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I have a new build (specs below) which is currently running Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS.

  • motherboard: GIGABYTE B760M AORUS ELITE AX (manual)
  • GPU: ASRock Radeon RX 6700 XT Challenger D
  • CPU: Intel Core i7-12700KF
  • RAM: OLOy Blade (OLOY) 64GB (2 x 32GB) 288-Pin PC RAM DDR5 6400

I've been trying to install Windows 11 by making a bootable USB flash drive but no matter what I try it won't make it through setup. It begins, I select language and keyboard region, press "Install now", it shows "Setup is starting", and then gives the warning message:

"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."

It seems there are a few suggested fixes, none of which work for me. This post resolved when the user ultimately made a bootable USB using Windows media creation tool, suggesting the method you burn the iso matters. I don't have access to a Windows PC to run the Windows media creation tool, but I tried multiple methods. After it first failed with Balena Etcher on a Mac, that caused me to install Ubuntu on the new machine and do it by command line with dd (the method here). But if there's another method I should try I'm open to it. If needed, maybe I could install a windows virtual machine in Ubuntu, and run the Windows media creation tool in the virtual machine? Or is there other third party software that I should try?

Another possibility is that it's some little USB communication driver issue and can be resolved by using a different USB port for the bootable USB flash drive. (which seemed to help at least one user here). I've tried a few USB ports, both USB 3 and USB 2, but no luck. I also updated the BIOS to the latest version with no change to the problem.

And finally it seems for some users they could resolve the problem by manually finding and downloading the correct driver from Microsoft, putting it on another USB flash drive and using that at the appropriate step of the setup process (see eg, videos here and here). But I have no idea what exact driver file I need, and neither of the files suggested in the linked cases worked for me.

Ubuntu is running fine and there don't seem to be any hardware issues. Any ideas what I should try next?

DavidPostill
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articpenguin
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3 Answers3

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Currently and since some years go it isn't possible to use the usual dd based tools to produce Windows installation media from the published Microsoft ISO files. Reason: The ISO files are non-standard, containing files with sizes that exceed the industry standard.

In any other Windows the installation media can be done easily with the officia Media Creation tool or Rufus. Neither can be used in other OSes.

In Debian/Ubuntu you can use MKUSB that also briefly discusses the aforementioned issue and the workarounds used in the script. I've tested and it works even when the final report indicates a (minor) error.

Nowadays my preference goes to Ventoy, a multi-boot tool to make bootable USB sticks containing one or more ISO files, as much as there's available space. Quoting:

Ventoy is an open source tool to create bootable USB drive for ISO/WIM/IMG/VHD(x)/EFI files. With ventoy, you don't need to format the disk over and over, you just need to copy the ISO/WIM/IMG/VHD(x)/EFI files to the USB drive and boot them directly. You can copy many files at a time and ventoy will give you a boot menu to select them. You can also browse ISO/WIM/IMG/VHD(x)/EFI files in local disks and boot them. x86 Legacy BIOS, IA32 UEFI, x86_64 UEFI, ARM64 UEFI and MIPS64EL UEFI are supported in the same way. Most types of OS supported (Windows/WinPE/Linux/ChromeOS/Unix/VMware/Xen...) 1100+ image files are tested (list), 90%+ distros in distrowatch.com supported (...)

Ventoy only requires an initial installation that can be done from any Linux, Windows or MacOS. Once done - the resulting media will have a main exFAT partition - just copy the ISO files there and yes, you can mix Windows and Linux and other installers (full list of the tested installers availbe in the website). It'll boot with a familiar (to you and any Linux user) GRUB menu from which you select the ISO - it always match the file name - and it boots the ISO directly and on the fly.

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ChanganAuto
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Windows assumes that ISO 9660/UDF filesystems can only be on optical discs. Such a filesystem on anywhere else, and the mount task short circuits.

Your only option is to resort to filesystems Windows can recognize when it is on a disk. Combined with the bootable partition requirement, the likely best filesystem choice is ... FAT32. The Windows image on the ISO, which Windows copies over to the partition of your choice when it installs itself, is too gigantic for FAT though, so you need a way to split that.

On Windows, Microsoft's media creator – obviously – will be able to handle this, and it will do it well. On Linux, you still have options:

  • Ventoy. Another answer already gave that, so I am not repeating it here.

  • WoeUSB. This is a bash script with a straightforward usage – feed it a Windows ISO and a block device and it just does the work, and you also get to keep your data:

    # woeusb --partition Win11.iso /dev/sdb1

  • bootiso also has support for Windows ISOs, though it wipes your USB drive's partition table as far as I can tell from its man pages.

    # bootiso -d /dev/sdX file.iso
mcendu
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I too tried everything you mentioned and it did not work.What did finally do the trick was to use Ventoy but the web version.

  1. Run the script: "sudo ./VentoyWeb.sh" and follow the on screen instructions.
  2. In the web page go to options and change the partition style to GPT ( most important step).
  3. Then just do the normal Ventoy setup.

Hope it works for anyone else.

AfarZ
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