Help!!! Can’t get PC mode running

[bwestdpm]

Hope someone can help. Windows 10 home 64 bit authentic copy with key. Followed all directions …tried even making iso image …get to this same error message everytime I boot up vcs and click install windows and enter my key. Loading from usb drive that’s been formatted to NTSC

Edited February 16 by bwestdpm
Added photo

[bwestdpm]

Update. Used a different option to create version on the go in win to usb and that seems to have worked and is booting up windows….my question now is can I save Stella and Roms to this same usb drive or is it now only to boot windows?

Edited February 16 by bwestdpm
Typo

[bwestdpm]

Nope celebrated too soon

after an hour and looking good selecting my time zone it had me connect to WiFi and then got this a few minutes later….what the heck 

[+Gemintronic]

In the past I used the bass akwards technique of installing Windows to the eMMC then making a WinToGo stick from there.  The huge caveat is that, of course, you need to restore your VCS afterwards. 😕

 

UPDATE:  Oops, looks like you're trying to install Windows to the internal storage and not make a USB bootable Windows.  You might try Windows 11 and just put up with re-configuring all the evil settings.

[bwestdpm]

Hmmm my computer doesn’t meet requirements to go to 11

 

I redid the boot disk …got past those first photos showing the partition error…..I think I made it wrong the first time….this time I made an iso image and put it on with win to usb…. Did all kind of restarts asked for my WiFi looked like everything was working but then it popped up with that and just stays in a loop saying something like windows can’t complete due to an error but it looks like downloading an update will fix it…then it asks for my time zone and language and keeps loading then restarts and back to the same error….over and over 

[zzip]

10 hours ago, bwestdpm said:

Hope someone can help. Windows 10 home 64 bit authentic copy with key. Followed all directions …tried even making iso image …get to this same error message everytime I boot up vcs and click install windows and enter my key. Loading from usb drive that’s been formatted to NTSC

If it's complaining that it's an EFI partition, then the partition type is set wrong,  either that or it's trying to install to the internal emmc and not your USB drive.   Is there a guide you are following?   There are a few guides around about installing Windows to the VCS.

 

8 hours ago, bwestdpm said:

my question now is can I save Stella and Roms to this same usb drive or is it now only to boot windows?

Do you plan on running Stella from Windows?   If so you can store your roms there.

 

 

[bwestdpm]

I got past the Epi partition problem…that was my fault I messed up the iso going to windows to go option . Fixed that and it seemed it was almost fully installed. Kept getting notes on screen…saying it was getting ready, wtx but then it gave me error saying it could not finish because of an error but that windows thought it could download an update to fix it….then it reboots and then right back to windows welcome screen where I select my time zone and display language….then it goes to that error message and about 10

minutes later it restarts and then right back to the time zone and language screen…

 

was following these guides from posts on other thread

Edited February 16 by bwestdpm
Added photos

[zzip]

10 minutes ago, bwestdpm said:

I got past the Epi partition problem…that was my fault I messed up the iso going to windows to go option . Fixed that and it seemed it was almost fully installed. Kept getting notes on screen…saying it was getting ready, wtx but then it gave me error saying it could not finish because of an error but that windows thought it could download an update to fix it….then it reboots and then right back to windows welcome screen where I select my time zone and display language….then it goes to that error message and about 10

minutes later it restarts and then right back to the time zone and language screen…

Try googling the error text you get.  Usually someone else encountered it and may have a workaround.   

 

This is one of the things that drives me nuts about Windows.   It will act like it can solve a problem on its own but it can't!  But yet it won't give you enough details that you might solve it.    But hopefully an internet search will help!

[bwestdpm]

5 minutes ago, zzip said:

Try googling the error text you get.  Usually someone else encountered it and may have a workaround.   

 

This is one of the things that drives me nuts about Windows.   It will act like it can solve a problem on its own but it can't!  But yet it won't give you enough details that you might solve it.    But hopefully an internet search will help!

50 minutes ago, zzip said:

If it's complaining that it's an EFI partition, then the partition type is set wrong,  either that or it's trying to install to the internal emmc and not your USB drive.   Is there a guide you are following?   There are a few guides around about installing Windows to the VCS.

 

Do you plan on running Stella from Windows?   If so you can store your roms there.

 

 

 

Ok will try that again tonight and see if anything pops up on google

 

if not I’m about ready to forget windows and maybe try the Linux option. Is that any easier like what would have come on the sold out atari boot disk? Any guides to do that option on usb drive? I just want to get an operating system up so I can get Stella Roms played on this thing…can’t believe it’s this complicated…thought I had the iso of my legsl

windows …got it on the drive and I could just boot up…but nooooo lol

Edited February 16 by bwestdpm

[zzip]

1 minute ago, bwestdpm said:

 

Ok will try that again tonight and see if anything pops up on google

 

if not I’m about ready to forget windows and maybe try the Linux option. Is that any easier like what would have come on the sold out atari boot disk? Any guides to do that option on usb drive? I just want to get an operating system up so I can get Stella Roms played on this thing…can’t believe it’s this complicated…thought I had the iso of my legsl

windows …got it on the drive and I could just boot up…but nooooo lol

You can download a Linux live ISO and run that without installing anything!    Or you can choose to install it to a local disk.   

 

But if you just want Stella fast,  I'd suggest looking at Batocera-  it runs straight from a USB drive (no install required), it includes Stella and many other emulators,  you just need to add your roms to it.  

 

https://www.maketecheasier.com/batocera-linux-usb/

[bwestdpm]

44 minutes ago, zzip said:

Try googling the error text you get.  Usually someone else encountered it and may have a workaround.   

 

This is one of the things that drives me nuts about Windows.   It will act like it can solve a problem on its own but it can't!  But yet it won't give you enough details that you might solve it.    But hopefully an internet search will help!

 

14 minutes ago, zzip said:

You can download a Linux live ISO and run that without installing anything!    Or you can choose to install it to a local disk.   

 

But if you just want Stella fast,  I'd suggest looking at Batocera-  it runs straight from a USB drive (no install required), it includes Stella and many other emulators,  you just need to add your roms to it.  

 

https://www.maketecheasier.com/batocera-linux-usb/

Oh that’s great! So I can just download batocera on a NTSC formatted usb drive or do I do exfat? And just plug it into Atari and it will work?? Or do I need to do Stella from the Linux live iso first? Sorry I’m clearly green haha…my whole thing is I’d like to get it running on the vcs so I can easily move it to big screen tv etc

[bwestdpm]

56 minutes ago, zzip said:

Try googling the error text you get.  Usually someone else encountered it and may have a workaround.   

 

This is one of the things that drives me nuts about Windows.   It will act like it can solve a problem on its own but it can't!  But yet it won't give you enough details that you might solve it.    But hopefully an internet search will help!

thank you for all the help btw….appreciate your time

[zzip]

32 minutes ago, bwestdpm said:

 

Oh that’s great! So I can just download batocera on a NTSC formatted usb drive or do I do exfat? And just plug it into Atari and it will work?? Or do I need to do Stella from the Linux live iso first? Sorry I’m clearly green haha…my whole thing is I’d like to get it running on the vcs so I can easily move it to big screen tv etc

I think you meant NTFS?    The USB doesn't need to be formatted, the process to flash the usb will copy the format in the Batocera iso.

 

Yes you can just plug it into the Atari and it will just work (although you might need to disable secure boot in the Atari BIOS first, if you haven't already).   Here's a video showing the process

 

 

[bwestdpm]

Oh shoot I tried getting into bios last night to disable secure boot thinking that was stopping my flash drive but I tried the passwords they lost on threads here and none worked. I read something about going back to an old bios or something but that was way more than I wanted to mess with. Darn I thought this bacotera boot was perfect for what I was looking to do but yeah sounds like it won’t work without that bios edit

 

so is there no way just to stick a usb in this thing to boot up to where I can play these Roms with being locked out of the bios? Crazy 

[zzip]

1 minute ago, bwestdpm said:

Oh shoot I tried getting into bios last night to disable secure boot thinking that was stopping my flash drive but I tried the passwords they lost on threads here and none worked. I read something about going back to an old bios or something but that was way more than I wanted to mess with. Darn I thought this bacotera boot was perfect for what I was looking to do but yeah sounds like it won’t work without that bios edit

 

so is there no way just to stick a usb in this thing to boot up to where I can play these Roms with being locked out of the bios? Crazy 

You would need a secure boot compliant OS,  like Ubuntu Linux,  or the Debian Atari uses on their "PC mode" USB drives.   You could then install Stella on those

 

So secure boot won't stop you, it just limits your options.    

 

The password that should work spells out something like Atari Celebrates 50 years,  did you try that one?

[bwestdpm]

Yep tried that one and was very careful with all the characters 

 

ok so Debian won’t have this issue so I’m going to try that….here is a dumb question…to get these Roms to work then can I then install bacotera as a program on Debian once it boots up from Debian??? Or do I just manually download the specific emulators like Stella in Debian?  I’m going to google getting Debian on this thing tonight…hopefully I can just put it on usb and plug it in and let it boot lol

 

so sorry for all these messages I really appreciate your help , I’m sure you have better things to do, but thank you again!

[zzip]

4 minutes ago, bwestdpm said:

ok so Debian won’t have this issue so I’m going to try that….here is a dumb question…to get these Roms to work then can I then install bacotera as a program on Debian once it boots up from Debian??? Or do I just manually download the specific emulators like Stella in Debian?  I’m going to google getting Debian on this thing tonight…hopefully I can just put it on usb and plug it in and let it boot lol

I think once you install Debian or Ubuntu, you can install "Emulation Station" which gives a similar experience to Batocera.   There's also "Retroarch" which allows you to install a stella core from a menu and run 2600 games there.

 

https://emulationstation.org/#download    There is a Debian download available there 

 

 

Or you could install standalone Stella.   It comes down to whatever suits you best.   If you want to run it from a big TV in a living room setting, then I'm guess you'd rather have a system you can navigate from the game controller rather than Keyboard/Mouse?  If so you'll probably want something to use something like Emulation Station

[bwestdpm]

Got it thanks. So just a blank formatted usb drive and then copy that Debian download to it and plug it in back port and boot up? That simple? 

Edited February 16 by bwestdpm
Error

[zzip]

Just now, bwestdpm said:

Got it thanks. So just a blank formatted disk and then copy that Debian download to it and plug it in back port and boot up? That simple? 

yes it should be.   Just follow whatever instructions they provide for prepping the USB disk for best results.

[bwestdpm]

Thank you!!!!!!!

[scifidude79]

On 2/16/2024 at 6:28 AM, bwestdpm said:

Hmmm my computer doesn’t meet requirements to go to 11

I realize you already got this working, thanks to some excellent advice from @zzip. However, I do want to say that the VCS does indeed meet the requirements of Windows 11. The problem with Windows 11 is that, to even get to the part where you try to install it, your motherboard has to have TPM 2.0 available and enabled. If it's not enabled, or not available, then Windows 11 won't let you past the part where you click on "install," it will just say the computer doesn't meet the requirements but not give you any explanation why unless you boot it into Windows 10 and run their PC Health Check utility. To test whether Windows 11 can be installed on the VCS, I went into the UEFI settings and found that TPM is indeed available but not enabled by default. I enabled it, saved the UEFI settings and booted up a Windows 11 install USB. I didn't do the install, but I was able to make it to the screen where you choose your partition to install Windows. This is much farther than it will let you get if the computer isn't compatible, or if TPM isn't enabled. So, it should be possible to install Windows 11 on the VCS. (just in case anyone wants to)

[Rockymin]

On 2/20/2024 at 4:14 PM, scifidude79 said:

I realize you already got this working, thanks to some excellent advice from @zzip. However, I do want to say that the VCS does indeed meet the requirements of Windows 11. The problem with Windows 11 is that, to even get to the part where you try to install it, your motherboard has to have TPM 2.0 available and enabled. If it's not enabled, or not available, then Windows 11 won't let you past the part where you click on "install," it will just say the computer doesn't meet the requirements but not give you any explanation why unless you boot it into Windows 10 and run their PC Health Check utility. To test whether Windows 11 can be installed on the VCS, I went into the UEFI settings and found that TPM is indeed available but not enabled by default. I enabled it, saved the UEFI settings and booted up a Windows 11 install USB. I didn't do the install, but I was able to make it to the screen where you choose your partition to install Windows. This is much farther than it will let you get if the computer isn't compatible, or if TPM isn't enabled. So, it should be possible to install Windows 11 on the VCS. (just in case anyone wants to)

 

I did not have to change any TPM settings on my VCS to install Windows 11 on it.  I got it a few weeks ago direct from Atari for around $200.

[scifidude79]

21 hours ago, Rockymin said:

 

I did not have to change any TPM settings on my VCS to install Windows 11 on it.  I got it a few weeks ago direct from Atari for around $200.

It's nice to know you don't need to do that and that it is Win11 compatible. I figured the Ryzen CPU was on the compatible list, based on the info I could find on it. Usually, when the CPU is compatible and Win11 won't install, that's the culprit. I just figured that was why the original poster thought Win11 wouldn't work on it.

[Rockymin]

1 hour ago, scifidude79 said:

It's nice to know you don't need to do that and that it is Win11 compatible. I figured the Ryzen CPU was on the compatible list, based on the info I could find on it. Usually, when the CPU is compatible and Win11 won't install, that's the culprit. I just figured that was why the original poster thought Win11 wouldn't work on it.

 

Yeah, I only had to disable the eMMC in the BIOS in order to be able to install it.  Then I re-enabled it after it was done.