How to Resolve ‘Windows cannot be installed to this disk, The selected disk is of the GPT partition style’ problem

By Guest Author on Oct 23rd, 2012 at 4:15 PM in How-Tos 15,960 views

One of my friend was trying to install Windows 7 on his home PC but every time, he got the below mentioned error message on screen ‘Where do you want to Install Windows 7, Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is of the GPT partition style ‘

After trying recurring failed attempts and searching over Internet, he couldn’t find any solution that works for him. Though, I have managed to came across the simple solution that hardly takes two to three steps and basic knowledge about partition formatting.

So, If the same thing happens in your case, just calm down and follow the steps described below.

Let me first tell you ‘what actually happens when you reinstall Windows on any PC’. New versions of Windows OS use the latest partitioning scheme called GPT (GUID Partition Table, defined by Unified Extensible Firmware Interface ‘UEFI’) instead of old Master Boot Record’s own partitioning scheme to have unlimited partition table which can be grown in size, have self healing capability. It also make use of backup partition for better data redundancy and integrity. Only 64-bit of Windows 8, Windows 7 or Vista supports booting or installing from GPT but crashes with 32-bit of windows as well as couldn’t allow users to format & install OS on the desired partition.

GPT partition style, GPT partition style disk, windows, Windows 7, Windows 7 installation error, Windows Installation error

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Ram

Thanks for this tip. I hit this issue while doing a clean install of Windows 8 on my Lenovo Ideapad. Had to use the troubleshoot->Advanced Options->Command prompt option to get to diskpart though.
Jairaj

It is my first installation on a New PC, so I will not be able to go to command prompt. Please help!

When I purchased a New PC, it is 64bit, one of my friend took the HDD and partitioned and uploaded few important files. Now I’m not able to install on my computer due to the same error.

4GB RAM and Windows 7 DVD 64-bit. ASUS Motherboard, AMD fx4100. So what else I need to do?

Though the files were important, I have deleted all the partitions except the on that same “MSR Partition” which is only 150MB. My friend said not to delete this one.

What shall I do? Please anyone help me…!!!!
Naved

“windows cannot be installed to disk 0
partition 2. (show details)”, when i click show details i get the
message, “windows cannot be installed on this disk. The selected disk is
of the GPT partition style.”

its the error that you can maybe see when you try to install new windows on your computer

be aware that whatever is in your hard drive will be gone forever, including partitions and operating system.

now i show you 2 method to resolve your problem :

Method #1:

1. Boot up to installation DVD/CD.

2. Click install but don’t follow through.

3. Press SHIFT-F10 to bring up console.

4. Type “diskpart”

5. Once inside diskpart type:

-> list disk (find the one you want to convert)

-> select disk 0 (select the one you want from the list)

-> convert mbr (should take a second or two)

-> quit

6. Continue with install

Method #2:

1. Boot up to installation DVD/CD.

2. Click install but don’t follow through.

3. Press SHIFT-F10 to bring up console.

4. Type “diskpart”

5. Once inside diskpart type:

-> list disk (find the one you want to convert)

-> select disk 0 (select the one you want from the list)

-> clean (wait an hour or so until its done)

-> quit

6. Continue with install

Enjoy

anil

thanks it worked!!!
Axel

thank u naved……….I hv succesfully installd win7 ulti wit d help of ur post
Andriy

Thanks a lot! It worked.
yhonz

Thanks so much Naved.it really works.bcoz of this post i now successfully installed windows 8 on a vaio e series.tnx and more power!!
vikas

thanks it work thank you very much give me UR ID sir
riplleyhd

Works like a charm
Zephyr

Sooo helpful! Thank you for taking the time to post this!
Muhammad Chandra

hey, thanks for your post

Method #2 work for me
Ankur

Thanks so much,I spent almost a day working for this and it worked now!

John

I used GParted to convert a GPT disk to NTFS for a Vista 32-bit installation. I tried going straight to NTFS but this did not work. I then converted the drive to FAT32 and, when that worked, I converted the FAT32 drive to NTFS. I just wrapped up the Vista installation.
tasdevil

It will work by using the method below with diskpart and using the clean option but you end up blowing away all your recovery partitions (incase of laptops) and wiping the entire disk (all partitions). Instead try to add your CD ROM drive as a UEFI compatible device under the bios boot manager. This will allow the Windows 8 CD to detect correctly and not show up with the above error.
shongkharm war

Thanks Naved (the comment) . Now i can install w7 . But all my data has been lost
http://www.facebook.com/zeemusuna Zivanayi Musuna

THANK YOU VERY MUCH IT WORKED!!!!
Madison Ganza

WORKED VERY WELL. Thank you.
http://flickr.com/mhdbadi Badi Irshid

Thank you so much, method 2 worked like a charm. I was completely nervous and loosing my temper with the so many pages on the around with different weird solution. What caused this is installing Ubuntu 13.04!

Thank God I found this page or my day was supposed to be so creepy.
POP

i have SONY VAIO E Series windows 8 installed on it and i am not interested in windows 8. In installing windows 7 it gave this me this massage ‘Windows cannot be installed to this disk, The selected disk is of the GPT partition style’ friends what should i do?