I recently built my first PC with my son and everything seems to be functioning properly, but I'm having trouble booting Windows 11 from a flash drive. I've created the bootable drive using the Windows 11 ISO for ARM64 devices on my MacBook with WinDiskWriter 1.3. Although the PC recognizes the drive content, it won't start the installation process automatically or when I manually select it from the boot menu; instead, I get sent back to the BIOS. I've attempted several troubleshooting steps including using only one RAM stick, reconnecting components, resetting the BIOS, and even adjusting the cooling pump screws. The motherboard (MSI B850 Tomahawk Max) indicates successful detection of the SSD and RAM. The boot indicator light on the motherboard stays green. I'm looking for advice on how to proceed and how to determine if the issue is hardware or software related. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!
2 Answers
It sounds like you're using the wrong version of Windows. The ARM version won't work with your AMD Ryzen 5 9600X CPU since that's x86 architecture. You need to download the x86, 64-bit ISO and create a new bootable flash drive from that.
You can go to the official Microsoft website to download the x64 version of Windows 11. Make sure to use a reliable method to create the bootable drive.
Definitely check that your flash drive is set up with the correct ISO. It’s easy to grab the ARM version accidentally. Once you download the right x64 ISO, use WinDiskWriter again to format it properly.
I see where I went wrong now! I'm going to give it another shot with the right x64 ISO. Appreciate the help!
Thanks for the clarification! Do you know where I can download the right version of Windows and how to format it for a flash drive from a Mac?