Windows 10: System can’t boot - can’t find hard drive after clean install of Windows 10

Lenovo Yoga Ideapad 11S - after clean install of Win 10, PC would boot OK but after a few minutes a blue screen would appear with a sideways smiley face and message something went wrong, collecting info, will reboot. Now PC can’t boot - message wants me to select a device but none are shown.

:)

 

Clean Install Workaround for Vista

You may remember this news story on techPowerUp! a couple of days ago relating to the lack of clean installs when using the Upgrade Editions of Vista, which required an old OS to be installed. However, Paul Thurrott has managed to find a workaround for this issue, which ironically lets users do a clean install Vista without any previous version of Windows, albeit a little tedious. Here are the steps:

• Boot from the Windows Vista Upgrade DVD as normal
• When prompted for a product code, leave this blank
• Select the version of Vista you have purchased and let Vista install
• When you boot to your desktop for the first time, run the Vista setup from Windows
• This time enter your product key
• When asked whether you want to do an Upgrade of Custom install, select custom and choose a clean install
• Windows will now install for a second time and you should be able to activate it

Remember, these steps are only advised for use in order to achieve a clean install of Vista, it is only legal to use the upgrade editions if you have previously purchased the appropriate version of Windows.

Source: DailyTech

 

Win 10 clean install question

This is what I would do:

• Shrink the hard drive partition until it's small enough to fit on the SSD.
• Clone the Windows 8.1 setup to the SSD.
• Boot off the SSD and make sure that Windows 8.1 is happy (i.e., no complaints about activation).
• Upgrade to Windows 10 on the SSD.

This way, you know that Windows 8.1 has a valid setup on the SSD before doing anything else. Plus, the Windows 10 upgrade will be processed much faster on the SSD. Finally, you still have the hard drive setup to fall back to if anything goes wrong.

 

Is it time for Windows 10 already?

Here's a good step by step guide on doing a fresh install.

How to clean install Windows 10 from a USB drive - Software - Feature - HEXUS.net