Windows 10: Installing on Intel Desktop Board DX79SR

Boy, did we get a lot of grief trying to get Windows 10 to install on an Intel Desktop Board DX79SR based system!

Windows Setup

Windows cannot be installed to this disk. This computer's hardware may not support booting to this disk. Ensure that the disk's controller is enabled in the computer's BIOS menu.

Some pointers:

• Windows 10 DX79SR Raid (thread 109296)
• Problems with intel (sic) DX79sr running windows (sic) 10 (thread 83709)

Neither post is available for comment thus this blog post plus a new discussion on the Intel Communities site: Windows 10 on Intel Desktop Board DX79SR.

What finally worked:

1. Set up RAID in RSTe (CTRL+I)
2. Set BIOS Boot Mode to UEFI
3. Plug in ISO mount type enclosure with Win10 ISO mounted (we use StarTech S2510BU3ISO)
4. NOTE: I had to use the USB2 ports as the USB3 ports did not power the enclosure during boot
5. F10 during POST
6. Choose DVDROM - UEFI (name may vary)
7. Click through and choose ADVANCED Setup
8. Click on the RAID array logical disk for the OS
   1. NOTE: If any MBR partitions exist they need to be cleaned prior to this step
   2. Use DiskPart in Repair --> CMD
9. Click NEXT

That should do it!

Philip Elder
Microsoft High Availability MVP
MPECS Inc.
Co-Author: SBS 2008 Blueprint Book
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Twitter: @MPECSInc