How to Fix Windows Cannot Be Installed on Drive (0)

To install your operating system you need a drive or partition available to copy all of the files. This drive or partition needs to have partitioning system, this system can be saved in two different ways; MBR which stands for Master Boot Record, or GPT for GUID Partitioning Table.

Your partitioning system gets installed depending on your booting options and your operating system, if your computer is booting in Legacy BIOS then the MBR system will get installed, however if you boot in UEFI mode, the GPT system will be installed. There’s a way to differentiate both at the moment of installing, the first one will create a 100MB partition for this table, and the latter (UEFI) will create a 500MB partition, this partition will be automatically hidden by the system.

Unfortunately both partitioning system are not compatibles, and at the moment of installing, if not set up properly you can get an error saying that Windows cannot be installed to your Disk. Please see how to resolve this issue.

Method 1: Erase your drive to avoid compatibility with previous partitioning systems

1. Boot your computer with the Operating System installer.
2. Start the installation process until you get to the system partitioning part.
3. Select the primary partition on which you want to install Windows and click on Drive Options then click on Delete.
4. Once your Disk has only one entry for unallocated space, click on New.
5. Windows will alarm you about a new partition being created, select yes to confirm. Windows will create a partition for the specified size, and will take 100MB or 500MB depending on the partitioning system applied.
6. Select the partition where you want to install the system and press next.

Method 2: Select the correct option for booting, Legacy BIOS or UEFI

1. Turn on your computer and immediately press F2, F12, DEL or F10 to access your BIOS Setup (They key to access your BIOS might change depending on your PC manufacturer).
2. Once in the BIOS/UEFI search for Booting Options (refer to your PC manual for exact location).
3. Look for an option called UEFI/BIOS Boot Mode and select either Legacy or UEFI. If your hard drive had a GPT before, and you are booting in Legacy BIOS, you will have compatibility issue, or vice versa. If you see
4. Once you changed the Boot mode, restart your computer, and boot from your installation media.

Method 3: Change the partitioning table from GPT to MBR (Please backup your data if any)

1. Boot from installation media.
2. Click install but don’t continue with the process, instead, press Shift + F10 to open the command prompt.
3. Type diskpart and then type list disk.
4. Search for the disk you wish to convert and type select disk 0 (Change 0 by the number of the disk you want to convert).
5. Type down convert mbr and then type in quit.
6. Continue with the installation process.

Method 4: Erase partitioning system through command prompt

1. Boot from your installation media.
2. Click install but don’t continue with the process, instead, press Shift + F10 to open the command prompt.
3. Type diskpart and then type list disk.
4. Search for the disk you wish to convert and type select disk 0 (Change 0 by the number of the disk you want to convert).
5. Type down clean and wait until it’s done, then type exit.
6. Continue with the installation process.