info on what disk to point to (windows disk)

Setting the USB as the first boot device in bios is a bad idea for the installation because then the installation thinks that you want the USB device to always be the first boot device.
Instead set your main drive (the one you want windows on) as the first boot device and use boot override, or the boot menu, a one time setting, to boot from the USB, that way the install knows that in the future you want to boot from the main disk and sets it up correctly.

For the installation not finding your hardware go to the msi webpage and download the "On-Board PIDE/SATA Drivers" on the page where it asks for the drive to install to press on install driver and point it to this, unzip it first though, you can just write it to the same usb the installer is on.

For the keyboard and mouse disappearing i have no idea.

 

[SkyNetRising]

is that same black screen showing with the white underscore in the top left corner.

This means - you're booting into wrong mode.
You're trying to boot into legacy mode from UEFI boot media.
Then you get blinking underscore symbol.

When booting from USB, choose boot option with UEFI in it.
That is the only UEFI boot capable boot option

See in this screenshot:
USB Disk - boots in legacy mode
UEFI: USB Disk - boots in UEFI mode
(Both boot entries boot from same physical USB disk)

Also for install time I'd suggest:

turn off secure boot and​

turn off fast boot.​

 

[Ansaa]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

But after 5 hours of it being stuck on getting ready I thought it had gotten stuck somewhere and shut it off to try again.
I think you should try and install the OS in offline mode;

View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_GuFH9KdHC0

the principle remains the same for both Windows 10 and 11, per my memory but in the event that the process spits out an error, read through this;
https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/install-windows-11-without-microsoft-account

Pertaining to your USB port, which one are you working with on your motherboard? Pertaining to the USB drive, can you source an older USB drive, that's 16GB in capacity?

Now I'm using the blue ports on the motherboard. When I got it working the first time I used the front one on the tower, near the power button. I've added the tower I used to the post, cause I see I hadn't done that.

I guess I could buy a new 16 gb usb drive, if you think that would work better. But I don't have an old one laying around no.

I haven't got that far with the installation to get to those screens yet, but I'll keep this in mind for when I get there, if I get there.

 

[Ansaa]

The black screen with the blinking underscore means that the system is booting (from somewhere) which means that the bios can find the boot block but then the boot block does not have the correct info on what disk to point to (windows disk)

Setting the USB as the first boot device in bios is a bad idea for the installation because then the installation thinks that you want the USB device to always be the first boot device.
Instead set your main drive (the one you want windows on) as the first boot device and use boot override, or the boot menu, a one time setting, to boot from the USB, that way the install knows that in the future you want to boot from the main disk and sets it up correctly.

For the installation not finding your hardware go to the msi webpage and download the "On-Board PIDE/SATA Drivers" on the page where it asks for the drive to install to press on install driver and point it to this, unzip it first though, you can just write it to the same usb the installer is on.

For the keyboard and mouse disappearing i have no idea.

Hey, and thank you so much. There is finally progress! So I've done everything that you said.

Now I get to this screen: Install driver to show hardware.
I shut down and installed the driver you suggested to the USB drive. After a couple attempts I got back to the same screen. But it still seems it can't find any drivers. I'll attach some pictures.

 

[Ansaa]

This means - you're booting into wrong mode.
You're trying to boot into legacy mode from UEFI boot media.
Then you get blinking underscore symbol.

When booting from USB, choose boot option with UEFI in it.
That is the only UEFI boot capable boot option

See in this screenshot:
USB Disk - boots in legacy mode
UEFI: USB Disk - boots in UEFI mode
(Both boot entries boot from same physical USB disk)

Also for install time I'd suggest:

turn off secure boot and​

turn off fast boot.​

Thank you. I'll add a pic with the boot device screen. Also turned off secure boot. Doesn't seem to be a MSI fast boost option for me. I have progressed. See the other reply to another post with more info.

 

[Ansaa]

Update! I managed to get through the installation process after installing the AMD wifi driver at the "install driver to show hardware screen. Where it starts to download windows and states it will shut off a couple times. After the first restart it however goes to the black screen with the dashed white line in the top left corner again.