I'm trying to reinstall Windows from a USB installer plugged into a rear motherboard port. The installer starts normally from the blue setup screen, copies the initial files, and then restarts as expected. After that, instead of continuing to Windows setup, it gets stuck on a spinning circle and repeatedly boot-loops. I've already restored the BIOS to its default settings and confirmed that UEFI mode is enabled. What should I check to get the installation to continue?
2 Answers
Check the BIOS boot menu after the first restart and make sure the primary drive containing the new installation appears as a bootable UEFI device. If the USB installer was created incorrectly or is missing files, recreate it using a freshly downloaded Windows 11 ISO or the official media creation tool, then try the installation again.
During setup, delete every existing partition on the drive you want to install Windows onto until it shows as unallocated or available space, then select that space and let Windows create the required partitions automatically. Leaving an old system or boot partition can cause the computer to boot from the wrong entry and loop.
I deleted all the partitions until the drive showed as available space, so there shouldn’t be an old partition left to boot from.
Would recreating the installer with freshly downloaded Windows 11 media and formatting the target drive again be the best next step?