Hi all,
Operator skill level- medium - its been 4.5 years since my last build, zero experience installing Win8 or Win10
Brand new Clean install from full WIndows 10 USB3.0 retail package
Gigabyte GA-970A-D3P motherboard
AMD FX-8350 Black Edition Vishera
16 Gig G*Skill DDR3 1600 RAM
240 gig SSD Ultra L5 Team Drive SATA III
While installing W10, I get the error message that windows cannot install on GPT partition. This was a brand new unformatted Drive. Windows 10 itself created the GPT partition if there is one there! Tried several times to delete partition and reformat, but it wont let me reformat to NTFS at that point.
I took the SSD out and attached it via USB external SATA drive adapter onto a Win8.1 machine. It shows up on this machine as a NTFS partition! I delete the partition, but it wont let me delete the reserved or system partitions- and I created the partition again and formated it to NTFS.
When I take the SSD back to the new machine to try the install again, I get the same exact error messages all over again.
This SSD drive is going to be the primary OS HD for the system- Once installed there will be a 1Tb disk for files and archive but that is not even attached at the moment.
Any advice on how to properly format this SSD SATAIII drive to allow Win10 to install?
GPT is not about the individual partition itself. It is a new replacement for the Master Boot Record. Easiest thing for you to do is convert the SSD to MBR:
Convert GPT drive into MBR using Command Prompt (cmd).
How do you select GPT or MBR when installing Windows 7/8/10.
Windows 10 partition installs?If you delete all the partitions you don't need the convert.Convert GPT drive into MBR using Command Prompt (cmd).
Installing to the unallocated spaceand letting Windows create the partitions works with either GPT or MBR mode.
Hi,
Chances are TS' pc supports both legacy bios and EFI bios.
So, depending how the install media is booted (legacy or EFI) Windows will install accordingly. When the drive is already GPT partitioned and media is booted in bios mode it can't install itself on the GPT drive.
Personally I prefer GPT and EFI mode for it offers added protection amongst other things.
The link Nipax provided shows a typical example of a pc that supports both modes (as does mine) which can be confusing to a newcomer to EFI etc.
Cheers,
This sounds like the reason to me. Check bios setting and see if an eufi or legacy bios option, and set to eufi.Hi,
Chances are TS' pc supports both legacy bios and EFI bios.
So, depending how the install media is booted (legacy or EFI) Windows will install accordingly. When the drive is already GPT partitioned and media is booted in bios mode it can't install itself on the GPT drive.
Personally I prefer GPT and EFI mode for it offers added protection amongst other things.
The link Nipax provided shows atypical example of a pc that supports both modes (as does mine) which can be confusing to a newcomer to EFI etc.
Cheers,
First question, how do you want to install the system. I would use UEFI but it is your decision.
As was mentioned, how you boot the install media determines what configuration is used.
If the install gives as message such as you show, there must be a partition on the drive which should be visible during the install. If you remove it, the install should be able to convert the drive to what it needs. If that still doesn't work, use the Shift+F10 to open a command prompt window and use Diskpart to clean the drive then refresh the partitions window and continue the install.
A new drive should have installed without any problems, in either configuration, if it had not been pre-formatted in some manner. Even converting a drive to GPT can place a hidden partition and it will show up in Diskpart or during the install.
Problem solved. I couldn't delete the partition from within the install (wouldn't let me) nor could I delete them from a USB SATA drive carrier from a Win8 box. I moved the entire SSD plus the USB SATA drive carrier over to a laptop running Win10 and it let me Delete the partitions using Win10 and I left the drive space unallocated. I put the SSD back into the new build and the install went fine from there. I still have no Idea why the original install got fubared, but I am up and running now. Thank you to all who took the time to respond and help!
