During the installation of the operating system, at the stage of formatting disks and creating partitions, the user may encounter the error "Installing Windows on this disc impossible. Your computer hardware may not support booting from this disc. Make sure the controller for this drive is enabled in the computer's BIOS menu."

Why does this error occur and how to fix it?

Ways to solve the problem

Often, the error when it is impossible to create a partition for installing a new operating system occurs on older Windows 7 PCs. However, others Operating Systems, starting with XP and ending with Windows 10, are also not immune from such a problem.

This error can be caused by the following factors:

• Incorrect settings for SATA operation parameters;
• Hardware specifics (presence of additional SSD and SCSI cards).

Method number 1. Via BIOS settings

To fix this error, you should boot into the BIOS and set the hard drive mode. IDE disk. To do this, do the following:

• We reboot the PC and press "F8" several times to get into the BIOS.
• We find the section "Advanced" or "Integrated Peripherals" and select the item "SATA Mode" or "SATA Raid", "Configuration SATA" in it (the path to the settings depends on the model motherboard). Change the mode of operation from AHCI or another to IDE.

• Press "F10" and restart the PC. We repeat the installation of the system.

If your PC has new firmware BIOS, then instead of IDE mode, you should enable EFI boot. To do this, do the following:

• Boot into BOIS-UEFI and go to the "Boot" section. We find the item "UEFI / Legacy Boot" and set "Enabled".

• Save the changes and restart the PC.

It should be noted that with this change, the appearance of new error, which is associated with MBR or GTP partitions.

If an additional cached SSD or other drive is installed on your PC or laptop, the problem may be due to it. To fix the problem, perform the following steps:

• We determine the model and version of the device. We go to the developer's website and download the drivers that are sealed in the archive, and not laid out as a separate exe file.
• Unpack the files to a flash drive.
• We start the installation of Windows. At the volume selection stage, click on the "Download Drivers" button.

• A new window will open. Click the "Browse" button and specify the path to the drivers. Click "OK" and "Next".

• We try again to select a volume for installing the system.

Method number 3. If the error is related to the GPT or MBR format

If during Windows installation 7, 8 or 10 you get the error "Windows cannot be installed to this drive. The selected disk has a style GPT partitions”, you should change the GPT format to MBR. To do this, perform the following steps.

• We save all data from drive C, as it will be formatted. It also does not hurt to save information from local disk D.
• We open command line with administrator rights and enter the following commands in order:

1. diskpart;
2. list disk;
3. select disk No. (indicate the number of the disk on which you will install Windows and with which problems arise);
4. clean (the entire disk will be cleaned);
5. convert mbr (format changed);
6. exit.

After formatting the partition, it is worth restarting the PC and trying to install the OS again.

You can also follow the same steps for more in a simple way. In the BIOS, in the “Boot” section, in the “UEFI / Legacy Boot” item, and set Enabled, and in “ secure boot» - Disabled. After that, delete all partitions and create new ones. The format will be automatically changed.

» » Error "Windows cannot be installed to this drive"

"Windows cannot be installed to this disk" error

Sometimes when installing Windows 7, 8 or 10, you may encounter a problem, which is that when you try to install the system on HDD, the system issues a warning: “Windows cannot be installed to this disk. Perhaps the equipment this computer does not support booting from this disk. Make sure that the drive's controller is enabled in the menu Computer BIOS".

The problem, as a rule, is characteristic of old computers and laptops, but occasionally it also appears on new hardware. This usually happens when BIOS settings computer in the parameters of the hard drive mode is enabled AHCI or something else other than IDE. So let's go to BIOS computer and set the mode of operation of our disk as IDE. This setting is usually located under IntegratedPeripherals or Advanced, and is usually called SATARAID/AHCImode, SATAmode, SATAAHCImode,ConfigureSATA or another name with a similar meaning.

I also met this way to deactivate the mode:

1. Switching the operating mode using the settings AHCI Mode Control into mode Manual.
2. This makes it possible for us to set Native AHCI Mode, which we need to switch to disabled.

Or it starts to malfunction and it becomes necessary to install a new one. However, this may be associated with some difficulties. because of wrong parameters, which can be set through no fault of the user, errors appear that prevent the normal installation of the operating system Microsoft Windows. Unfortunately, such troubles occur quite often. What to do in such a situation? In this article, we will take a closer look at how to solve the error “Windows cannot be installed on this disk ...”, as well as why such a malfunction occurs and what to do about it. Let's figure it out. Go!

In the event that you have the error "The selected disk has the GPT partition style", then you should pay attention to some parameters. For new computers with UEFI that support 64-bit operating systems, it is better to install on a GPT disk (even if a regular BIOS is not scary instead of UEFI, it is important that there is support for 64-bit systems). For old PCs with a regular BIOS that only support 23-bit OS, it is better to install on an MBR disk (done by converting).

Installing Windows on GPT

Most often faced with such a problem Windows users 7, however, this does not rule out the possibility of this problem appearing in newer versions of the system. To install on a GPT disk, be sure to select the 64-bit version of the OS. It should be loaded in EFI mode. Most likely, the error appears precisely because of the failure of the last condition.

First of all, open the BIOS. This is done by pressing a certain key on the keyboard, depending on the computer model, at the time of starting the PC. Usually these are the Del or F2 keys. Once you're in BIOS, change CSM to UEFI boot. You will find this item in the "BIOS Features" or "BIOS Setup" section. The next step is to select "AHCI" in the "Select SATA operating mode" item. In a regular BIOS, go to the “Advanced” tab, in the “AHCI Mode Control” section, set to “Manual”, and in the “Native AHCI Mode” item that appears below, set to “Disabled”. Those who have Windows 7 and older need to turn off the "Secure Boot" mode.

There are various interface options, so the names of some items may differ slightly, so do not be alarmed if they match those indicated in the article. Don't forget to save your changes before exiting. After that, if you installed the OS from a disk, the error should no longer appear.

Users installing Windows from a USB drive will most likely need to create bootable flash drive again, only now with UEFI support so that the error disappears. To support UEFI, after you have created a bootable USB flash drive, you need to transfer to it ISO image with the system. You need to do it like this:

• Mount the image;
• Select all files and folders of the image;
• Click right click mouse and from the list that appears, select "Send" and then "Removable disk".

After that, installation problems should disappear.

Convert GPT to MBR

Before proceeding to the analysis of this process, I would like to focus your attention on the fact that it is better to move all data from the HDD, since they may be lost. If you are not worried about lost files, feel free to proceed to the steps below.

To convert a GPT partition table to an MBR partition table, use the key combination Shift+F10 when you are in the Windows setup wizard to launch the command prompt. Next, you need to repeat exactly next steps. Display a list of all PC disks, type "diskpart" and then "listdisk". To select the disk with which you are going to work further, write "select disk M". In place of "M", enter the number corresponding to the desired disk. The previous “list disk” command just displayed the numbers on the screen.

Next, clean the disk by typing "clean". When cleanup is complete, type "convert mbr" to convert GPT to MBR. Please note that with this approach, all data will be lost. At the end, write the command "exit". You can now close Command Prompt or continue using it to create partitions.

Exists Alternative option, which will save all the data. This method is to use special utilities. One of these is MiniTool Partition Wizard Bootable. "Bootable" means that this version can be written to a USB drive (the flash drive must be bootable) and run even if Windows is not working. After downloading, you will see a menu in which you need to select the item corresponding to the name of the utility. Hitting the MiniTool window Partition Wizard Bootable, select desired disk and click on the item "Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk", which is located on the left. Then click the "Apply" button.

If the system installed on your computer is working, then you can download other programs that have similar functionality, such as Acronis Disk Director or Aomei Partition Assistant. You can also use the built-in by means of Windows. To immediately go to the desired utility, use the combination Win + R "diskmgmt.msc". Once in the Disk Management window, select the drive you want to convert and click on Delete Volume. After that, click on it again with the mouse and click on the item "Convert to MBR disk". Ready.

After reading the material presented, you will know what to do if an error warning appears during the installation of Windows OS, which Windows installation on this disk is not possible. All of the above methods will help you solve the problem. Write in the comments if the article was useful to you and ask if something was not clear.

This manual details what to do if, when installing Windows, you are told that it is impossible to install Windows to a disk partition, and in detail - “Windows cannot be installed to this disk. Your computer hardware may not support booting from this disc. Make sure the controller for this drive is enabled in the computer's BIOS menu." Similar errors and how to fix them: If you still select this section and click "Next" in the installer, you will see an error saying that we could not create a new or find an existing section with a suggestion to view additional information in the installer log files . Below will be described ways to fix such an error (which can occur in the Windows 10 - Windows 7 setup programs). AHCI and IDE) and boot types (EFI and Legacy), Windows 10, 8 or Windows 7 installation errors caused by these settings are also becoming more frequent. The described case is just one of these errors. Note: if the message that it is impossible to install to the disk is accompanied by error 0x80300002 or the text "This disk may fail soon" - this may be due to poor connection of the disk or SATA cables , as well as damage to the drive itself or cables. This case not considered in the current material.

Open Shell - installation in Windows 10 start menu from Windows 7 and instead of Classic Shell

Fixing the error "Installation to this disk is not possible" using BIOS settings (UEFI)

Most often specified error occurs when installing Windows 7 on old computers with BIOS and Legacy boot, in cases where the BIOS in the operating parameters of SATA devices (i.e. hard drive) included AHCI mode(or any RAID, SCSI modes).

The solution in this particular case is to go into the BIOS settings and change the mode work hard disk to IDE. As a rule, this is done somewhere in the Integrated Peripherals - SATA Mode section of the BIOS settings (a few examples in the screenshot).

Activate Windows 10

But even if you don't have an "old" computer or laptop, this option can also work. If you are installing Windows 10 or 8, then instead of enabling IDE mode, I recommend:

1. Enable EFI boot in UEFI (if supported).
2. Boot from the installation drive (flash drive) and try the installation.

True, in this option you may encounter another type of error, in the text of which it will be reported that the selected disk contains an MBR partition table (correction instructions are mentioned at the beginning of this article).

No Windows 10 activation / are there any restrictions

Why this happens, I myself do not fully understand (after all AHCI drivers included in Windows images 7 and above). Moreover, I was able to reproduce the error for installing Windows 10 (screenshots are just from there) - simply by changing the disk controller from IDE to SCSI for virtual Hyper-V machines"First generation" (i.e. with BIOS).

Install in Windows 10 start menu from Windows 7

Whether the specified error will appear during EFI boot and installation on a disk running in IDE mode, I could not check, but I admit this (in this case, we try to enable AHCI for SATA drives in UEFI).

Also, in the context of the described situation, the material may be useful.