Question Windows 10 boot option only shows on BIOS when USB Windows Installation Device plugged on startup

[fatismw]

Hey All! Recently I have a Windows 10 boot issue. Hoping that the community could help me solve this problem. I have searched for solutions but I couldn’t find any, particularly with the same circumstances as mine.

Problem:
Without a USB Windows Installation Device plugged, it always boots to BIOS. It detects my hard drive in which I installed my Windows but showed no boot options. However, if I boot my PC with a USB Windows Installation Device plugged, it will boot straight to the USB and shows the Windows installation menu. I can choose "Repair my computer" > “Troubleshoot” > "UEFI Firmware Settings” (BIOS). My BIOS will list my "Windows Boot Manager" along with the USB as available boot options and only then I can boot into my Windows. How can I fix my PC to always detect my Windows boot option without needing to plug a bootable device?

Fixes Attempted:

• Physically reattaching my hard disk, no fix.
• CMD: Successfully did SFC, CHKDSK, and DISM fixes, but the problem persists.
• BIOS: Disabled Fast Boot, no fix.
• BIOS: Disabled Secure Boot and Enable CSM, no fix.
• BIOS: Restored default settings, no fix.
• Windows Recovery: Startup Repair, error: unable to fix.
• Cleanly reinstalled Windows on C, but the problem persists.

PC Specs:
Model: ASUS VivoBook S15 X510UNO Laptop
OS: Windows 10 Home 64bit
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8250U CPU @ 1.60GHz, 1800 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date: American Megatrends Inc. X510UNO.308, 4/18/2019
Installed Physical Memory (RAM): 12.0 GB (4+8 GB)
Storage Drive: 1TB+Intel Optane 16GB
Main Partition: C (Healthy: Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Basic Data Partition) and D (Healthy: Basic Data Partition)

 

[dwd999]

Storage Drive: 1TB+Intel Optane 16GB

I seem to recall another user's message, something about Optane interfering. Perhaps you could try disabling or removing Optane, turning Secure Boot back on and seeing if that helps. Another possibility is that since its a laptop the manufacturer installed some hidden partition on the C disk to prevent use after theft and it interprets a reinstall of windows as unauthorized use. You should question ASUS about that. Also perhaps Windows wasn't properly installed. Windows prefers that there only be 1 disk connected at the time of install; others can be connected later. The drive should contain a GPT partition identifier and all of the drive's space should be unallocated since the installer sets up all of the necessary partitions and formatting itself. However as this is a laptop, if antitheft software is required that could interfere with the installation. You could boot from a usb containing a disk partitioning tool like Gparted just to examine the C disk. Normally it would contain 4 partitions with 2 small ones on the left and 1 small one on the right with the main data area in the middle.