uffbros Posted December 8, 2018 Share Posted December 8, 2018 I rarely do a Win 7 clean install anymore. Today I had to do just that for a co-worker who's machine only has 2GB ram and a slow Atom processor. I decided Win 10 was not for this machine as is. I get one of my USB Thumb drives and use Rufus to make me a Win 7 USB install drive. The only option for a MBR install file system was NTFS. I continued and made the bootable flash drive. I put in in the machine to wipe and when I boot from it I selected the flash drive but it only offered me to boot from the Win 7 that was already on it??? So I go back to my computer and use another program and I tell it to use Fat32 when creating the same Install USB. Guess what..It worked. I have never have had Rufus let me down. My question is: Why didn't the NTFS work? Fat 32 I realize has to be the file system for a UEFI/GPT install but thats not the case here. So what file system does a MBR install of Win 7 do I have to use and why didn't Rufus figure this out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The AchieVer Posted December 9, 2018 Share Posted December 9, 2018 The UEFI does not recognize the USB if it is formatted in anything other than FAT32 and RUFUS only formats to NTFS and if you change the format settings, it will give an error and then goes back to NTFS. Most USB boot sticks are formatted as NTFS, which includes those created by the Microsoft Store Windows USB/DVD download tool. UEFI systems (such as Windows8)can't boot from an NTFS device, only FAT32. Therefore you need to create a bootable USB device that's formatted as FAT32 instead, then copy the contents of the Windows installation media to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uffbros Posted December 9, 2018 Author Share Posted December 9, 2018 But if you read what I said in the first post....Windows 7 MBR install can take NTFS file system...Correct? My scenario is for a Windows 7 MBR install. I know Win 8 and on takes a Fat 32 UEFI/GPT if the BIOS has that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The AchieVer Posted December 9, 2018 Share Posted December 9, 2018 3 hours ago, uffbros said: But if you read what I said in the first post....Windows 7 MBR install can take NTFS file system...Correct? As you are aware of this , the Master Boot Record (MBR) and the GUID Partition Table (GPT) are partition table types; they're ways to encode the start and end points of partitions, as well as other partition metadata. They are not file systems. I don't know of any differences between the way Windows 7 and Windows 10 create or manage NTFS; however, there is one difference that Windows 8 and later implement a feature called Fast Startup, in which a shutdown operation becomes a suspend-to-disk operation. This results in filesystem data structures being left in an inconsistent state. 3 hours ago, uffbros said: My scenario is for a Windows 7 MBR install. Change Boot Mode If the Motherboard Supports to Both Legacy and UEFI Boot and see if it helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icow Posted December 9, 2018 Share Posted December 9, 2018 9 hours ago, uffbros said: So I go back to my computer and use another program and I tell it to use Fat32 when creating the same Install USB. Guess what..It worked. I have never have had Rufus let me down. My question is: Why didn't the NTFS work? Fat 32 I realize has to be the file system for a UEFI/GPT install but thats not the case here. So what file system does a MBR install of Win 7 do I have to use and why didn't Rufus figure this out? the HDD partition scheme on computer your friend is GPT, conversely when using rufus to make the USB bootable, you are use MBR schema. AFAIK. the latest version of Rufus does not automatically determine which bootable USB (MBR / GPT) will be generated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uffbros Posted December 9, 2018 Author Share Posted December 9, 2018 Good responses...The machine was a Windows 7 machine so it wouldn't have been GPT/UEFI it is Legacy/MBR so I would think you could have a flash drive that is NTFS like Rufus makes. It didn't see that drive. When I used another program it made the drive Fat32 and it worked. See what I am saying? With Legacy MBR your flash should be able to see Fat 32 or NTFS..It's the Win 8 and later that have UEFI Bios that you need Fat32 only for the flash drive install. Just trying to figure out why it had to be Fat32 to work on this Legacy Bios Win 7 system. I been doing this for many years and Rufus used to let you pick fat 32 or NTFS and it even let you pick an option where it can be for either/or..Anyone remember that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icow Posted December 9, 2018 Share Posted December 9, 2018 22 minutes ago, uffbros said: Just trying to figure out why it had to be Fat32 to work on this Legacy Bios Win 7 system the answer is simple ... because the partition scheme used on HDD your friend is GPT. moreover you can check disk management PC your friend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uffbros Posted December 9, 2018 Author Share Posted December 9, 2018 @Icow..I'm not trying to argue with you..But my co-workers machine was Windows 7 with MBR scheme not GPT. It was factory MBR like 5 years ago..There was no UEFI/GPT when Windows 7 was on the computers from the factory,Acer in this case. Right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icow Posted December 9, 2018 Share Posted December 9, 2018 Oh, I'm sorry friend, but it's very strange if Fat32 works on a Legacy Bios Win 7 system (MBR scheme) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trufpal Posted December 9, 2018 Share Posted December 9, 2018 Some BIOS just outright refuse to boot from NTFS install media. This is particularly true for older system. Source: From my personal experience. It happened to me several times on various kind of systems in the past. I have no idea as to why Rufus formatted your drive as NTFS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The AchieVer Posted December 9, 2018 Share Posted December 9, 2018 18 minutes ago, trufpal said: Some BIOS just outright refuse to boot from NTFS install media. Well , then shouldn’t he try Change Boot Mode If the Motherboard Supports to Both Legacy and UEFI Boot and see if it helps. (Already stated above) Further, least some UEFI systems don't boot to NTFS USB thumb drives. These UEFI systems will only boot to FAT32 USB thumb drives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
straycat19 Posted December 9, 2018 Share Posted December 9, 2018 This is a common problem with Acer laptops, they will only boot from FAT32 formatted USB drives. There have been lots of posts on the internet about this problem. I have two Acers that are dedicated to controlling my phone system and they will only boot from FAT32 formatted drives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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