problem installing windows on zotac zbox

[ordskiweicz]

Hello. I've built a system or two, but never with an external CD/DVD for the install. I have a Zbox barebones plus memory. I have tried to install windows to both a 64GB SSD and a 320 HDD. Both had prior Win 7 installs. Neither started in the Zbox so I wiped them to an unformatted partition and tried again. This worked a bit better...

Despite the fact that windows starts to install from the external DVD drive, it balks a little way in saying it cant find a required CD/DVD driver. Browse options don't show the CD/DVD drive even though Windows is reading from it!. (It's a targus, no drivers came with it - in a rear of the box slot direct to mobo.)

I changed the bios and put both Win7 and the Zotac driver set on a USB drive and ran that - with no result at all (flashing cursor on black screen).

Any new approaches would be appreciated.

[Chrispy_]

We need more info on this DVD drive. Is it IDE or SATA? Either way, Windows 7 shouldn't need drivers for either interface.
If you have a USB external DVD drive, that should work without any hassle - just choose USB as a boot option from the BIOS.

If you are trying to run the W7 ISO from a USB stick, you need to format the USB stick in a way that it can be used as system boot drive.
Formatting under windows won't do this for you, and copying the files across won't make it bootable.

Get Microsoft's tool for the job:
http://images2.store.microsoft.com/prod ... D-tool.exe

[ordskiweicz]

Hi All. The Zbox is a mini with no built in CD/DVD. The only option is USB. (So IDE vs Sata seems irrelevant - and proved to be so later in the saga. There are no headers the user can access.)

On the Zotac site many people (like 30) show frustration that they can not get any OS to load using any of the USB2 or USB3 slots. This is really odd as they seem active in terms of loading mouse and keyboard without an OS in any combination. Same for Linux as well as Windoze.

I ended up loading my SSD onto my fully functional Asus p8p67 desktop, unplugging all the other drives and loading vista from CD onto the SSD. I did this since I have only upgrades to Win7 64. This worked fine. I removed the SSD, put it in the Zotac and it loaded. I immediately loaded the chipset drivers for Vista. Alas, when I ran the Win7 upgrade, the same "missing CD/DVD driver" nag came on. No changes to bios worked - nor did browsing to any of the drivers on the Zotac install disk. None - I tried then all - were read as having any pertinent drivers. Really odd - and extremely poor from Zotac.

The latest USB 3 driver from their website did the trick. I loaded it to Vista and ran Win 7. (I swear there were no downloads for the Zotac HDA02 I have a few days earlier - but I was frustrated then.) The odd thing is you can't install even if you don't use the USB3 ports. This appears to be so for people running off off a USB drive too even on USB2 ports.

Anyhow, its done and runs OK, faster than an EEE PC - boots really quick, is pretty quiet (but not fully silent, small fan), and is small and really cheap. ESata and HDMI, many ports. Weak wireless built-in but OK. Good use for spare parts to fill out the barebones box.

Too bad loading an OS is made crazy.

[technohead95]

I hope someone can help me on this. I've just bought a Zotac Zbox Nano barebones and have run into the same issue. I am trying to install on to the internal SATA drive. I am installing Windows 7 off a USB external DVD drive. It starts the install process and I get to choose my region, language etc. It then gives me an error saying that it couldn't find drivers for the CD/DVD drive (I can't remember the exact wording but it implies it has problems with the CD/DVD drive but Google searching reveals its having problems finding the drivers for the SATA controller). It's very strange as I thought Windows 7 had built in drivers for SATA. Anyway, putting in the Zotac driver disc doesn't work because the CD/DVD drive letter doesn't come up to navigate within the disc and select the driver. I even tried putting the driver on a USB stick but that doesn't appear to be browsable either. I can't believe it is this hard just to get something installed.

I don't have another machine I can temporarily use to install Windows 7 on the drive. Even if I did, I am not keen on this as it should just work out of the box. If I don't find a solution by the end of this weekend, I will be sending the items back.

[zukkster]

followed this guide and it worked, using my original DVD and a USB drive

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/howtos ... y?page=0,0

I got it wrong the first time but the second time I plugged the USB drive into the Zotac and restarted it and it worked straight away

[TE5LA]

Realize this post is old but this may be useful for people. Just use USB flash drive to install Windows. Download WinToFlash and it will make a bootable drive and copy your install disk to it.

[Arvald]

Another issue is that USB3.0 is not completely native yet so make sure you are plugged into USB2 ports for windows install.

[ordskiweicz]

Hi Arvald. Yes, the USBs on my Zotac are only USB 2 - but the latest driver got access to my USB 2 external CD drive.

I played with settings and found this to be a real trial - which seemed odd given many people might need to install and OS from an external CD.

My main complaint with the Zotac has been really poor wireless connectivity - and again, no really good option to replace with another USB device. Here the issue is inability to turn off the internal WiFi. I am spoiled by Asus mobos.

[Arvald]

I built a box for a friend last year using a Zotac board (his choice) and I found the out of the box experience left things to be desired, modern board with really old drivers in box, just enough to get windows running, after installing the driver disk there were still unrecognized devices from the MB.

I threw out my previous comment for posterity and searches