Install Windows 8 (rather reinstall windows 8.1 on OEM hardware)
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I spent the better part of 4 hours trying to get a brand new Lenovo Thinkpad S1 Yoga to boot from a USB drive so I could install fresh copy of Windows 8.1 without all of Lenovo's extra junk.
I did make it into the UEFI/BIOS and disabled SECURE BOOT.
Eventually I found some information that UEFI won't boot from NTFS formatted devices. Those same instructions told me to simply copy the contents of the Windows 8.1 install USB drive to my computer, reformat the USB stick as FAT32, then copy the contents back. I wasn't sure this would really work as I'm not putting a bootloader on the USB stick - but I tried it in another older machine and it worked just fine (odd - but whatever).
Even with FAT32, the system would still not boot - the choice a device UEFI/BIOS screen let me pick my USB device, it would try and then end up right back there.
Hubtech suggested that I try a different brand of USB stick. I was using Sandisk, he suggested specifically Kingston. I dug around for a few mins and came up with an eight gig stick. Formatted FAT32, copied the contents from the other drive to this one, TADA - it booted!
Thought I'd share this story with you guys.
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These are the kind of issues that really suck. You have to spend hours on something that should be really easy. I've been there done that plenty of times.
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been there, done that. didn't even get a t-shirt
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Dealing with UEFI is definitely a huge pain compared to the ol' BIOS.
From a potential security benefit, I guess this is better, but I'm not sure where else? faster boot times?
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Really odd...does the Sandisk have U3 on it by chance? I've seen that cause boot issues.
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@ajstringham I would like to know too.
First thing I do when I get a flash drive is to move the contents to a folder on my PC. That way I have a plain drive and I still have the crap it came with if I ever need it.
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Nope no U3 on it... and like @technobabble I delete anything on the drives before use.
