Save the date: Windows Office Hours - November 20, 2025
Save the date for our next monthly Windows Office Hours, on November 20 from 8:00-9:00a PT! We will have a broad group of product experts, servicing experts, and engineers representing Windows, Microsoft Intune, Configuration Manager, Windows 365, Windows Autopilot, security, public sector, FastTrack, and more. They will be standing by -- in chat -- to provide guidance, discuss strategies and tactics, and, of course, answer any specific questions you may have. For more details about how Windows Office Hours works, go to our Windows IT Pro Blog. If you can't make it at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time, post your questions on the Windows Office Hours: November 20th event page, up to 48 hours in advance.
Cannot Boot from Windows 11 USB Installation Media
So the story is a long one. I updated one of my Windows 10 PC's successfully to Windows 11 using the Rufus tool and all was well. What I hadn't noticed was that the previous Windows 10 install had for some strange reason put the Windows Boot Manager on another 'Data only' Solid State drive (presumably creating a small partition on it). The Windows 11 upgrade process left it there. A few days later my PC would not boot. I think I have tracked it down to the failed m.2 NVMe drive where the Boot Manager was. I installed the drive in a USB carrier but the whole drive was impossible to read. It looks dead. So I thought I would try booting from a Windows 11 USB drive - then from the repair tools try to use the Bootrec tools to fix the MBR on the actual proper Windows 11 installation C drive. I have not got to being able to do that as I just cannot get any Windows 11 USB drive to boot up I have tried the original Rufus generated drive (which incidently works fine on two other PC's I have), then tried Media Creator Tool with fresh USB drive from Microsoft sources. No luck. I have been in BIOS and checked Secure Boot UEFI is on. The CSM entry allows UEFI and Legacy. Its the same on PC's that can boot up. The BIOS was updated to latest from ASUS. No luck. When it starts up it appears it is going to boot, you get the ASUS logo then circle wait scroll - then it blue screens. Nothing. Can anyone suggest another way to get a proper Boot Manager on the Windows 11 drive installation?. Could I put that Windows 11 drive in another PC and then target it to add the necessary Boot manager (booting from a USB drive in the first place)? Basically that System C drive is fine - it has no Boot Record. If my original Windows 10 Pro install had not put the Boot Manager on a totally separate drive I would not have this issue. I even checked PSU rails in the system - all OK. At present I have run out of ideas. Anything anyone could suggest to get the USB to boot up would be welcomed. Motherboard is an older Z390A Prime system with Intel 9900K CPU.Best Text to Video AI Tool for Windows 11?
Have spent days on exploring AI tools that can help generate videos from text for my Windows 11 PC. I've heard of several text to video tools, but I'm unsure which one would offer the best features, ease of use, and compatibility with my system. I'm looking for something that can take a written script or description and turn it into a video, with options for visuals, animations, and voiceovers if possible. It would be great if the tool could also allow some customization in terms of style and quality. Could anyone recommend the best text to video AI tool for Windows 11? If you've used any tools that you found helpful, I'd appreciate hearing about your experiences, especially with their ease of use, features, and overall quality. Something that's beginner-friendly yet powerful enough to handle professional-level content creation. Thanks for your suggestions!
Not sure what to do to upgrade from 23h2 to 24h2 and other questions I have
I am well aware that next week is the end of support date for anyone in 23H2 (home editions), like myself. To be honest, the reasons I simply stayed on it are divided in "it looks like everything is working all right" (and all my cumulative updates installed quite nicely, not errors whatsoever), and "I have to back up my stuff first" (which is also the reason I am doing this very late, as I just recently was able to get an external drive). And, sure all the little negative things I read about 24h2 simply didn't make me trust in making a step to upgrade earlier this year.
endless repair loop at boot up
Can anyone help? Out of nowhere, overnight my PC went into the endless repair loop at boot up. I did all available methods in the Troubleshoot tab and more. All failed, roll back failed, restore failed, remove last update failed, start up repair failed, command prompt... SFC Scan etc steps completed and failed to fix, restore from image failed as all images disappeared, reset failed, tried to reinstall Windows 11 failed, will not allowed me to install Windows in any one of my 5 SSD. While I was trying to restore from Restore point or images, I could access all files inside all 5 of my SSD so I think the SSD drives are still good. Initially, it will not even let me restore back to my last 11/7 restore point but after I did the unplug and hold power button for 35+ seconds, I was able to restore back to 11/7 restore point but again the same automatic repair loop at boot up still not fixed, went right back to blue screen with Troubleshoot tab. Also gone through all of the above steps with an USB Windows boot up repair drive, still problem persists! Any anyone can share some idea? Aorus motherboard bad?
Problems with Win 11 install from Win 10 22h2, error 0x800700B7
I've been trying to upgrade from Win 10 pro to Win 11 pro with purchased software. I keep getting this error message, error 0x800700B7 -0x 1000A "The installation failed in the DOWNLEVEL phase with an error during Prepare_First_Boot operation." The install goes to 100% then fails with that error and the We've set your PC back the way it was before the failed installation message. I'm trying to upgrade as a solution to the fact My Win 10 pro 222h2 will not accept the October update. It keeps failing at 100%, taking well over 1/2 hour each time. Now it seems I am havig a similar problem for Win 11 pro. Does anyone have any suggestions? I've tried update troubleshooters and even some purchased software to repair My Win 10 installation, but nothing seems to make any difference. Thanks for your time.
Plagued by "Install Driver to Show Hardware" on fresh Windows 11 ISO
I've been plagued by the dreaded "Install Driver to Show Hardware" on my fresh windows 11 ISO (downloaded this morning) Specs: Gigabyte https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/Z890I-AORUS-ULTRA/support Intel 265K CPU 1TB Samsung NVME (boot) 2TB Samsung NVME (general storage) Intel B580 GPU I've tried every BIOS setting I can think of, resorting to default, updating to latest BIOS, downloading drivers from the support page. But I can't seem to get past this install screen. The drivers either show as unsupported, or don't induce any new behavior after forcing install. Executables show as "side by side configuration incorrect". I do not have another windows machine I can use the "Create windows installation media from". So I am stuck with the base ISO downloaded from Microsoft. I'm at a loss here - any debugging tips would be greatly appreciated.
