Windows 11 Clean Install - Fails at 77% - On a machine that is currently running Windows 11 - Argggh!

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Windows 11 Clean Install - Fails at 77% - On a machine that is currently running Windows 11 - Argggh!

Dale Hays 40

RE: Windows 11 Clear Install: Failure at 77% completion on a machine that has been running Windows 11 since it was released!

I've been using MS Windows since the very first version - so we're talking 40 years. It is hard to imagine this type of failure I've been wallowing in for the last 10 hours - no error messages, no recovery options, a terrible installation experience to say the least.

Attempting a clean install on an Asus ROG machine that has been running flawlessly on both Windows 10 and then upgraded to Windows 11. I run it daily on Windows 11 - for at least a year with zero issues - none! So, there are no issues with the hardware, disks, etc..
Today, I need to create a clean install of Windows 11 for some QC work - so we can test and release a software update. The install fails every time - I'm totally hosed at the moment - and not happy about it!
Created a boot USB flash (two different USB sticks), started the install - it gets to 77% every time, then mentions a reboot and then fails with the infamous "Windows 11 Installation Failed". Hard to believe (given all the posts on social media of this very issue) that this is an acceptable failure message for a critical install. Who the heck wrote this install?
The machine has 4 drives - two of them are already running Windows 11 - I can boot off of either drive with no issue. (On board NVMe drives)
I have attempted to do the same clean install on 3 different drive types: NVMe (one that has been running Windows 11 without any issues). A SSD 1TB drive and even a 1TB spindle drive.
I receive the same errors at the same installation point. There is no recourse, once it fails you have to start over . . . only to have it fail once again.
I first delete all partitions on the drive, the install remakes the 3 partitions without a problem.
Machine: The BIOS is updated, the firmware on the NVM drives is up to date, the BOOT settings are correct (as noted by various posts), etc..
Everything on this machine works FINE with Windows 11 . . . except a new/clean install to a wiped drive.
Motherboard: ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Dar Hero, 64 Gigs Ram, NVidia Quadro graphics card, etc.
Again -- zero issues with the Windows 11 install that was an upgrade to Windows 10.

This is an extremely frustrating experience - a complete waste of my time. In researching the issue, there are countless examples of similar problems . . . with ZERO definitive answers as to WHAT exactly is the root cause and how to fix it. All sorts of posts about checking for bad drives, BIOS setup, bad memory, etc... None of those apply to my machine and I believe they are wild good chasses from a support perspective.

What exactly is the problem, how do we identify it and how the heck do we get it fixed? I'm currently stepping back to the original Windows 10 ISO that I built this machine with - which is another complete waste of my time!

Dale Hays 40 Reputation points

2025-04-03T15:06:36.7533333+00:00

Hard to imagine the suggestions posted below . . . looks to me like it was done by an AI Driven BOT and not by somebody who actually read the details of my post. I didn't need to hear all about Windows 11 hardware compatibility when the machine has been running Windows 11 for over a year with no issues! Sending me a "canned reply" to show that a case was handled is a waste of your and my time. Please pass this onto somebody who can read and understand the details of what I initially posted.
Marcin K 0 Reputation points

2026-03-10T10:52:06.72+00:00

OMG I have same problem, same MB. I was fighting few days already. Every time 77% then'Windows will restart now' then error appears. I will try now disable SATA drivers and set RUFUS to FAT32 file system not NTFS, I hope I can get it works. Also slot nr 2 NVMe works fine - I was able to install Win 11 but slot 1 (close top CPU) NVMe makes the issue for me.

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Dale Hays 40 Reputation points

2025-04-03T15:06:36.7533333+00:00

Hard to imagine the suggestions posted below . . . looks to me like it was done by an AI Driven BOT and not by somebody who actually read the details of my post. I didn't need to hear all about Windows 11 hardware compatibility when the machine has been running Windows 11 for over a year with no issues! Sending me a "canned reply" to show that a case was handled is a waste of your and my time. Please pass this onto somebody who can read and understand the details of what I initially posted.
Marcin K 0 Reputation points

2026-03-10T10:52:06.72+00:00

OMG I have same problem, same MB. I was fighting few days already. Every time 77% then'Windows will restart now' then error appears. I will try now disable SATA drivers and set RUFUS to FAT32 file system not NTFS, I hope I can get it works. Also slot nr 2 NVMe works fine - I was able to install Win 11 but slot 1 (close top CPU) NVMe makes the issue for me.

Answer 1

Here is what the technical problem really is:

My ASUS ROG Crosshair VIII Dark Hero motherboard has support for dual NVMe on-board drives as well as a bunch of SATA drives.
The Windows Installer (both 10 and 11) has issues with knowing how to deal with these multiple-drive configurations. It seems it doesn't know how to setup the machine to reboot correctly.
I wanted to build a new Windows 11 drive on a new SSD SATA drive - that was not possible.
So, I cloned one of the NVMe drives to the SATA drive (using EaseUS), then in the BIOS, turned off SATA Support. This was done so that I had a backup of my main OS drive.
When I then went into either Windows 10 or Windows 11 to do a clean install (on the second NVMe drive that I had just backed up/cloned), it now knows how to setup the reboot (to continue the installation) and completes as it should. I completed the install (with multiple reboots) - everything was successful.
After this, I went to the BIOS and enabled the SATA drives once more and rebooted - this brought the SATA drives back online. After the reboot, the new OS recognized the SATA drives as it should.
Bottom Line: The Windows install recognizes these SATA drives (and the NVMe) drives, you can do things like delete old partitions, etc.. You can select them to install the OS and you'll have failures like I had (and a lot of other people had).
Poor User Feedback: The Windows 11 install tells you nothing about the problem - all you get is a "Windows 11 installation failed" - with no appropriate message/feedback to the user. This is a ridiculous way to handle and report errors. You KNOW why you failed the installation (at least what you were going to do next) - you should at least communicate the problem back to the installer. I spent 2 days figuring this out - with no viable answers coming from Microsoft. Most of their suggested fixes to the many people who've had this issue were all related to checking out the disks, memory, BIOS, etc (for Windows 11 compatibility) -- they did NOT point the user in the right direction.
Fix: Microsoft needs to revamp its installation/setup programs to AT LEAST give better feedback to the user. If you are NOT compatible with multi-drive type systems, then say so. Heck, I couldn't even install the OS on one of the NVMe drives - whenever the SATA drives were enabled. Also, the folks in technical support need to be a LOT more versed in issues like this and not send folks down wild goose chases . . . in completely wrong directions in many cases.

jeff mercer 0 Reputation points

2025-05-21T02:39:06.3066667+00:00

I had the same issue as you with installation failing at 77%. Make sure you don't have any small partitions on your USB stick. I had a 1 MB partition that you didn't see in Windows, but it showed up in Windows Disk Management. I followed these instructions here on this YouTube using Rufus to set up my USB installation media. The guy talks later about installing Linux, but you can ignore that portion.

I only selected List USB because it shows other USB Drives that could be hidden.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=H6ELw0ZSvqw

You can also find others with this same issue here on this Reddit page and how it worked for them.

https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupport/comments/1g87abm/windows_11_installation_has_failed/

Edit. It seems, according to the Reddit thread, Rufus defaults to NTFS, and I did see that even though I attempted to make it FAT32 when setting it initially.
Pedro Gonçalves 0 Reputation points

2025-06-17T19:34:56.5333333+00:00

Thanks, I was having the same issue and disabling the secondary hard drive in the BIOS worked!
Alex d 0 Reputation points

2025-09-15T11:19:39.38+00:00

Ohh god thank you!!! You saved me. Ive checked literally everything…

turning off sata drives in bios helped!!

f*ck windows installer. Even arch installation goes smoother.

ive had multiple drives and installed second windows instance in a newly added nvme and the windows decided to use old windows’ bootloader. It fucked up nvme installation after wiping old instance. What a journey. Fuck!!!
T C 20 Reputation points

2025-11-22T21:23:11.5433333+00:00

Wow, ROG board, EaseUs cloned drives with multiple versions of Windows on different drives, AND you’ve been using Windows since the 90s… I think I just found my long lost twin brother. I’m having the exact same right now.

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Windows 11 Clean Install - Fails at 77% - On a machine that is currently running Windows 11 - Argggh!

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