MBR or GPT? confused

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Abhishek1025

Abhishek1025

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windows can not be installed to this disk the selected disk has an MBR partition table on EFI systems, windows can only be installed to GPT disk....

This is the error msg i get when i tried installing windows 8.1 64bit from a bootable USB.. ? what shud i do? i deleted partitions from dskmanager.. but GPT option doesn't get highlighted at all :-(
now i hav main C drive of win7 and two disks of unallocated memory :-O
?/ plz help guys ! :)
 
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Hi there,

MBR is an old partitioning scheme used for harddrives. It has been used for over 30 years and is tightly integrated with BIOS based firmware.

GPT is a new partitioning scheme designed to replace the MBR partitioning scheme and alleviate many of the constraints of the old format. GPT is only recognized by EFI/UEFI based firmware. For compatibility with BIOS based peripherals and operating systems, UEFI firmware can also read the MBR partitioning scheme.

Installing Windows from a USB is a little bit problematic. By default the Windows USB installer creation tool will not change the partitioning scheme or file system of the USB device itself. If the Windows installer boots from the USB in MBR mode it will not be able to...
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Pinhedd

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Hi there,

MBR is an old partitioning scheme used for harddrives. It has been used for over 30 years and is tightly integrated with BIOS based firmware.

GPT is a new partitioning scheme designed to replace the MBR partitioning scheme and alleviate many of the constraints of the old format. GPT is only recognized by EFI/UEFI based firmware. For compatibility with BIOS based peripherals and operating systems, UEFI firmware can also read the MBR partitioning scheme.

Installing Windows from a USB is a little bit problematic. By default the Windows USB installer creation tool will not change the partitioning scheme or file system of the USB device itself. If the Windows installer boots from the USB in MBR mode it will not be able to properly install itself in GPT mode.

Installing from a bootable DVD does not present the same challenge.

Instead, I recommend using Rufus (http://rufus.akeo.ie/) to create the USB installer from a Windows installation ISO.

Set the partitioning scheme to GPT for UEFI computers, the file system to FAT32, and use the Windows 8.1 ISO as the source image. Then, reboot and select the USB drive as the boot target. If all the partitions on the drive are deleted the installer should automatically convert it to a GPT format disk when the installation begins.

 
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Abhishek1025

Abhishek1025

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Hey, pinhedd , i did make the bootable usb in fat32 format using the rufus software.. .. but when i boot into uefi boot, and select the usb.. it proceeds til the point til we can see the partitions .. and gives the same above mentioned erroe.. bascically it doesnt install, in the current partition..
 
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Pinhedd

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In that case, you need to make sure that all of the partitions on the drive have been erased. If you have another partition on the drive it must be erased. I can't recall ever converting an MBR disk to GPT through the Windows installer so I'm not certain as to what is involved besides deleting the existing partitions.

Alternatively you can zero out the drive (which will wipe out the partition scheme installed in the first few sectors of the disk) using a bootable program such as DBAN or PartedMagic. The drive will be reverted to an uninitialized state which will allow for a clean installation.
 
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Abhishek1025

Abhishek1025

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Nothing happening ! any other method to at least install clean version of windows.. still the same error
 
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Omar_Ahmad

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Your Problems is Dynamic Disk.

First you need to convert your disk status from Dynamic to a Basic Disk State. This is simple from the third party software we have today. One of such is the partition_wizard_4.2_free.zip.

Or if you need to do it via Windows, you need to install Windows XP which allows you to revert from Dynamic to Basic and then install your desired OS.

But please make sure to backup all your data even you are doing it via the third party software, otherwise you may be vulnerable to any risks.

And when you convert it in to a Basic disk, you are free to install windows 8 just as usual. And for your information Windows 8 and above cannot be installed in Dynamic based disk partitions.
 
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