I recently used a Windows 7 disc and a USB 3.0 integration tool to create a Windows 7 USB that contains USB 3.0 drivers. I then set USB first in the boot order in the BIOS. The Windows 7 USB loaded fine and allowed the USB keyboard and mouse to work properly - which didn't before the USB 3.0 drivers were integrated. Setup started and allowed me to install Windows 7. However, when my Dell OptiPlex 9020 minitower restarted, the Windows 7 setup process started again. After this happened twice, I decided to unplug the Windows 7 USB while the computer was restarting to see what would happen. The setup process continued and the desktop eventually loaded. Is there a simple solution to this problem?
You simply entered a loop with your install media(the usb). What I do: 1. My SSD/HDD is always first in the boot order(whichever one is meant to have my system partition) 2. I make my bootable usb and I restart the PC 3. I use the boot menu outside of bios settings and I tell the computer to boot from the bootable usb I made 4. After the windows installer restarts the PC during installation, the PC will again boot from my SSD/HDD, since it's already the first boot device. Even if you don't do this and you actually set the USB stick as first boot device, you should be getting a prompt to "Press any key on your keyboard..." in order to actually boot from the USB, and when you don't press anything, the bios moves on to the next bootable device, so you shouldn't even be getting into the installation over and over again.
I did another test install this morning with my Windows 7 USB. The Dell OptiPlex 9020 4th generation computer that I used has the BIOS set to Legacy instead of UEFI. It has a single hard disk drive and a single disc drive. I plugged in the Windows 7 USB and then went into the BIOS and set it first in the boot order. After I applied the change and exited the BIOS, no "Press any key - - -" command appeared. Instead, a "loading files" progress bar automatically appeared and the setup process started. After the computer restarted for the first time, I went back into the BIOS and set the Windows 7 USB last in the boot order. After I applied the change and exited the BIOS, the setup process completed and loaded the desktop. I then ejected the Windows 7 USB.
Not all boot medias will offer the "press any key..." prompt at boot time! There are different bootloaders for booting with this option enabled or not Check content of your Boot folder at the root of the bootable media cdboot.efi , cdboot_noprompt.efi / efisys_prompt.bin , efisys_noprompt.bin , bootfix.bin ... Bios enabled machines can boot directly without showing the prompt except if specified UEFI/GPT displays the prompt by default