w10 usb boot cannot see SSD, uefi/legacy

[fireant21]

I'm running an x99 A ii, and I recently had a fling with Linux Mint as my main OS. I decided to go back to Windows, and I'm having terrible problems.

On a separate w10 pc, I used Rufus to make a bootable Windows 10_22H2 x64 USB drive in MBR mode. My bios sees the USB, but when I launch into it, I get the error "Load Failure (3) Unsupported". I tried running Rufus in GPT but it crashes when I select "start", so MBR mode is it.

I discovered the USB will not boot if my Boot Options>CSM Support>Change Boot Device Control setting is on UEFI, so I swapped to Legacy, and the USB boots into the Windows installer. But in there, it does not see the m.2 SSD, neither does my bios. Selecting "both uefi/legacy" option for Boot Device Control gives the first issues of no USB.

I imagine there is a setting I messed with when I installed Linux that is bogging me here (Fast Boot and such). I don't have an internet connection on the spare-pc at the moment to use the Windows Media Creation Tool to make the boot USB, Rufus crapped itself when I selected GPT, and trying to make a boot USB in Linux Mint is fruitless so far. I can get my spare pc over to an internet connection if Windows Tools would help.

Thanks everyone.

[Aureliannn_ASUS]

Hi @fireant21 ,

based on your issue, may I ask have you try reseting your BIOS settings to their default values to ensure that there are no conflicting configurations?

Instead of Rufus, you can try using the official Windows Media Creation Tool on your separate Windows PC to create a bootable USB drive.

Make sure Secure Boot and Fast Boot options are disabled in the BIOS settings.

If you have a UEFI-based system, it's generally recommended to use the UEFI mode for better compatibility with modern hardware and operating systems.

However, since you mentioned that your system doesn't see the m.2 SSD in UEFI mode, you may try enabling CSM Support and selecting "Both UEFI and Legacy" mode in the Boot Device Control settings. This should allow the system to detect both UEFI and legacy boot options.

You can also refer to the following link.

[Motherboard] Troubleshooting - Cannot find the hard disk drive or SSD(M.2) after motherboard powers...

Thank you.

[fireant21]

---FIXED--- I was having issues with creating a working Windows 10 boot USB. I ended up using WoeUSB, and that made a working drive. I installed w10 flawlessly.