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Warning "Windows cannot be installed to this disk" when installing Windows on MBR disk in UEFI mode

Article ID: 2481490 - View products that this article applies to.

SYMPTOMS

When installing Windows 7 or Windows Vista 64-bit on a SATA hard disk in Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) mode, Windows installer may display a warning message “Windows cannot be installed to this disk”.

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CAUSE

The hard disk has a Master boot record (MBR) partition.

The following info may be found in setupact.log:
IBSLIB LogReasons: [BLOCKING reason for disk 0: CanInstall] The selected disk has an MBR partition table. On EFI systems, Windows can only be installed to GPT disks.

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RESOLUTION

This is a known issue. On Windows 7 systems, users can click ‘Next” button to continue the installation. On Vista systems, the "Next" button is disabled so users have to create a GPT partition to continue.

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MORE INFORMATION

297800

(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297800)

HOW TO: Use the Diskpart.efi Utility to Create a GUID Partition Table Partition on a Raw Disk in Windows.

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Note This is a "FAST PUBLISH" article created directly from within the Microsoft support organization. The information contained herein is provided as-is in response to emerging issues. As a result of the speed in making it available, the materials may include typographical errors and may be revised at any time without notice. See Terms of Use

(http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=151500)

for other considerations.

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