Can't get Win10 installer to run (driver issues in installer?)

[atcodes]

Attached a photo of the error message that appears after the first screen of the installer.

I've successfully installed Mojave and now I'm attempting to setup a dual boot to Windows, but the installer is not happy.

To be specific, I've got all other drives, including the DVD drive, unplugged and only the SSD that I want to install windows onto is plugged in. I'm able to boot from my Win10 USB drive. The first screen is about language selection/etc, and after clicking Next, I click "Install now" and after a few seconds it shows the below error.

A media driver your computer needs is missing. This could be a DVD, USB or Hard disk driver. If you have a CD, DVD, or USB flash drive with the driver on it, please insert it now.

Note: If the installation media for Windows is in the DVD drive or on a USB drive, you can safely remove it for this step.

I have tried browsing the various drives listed in the browse dialog but it never finds anything. I've tried a couple of different editions of windows, different USB ports... I always get this message. Not sure what else to do. Who would have thought that installing windows would be so hard?!

 

[Going Bald]

When you hit the function key to select your USB drive to boot from, what are your options?
What option did you select?
Is CSM enabled or disabled?

 

[atcodes]

Thanks for the reply!

I'm attaching screen photos. CSM is enabled.

Boot menu shows only the USB stick and the drive onto which I want to install Windows. I've seen some advice around here that having other drives plugged in during the Windows install can be problematic, so I've started unplugging it during win install attempts.

If I try to boot the one that says only "Sandisk" (this is the usb stick) it goes to a black screen for a couple of seconds and then comes back to the boot menu. If I choose "UEFI: Sandisk, Partition 1" then it will boot into the windows installer, wherein I get as far as the photo in my OP.

I tried turning CSM off and installing, and got the same result as usual (missing driver).

 

[Going Bald]

OK, try this:
Boot the Win10 installer and at the screen your pic shows in the OP, Hit shift+F10 to open a command window.
type the following lines and hit enter after each line:

diskpart
list disk //it will show you a list of attached drives - find yours and make sure of the numbet at the far left. Also, note
whether there in an * under GPT in the far right column. If no * under GPT, do the convert. Say your drive
is disk 1
select disk 1 //it should echo with disk 1 selected
convert gpt // it should echo conversion complete
list disk // verify * in gpt column
create partition efi size=300 format fs=fat32 label="EFI"
create partition primary format fs=NTFS //it will let you know when format is complete
exit
exit
In the Win10 drive selection window, uncheck the box by the hide drivers. Click on rescan.
You should now have an EFI and primary partition showing up in your drive list to install Win10. Select the primary partition and click next.

 

[atcodes]

Ok, the steps above have been done.

I had to figure out how to remove the existing partitions, but that's done. Also the commands for diskpart didn't work exactly as you described. It wouldn't allow me to enter anything other than "create partition efi size=300" and "create partition primary". I tried exactly as you wrote it a couple of times and it always returned an error. The built in help listed only the size option, nothing about format or label. I left those off and was able to create my partitions.

With this done, I still wasn't able to find the drivers. I tried both "USB Drive (C: )" and "Boot (X: )"

 

[Going Bald]

Have you tried all of the other USB ports? Have you tried connecting the SSD to port 0 (P0 instead of P3)?

See also page 7 of your manual.

 

[atcodes]

I wouldn't mind moving connections around, as long as that's not going to mess up my OSX installation. Guess I'll try the USB ports first.

Here's hoping I can move the USB stick with the installer running instead of having to restart every time. I'll try the former first, and then the latter.

 

[atcodes]

I've moved the target drive for windows to P0 and I've tried booting from each of the (ugh) 11 usb ports, and still no luck. Exact same results with every permutation.

Was the manual page 7 referral for the SATA connector positions, or something else? My manual has the positions on page 19, so I'm wondering if I'm missing something from page 7.

 

[Going Bald]

I've moved the target drive for windows to P0 and I've tried booting from each of the (ugh) 11 usb ports, and still no luck. Exact same results with every permutation.

Was the manual page 7 referral for the SATA connector positions, or something else? My manual has the positions on page 19, so I'm wondering if I'm missing something from page 7.

I downloaded a manual from the Gigabyte site - page 7 was instructions for finding and installing drivers during the Windows installation process if it needed drivers before it could proceed.

 

[kylec]

Windows is booting up off the USB, but then can't read the USB drive once its booted. (If it were an SSD problem, that disktool stuff wouldn't have worked.)

I've had the "change ports midway" fix work for me before: https://www.auslogics.com/en/articl...issing-error-during-windows-10-clean-install/

The USB 2 ports are the ones that *should* work no matter what. It looks like your board still has some.

You can leave CSM disabled, since if you boot the installer with UEFI (which you are), then it will install as UEFI. BIOS options having to do with USB might also help you. It may be that you switched one for your Mojave, and it needs to be temporarily switched back for the Win10 install.