I recently got an ASRock PC from my girlfriend, who got it secondhand, but it doesn't have an operating system installed. We're stuck trying to boot it up. When I power it on, I see a boot menu with four options: two hard drives, a USB drive, and a UEFI option, but I'm not sure how to proceed. The USB drive seems to be the best choice since I loaded Windows 10 installation files on it, but when I select it, the Windows logo appears for a moment before turning into a blank command prompt where I can't type anything. After a few minutes, it changes to a blank orange screen. I'm worried there might be a hardware issue since I had problems connecting it to a monitor too. I really need help troubleshooting this setup, especially since I haven't had access to a computer for months. What do you recommend?
1 Answer
The first two options in your boot menu are the hard drives in the PC. Once you successfully install Windows, one of them will be your system drive. Just a heads up: using an HDD for Windows can slow things down significantly, so if this setup works, consider upgrading to an SSD eventually.
To install Windows, use the [standard guide](https://rtech.support/windows/). If you're using the Media Creation Tool, make sure your BIOS settings are right: boot mode should be set to UEFI and the USB drive as the first boot device. Also, it helps to unplug any drives you won't be using as a system drive until the installation is finished.
Thanks for the tips! The guide wasn't super helpful because it just suggests selecting the USB drive. When I choose it, the Windows logo appears, then it jumps to the command prompt and eventually goes to that orange screen. Am I missing something, or could something be wrong with the USB? Any advice on how to make it work?