Formating USB Drive for W11 Download

[bronze frost]

So uhh.. I'm trying to download Windows 11 onto my USB drive (bc I'm upgrading my hardware), but I keep getting an error message saying my "drive needs to be at least 8GB"
The drive I have plugged in is a 30GB drive so... not sure what the prob was until I opened up Disk Management. Can anyone help me figure out how to fix this?

[torpid summit]

new simple volume called Win11 or somethin in Fat32 should solve it.

right click on the unallocated bit, select "New Simple Volume", and follow the prompt thru making sure its Fat32 and something like 16gb or somethin.

[bronze frost]

Got it... after clicking on New Simple Volume and then Next I get this window. Clear to click Next?

[torpid summit]

yep

you got anything important on there before you do the win 11 install media?

[bronze frost]

Nope... just something I installed on there previously to test my RAM. It was like... OCCT or something like that

[torpid summit]

sweet. then once that gets done creating itself you should be able to select the drive letter in the install media creation tool./

and itll reformat the drive and do all its happy hooey stuff.

[bronze frost]

Cool. Looks like that did the trick. Will USB Drive E & F delete themselves once I install Windows 11 on there?

E & F came from the drive after i plugged it in

[torpid summit]

yup yup. At least to my recollection it will do so.

so, plus side, you get to clean erroneous stuff out of your file explorer lolol

[bronze frost]

Cool! imma start the download onto the drive right now then. Thank sm you're awesome

[torpid summit]

Np, always glad to help! Just lemme know if stuff goes wonky.

[bronze frost]

Hey! You still there? 👀

[torpid summit]

yah wassup?

[bronze frost]

Ok… so I’ve kinda got a weird situation going on.

So my old PC, my main SSD drive was a Gen3 1TB SSD that I already had windows 11 on.

But in my new PC I Upgraded to 2x 2TB Gen4 SSDs. BUT… I had a few things I forgot to transfer from my old main SSD drive (1TB Gen3 drive).

So, I installed my 2 new SSDs but I also installed my old main SSD, (but in a secondary SSD slot).

I wanted to boot my PC from the USB drive you helped me with… so that I could download W11 onto my new SSD and make them my boot drive but…

The PC booted from my old Gen3 drive. How should I go about this?

Sorry I hope this makes sense

@torpid summit

[torpid summit]

boot to bios and set boot order to USB/external drive

what mobo you got?

[bronze frost]

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/mtcgXL/asrock-x870-pro-rs-wifi-atx-am5-motherboard-x870-pro-rs-wifi

[torpid summit]

*set boot order to have USB/External Drive to the top of the list.

and then also set your old drive to be at the bottom of the list.

[bronze frost]

Ok… imma do that now. Will downloading Windows 11 onto my new SSD corrupt my PC in anyway? Since I’ve got it already downloaded on one of my secondary SSDs?

[torpid summit]

shut down and power on the PC and spam F2 or DEL like all hell.

no, if you set things up right you can designate your boot drive and then have the other drives initialized as well.

I would recommend wiping the old win install drive and reformatting it once you recover data.

[bronze frost]

Wiping out the drive completely off the old SSD? Or just the Windows Install?

I just recovered / moved all my files to my new SSDs now

From my old one

[torpid summit]

reformatting the entire drive and setting it up fresh as an aux drive.

[bronze frost]

Ok ok… I prob will need help with that too. I’m boutta go into bios tho. One sec

[torpid summit]

windows can get funky about accessing files from another drive that has a win install on it because it can detect the assembly files for permissions and stuff.

np take your time hun. Better to take 5 extra seconds now then 5 hours unboning everything lol

[bronze frost]

Sorry… I’m prob real annoying rn 😅

But here’s what I’m seeing as far as my boot options. Not sure which is the USB drive

Or am I looking in the right place? lol

[torpid summit]

click out of that window, take out and reinsert USB, and then try again to see if it detects it.

I think its correct but I wanna make sure that it is before fuckin anything up for ya lmao

[bronze frost]

lol okay! Ty! Also… no luck w/ plugging it back in 😕 I just see the same thing

Here’s what I see without that window up

[torpid summit]

well, switch the uefi to the top and then save and exit.

[bronze frost]

OK done… just waiting now 😊

does it matter which port I plugged the usb drive into?

It’s one of the ones behind my mobo

[torpid summit]

not really. you werent flashing bios or anything so it should use the usb regardless of port

yeah, you should be good. I use the io always when installing os because then I can make sure it isnt a cable or somethin screwing up my install lol

[bronze frost]

Gotcha… I changed the boot order so that UEFI was on top.

I Saved and Exited and it took me here

Back to Windows

[torpid summit]

hmmm.

can you try to take the windows ssd out and see if it detects any of the other drives?

[bronze frost]

I didn’t plan to use the GEN3 SSD that I have as one of my secondary’s. Should I take that out? Since I’ve recovered everything I needed

Oh that’s what you suggested 😂

[torpid summit]

yeah.

mr compooter doin a heckin confuse lol

[bronze frost]

lol

Oh wait

Since I’m already in Windows… Is there a way I can confirm that I downloaded Windows 11 correctly on the USB drive?

[torpid summit]

it should come up as ESD-USB when plugged in on file explorer

what could also be happening is that all of the partitions on that usb were screwing with the installer.

I use AOMEI Partition Assistant to wipe my USBs and stuff. Works a treat.

[bronze frost]

Oh I saw that… but my PC just blue screened 😬

[torpid summit]

oop.

I had a boot loop blue screen due to NAND package degridation on the NVME.

[bronze frost]

Ok. Here’s what I see in the ESD-USB. Does this look like I downloaded W11 correctly?

[torpid summit]

should be good.

is that the only drive that comes up?

or do all those other drives come up as well

at this point I would try Ventoy.

itll force it to boot to USB at least in my experience.

[bronze frost]

I see…

• My old, main Gen3 SSD (that I’m about to take out)
• My current 2TB secondary SSD

But I don’t see my new 2TB SSD that I just installed in the main M.2 slot

[torpid summit]

you might have to downgrade the gen for the slot

[bronze frost]

??? can you elaborate please?

oh wait -

[torpid summit]

you said that the drive was gen 4, that slot might be set for gen 5 drives

[bronze frost]

I see it now… but in Disk Management

[torpid summit]

oh. Well thats good.

[bronze frost]

Because it’s brand new I think it’s not formatted yet right?

[torpid summit]

no it wont be initialized at all nor formatted with anything

[bronze frost]

idk if I’m understanding that incorrectly o..

[bronze frost]

Oh shoot… I just read this. Does Gen4 drives not work on GEN5 slots?

[torpid summit]

it should but honestly I am just trying to do process of elimination style troubleshooting rn.

rn I would try ventoy with a downloaded ISO of Windows 11 on the drive and reboot.

after taking the drive out.

[bronze frost]

Ok. So, take out the Gen3 SSD (that has Windows installed) and reboot yeah?

[torpid summit]

yeah, after installing ventoy on the usb

https://www.ventoy.net/en/index.html

[bronze frost]

top one?

[torpid summit]

yup yup!

[bronze frost]

Ok… and then you said the ISO one yeah?

[torpid summit]

no, for this do windows.zip

you'll need an ISO of the Windows 11 operating system but we will take care of that after the ventoy install

[bronze frost]

Ok! Do I extract it first or do I drag and drop it as is onto the ESD-USB?

[torpid summit]

you will extract the files.

[bronze frost]

Ok I extracted all and changed the location to the ESD-USB. Did I do it right? 😅

[torpid summit]

not exactly. Grab em and drag em back to downloads

then enter the folder

[bronze frost]

Ok. I dragged them over / hovered over downloads and it said “Copy to Downloads” and this is what I see in Downloads now

But I think it’s still in ESD-USB

[torpid summit]

copy and paste it into the downloads folder

[bronze frost]

Ok done

I see the same thing tho lol

[torpid summit]

ok now click into the ventoy folder in the downloads folder

[bronze frost]

Ok

[torpid summit]

execute Ventoy2Disk

[torpid summit]

yup install.

[bronze frost]

Is it gonna wipe Windows off the USB drive too?

Bc I don’t have a way to download W11 onto my SSD without it on my USB drive right?

[torpid summit]

yes but itll be ok since we'll download windows a different way.

itll all be ok I promise!

[bronze frost]

Ok… oof I’m nervous lol

I’m trusting you

[torpid summit]

I gotcha, ill make sure that we getcha squared away!

[bronze frost]

Done! Now take out the Gen3 SSD that has Windows on it right?

[torpid summit]

not exactly yet

[bronze frost]

Ok!

[torpid summit]

gimma one sec gotta get a link for ya

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

youll need to download the installation media for win 11

then when you get to the "which media to use" screen, you'll need to select ISO File instead of USB flash drive

[bronze frost]

Like this?

[torpid summit]

exactly right

you're doin good!

[bronze frost]

Ok

Do I select the Ventoy (E:) drive?

[torpid summit]

yup yup!

after that gets done, you should be able to pull the usb drive and shut down to remove the 3rd gen nvme

[bronze frost]

Okie! Windows 11 download is currently at 80%. I’ll do that as soon as it finishes ✔️

[torpid summit]

10-4 hun, sorry its been so all over the place lmao. I hope i have been somewhat useful on this lol

[bronze frost]

No you’ve been an amazing help so far

[bronze frost]

Also, I think it finished downloading

[torpid summit]

what do you see in the Ventoy drive

[bronze frost]

Did we do it right? Lol

[torpid summit]

perfect. That is exactly right. you did good

now, go on ahead and ejectoseato that drive and then nab your nvme

[bronze frost]

Ok cool! Gimme like 10mins (:

[torpid summit]

np!

[bronze frost]

Ok. NVME is out. Is this a good spot to have the usb drive plugged in?

[torpid summit]

yupper, that is on the IO so that is using all of the board traces.

you should be good to boot

try letting it just load ventoy

[bronze frost]

Like this? I booted it up and took me straight here

[bronze frost]

I opened up that Windows tab and I see this now

[torpid summit]

boot into normal mode

[bronze frost]

Install Windows 11 yeah?

Sorry dumb question prob lol

Just wanna be safe

[torpid summit]

yuppers and make sure ya check the box

no question is dumb

dont apologize for wanting to be meticulous.

[bronze frost]

haha thank you

Ok…

I see this now

[torpid summit]

cute cat pic checkpoint lol

[bronze frost]

No way! Your cat is such a cloud ☁️

Super cutee

[torpid summit]

I would throw it on the unallocated space

he is a cute lil emotional terrorist lol

[bronze frost]

Ok… so just select it and press next?

[torpid summit]

yup yup

[bronze frost]

Ok! Installing now 🤗

[torpid summit]

woop woop

that is good.

Ventoy is my fav bootloader. Because you can also load tools/exes on there to help like Heirns boot disk

and a bunch of others./

[bronze frost]

Yeah it def helped me today! Super clutch 💯🙌

[torpid summit]

glad to be helpful. I hope that there is less calamity in the ensuing downloading of apps lmao

[bronze frost]

Me too 😭 Everytime I rebuild / upgrade my PC, something ALWAYS goes wrong ): This has prob been the closest to a smooth transition to new components

Thanks to you fr 😭🙏

I don’t wanna jinx anything tho lol. Windows is still downloading rn 😂

[torpid summit]

once it reboots you should be fine. Might have to pull the drive and reboot to get into windows set up but other than that should be ok

[bronze frost]

awesome! Im setting up Windows now.

THANK YOU sm for your help. I appreciate your help so much fr 😭🙏

[torpid summit]

Np, appreciate the patience with me. It can be a pita to not be able to get hands on with stuff.

[bronze frost]

hiii... idk if you remember me, but you helped me a while ago. I was wondering if you could help me out with my issues my friends running into with booting up his PC. He's using my old motherboard and CPU. If not, it is all good. Sorry to bother

[torpid summit]

All good darlin is it throwing an error?