Windows 10 Preview on Surface Pro 3

[hughlle]

Make sure your boot drive is formatted as FAT32 and not NTFS.

Thanks. if fat32 required for boot from usb?

 

[wynand32]

Thanks. if fat32 required for boot from usb?

Yep, UEFI requires FAT32 to boot via USB.

 

[malberttoo]

Thanks. if fat32 required for boot from usb?

No, the USB boot drive can be formatted either Fat32 or NTFS to make it bootable. That being said, I'd go with Fat32.

 

[hughlle]

Yep, UEFI requires FAT32 to boot via USB.

that explains a lot i had just left rufus to do its own thing when creating the drive.

 

[wynand32]

No, the USB boot drive can be formatted either Fat32 or NTFS to make it bootable. That being said, I'd go with Fat32.

Hmm, are you sure? Everything I've read indicates that UEFI requires FAT32. Certainly, no NTFS-formatted USB has ever booted my SP3.

 

[wynand32]

For example: http://blogs.technet.com/b/askcore/...ng-bootable-usb-drive-for-uefi-computers.aspx

"UEFI based systems such as the Surface Pro or other UEFI systems require that the boot files reside on FAT32 partition. If they are not FAT32 the system may not see the device as bootable."

Edit: Just realized that my quote isn't clear, even though the article is. This is referring just to USB drives, not to the local drive.

 

[malberttoo]

Hmm, are you sure? Everything I've read indicates that UEFI requires FAT32. Certainly, no NTFS-formatted USB has ever booted my SP3.

You are totally correct, UEFI requires Fat32.

I misunderstand his question and thought he was asking if the drive had to be Fat32 just to make it bootable.

 

[wynand32]

You are totally correct, UEFI requires Fat32.

I misunderstand his question and thought he was asking if the drive had to be Fat32 just to make it bootable.

To me, the really interesting part of this is: why, exactly? It's never made any sense that NTFS isn't supported here.

 

[malberttoo]

To me, the really interesting part of this is: why, exactly? It's never made any sense that NTFS isn't supported here.

Something nebulous in the standard or specs no doubt, as Technet says it may not be seen as bootable, but doesn't actually come out and say it won't work. I'm still going to do it Fat32, unless I was in the mood to play around with it...

 

[leeshor]

that explains a lot i had just left rufus to do its own thing when creating the drive.

Rufus has always formatted my drives as FAT32 by default but it may be due to the size of the drives.

 

[hughlle]

Rufus has always formatted my drives as FAT32 by default but it may be due to the size of the drives.

it is a 32gb usb 3.0 stick. My only 4gb one is a touch on the slow side.

 

[leeshor]

The last one I formatted with Rufus was 32GB and it did FAT32. I don't remember if I did anything special. It's possible I may have actually done that one with Easy2Boot but I thought it was Rufus.