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I just purchased a hp proliant dl380 gen9 8sff server - e5-2698 v3 - 32 cores- 128 gb ram - 600 gb from ebay a few days ago so I can run a few game servers. This is my first dealing with any type of server so its been a struggle. I finally managed to install windows server 2016. After install it goes to load and boot, but it seems like it skips windows in the boot process. I get the error of no bootable devices found. If you go into bios you see windows at the top of the boot list. If I try to install windows again it tells me that windows already exist. I am just so confused. Has anyone had anything like this happen?

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It’s good to see you’re interested in computing and have an interest in running your own server.

A few things to note, you will need to create a RAID array before you can install the OS, 2016 is also an OS that wont be around for much, if you can reinstall something newer, this would be useful.

600gb wont last long, and if it’s a single disk, will be awful for speed, it wont be much better if it’s 2 x 300gb either.

Lets start by confirming you have RAID configured and during the OS install it shows this.

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Sorry for the dumb questions. But how would I see if RAID is configured? I have iLO open and been looking at things in iLO trying to figure things out.

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I also have Windows Server 2025 but from what I seen Windows 2019 is the latest that you can get installed on this specific server.

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Looks like I do have RAID
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You do, but you have RAID0 which is good for speed, but one drive fails and your whole setup dies.

RAID1 would be better here (a mirror) but that would only give you about 300gb, ~270gb usable).

Did you install using the smart installer or just the Windows ISO?

The latter does not include the drivers needed for the RAID, so this may be why it doesn’t boot afterwards, you should use intelligent provisioning to install.

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I installed it with a bootable USB. I went into bios and selected usb to load. I then installed it. I set up the files for the install with Rufus. I asked the guy I got it from about Itelligent Provisioning and he said that I was in the wrong spot that I needed to look up a youtube video that its no different than installing windows on a laptop or pc. Which this was after I already installed windows and everything else.

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You said it’s not booting, so you need to install the missing pieces, something is wrong if it’s not detecting an OS on reboot.

Is everything showing in device manager?

Is the HPE RAID utility installed?

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you got me on that one. I am so lost.

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For what it’s worth HP don’t make servers, HPE do.

You said your server wasn’t booting, it was giving you an error, there are no bootable devices, which part did I lose you at?

For what you plan to do with this, a PC running Server OS would have done the job.

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thats what I am trying to figure out. I booted it up from the usb to install Windows server 2016. Did the install, unplugged USB after install was complete. After the restart I dont touch anything and let it run its course. It eventually pops up with the error of no bootable devices found. The guy I purchased it from I feel like im annoying him but I followed a video step by step and he eventually told me that I need to watch a youtube video. (This was yesterday) Which was the first thing I did when I attempted to install Windows. I told him that I just fear losing the money spent on the server and that I think something is wrong with it. He told me that he has about 100 of these servers and that they test them all prior to selling. He is suppose to boot one up today and do the install then send me step by step instructions. Which I watched a video from Cloud Ninjas that I thought was pretty good. I just hope he’s not trying to pull a fast one on me.

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This is my boot order.

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Once I pick windows manager for boot option, it takes me back to this screen.

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Unlikely anything wrong with it.

Please show me screenshots of your RAID settings.

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which portion should I see that in

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When you power on, there should be an option, F8 or something like this to enter array configuration utility.

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This is all that I can find dealing with Array

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trying to get windows to install again but the way you suggested and I get this error.

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Then if I try to install it as a media source in iLO instead of USB it freezes on this part.

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You mentioned 600GB ? Then is RAID 0 with 600GB (558GB) ?
Can we assume its 2x 256GB disks ? SSDs ? Are they HP branded SSDs ?

Then where did you get the Server 2016 from ?

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The raid is one drive. It is HP brand. I got the windows server 2016 download from windows. I have tried to use Rufus to set it up, tried to just use the plain iso file. When I do get it to work now it just shows Windows cannot find the Microsoft Software license terms. Make sure the installation sources are valid and restart the installation.