Installing windows 8.1: "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is of the GPT partition style."

[Blue_Dragon360]

Hello!

Over the course of the past few months, my copy of windows 8.1 has becoming more and more problematic, and I've decided it's time for a fresh reinstall. I obtained the ISO, and copied it to a flash drive as normal.

I shut down the computer, and plug it in. I press F9 to access the boot device list.. What? It's not there! So then I plug in a linux live cd to see if that works. That doesn't show up in the list either. I go into the BIOS, and I find an option called "Legacy Boot".. What the heck, might as well give it a try.

Yay! It works! Now the flash drives both show in the boot device list, and I go and boot from the install disk. I accept the license agreement, etc, when I get to the point where I install it on a partition.

I foolishly format all of the windows partitions to unallocated space, but then an error pops up. "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is of the GPT partition style". Whut? I click the new button, to turn it into an actual partition. It fails creating the partition, "We couldn't create a new partition. [Error: 0xc268ba40]".

So here I am. I found some info online that says that you can't do it in legacy boot (because this happens).. But when I disable legacy boot, the computer fails to boot at all (because I deleted windows already). The only way I can boot from the flash drive is if I legacy boot it.

Before I deleted windows, without legacy boot on, when I press F9 to access the boot list it showed 2 options: OS boot manager, and EFI file manager (or something like that). Now it shows nothing, even with the flash drive plugged in (surprise surprise).

I considered updating the BIOS, but I can't do that because I have no operating system. For some reason HP decided to give a nice EXE but no image for the BIOS.

Any ideas for settings to change, ways to update the BIOS, get around the GPT restriction (whatever that is), etc? I'd really appreciate any help here.

Also, sorry if this is in the wrong section. I wasn't entirely sure where to post it, but this seemed fitting.

 

[Paul NZ]

Copied the ISO to flash drive .. How? With what? Does the system support UEFI? And is it 32 or 64 bit? If its 32 bit, disable UEFI and secureboot

You sure thats the error?? Even Google doesnt know what that is

 

[Jung]

You know, you can reinstall Windows 8.1 without the media by going into the "Settings\Change PC Settings\Update and Recovery\Recovery\Remove Everything and Reinstall Windows" menu option? Anyway, if the USB drive is not fat32 formated it won't boot EFI. Here are some tips for installing windows UEFI http://windowsitpro.com/windows-8/q-what-tips-will-help-me-install-windows-uefi-machine-i-built-myself
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askcore/archive/2013/03/20/creating-bootable-usb-drive-for-uefi-computers.aspx

Also, the HP usually packages their bios/drivers, etc in self extracting exe files that will expand themselves when you run them.

 

[Blue_Dragon360]

You know, you can reinstall Windows 8.1 without the media by going into the "Settings\Change PC Settings\Update and Recovery\Recovery\Remove Everything and Reinstall Windows" menu option? Anyway, if the USB drive is not fat32 formated it won't boot EFI. Here are some tips for installing windows UEFI http://windowsitpro.com/windows-8/q-what-tips-will-help-me-install-windows-uefi-machine-i-built-myself
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askcore/archive/2013/03/20/creating-bootable-usb-drive-for-uefi-computers.aspx

Also, the HP usually packages their bios/drivers, etc in self extracting exe files that will expand themselves when you run them.

Interesting... I'll try that. It looks like I accidentally made a normal ISO (NFTS) so that is why it is not working. I currently don't have a large enough flash drive on hand to copy the normally mounted ISO to the FAT32 drive, but I'll try it tomorrow morning. Thanks for all the help! I'm relatively new to BIOS.

 

[ShadyHamster]

Make sure you are using a program such as Rufus to create a bootable usb flash drive, you can't just copy the iso files onto the flash drive and expect it to work.

http://rufus.akeo.ie/
It's fairly simple and easy to use.

 

[Blue_Dragon360]

You know, you can reinstall Windows 8.1 without the media by going into the "Settings\Change PC Settings\Update and Recovery\Recovery\Remove Everything and Reinstall Windows" menu option? Anyway, if the USB drive is not fat32 formated it won't boot EFI. Here are some tips for installing windows UEFI http://windowsitpro.com/windows-8/q-what-tips-will-help-me-install-windows-uefi-machine-i-built-myself
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askcore/archive/2013/03/20/creating-bootable-usb-drive-for-uefi-computers.aspx

Also, the HP usually packages their bios/drivers, etc in self extracting exe files that will expand themselves when you run them.

I figured it out! Thanks for your help. It looks like I was using the wrong settings in rufus the first time around, but it works now.

 

[AsifAkbar]

I found the easiest way if ur doing it from a bootable usb. Google "Microsoft Usb boot tool" click on the link having microsoft in it, make the bootable usb again with this software instead of Rufus or any other one (requires the ISO image file). Install. worked for me without losing ANY data

 

[hypno_toad_]

Hello!

Over the course of the past few months, my copy of windows 8.1 has becoming more and more problematic, and I've decided it's time for a fresh reinstall. I obtained the ISO, and copied it to a flash drive as normal.

I shut down the computer, and plug it in. I press F9 to access the boot device list.. What? It's not there! So then I plug in a linux live cd to see if that works. That doesn't show up in the list either. I go into the BIOS, and I find an option called "Legacy Boot".. What the heck, might as well give it a try.

Yay! It works! Now the flash drives both show in the boot device list, and I go and boot from the install disk. I accept the license agreement, etc, when I get to the point where I install it on a partition.

I foolishly format all of the windows partitions to unallocated space, but then an error pops up. "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is of the GPT partition style". Whut? I click the new button, to turn it into an actual partition. It fails creating the partition, "We couldn't create a new partition. [Error: 0xc268ba40]".

So here I am. I found some info online that says that you can't do it in legacy boot (because this happens).. But when I disable legacy boot, the computer fails to boot at all (because I deleted windows already). The only way I can boot from the flash drive is if I legacy boot it.

Before I deleted windows, without legacy boot on, when I press F9 to access the boot list it showed 2 options: OS boot manager, and EFI file manager (or something like that). Now it shows nothing, even with the flash drive plugged in (surprise surprise).

I considered updating the BIOS, but I can't do that because I have no operating system. For some reason HP decided to give a nice EXE but no image for the BIOS.

Any ideas for settings to change, ways to update the BIOS, get around the GPT restriction (whatever that is), etc? I'd really appreciate any help here.

Also, sorry if this is in the wrong section. I wasn't entirely sure where to post it, but this seemed fitting.

I have the exact same identical problem
i also have dual boot so i can still boot from my ubuntu.
Also i foolishly deleted all "unnecessary partitions" at which point it didnt boot at all but i ued usb "repair" and now its back to where i can boot ubuntu but windows is bricked because i formated that partition, then formatted from ubuntu to NTFS...
I tried making this fat32 USB drive and it still cannot be seen.
No solution in sight.

 

[Pratik Goenka]

you can make it simple.

first delete BOOTCAMP partition you made using bootcamp assistant. you can delete the bootcamp partition using bootcamp assistant where it merges the macintosh partition back together.

now open OSX utility, select the your hard drive . then choose partition tab
in partition tab, you will have the option to choose file system, dont choose exFAT or FAT32, instead choose "free space" option. you can select the amount of free space you want.

this is will partition the hard disk.

immediately reboot, and select ALT key and select EFI boot

rest of the procedure you all know

 

[harsh04]

This error occurs if setup detects more than 4 partitions. Delete those extra partition (recovery or something like that which is in MB n not GB) n make sure the total no. Of partitions are 4 or less. This will resolve your issue for sure

 

[Rohan_]

The all those problem's solution is use" rufus " software .

 

[dirkjot]

For me, harsh04's answer helped.

I had two existing Linux partitions and three partitions an earlier attempt at installation had created. I was stuck at this error until I 1/ removed all windows partitions 2/ rebooted 3/ had windows install its main and support partitions again in the free space.

 

[ArakelTheDragon]

Hello!

Over the course of the past few months, my copy of windows 8.1 has becoming more and more problematic, and I've decided it's time for a fresh reinstall. I obtained the ISO, and copied it to a flash drive as normal.

I shut down the computer, and plug it in. I press F9 to access the boot device list.. What? It's not there! So then I plug in a linux live cd to see if that works. That doesn't show up in the list either. I go into the BIOS, and I find an option called "Legacy Boot".. What the heck, might as well give it a try.

Yay! It works! Now the flash drives both show in the boot device list, and I go and boot from the install disk. I accept the license agreement, etc, when I get to the point where I install it on a partition.

I foolishly format all of the windows partitions to unallocated space, but then an error pops up. "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is of the GPT partition style". Whut? I click the new button, to turn it into an actual partition. It fails creating the partition, "We couldn't create a new partition. [Error: 0xc268ba40]".

So here I am. I found some info online that says that you can't do it in legacy boot (because this happens).. But when I disable legacy boot, the computer fails to boot at all (because I deleted windows already). The only way I can boot from the flash drive is if I legacy boot it.

Before I deleted windows, without legacy boot on, when I press F9 to access the boot list it showed 2 options: OS boot manager, and EFI file manager (or something like that). Now it shows nothing, even with the flash drive plugged in (surprise surprise).

I considered updating the BIOS, but I can't do that because I have no operating system. For some reason HP decided to give a nice EXE but no image for the BIOS.

Any ideas for settings to change, ways to update the BIOS, get around the GPT restriction (whatever that is), etc? I'd really appreciate any help here.

Also, sorry if this is in the wrong section. I wasn't entirely sure where to post it, but this seemed fitting.

1. Use an Ubuntu live flash drive to format your hard drive from GTP to MBR. Disable the boot option in the BIOS first.
2. The exe from HP should be all you need, just start it and it should update the bios. Do not update your BIOS if you have absolutely no other choice or you might need a new PC!
3. Make a portable WIndows 8 USB with "win to usb" and then apply fixes or format the hard drive to MBR with easus free partition manager.

 

[khansalman035]

I found how to fix your GPT partition style Problem

See this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqD52L1RBzg