Resolved May have corrupted my W10 flash drive?

I'm not absolutely sure if this needs to be in the W10 section or elsewhere, but surely someone will point me in the right direction if I need to ask at another section.

The problem: Last last year I purchased Windows 10 on a flash drive to install on a laptop. The laptop is running XP but the hardware and memory meet the W10 specs.

The instructions say to enter setup and set the unit to boot from the flash drive. I missed the itty bitty print "enter setup" part and as a result failed to follow the install instructions to the letter.

Instead, I booted the unit to a standard XP screen and then inserted the flash drive.

After the usual wait for "your device is ready" I looked on the flash drive for a setup icon but did not find one.

So, I go back and read the instructions again and realize my error.

Now, after doing the proper steps, I can't get it to boot from the flash drive.

Suggestions?

 

The software was purchased at Amazon, new in the box.

Yes, I did go into the bios and change the boot order. The utility would not allow me to designated the removable device as the boot device in a 1, 2, 3 order.

Instead, I had to disable the hard drive and the DVD media drive leaving only the removable device - which I took to be the USB.

It still did not find it and boot up but gave me an error screen.

My apologies - I'll have to run through the sequence again this evening to write down that error.

 

I would be curious as to size of the files on the usb and its authenticity first. Did this come with a activation key as well.

 

I would strongly suggest checking that your CPU is compatible with W10 requirements.
Some CPU's will only handle 32bit W10 OS.
I don't think you will be able install W10 over XP. It will need to be formatted for W10 so you will lose all your XP data.
Have you checked with the Laptop manufacturer to see if is W10 ready?
If you gave us all the info about your XP laptop it would be more helpful. Neil.

 

How To Add System Specifications To Your Profile

 

Thanks for the several suggestions. Yes, I am aware of the data loss issues and yes, the hardware will take W10. So I had planned to do a clean format.

In the meanwhile I regret to have to say that the flash drive seems to have gone belly up on me, as none of my computers will acknowledge or read it.

So I'm looking into a replacement. Getting that done will take a few weeks so I guess for now mark this one "resolved "

 

Just download the iso would work, right? Just dl the Media creation tool.

 

But if he already has a key from the usb, the iso accepts keys.

 

MC you didn't get a reply to your question.

I couldn't see any mention of Key in Amazon site. If he hasn't made a copy of the Key........ Neil.