Install Windows 7 and error: "Setup was unable to create new partition

[v1zdr1x]

I'll start from the beginning since I don't know how relevant this information is:

I tried to dual boot Fedora 18 with my Windows 7. They are on two different hard drives. Fedora 18 worked but I was unable to boot up Windows 7. Frustrated, I decided to just delete everything from all the hard drives and try to do a clean install of Windows 7 using the USB-DVD Windows tool to make a USB Windows 7 installer. I then got the following error when trying to install Windows onto my hard drive:

"Setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing system partition. See the Setup log files for more information"

I tried unplugging the other hard drives and got the same error. I also went to the command prompt and used Diskpart and did clean all. Still the error shows up. Something that might be useful is that when I did disk list in the command prompt it showed my hard drive but with 0 free space. Not sure if this is useful but the drive I want Windows 7 on is a solid state drive but the one I had Fedora on is a normal hard drive and I had an extra harddrive that I used for storage that is a normal hard drive as well.

So if anyone has any ideas I'm willing to try anything. And thank you in advance for the effort.

 

[Ironsounds]

Hello... you must first create a partiton ( of any size you choose ) on any hardrive first... then you must format that Partition for the OS you want to install... option are right there before starting the Windows install.

 

[weaselman]

Bingo, That`s the problem +1 Ironsounds

 

[v1zdr1x]

I tried to repartition and format but I now get Error: 0x80300001

 

[Ironsounds]

hello... what mode is your BIO's communication to your hardrive set to?

 

[v1zdr1x]

Sorry I'm not sure what you mean. I have access to the bios. I can look around and check if you tell me what I'm supposed to look for.

 

[Ironsounds]

Hello... "intergrated periphials" Sata Controller mode? IDE AHCI/Raid enabled/Disabled?

If you are running in AHCI or raid you need a driver installed first for Communication to the hardrive for a Windows install/format... IDE does not need one.

 

[v1zdr1x]

It is set as AHCI currently. How do I get the driver installed? Or should I just change it to IDE?

 

[v1zdr1x]

I changed the option to IDE but when I try to install Windows it said that the "hard disk space is formatted with an unsupported version of NTFS" and told me to reformat it and restart my computer and try to reinstall windows. I did that and it still says that "Setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing partion. But I have formatted it and under "type" it already says Primary.

 

[hedwar2011]

I changed the option to IDE but when I try to install Windows it said that the "hard disk space is formatted with an unsupported version of NTFS" and told me to reformat it and restart my computer and try to reinstall windows. I did that and it still says that "Setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing partion. But I have formatted it and under "type" it already says Primary.

And you have everything else unplugged from the computer except for the SSD, mouse, keyboard, monitor and power cord?

See if the information HERE helps you out any. It's from a prior engagement here at Tom's that was successfully solved. Long story short the computer is trying to put the M$ 100Mb partition on the jump drive you are using to install Windows and it is confusing itself.

Try the steps there and then let us know if it continues.

 

[Joshua Litven]

make sure you dont use a USB 3.0 flash drive as Windows will give you this error! Switching to USB 2.0 fixed my problem.

 

[RedFshBluFsh]

make sure you dont use a USB 3.0 flash drive as Windows will give you this error! Switching to USB 2.0 fixed my problem.

This fixed my problem as well. After trying everything else, I switched to a USB 2.0 drive and worked no problem.

 

[mvirard]

WINDOWS 7 INSTALL PROBLEM WITH GHOST USB DRIVES

I confirm there is something wrong with win 7 installer. After wasting hours trying to install windows 7 on a perfectly good 2x1TB WD disk, I came across this question of USB drives on this thread. The problem was I had already failed after removing all obvious USB drives. But I found there was a set of "ghost USB drives" still in my system. Here is the story:
- between the initial install and the current re-install, I had purchased one of those convenient USB interface to photo/video memory sticks (SD, microsSD, etc).
- although it might have zero memory stick in any of its four slots, I had noticed earlier that win 7 considered them as "drives with zero capacity" rather than absent drives and assigned them a drive letter.
- during the install, those "ghost drives" did not appear in the list of usable drives (as it should). In effect, the installer and the "normal" win 7 OS have a different "opinion" on how to display those pseudo-drives.
- disconnecting completely the memory stick module USB internal cable solved instantly the install problem, confirming that, indeed, the installer was bothered by those invisible pseudo-drives.
Conclusion: watch out for internal USB connection, not only for obvious USB external drives.
Also: I did a similar test with and without an Adaptec SCSI card. The presence of the SCSI card with a scanner at the end of a cable did not prevent the correct install. So the problem seems limited to ghost drives from the USB subsystem.
Michel Virard, oct 2013