Reinstall Windows 11 On A New Drive - Change Boot

Hi,

I have just installed a new drive to my laptop and would like to install Windows on to it. The new drive is an addition, not a replacement and I (rightly or wrongly) assigned it drive D using Powershell. Now I've decided that I want the new drive to be the boot drive containing Windows. I have taken an image of the current C drive on to an external drive using Macrium Reflect. I can transfer that image (or at least I assume I can) to the new drive, but how do I force Windows to boot up from the new drive. In the old days I could just enter the BIOS and make the change there but nowadays I don't know how to access the BIOS - things have changed a lot since since my Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 days. Is it still that simple? How do I enter the BIOS? The laptop is a cheap ASUS and I can't seem to find a model name. The internal drive is woefully inadequate but it's still a neat little machine that I'd like to keep running.

Thank you.

 

In case anyone is still reading lol .. I have placed an image of the C: drive on to the D: drive and opened the BIOS - now called UEFI Firmware Settings - and I attempted to change the boot option so it boots from the new drive. It didn't work. A reboot failed showing Unrecognisable boot media or words to that effect. What have I missed?

Thank you again.

Postscript - just had another thought - could I do a fresh installation of Windows from the internet and just ensure it goes on the D: drive?

 

I have been successful - finally. After installing several apps which appeared to be free to use and they weren't, I found "Disk Genius" and it performed the task beautifully with no requirement to enter the BIOS.

I write this in case it may help someone else.

 

Apologies, been absent due to other things lately. DiskGenius is darn good software.

 

Hey no worries! I only hopeful of a response and I don't expect one will happen. Very glad to have achieved something on my own. It's a learning experience but I do have to concede to getting old and not nearly as adept as I was in years gone by.

Have a great day.

 

Hello Jim. My name is Steve, I have a major situation that maybe you could help or set me on the right path. I had installed linux alongside windows, I ultimately tried to remove it and had a bad experience. so, I had to restore my laptop, but windows would not install, had to use a bootleg copy of windows 10. After installing I find that I cannot activate windows, I tried installing from factory setting but the bootleg copy still comes up. do you have any idea what I can do

 

Was your original installation of Windows 10 a proper paid for installation? If so there should be no problem with reinstalling a fresh install from the Microsoft windows website. All registered copies of windows have an association with the motherboard's ID (like a VIN number on a vehicle). I'm not sure if this helps you but it would help me narrow down the problem if not.

 

yes, my restored portion of my hard drive has the original windows 10, when I tried to reinstall from factory setting it does not over write the bootleg version of windows

 

I tried to reinstall my system 2 times and did not over write the bootlegs copy. can i somehow delete the file containing the bootleg windows and reinstall?

 

I'm somewhat at a loss to fully understand your predicament. When running the setup.exe of the fresh install from the win10 website, it warns you that everything will be deleted from your installation drive. When you confirm that that's okay, I believe it formats the drive prior to installation of the OS. So there's no way an old installation can survive. Beyond this advice, what I have to offer is very limited - sorry and good luck.

 

PS the installation application is placed on to an external USB drive and your computer must boot from this drive. If your device is unusable then you'd need to make your installation USB on a different computer.

 

Please abide by forum etiquette and begin your own thread.

 

ok, i see you need the whole story, i had installed lenux along side windows. there is no easy way to uninstall lenux and my pc crashed.
I was unable to use my restore portion of my hard drive. so in order to fix windows i had to use a bootleg copy of windows 10 (no activation). after installing windows i was able to find my restore and tried to fix windows from my hard drive. every form of reset did not uninstall the bootleg windows more did it install the original copy of windows... now that's the whole truth.

 

i may not be the brightest light bulb in the house, i don't understand what you mean by changing boot? if you could be so kind as to explain and how to change it, i would appreciate it.

 

I'm sorry but I'm unable to help you. I suggest that you do what the mekanic asked you to do and start a new thread in the forum. Your enquiry is effectively buried inside the thread of another problem and therefore unseen by those who may be better equipped to help you. Good luck.