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berbugaslim

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April 27th, 2016 20:00

Can't reinstall Windows 10 on SSD

Hi everyone, I need some help with my new Alienware 15 R2 laptop. For reasons I don't care to mention, I needed to do a clean install of the OS. The way my pc was setup was with the OS on the SSD and the SATA drive being simply a data drive for my User files (Documents, Music, etc).

Beforehand I made the Windows Recovery Image on a USB key (got the link/file from the Dell drivers page for my pc). Then I booted from the USB key and went through the Reset my PC prompts, choosing the setting that removed all personal files, apps and settings. The computer ran through the process but somewhere along the line something went wrong (not sure since I left it running overnight) and it said windows could not complete the reset due to an error. So I attempted to run through the same steps again and this time it worked. However, after the install I realized that the OS had been installed on the SATA drive, and the SSD was not even visible by Windows file explorer, device manager, etc. I had to install the Intel Rapid Storage driver manually before Windows recognized the SSD drive.

After searching the interwebs I couldn't find out how to easily "switch" the OS from the SATA to the SSD. So I plugged the Windows Recovery Image USB key back in and attempted to reset again, hoping things would fix themselves or I would be given the option to select the HDD to install the OS to. Well, neither of those happened; The OS installed again to the SATA drive.

My last idea was to unplug the SATA drive, then try the Windows Recovery Image. Unfortunately I got errors with the Reset my PC options. If I selected the Keep My Personal Files option the error mentioned something about having a locked partition/drive. If I selected the Remove All Files option the error says something about missing a required partition/drive.

For those that were able to read this whole rant, any ideas/help? I want to get my Alienware laptop back to day one status with the OS on the SSD and the SATA as the extra data drive. If anyone could please help out I would very much appreciate it.

  • P

    Philip_Yip

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    Posted April 27th, 2016 22:00

    The USB likely automatically selects the largest drive... You may need to wipe the HDD then remove the HDD and then restore without the HDD using the USB. Then add the HDD and initialise it...

    I would recommend manual clean installation however:

    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1RkaknDn7v-Ucth4gt0U3BHVSY7oNkWr

    http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/download-microsoft-windows-and-office/download-microsoft-windows/download-windows-10-oem-and-retail-iso/

  • B

    berbugaslim

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    Posted May 1st, 2016 13:00

    Thanks for the reply NATAKUC4. Unplugging the larger SATA drive was one of the first things I tried. As I mentioned in the first post, I would get errors trying to install the Dell Recovery Image with just the SSD attached. I think a problem might be I'm selecting the wrong image file from Dell/Microsoft? When I click on the link on the Dell Support page for my laptop it takes me to the Microsoft page, verifies my system and gives me four different Windows 10 images to choose from (see here). As of right now I believe I have tried two or three of these image files, but I end up with the same errors when trying to install onto SSD. I took some pictures of the errors, links at the end.

    I was watching/reading the info in the links you gave me (thank you very much, by the way) and I'm going to try to make an image using the Media Creation Tool you suggested. Maybe I'll have more luck going that route. I'll post back with my results.

    In the meantime, if anyone knows why I'm getting those errors in the pics below or knows of another fix, please let me know. Thank you.

    error 1 - trying to reset pc with the "keep my files" option

    error 2 - trying to reset pc with the "remove everything" option

    error 3 - trying the "recover from a drive" option

  • B

    berbugaslim

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    Posted May 1st, 2016 19:00

    Success! I finally got it to work with the Media Creation Tool. Now I have my OS on the SSD and I'm working on updating drivers and getting the User folder onto my SATA. The pc may be running a little slower than when it was fresh out the box, but I guess that's my penance for having to go through this.

    Thanks again NATAKUC4!

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