Member Avatar for jemz

hello can you please help me what should be the first boot device or the primary

because i am going to reformat my P.C..hoping for your positive responds..thank you in
advance...

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As and already touched on, the device you set to boot first should match what you want the PC to do right now (install, repair or run the installed OS). The short, practical guidance below fills in common gaps and avoids mistakes that can cost time or data.

Before you reformat

  • Back up everything you need and record any product keys or driver installers you might need afterward.
  • Test your install media on another machine or recreate the USB/DVD if it fails to boot.
  • If you plan to install an older Windows (for example XP) on newer hardware, be ready to supply SATA/AHCI drivers during setup or temporarily change the controller mode on the motherboard; otherwise the installer may not see the drive.

Common BIOS/UEFI gotchas

  • Modern systems use UEFI and Secure Boot. Installing older OSes may require switching to Legacy/CSM or turning Secure Boot off, or creating media with the correct partition scheme (GPT vs MBR).
  • To avoid the bootloader ending up on the wrong disk, unplug other internal drives while installing or make sure the target disk is the one the installer writes to.
  • If the installer cannot find the disk, confirm the motherboard sees the drive in its storage menu and be prepared to load manufacturer storage drivers.

After setup and troubleshooting

  • Return the system to normal after a successful install so the internal OS drive is the regular boot target (this reduces boot delays and prevents accidental boots from removable media).
  • If Windows will not boot, use the recovery/repair tools to rebuild the boot record or run startup repair.

This complements the answers above and focuses on the practical steps and pitfalls people commonly miss when changing the boot device for a reinstall.

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Member Avatar for gerbil

Hello, jemz, one usually sets it as the hdd that you will install your OS to. When you enter BIOS [by pressing the Delete key] there will be a selection in there at the boot menu page. Your boot disk, if IDE, should be Primary. If you have been using the sys successfully and have not made any hardware changes then there should be no need to bother with this.
When starting your system in order to run Setup [installation pgm] it is best if you use the BIOS one time Boot Menu - it differs with machines but you generally enter it with F2 F8 or F11 key press [your BIOS front page should tell you which], select your cd drive and away you go.

Edited by gerbil because: n/a
Member Avatar for jemz

Hello, jemz, one usually sets it as the hdd that you will install your OS to. When you enter BIOS [by pressing the Delete key] there will be a selection in there at the boot menu page. Your boot disk, if IDE, should be Primary. If you have been using the sys successfully and have not made any hardware changes then there should be no need to bother with this.
When starting your system in order to run Setup [installation pgm] it is best if you use the BIOS one time Boot Menu - it differs with machines but you generally enter it with F2 F8 or F11 key press [your BIOS front page should tell you which], select your cd drive and away you go.

Hello sir thank you for the reply,sir you mean the primary is HDD not the DVDrom?am i correct sir?please help me, hoping for your positive responds...

Member Avatar for Biker920

Quote of gerbil's post >>When starting your system in order to run Setup [installation pgm] it is best if you use the BIOS one time Boot Menu - it differs with machines but you generally enter it with F2 F8 or F11 key press [your BIOS front page should tell you which], select your cd drive and away you go.<< substitute DVD ROM in place of CD Drive. Later---

Member Avatar for jemz

Quote of gerbil's post >>When starting your system in order to run Setup [installation pgm] it is best if you use the BIOS one time Boot Menu - it differs with machines but you generally enter it with F2 F8 or F11 key press [your BIOS front page should tell you which], select your cd drive and away you go.<< substitute DVD ROM in place of CD Drive. Later---

hello sir thank you for the reply,okay sir it's the cd drive...thank you sir i will write again if i have doubt..more power to you all sir...thank you for helping me...

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