Windows 11 25H2 latest version, can no longer install from boot disk

I have been using flash drives for more than 10 years to reinstall windows with no errors , Recently i have added a RX9060 video card that insists on UEFI boot which I changed from Long standing CSM method .I have obtained iso's from UUP Dump and separately , direct from Microsoft .

Both types have been run via Rufus 4.12 and 4.13 producing what appears to be a good boot disk each time.

The USB stick had been reformatted in case of problems but shows as "no problems" prior to above . On booting via usb the "Install windows" or "repair" options appear. Thereafter the new windows files load to 100% and PC auto reboots . Unlike installers since 2001 windows cannot then differentiate between boot disk and installer files and show Ox67 error . On rebooting with flash drive reset as secondary boot, or indeed removed on reboot ,there is again "Config initialisation" error Ox67
So there seems to be an installation "loop" never present before, which is very frustrating .

Reinstalling from within windows is an option I dont want .

The fact that UEFI booting windows is not acting normally, shows from full message " it looks like you started an upgrade & booted from installation media. If you want to continue with the upgrade, remove the media and check yes , if you want to perform a clean install click no"

Neither options work !
BIOS is up to date for Asus Z790 E Wifi 7

Any views please ?

Tweakfiend said:

Any views please ?

Click to expand...

Did you disable Secure Boot?

test ventoy

Edwin said:

Did you disable Secure Boot?

Click to expand...

NO : Secure Boot / Only UEFI boot always active

Tweakfiend said:

NO : Secure Boot / Only UEFI boot always active

Click to expand...

I had to, and it worked immediately.

Normally I reinstall by deleting surrounding C drive small partitions and just format the main partition.

I gave up and used another USB drive and this time deleted all partitions thus leaving only 1 entry to install against .

1) Worked ok
2) Lost all saved settings from NT Lite ...... and having installed without internet , due to forgetting reg details , had issues to resolve after reaching the desktop !

The easy things become more difficult , complicated things are a "walk in the park"

With a I9 14900K+Asus Rog Z790 and 64 GB of Memory, why do you want a Win 11 lite?
Install a regular Win 11 and run OOSU10.exe to disable traking and spying

It may be too late now, but it sounds to me like the initial problem you were experiencing is that during the installation of Windows, at the first reboot it booted from the USB drive again whereas it should have booted from your HDD / SSD to continue the installation. I know this because the message that you noted ("it looks like you started an upgrade & booted from installation media. If you want to continue with the upgrade, remove the media and check yes , if you want to perform a clean install click no") happens if you boot from the USB drive after having already started the installation.

If you run into that again, then you should do this: Start the installation as before. At about 84% into copying files, you will see a message saying the system will be rebooted momentarily. At that point, unplug the USB drive. It is no longer needed. At this point, everything needed has been copied to the HDD / SSD. As an alternative, you can check your BIOS settings to place boot using the HDD / SSD as higher priority than the USB drive.

There's something wrong here. Normally the last step in WinPE is to run bcdboot, before rebooting into the newly installed Windows to continue the rest of setup.

bcdboot should change the default boot order so the system disk is booted ahead of the USB drive. Otherwise a normal install would always loop forever trying to boot back into WinPE. That means your BIOS is finding a reason to reject booting from Windows, and falls back to the USB drive.

I have several Mini PCs which, when the UEFI FW is set to default, will always reboot from the USB drive first. I have to specifically go into the BIOS and change the setting to use the Windows loader rather than a specific set hardware device.

I should also note that if this happens (that after the first reboot, it boots from the USB drive), simply remove the USB drive and reboot again. Installation will then resume normally from the HDD / SSD.

In answer to previous questions :#

1) I prefer NT Lite slimmer version and always have , Also includes updates and drivers ( critically network adaptor drivers )

2) As mentioned I did set the Bios boot order ,and removed the usb boot disk after copying windows files .and b4 rebooting, but still had a problem possibly associated with first usb stick used.

3) I ended up using windows media with USB configured , which does leaves you to bypass internet connected on installation , as no Wifi 7 driver is seen

4) Will delete the whole of existing C drive including all partitions on next time reinstall

5) Did play around with Bios boot order back and forth between "Boot manager" and USB drive to try to reactivate installer

During POST, press F12(?) to launch the boot menu. You will see two options for the USB drive. USB UEFI (Name) and USB (Name). Select USB UEFI (Name) to install as UEFI-GPT.
Go to install and delete ALL partitions on the main drive till you have one and only one unallocated space and then proceed.

Tweakfiend said:

The fact that UEFI booting windows is not acting normally, shows from full message "it looks like you started an upgrade & booted from installation media. If you want to continue with the upgrade, remove the media and check yes , if you want to perform a clean install click no"

Click to expand...

"It looks like you started an upgrade and booted from installation media. If you want to continue with the upgrade, remove the media from your PC and click Yes. If you want to perform a clean installation instead, click No."

Clicking No tells Windows Setup that you want to perform a clean installation rather than attempting to resume the failed or interrupted installation.

Megahertz said:

During POST, press F12(?) to launch the boot menu. You will see two options for the USB drive. USB UEFI (Name) and USB (Name). Select USB UEFI (Name) to install as UEFI-GPT.
Go to install and delete ALL partitions on the main drive till you have one and only one unallocated space and then proceed.

Click to expand...

F8 for ASUS boards.
The one-time boot menu os the only way I boot to USB.