I'm trying to perform a clean Windows 11 installation on my Crucial 2TB NVMe SSD. The computer also has an HDD and SATA SSD, but I disconnected both of them so the installer can only see the NVMe drive. My system uses a Gigabyte B550 Gaming X V2 motherboard and a Ryzen 7 5700X.
When I press F12 and select the UEFI version of my Philips 128GB USB 3.0 flash drive, the computer pauses at the Gigabyte logo, changes to a black screen, and then returns to the logo before freezing. The USB is detected in the one-time boot menu, but it does not appear as a normal boot-priority option in the BIOS.
Secure Boot and CSM are currently disabled. I downloaded the Windows 11 files from Microsoft and extracted them onto the USB manually. What is the correct way to create the installer, and are there any BIOS or USB settings I should check?
2 Answers
Downloading the Windows files from Microsoft is fine, but manually extracting them to the USB does not necessarily create bootable installation media. Use the official Media Creation Tool, or write the ISO with a utility such as Rufus. With a modern B550 system, use UEFI/GPT and leave CSM disabled. Secure Boot can normally remain enabled once the installer is created correctly.
I’d recreate the installer using Microsoft’s Media Creation Tool rather than just extracting the ISO files onto the flash drive. The tool formats the USB and makes it properly bootable for UEFI systems. If that still fails, Rufus is another option—select GPT for the partition scheme and UEFI as the target system.
Also try a different USB port, preferably a rear motherboard port. Once Windows is installed, reconnect the other drives and confirm the NVMe drive is first in the boot order so the system does not boot from the old HDD.
I recreated the USB two or three times, although the process took different amounts of time each time. One attempt also reported an error and asked me to format the drive afterward.
I downloaded the Windows 11 media from Microsoft’s official site, but I only extracted the files directly onto the flash drive instead of using the tool to build the bootable USB.