Consider the many ways about the error " Windows installation on this disk impossible. The selected disk has the GPT partition style. "There used to be an old MBR disk partition system and it could no longer operate with the new amount of TR (terabyte) data. They came up with the GPT system for disks and introduced it with the new graphic bisos uefi. Let's start with the presented dilemma of our own , standard means I want to note that some users described their actions that they simply go into bios and disable UEFI mode. It all depends on many factors, up to windows architecture, 64 or 32 bit.
Nowadays most of motherboards support both traditional boot and UEFI Boot. Users can choose the most appropriate one in the bios settings. Look closely! Bios is different for everyone.
If you are recording from a USB flash drive and this method does not work, then overwrite the . Unforgettable! Press f10 to save the settings.
Format ( The method will erase all data).
The method will erase all data.
It's no secret that sometimes when installing Windows 7 on modern computers or laptops, at the partition selection stage, the installer gives an error message stating that installation on the selected partition is not possible because it has the GPT style. Many users are puzzled by this situation quite strongly. And immediately the question arises of how to change the style of GPT partitions so that the system installs as expected. To do this, you can apply three options for action, which will be discussed in more detail below.
Without going into technical details, it is worth saying that when installing an OS with a rank higher than seventh on hard drives with a volume of more than 2 TB and a primary UEFI input / output system, it is not recommended to change partition styles.
And for Windows 7, the installation does not recognize the GPT partition style, since it can only work with the MBR (boot record) style. But here you have to think about where to install the system. It is not recommended to change the GPT with a volume of more than 2 TB, because after the conversion only the space that does not exceed this limit will be recognized, and everything else will remain unused. Therefore, it is better to choose another section.
On the other hand, the problem is observed precisely with UEFI if the computer does not have an outdated BIOS. In this case, regardless of the size, the GPT style can be assigned to the system partition.
But how then to change the style to install Windows 7? In the simplest case, you can use the tools of the system installer itself.
How to change GPT partition style? Everything is simple. If suddenly a message appears about the impossibility of installation, you must first select the desired partition from the list (usually it is a zero disk with the first partition) and click the disk settings button below.
Next, a window will appear with a complete list of partitions contained on the disk. The essence of the question is to unite them at the first stage. To do this, you simply need to delete all partitions except for the one reserved by the system.
After that, unallocated space will appear in the list of partitions. We press the continue installation button, after which the installer will choose which style the partition needs to be converted to, perform all the necessary actions automatically and continue the installation process.
Now consider the question of how to change the style of GPT partitions through the command console in an OS with a rank higher than the seventh, if it needs to be installed in the future. Usage command console is the optimal solution, since even the disk administration system does not always allow such operations to be performed correctly.
So, first we launch the console as an administrator, which uses the DISKPART tool, and first of all we write the list disk command, after which a list of all available partitions will be displayed on the screen. A GPT partition can be recognized not even by its size, but by the presence of an asterisk on the right opposite the description.
The next step is to clean up the partition, which is done by entering the clean command (this is necessary so that the conversion to MBR goes without errors).
Upon completion of the cleanup operation, you can convert the style of the selected partition, which is done through the convert mbr line.
At the next stage, you need to create a boot partition and associate it with the system by sequentially entering the create partition primary and assign command (you can also add formatting, but in most cases this is not necessary for the subsequent installation of the system).
Upon completion of all processes, we exit by entering the exit command. All. Now you can restart your computer or laptop and install the desired operating system from any removable media.
Finally, a few words about how to change the style of GPT partitions using third-party disk utilities, of which quite a lot has been developed today.
One of the simplest and most convenient is the Minitool Partition Wizard program, the interface of which almost completely repeats the appearance of the administration window. Windows drives, but differs in instrumentation. Actually, its use is to select the desired section and call the conversion command through the RMB menu. After that, it remains only to follow the instructions and agree to the proposals for changes.
Please note that use this program in a loaded system is not possible (the OS simply will not allow such conversions to be made). But since the utility itself has its own bootloader, it must first be written to removable media, making it bootable (for example, using UltraISO or Daemon Tools), set the device as the first one to boot, start from it, and only then perform all the above steps.
That's all for the question of how to change the style of GPT partitions. Which of these do you prefer? For the laziest, of course, the above utility or actions at the system installation stage will do. But here it should be noted that the conversion in both cases may be somewhat incorrect due to some features of the Windows installer and the program engine. But the command line is guaranteed to change the style without errors. So it is better to give preference to this particular technique, although for many it may seem more complicated and lengthy in execution.
Section style conversion question hard drive GPT in MBR style most often gets up when trying to install Windows on a computer with a regular BIOS (Legacy), and not with a UEFI BIOS. Migrated from a UEFI BIOS-based computer, or initially initialized by mistake, a GPT-style hard drive, being the second and providing additional disk space the first (primary) hard disk with MBR style, will not affect the work inside Windows with user data. You can store videos, music, documents and other files on a GPT style disk, play them, move them to the main disk with MBR style and vice versa. The problem will only occur when Windows is installed on a GPT disk. The operating system will not install on a GPT disk on a computer with a regular BIOS. But even if you have a modern computer with a UEFI BIOS, you will still have problems installing the system on a GPT disk if we are talking about 32-bit Windows 7. In such cases, after going through a couple of preparatory windows of the Windows installation process and reaching the selection of disk partitions, the user will be faced with a notification that the system cannot be installed on a disk with the GPT partition style.
In the situation of installing 32-bit Windows 7 on a computer with a UEFI BIOS, you certainly should not give up the benefits of the BIOS of the new GPT partition format and style. In this case, it is better to prepare installation disk with 64-bit Windows 7. But if we are dealing with a computer based on a regular BIOS, the GPT disk partition style must be converted to the MBR style.
The easiest way to solve this issue is when there is no important data on the hard drive. Without leaving the Windows setup process, the GPT hard disk partition style can be converted to MBR using command line. Not much, but a little more difficult, things will be when there are partitions and stored data on such a hard disk. Command Windows string does not know how to save data during style conversion. Partitions and data will be deleted, leaving only unallocated space on the disk. But some third-party Windows programs, for example, disk managers from Acronis, Paragon, AOMEI. The brainchild of the latter - AOMEI Partition Assistant - allows you to do this for free. We will resort to the help of this particular program in the process of converting a GPT disk to an MBR disk with data safety, which will be discussed in this article. But first, let's look at a way to convert a GPT disk to MBR with the loss of partitions and data during the Windows installation process.
Inside running Windows, there are many ways to convert disk partition styles. Without saving partitions and data, you can convert the partition styles of additionally connected hard drives so as not to go far using the standard Windows arsenal - through the disk management utility or, as mentioned, the command line. But only the command line will help if the fact of using the GPT partition style was revealed only during the Windows installation process, while there is no bootable media with a disk manager like Acronis, Paragon or AOMEI.
Repetition is never superfluous in matters such as deleting data from disks. Therefore, we remind you once again that the instructions below will lead to the complete erasure of hard drive data.
At any stage of the installation process, including a window with a selection of partitions and a notification about the impossibility of installing the system on a GPT disk, press the Shift + F10 keys to bring up a command prompt window. In the command line window, first enter commands that launch the disk management console utility and display a list of connected hard drives:
If the computer has only one hard disk, it will be listed as Disk 0. If there are several hard disks, you need to know how the desired GPT disk is displayed in the list - as Disk 0, as Disk 1, as Disk 2, etc. In this case, the dimensions of the hard drives will serve as a guideline.
In our case, for example, there is only one hard disk, and it is listed as Disk 0. Therefore, the following command will be:
If two or more hard drives are connected to the computer, in the “select disk 0” command, the number 0 must be replaced with the number 1, 2, etc., in accordance with how the desired disk appears in the list after running the “list disk” command .
The following command is, in fact, the command to convert a GPT disk to an MBR disk:
To exit the console utility, enter the command:
Now the command line window can be closed in the usual way by clicking the cross in the upper right corner of the window. If the command line was launched at the stage of selecting disk partitions for installing Windows, click the “Update” option so that the data is displayed taking into account the changes that have just been made.
After updating the data, we will see that the hard drive is now visible as unallocated space. Then you can continue the Windows installation process - either create new partitions on the disk, or click "Next" if all disk space is given to the system partition, for example, when using a small SSD drive.
To convert a hard disk from GPT style to MBR with the markup and data stored on it preserved, as mentioned above, we will resort to using free program AOMEI Partition Assistant. Naturally, this will require a fully functioning computer. If the GPT style hard drive is the only one on your computer, you can detach it and temporarily connect it to another computer with working Windows. Or you can do it differently: on another computer, write bootable flash drive or the AOMEI Partition Assistant DVD. This option is suitable for cases where the second computer device is a laptop. By booting from such a flash drive or DVD on the source computer with a GPT disk, the latter can be converted to the MBR style without Windows Help.
The AOMEI Partition Assistant program can be downloaded from the official website. The free Standard Edition includes functionality for converting GPT partition styles to MBR and vice versa.
Install the program on an auxiliary computer and run it.
First, let's look at the process of converting GPT to MBR inside a Windows system when a GPT disk is connected to the computer. In this case, in the AOMEI Partition Assistant window, we will see at least two hard drives with their layout and partition sizes. Primary hard drive with system Windows partition will be listed as Disk 1. You should look for a connected GPT disk among other disks. In our case, there are only two hard drives, so the GPT disk is listed as Disk 2. Click on this inscription in the table of visual representation of disks (not on partitions, but at the beginning of the cell, on the disk itself). After that, on the left panel we will see the available operations for hard drives, and not their partitions. We find the command "Convert to MBR" in the list and click it.
We confirm the operation.
Then click the "Apply" button at the top left.
A couple more steps to scare off newbies: first click the "Go" button,
then we confirm the decision to start the operation directly.
All - GPT disk converted to MBR disk.
The bootable media is created using the tools installed on the system. Windows programs AOMEI Partition Assistant. On the toolbar on the right, in the "Wizards" section, look for the command "Make a bootable CD master" and run it.
We decide on the type of media - CD / DVD disk, USB flash drive or ISO file - and click the "Go" button.
As soon as the operation to create bootable media is completed, you can immediately boot from it on the source computer, where you need to convert the hard disk from GPT to MBR. The work of AOMEI Partition Assistant from a bootable media will not differ in any way from working in a Windows system. Here we click the inscription "Disk 1", since we are dealing with the only connected hard drive. And in the "Disk Operations" section, click the "Convert to MBR" command.
All - Changed GPT partition style to MBR.
Have a great day!
Sometimes, when installing any version of the Windows operating system, a notification may appear stating that installation on this drive is not possible because it has the GPT department style. In this case, you need to know why this happens and how to install the operating system on such a drive.
There are several options for fixing the problem when the operating system cannot be installed on a GPT disk. One of the methods involves installing an operating system on this drive, and the second one is for converting it to MBR. In this case, it will be possible to decide which one is more suitable.
Which method to use
So, there are two ways to fix the problem when a notification appears that the specified drive has the GPT partition style. It is necessary to choose one of them depending on some settings.
If you are using a new PC with UEFI, when switching to which opens GUI and not simple blue screen, and a 64-bit operating system is installed, then it is advisable to install the operating system on a GPT drive and use the first method.
Perhaps one of the latest versions Windows.
If a relatively outdated PC with BIOS is used and a 32-bit operating system is installed, then it is recommended to use the GPT to MBR conversion, i.e. use the second method. At the same time, it is worth remembering that MBR drives cannot exceed 4 TB, and creating more than 4 departments on them is not so easy.
Installing Windows 10, 7 and 8 on a GPT drive
In most cases, users who try to install Windows 7 encounter errors when installing operating systems on a GPT-style drive, however, in the G8, an error sometimes pops up that it is impossible to perform this operation with this drive.
To install an operating system on a GPT disk, several conditions must be met.
You need to install a 64-bit system, and also boot in EFI mode. In most cases, the error pops up because the second condition is not met, so you need to know how to fix this problem. Sometimes this problem is solved by simply changing the BIOS settings. In other cases, you need to create bootable UEFI- drive.
The first step is to visit Computer BIOS. To do this, you must press the appropriate key after turning on the PC. When information about the manufacturer of the motherboard or laptop appears, you need to press Del if you are using a computer, or F2 on laptops. Keys may vary. As a rule, they are listed on the first screen when starting the PC.
If a working eighth version of Windows is installed on the PC, then entering UEFI can be much easier. This requires the use of the Charms bar. In it you need to go to "Change PC settings", where select "Update and Recovery". In the next window, go to "Recovery". After that, you need to get into Special options download" and click "Restart Now". Next, you need to click on "Diagnostics", where you should specify "Advanced options", after which you need to click on "UEFI Firmware".
In the BIOS, you need to activate a couple of pretty desired functions. Instead of CSM, you need to activate UEFI. This should be done in BIOS Features or BIOS Setup. In addition, you need to change the SATA operating mode from IDE to AHCI. Changes can be made in the Peripherals section. In different menus and language variations, these options may have different locations and slightly different names, however, finding them is not very difficult.
After applying all the settings, the PC will be ready to install the operating system on GPT
disk. If the installation is performed from a disk, then in most cases, notifications that it is impossible to install an operating system on this drive will not appear.
If an installation USB drive is used, and the error is displayed again, then you need to re-create a bootable USB flash drive, but with UEFI boot support. This can be done in several ways. In this case, it is recommended to use the method of creating a UEFI installation flash drive using the command line, which will work anyway.
Experienced users can use another method. If the distribution kit allows you to use both boot methods, then you can disable booting in BIOS by deleting bootmgr in the root of the media. In the same way, you can eliminate the efi folder, which will disable startup in UEFI.
Converting GPT to MBR during OS installation
If it is necessary to convert a GPT drive to MBR, a regular BIOS is used on the PC, and the seventh version of Windows will be installed, then it will be best to do this during the installation of the operating system. It is worth noting that during such manipulations, all information on the disk will be eliminated.
To convert GPT to MBR, in the OS installation utility, press the Shift + F10 combination, which will open the command line. After that, it is required to sequentially write several commands into it.
Initially, you need to register diskpart. Then the list disk command is entered, after which you need to remember the number of the disk to be converted. Then you should write select disk N. N in this case is the media number from the last entry. Then you need to enter the clean command. The next command is called convert mbr.
After that, you need to write create partition primary, and after it active. To format a disk, write the format fs=ntfs quick command. Then it remains only to write assign, and at the end exit.
If, when executing these commands, the user was at the stage of setting up drives during the installation process, then you need to click on "Update", which will update the drive configuration. After that, the installation will proceed in standard mode, and the notification that the drive has the GPT style will no longer be displayed.
UEFI, GPT, BIOS and MBR
On PCs released several years ago, a BIOS was installed on the motherboard - software that performed diagnostics and scans of the PC, and then allowed it to start operating system, taking into account the boot record of the MBR hard drive.
UEFI software was developed to replace the BIOS and is installed on modern PCs. At the same time, most PC manufacturers use this particular version of the software.
UEFI software has some advantages. Among them are improved download speed and security features. This may include safe launch and the ability to work with hard-encrypted hard drives and UEFI drivers. In addition, the GPT partition style makes it much easier to handle large media sizes and more departments. Also, on most operating systems, UEFI can be combined with BIOS and MBR.
Today, it is unlikely that users will be able to feel the difference between these two options, much less single out one of them. But it is worth noting that after a while only UEFI and GPT will be used, and hard drives will exceed 4 TB.
Development computer technology implies not only an increase in computing power, along with an increase in performance, there are improvements regarding stability, security and convenience modern computers. One of the most significant changes that have taken place in recent years has been the replacement of the old BIOS with a more advanced UEFI, as well as the transition from the MBR to GPT disk partitioning style.
The advantages of the latter style are obvious. Unlike MBR, GPT markup allows you to create an almost unlimited number of partitions, assign them unique identifiers, names, and attributes. GPT also supports duplication of the boot code and partition table, work without any restrictions with media larger than 2.2 TB. However, the GPT partition style also has its drawbacks, among which the most significant is the lack of support for this technology on computers with an old BIOS.
In addition, novice users may have difficulty installing Windows on a GPT disk. So, due to the incompatibility software BIOS or its individual settings with modern drives, when you try to install the system on a disk with a new layout style on initial stage You may get the error "Windows cannot be installed to this drive. The selected drive is in GPT style."
To users inexperienced in computer intricacies, the error may seem serious, in reality there is nothing here that could prevent the installation of the system.
The message “Windows cannot be installed, the selected disk has a GPT partition style” usually occurs on new models of computers with large disks or, on the contrary, on older PCs after replacing disks with newer models of drives. At the same time, the version of the operating system does not play a special role, an error can occur when installing both Windows 7 and Windows 10, although, according to numerous testimonies, the error is more often encountered when installing the "seven". Currently, there are two main solutions to this problem - changing the appropriate settings in the UEFI BIOS and converting the GPT style to MBR.
This method is only applicable for computers with UEFI firmware, so the first step is to make sure that it is really present. If you see a mouse-enabled GUI when you enter the BIOS, it's more likely that your PC is running UEFI firmware, so you can install the system to a GPT drive. You can get into the new BIOS in the same way as in the old one - just hold down the F2 or Del button during boot.
Next, in the BIOS Features or BIOS Setup section, you need to find and enable UEFI boot instead of CSM, and in the Peripherals section, select SATA instead of IDE, select AHCI. If you are installing Windows 7 or later early version system, you must also disable the Secure Boot feature (usually located in the Boot partition).
After doing the manipulations, the message “Windows cannot be installed. GPT Partition Style" should no longer appear.
Important: the system installed on a GPT disk must be 64-bit, these are the conditions of Microsoft policy. If you want to install 32-bit Windows version, the markup will have to be converted to MBR. If the system is installed from a USB flash drive, it is recommended to recreate it so that it supports UEFI. To do this, you can use the command line, or even better - special utility Rufus.
If your PC is using a regular BIOS, you won't be able to install Windows to a GPT disk. In this case, the most correct solution would be to convert the GPT style to MBR just before installing the system. If you receive a notification that Windows cannot be installed, close the wizard window and click Shift+F10. In the command prompt that opens, run the following commands in sequence:
diskpart
list disk
select disk 0
clean
convert mbr
The first command starts the utility diskpart, the second one displays a list of all physical disks connected to the PC, the third command selects the desired disk (in this example this is disk 0), the fourth one performs its complete cleaning (all created partitions are deleted), the fifth command converts the GPT markup style to MBR. When executing the list disk command, pay attention to the asterisk in the GPT column, it just indicates that the disk has the GPT style.
In order to make sure that the conversion was successful, you can once again display the list disk (list disk) - the asterisk in the GPT column should disappear. That's all, exit the Diskpart utility with the exit command, close the command prompt and continue installing Windows, after restarting the computer. After cleaning, partitions will have to be created again, but this time there should not be any notifications about the impossibility of installing into the selected partition, since the disk will already have an MBR layout.
It is unlikely, but it may turn out that you will need to convert the GPT to MBR markup style on a disk with data already on it. The above method using Diskpart in this case is not suitable, since the clean command removes all partitions from the disk, and with them the data contained in them. In such a situation, you can use third party applications, For example, boot disk Minitool Partition Wizard Bootable, Paragon Hard Disk Manager or AOMEI PE Builder.
All these programs allow you to convert a basic GPT disk to MBR and vice versa, while the conversion procedure to them is simple and accessible to users with any level of training.
In some cases, you can do without using the command line or additional applications. If at Windows installation 7/10 the wizard writes "it is impossible to install on this disk", and the disk size does not exceed 2.2 GB, it is worth trying this method. Delete all created partitions using the installation wizard and try to install Windows in a single unallocated space.
If no error occurs, the system itself chose the MBR style and converted the disk into it. True, in this case, after installation, you will have to create a user partition D separately. Also on the disk you will not have hidden partition"Reserved by the system", which will slightly reduce the fault tolerance of Windows.
