Problem creating new partitions on unallocated space - Windows 7

[FroRap]

Sooooo... I'm a bit OCD when it comes to my computer and I've formatted various laptops and desktops over the years "just because" I love that fresh new computer feeling. I'm not new to formatting which is why I'm posting this thread: I'm lost and don't know where to go next.

I booted from my Windows 7 DVD as per usual, went through the steps and now I'm at the "Where do you want to install Windows?" screen. I had four partitions on my last install - A: Software, C: System Files, D: Data, and M: Mac (formatted as exFAT). The problem that I'm experiencing, and which I've never run into before, is that Windows has "greyed out" the options for Deleting existing partitions and Creating New partitions on unallocated space.

Did some research and ended up using Command Prompt to delete my old volumes/partitions that way. So now I have one big piece of unallocated space, but Windows still won't let me Create New partitions on it. When the unallocated space is selected with the mouse, Windows gives me the following error:

"Windows cannot be installed to this hard disk space. The partition contains one or more dynamic volumes that are not supported for installation."

Any help on how to solve this would be very much appreciated!

 

[MC_K7]

Try to boot from a BART-PE or Hiren's boot cd. You can run a utility from there to play with the partitions or maybe create a new NTFS freshly formatted partition from there and then reboot with your Windows CD and install Windows on the newly created partition. Other than that, I wouldn't know how to explain the cause of your problem, have your tried searching on Google or forums for similar problems?

 

[FroRap]

Thanks for the reply MC_K7, I will try doing that. I've done several searches on the problem but it's so specific that I'm not finding any threads that have been helpful/relevant to my issue.

Right now I'm in the Command Prompt again. I went into DISKPART, selected disk 0, and then told it to CLEAN ALL. Hoping this works, it sure it taking it's time

 

[FroRap]

I finally got it to work, half via Command Prompt and half by pure frustration/multiple reboots. And yet I still have no idea why it all of a sudden decided to let me create new partitions again.

For the record, never try using the CLEAN ALL command unless you want to spend a long time waiting for it to finish cleaning. The CLEAN command will do the trick if, like me, you're just trying to clean your disk so you can install Windows on it again.

For anyone who's wondering, check out the post by gregrocker:
http://www.sevenforums.com/installation-setup/259802-w7-installation-problem-windows-cannot-installed-disk-0-a.html

Seems to have done the trick for me. I still have no idea why Windows wasn't letting me peruse the options in the usual way that I do when formatting. Aaaand that's the half-day wasted mark. Thanks Microsoft!

 

[MC_K7]

If it doesn't work with the HD tools included with Hiren's boot cd, Acronis have the best products for partition management. Unfortunately it's not free but it's not too expensive either (only 49$). There's also a 30-day trial which I believe will let you create a bootable CD to manage or repair partitions. It should give you more advanced options than the Windows pre-installation menu.

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/diskdirector/

 

[MC_K7]

I just read your new post, glad you were able to fix things.

 

[kyoco]

The reason you cannot create new partitions is that your disk is dynamic disk that contains dynamic volumes. You need to convert the dynamic disk back to basic disk. You can search on Google to find some solutions about how to convert dynamic disk to basic disk. When I search, I find an article about AOMEI dynamic disk converter on softpedia : http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Hard-Disk-Utils/Aomei-Dynamic-Disk-Manager-Pro-Edition.shtml. Hope it can help you.