Hey everyone! I've been trying to install Windows 11 on a new M.2 drive, hoping to use it as my boot device since my old SATA drive might be broken. I've disconnected all other drives, installed Windows on the M.2 using the Media Creation Tool, but when I try to boot, I see the "reboot and select proper boot device" message. The BIOS is set up correctly for the drive, it's formatted in NTFS, and I've tested it to ensure it's not faulty. What could be causing this issue? I'm using a B650 AX DDR5 V2 motherboard and a 1TB Crucial T500 2280 drive.
2 Answers
Have you checked the BIOS settings for the M.2 drive? Sometimes you need to enable Legacy/CSM support or adjust the boot order to ensure it's recognized properly. Also, make sure the boot mode is set to UEFI if that's what you're aiming for with Windows 11. It might help to double-check that the M.2 is set as the primary boot device too.
When you were setting up the M.2, did you initialize it while still using the SATA drive? If so, enabling CSM was a good move, but there might be additional settings in the BIOS that you need to tweak. Make sure you've selected the correct drive in the boot options and that all other drives are disconnected during the OS installation. That sometimes helps with detection issues.
Yeah, I initialized it before switching to the M.2, and that made it detectable as a boot device once I enabled CSM. Maybe I'll take another look at the BIOS settings to see if I missed anything.