If you are installing a new drive alongside an old one, unplug the old drive temporarily. This prevents you from accidentally wiping your old data during the installation process. You can plug the old drive back in once Windows is up and running.
If you haven't already installed the new drive into your target computer, now is the time. installing windows 10 on a new hard drive
From there, I selected the USB drive as the first boot device, ensuring that the computer would boot from the installation media. I saved the changes and exited the BIOS settings. The computer restarted, and I held my breath as it began to boot from the USB drive. If you are installing a new drive alongside
The rest of the setup process was a breeze. I installed the necessary drivers, updated Windows, and began to customize my new installation. As I worked, I couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement and anticipation. This new installation would be my primary computer for the foreseeable future, and I was eager to explore all the possibilities that Windows 10 had to offer. If you haven't already installed the new drive
The installation proper begins by summoning the machine’s basic input/output system, or BIOS/UEFI. Accessed by pressing a key like Del, F2, or F12 during the initial startup, the BIOS is the low-level firmware that initializes hardware before the operating system takes over. Inside this text-based environment, the user must perform two critical tasks: first, set the boot order to prioritize the USB drive over the new (empty) hard drive; second, ensure that the SATA mode is set to AHCI (for traditional drives) or that the NVMe controller is enabled. Saving these changes and restarting the computer launches the blue-and-gray Windows Setup environment—a stark, functional interface that is the first sign of success.
The excitement of building a new computer or upgrading an old one! As I sat in front of my workbench, I stared at the shiny new hard drive that lay before me. It was a blank slate, waiting for the installation of a new operating system. My task was to install Windows 10 on this pristine drive.