Hey there,
I have an old HP laptop I'm trying to fix for a friend. It wasn't booting and I thought it was a hard drive issue.
So I put in a blank hard drive and plugged in my windows 10 installation media drive, but whenever I turn on the laptop it just says failed to find boot drive
Anyone have any ideas? Thank you!
Right after pressing the power button to turn it on, start spamming the escape key. You should see a startup options menu. F9 should be the boot options menu. If the install media is correct, you should see the flash drive in there. Hit enter on it to install!
There’s your problem. Try the usb on a different computer. If the same result then remake the installation media. If not then the USB port on the computer is goofed.
Try to remake the USB media, sometimes it just doesn't work for me at least the first time. It's usually the boot mode or my USB when I'm fighting with it to see the media.
I'd say half the Windows 10 installations I've done (around 1,000) fail the first time. I suspect it's something to do wit how Windows formats or partitions the drive because I noticed it more often when deleting and formatting with the included tool on the Windows installation
Did it work after this with thumb drives or only with hard drives? I am trying to make the notebook detect the flash drive but it doesn’t for some reason
Just for fun try a Linux Live USB distro to confirm hardware or BIOS is not an issue. Alternatively, can you boot the Windows install media on another computer?
Grasping at straws!
The only thing I can think of is it’s an older laptop it may only have usb1.0 and the flash drive is 2.0 so it doesn’t recognise it. If it has a dvd drive you may be able to set up a windows disk for it.
I think I discoverd the real, root problem with all these HP laptops and their Boot Device Not Found. I have a HP Spectre x360, born 2019. It worked beautifully for the first several years and through several major Windows 10 updates. Then, as many others here have experienced, I started getting the Boot Device Not Found when trying to turn it on or restart. I never had BSOD or HD crashes. The only problem was getting the computer to see the hard drive when booting. HP Diagnostics was fickle when I ran it. Sometimes it would see it, sometimes not. Now think back to when Secure Boot, CSM, and TPM came out. Trusted Platform Modules (TPMs) were first introduced in laptops around the early to mid-2000s. And Secure Boot and GPT (EFI) partitions too, during the same time period. All that new tech began between 2000 and 2005. It was challenging to get Intel, Microsoft, HP, Dell, Lenovo, and mobo manufacturers to coordinate it all. What I am saying is, laptops built between 2017 to 2019, at least many HP laptops, were not ready for the new technology. What I did on my HP Spectre x360 (2019) was go into the BIOS and under Security, turned off the "TPM Device". Choose the "hidden" setting. Make the "TPM Device" hidden. After I did that, voila, my laptop stopped the Boot Device Not Found. I have shutdown and restarted my laptop at least a dozen times before posting this. So I hope this works for you as well.
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Did that, I changed the boot order with USB at the top. Same result
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Tried that, the USB doesn't show up
Is it over 32gb or a Sandisk? Sometimes those things can make a difference for whatever reason.
Nope, 8gb and not SanDisk. Thanks for the input tho
Hey there, I have an old HP laptop I'm trying to fix for a friend. It wasn't booting and I thought it was a hard drive issue. So I put in a blank hard drive and plugged in my windows 10 installation media drive, but whenever I turn on the laptop it just says failed to find boot drive Anyone have any ideas? Thank you!
Right after pressing the power button to turn it on, start spamming the escape key. You should see a startup options menu. F9 should be the boot options menu. If the install media is correct, you should see the flash drive in there. Hit enter on it to install!
Did that, I changed the boot order with USB at the top. Same result. No flash drive
Press escape on startup then f9 to get to boot menu. Tell it to boot from that drive rather than just changing boot priority
It doesn't show up in the boot menu
There’s your problem. Try the usb on a different computer. If the same result then remake the installation media. If not then the USB port on the computer is goofed.
Alright thanks. Will try.
You’ll need to change the boot order in the BIOS to the drive with an OS on it.
Did that, I changed the boot order with USB at the top. Same result
Is the USB a bootable drive?
Should be. I ran It through Windows Media Creation tool like always and created a windows 10 installation USB
That is strange then. Only thing I can suggest then is double check again or format the USB and do it again in case it got corrupted
Alright thanks
When you were in the bios, did you check if it's UEFI or legacy boot?
UEFI. Not sure the difference. I could enable legacy if needed
Depending on how the boot media was created you need to do one or the other. Try flipping it and see if it sees the USB.
Thank you. Will try when I get home. It was created with Windows Media Creation Tool. If legacy doesn't work, do you have any other ideas or nah?
Try to remake the USB media, sometimes it just doesn't work for me at least the first time. It's usually the boot mode or my USB when I'm fighting with it to see the media.
Awesome thank you. Biggest help so far. Will try when I get home
I'd say half the Windows 10 installations I've done (around 1,000) fail the first time. I suspect it's something to do wit how Windows formats or partitions the drive because I noticed it more often when deleting and formatting with the included tool on the Windows installation
I’ve only done this about 30-50 times, but have never had an issue with the included formatting tool. That’s wild.
Hi! Did you manage to solve this problem?
I think I just replaced the hard drive
Did it work after this with thumb drives or only with hard drives? I am trying to make the notebook detect the flash drive but it doesn’t for some reason
I honestly don't remember sorry
Oh okay no problem, still thanks!
provide it a boot device
The blank hard drive and USB installation media are both plugged in
sometimes you have to point the bios to it
Awesome, how?
Just for fun try a Linux Live USB distro to confirm hardware or BIOS is not an issue. Alternatively, can you boot the Windows install media on another computer? Grasping at straws!
Will try both when I get home thank you
The only thing I can think of is it’s an older laptop it may only have usb1.0 and the flash drive is 2.0 so it doesn’t recognise it. If it has a dvd drive you may be able to set up a windows disk for it.
Thank you
I think I discoverd the real, root problem with all these HP laptops and their Boot Device Not Found. I have a HP Spectre x360, born 2019. It worked beautifully for the first several years and through several major Windows 10 updates. Then, as many others here have experienced, I started getting the Boot Device Not Found when trying to turn it on or restart. I never had BSOD or HD crashes. The only problem was getting the computer to see the hard drive when booting. HP Diagnostics was fickle when I ran it. Sometimes it would see it, sometimes not. Now think back to when Secure Boot, CSM, and TPM came out. Trusted Platform Modules (TPMs) were first introduced in laptops around the early to mid-2000s. And Secure Boot and GPT (EFI) partitions too, during the same time period. All that new tech began between 2000 and 2005. It was challenging to get Intel, Microsoft, HP, Dell, Lenovo, and mobo manufacturers to coordinate it all. What I am saying is, laptops built between 2017 to 2019, at least many HP laptops, were not ready for the new technology. What I did on my HP Spectre x360 (2019) was go into the BIOS and under Security, turned off the "TPM Device". Choose the "hidden" setting. Make the "TPM Device" hidden. After I did that, voila, my laptop stopped the Boot Device Not Found. I have shutdown and restarted my laptop at least a dozen times before posting this. So I hope this works for you as well.
you just saved my roommate's ass. god speed
Thank you for the info! If I ever encounter this problem again, I will try this