Server 2012 installation proble at Optiplex 3070 pc

[Mehammed]

Hi all,

I've manged to get myself into a mess installing Server 2012 R2 and I'm at a loss where to turn for advice.

Got a brand new Dell OptiPlex 3070 with 4 Gb of Ram. It's a PC that I wanted to use as a relatively cheap file server.

I've installed Win Server but the PC won't now boot from the HD.

It will only boot from the same USB I installed from - which means it starts the install process again. When I remove the USB the startup process tells me "No bootable devices found".

What am I missing????

Can you please help?

[jthompson]

Are the PC's boot options set to use legacy boot mode (i.e. BIOS)?

[3s-gtech]

Has the internal disk been removed from the boot order?

[Jcx500]

What shows up on the boot menu , is there something call windows boot manager

[3s-gtech]

Is that all that shows? You may have to enable other boot devices but I’m not familiar with the UEFI on these. I’d hope that it doesn’t need to be in legacy mode but might be a way to check.

[Protec]

@Mehammed

 

I had this happen to me on a Dell machine. Here is what I wrote on this Forum at the time:

 

Re-installed Windows 10 today as I was installing an SSD in place of the old HDD. When the installation was almost done, the computer was booting to the SSD but saying that the boot device had failed which is strange. Rather than the installation just continuing like normal, for some reason, I had to run the "repair" option on the installation menu and select "continue to Windows 10". I've never had to do that before but eventually it was all up and running as it should.

 

Hope this helps.

[jthompson]

We have some older Dell machines that we have to deploy Windows to using BIOS rather than UEFI. After the initial installation, the boot fails citing no bootable devices. Setting the boot mode to UEFI, attempting a boot, then reverting back to BIOS mode again gets the OS booting okay from that point on. An OptiPlex 3070 shouldn't need legacy boot mode enabled, though.

 

Perhaps worth checking whether the bootable USB is formatted with GPT or with MBR (i.e. is it formatted for UEFI devices or for BIOS?). You'll be able to determine that by plugging it into another Windows computer, opening Computer Management > Storage > Disk Management > right-click on the disk label (where it says it's "Online") > Properties > Volumes > Partition style. I should think you'll want GPT, with your OptiPlex 3070 set to have legacy boot options disabled and secure boot turned on.

[Oaktech]

Is it an NVME drive as I've had issues with anything older than 2016 not botting of NVME on dell hardware