Lenovo laptop won't boot from DVD to clean install

[TheJTrain]

Background:
Lenovo G580 laptop with OEM Win8 pre-installed
Updated to Win8.1
Did the free in-place upgrade to Win10, it's activated/genuine

Problem:
Trying to do a clean install with DVD burned from MSFT Media Creation Tool
Can get to the Boot Menu / BIOS by using the special Lenovo button, and I've put the DVD drive as the highest boot priority, and when I try to restart to boot from the DVD, I can hear it spin up and it sounds like it's going to boot from the DVD, but I never see any kind of "press any key to boot from CD" prompt that I've seen with prior versions of Windows boot discs, and it eventually just boots into the Win10 that's on the HDD.

I've been able to do this kind of thing on DIY desktop systems but this is the first time trying on a laptop (my son's), and I'm not sure what else to try at this point.

Help appreciated!
JT

 

[MustISO]

Take a look at the secure boot options in the BIOS. I've always had issues trying to boot a DVD if secure boot is enabled or the legacy devices are disabled.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Did you burn the disc with the laptop? It's possible that your drive is having problems with reading the media. Can it read the windows 8 dvd or any other disc you insert?

 

[TheJTrain]

Thanks guys - when I'm in Windows I can browse/explore the files that are on the media, so it seems like the machine is capable of reading it ok. I think I do recall seeing in the BIOS that Secure Boot was enabled, but I wasn't sure what that was really about, so I didn't touch it. I'll try disabling it and see if it'll boot from the DVD then.

JT

 

[TheJTrain]

Well I found the Secure Boot option but the BIOS wouldn't let me arrow down to it to select/change it directly. But I changed the boot process from "UEFI" to "Legacy OS Support", and that seemed to then set Secure Boot to disabled. Unfortunately that didn't seem to help, as it still behaved the same way, the DVD spins up like it's being read, but nothing happens and it ends up booting into the HDD-installed Win10.

I even tried the Advanced Startup Options inside Win10's Settings, where it gave me the same list of choices that I saw in the BIOS, I selected the DVD drive, but, same behavior.

I then tried to just launch the Setup.exe file that's on the DVD, without literally booting from the DVD, and that seemed to successfully launch the setup/install process. It even warned me that if I install Win10 in that way, that I wouldn't be able to revert back to Win8.1 (presumably because it would wipe out the Windows.old folder where it's stored). I haven't gone through with it, but wanted to mention it in case anyone's done an OS install like that before. My preference would be to be able to boot from the DVD so that I can re-partition the drive for a true wipe/clean install experience, but I'm not sure this will let me do that.

JT

 

[vailr]

Try this:
1. Download the .iso file from MS.
2. Use an 8 Gb USB thumb drive & Rufus (free 3rd-party software) to create a bootable installation media.
3. Boot from the USB thumb drive and install Win10. Completely delete all existing hard drive partitions & create all new partitions using the Windows installation setup process.

 

[Ketchup]

Could be due to fast startup. Turn it off and see if things go better.
http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/4189-fast-startup-turn-off-windows-10-a.html

 

[TheJTrain]

I turned off Fast Startup, but that didn't seem to help. But then I noticed, that although in the main BIOS the DVD drive shows up in the boot priority list (& I can move it to the top), it is missing from the "Boot Menu" (which is accessed as another option instead of going into the BIOS). The only selections in the Boot Menu are:
1) Windows Boot Manager
2) HDD
3) PCI LAN
(I took a couple of pictures, didn't realize I couldn't post them)

Could that mean that the Boot Menu is looking at each device for "bootability" and it's not a bootable DVD? I burned it right from the ISO provided by the MSFT Media Creation Tool.

I'm off to try using the same ISO on a USB via Rufus - I've never booted off of a thumb drive before, this will be interesting. If I plug in the USB I wonder if it'll show up in the Boot Menu.

 

[Puffnstuff]

It should appear in the menu of selectable drives. I've used the thumb drive method a couple of times and it works well.

 

[Ketchup]

+1 for the thumb drive method. Sure it may bypass the DVD issue, but it's lot faster.

Also, now that Fast Startup is disabled, you should see access to a boot menu right after post, which will tell you if your DVD drive is an available option.

 

[TheJTrain]

Finally! After seemingly bricking a thumb drive when Rufus threw an error halfway through its process, I was able to recover the thumb drive on the target PC and moved my ISO and Rufus there, where it successfully created the bootable USB, and the PC successfully booted from it and I've got a clean Win10 install now.

Thanks all!
JT

 

[Raduque]

I've found burned CDs/DVDs to be largely unreliable as boot devices on newer PCs. Glad to see you got it working with a USB drive - I only use USB drives to clean install OSes these days.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Exit Menu - Enable "OS optimized" for UEFI aware systems / OS installs.

 

[allisolm]

Be aware that this is an 18-month old thread revived by a spammer.

 

[corkyg]

Further, OP clearly stated the problem was resolved in post 11, so in my world, everything after that is irrelevant and can be ignored.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Further, OP clearly stated the problem was resolved in post 11, so in my world, everything after that is irrelevant and can be ignored.

That's cool. I just stumble across what I posted on a regular basis while supporting Lenovo laptops and workstations.

 

[XSoldier77X]

Background:
Lenovo G580 laptop with OEM Win8 pre-installed
Updated to Win8.1
Did the free in-place upgrade to Win10, it's activated/genuine

Problem:
Trying to do a clean install with DVD burned from MSFT Media Creation Tool
Can get to the Boot Menu / BIOS by using the special Lenovo button, and I've put the DVD drive as the highest boot priority, and when I try to restart to boot from the DVD, I can hear it spin up and it sounds like it's going to boot from the DVD, but I never see any kind of "press any key to boot from CD" prompt that I've seen with prior versions of Windows boot discs, and it eventually just boots into the Win10 that's on the HDD.

I've been able to do this kind of thing on DIY desktop systems but this is the first time trying on a laptop (my son's), and I'm not sure what else to try at this point.

Help appreciated!
JT

Know it's solved but it could be because of your drive settings in the BIOS. either that, or your drive's acting up. An alternative for the time being would be to rip the iso or download it from the internet. then use rufus or poweriso to burn that thing onto your usb. should be 8GB or more. then set your USB to be the primary boot device to bypass your drive and boot directly from usb.