How To Fix ‘Windows cannot be installed on this disk has the GPT style’

When installing Windows you may find a very common error, but one that bothers a bit, however there are solutions. In this article we will show you how to solve the error “Cannot install Windows on this disk, the selected disk has the GPT partition style “.

Why does this error occur in Windows?

Mostly this failure happens when the partition type of the hard disk does not match the bootable USB device that stores the installation files. GPT is a partition table that was added to the new UEFI-class BIOS-based operating systems.

This table is recommended for the latest generation equipment that has hard drives with high capacity storage. In the table you can create up to 128 partitions , providing greater security against a possible loss of disk format. Achieving in a systematic way to replicate the hard disk partitions from the beginning as well as at the end of the PC unit.

Solution to the error ‘Windows cannot be installed on this disk has the GPT style’;How To Fix ‘Windows cannot be installed on this disk has the GPT style’

This message appears when the hard drive has been formatted using the GPT partition type and when using a file with a different format. So the actions that can be taken to solve this error are the following, it remains to mention that they are safe methods:

• Reformat the hard drive and leave it in MBR.
• Create a bootable USB to install the Windows operating system on the PC.

Method 1- Create bootable USB in GPT.

1. You will need an application called Rufus, you can download it from its official page.
2. Have a Windows ISO image . If you don’t have it, then you can get it from Windows Media Creation Tool. Once you have it, run the application and select the “Create installation media” option .
3. Select the version of Windows 10 you want to install, preferably 64-bit . Then select the “ISO file” option to download the image with the latest version of Windows and proceed to create a bootable USB.
4. After the Windows version is downloaded, insert the USB into the computer and the Rufus tool will be applied.

• Configure Rufus to create USB GPT.

1. Select the USB stick in the first option.
2. You will click on “Select” to choose the Windows ISO image.
3. In the partition structure select ” GPT”,  and the target system “UEFI”.
4. After the previous steps press «Start».

Next, we will start our USB to install the operating system again, just when a boot menu is generated you will select the USB . And in this way you will not have a problem applying the Windows installation to the hard disk where you want.

Method 2- Transform hard drive to MBR with Diskpart;

In conclusion, the ‘Windows cannot be installed on this disk has the GPT style’ error can be a frustrating roadblock when trying to install Windows. However, by following the solutions outlined in this article, you should be able to overcome this issue and successfully install Windows on your disk with a GPT partition style. Remember to always back up your data before making any changes to your disk partitions and firmware settings to avoid any data loss.

This is the option that you now have in case you don’t want to use the previous one, and that is that you can convert the partition system of the hard disk into MBR . We suggest backing up all the data on your hard drive as this process removes all files.

1. Press the «Shift + F10 keys simultaneously to open a command terminal in the installation wizard. If the command window does not appear, return to the home screen and press the “Repair computer” option .
2. You will then press “Troubleshoot” and the command prompt to start executing the “diskpart” commands and to launch the “list disk” program.
3. Look at the disk number and use the following command “select disk <number>”.
4. Then the actions that we will apply will be executed on the selected disk.
5. Now you will use the following “clean” and then “convert mbr” commands to convert the hard drive to MBR.
6. Restart your computer to start the installation wizard.
7. Check that the UEFI BIOS has the Legacy MBR option enabled, to do this press “Del or F2”, then locate the “Boot” option where you will have an option similar to “Boot MBR Legacy” and verify that it is active.
8. After restarting the computer and the previous step, select your hard drive so that Windows can be installed normally.

We have finished this post, the methods explained above are very good and fix the GPT partition error on your PC.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the ‘Windows cannot be installed on this disk has the GPT style’ error can be a frustrating roadblock when trying to install Windows. However, by following the solutions outlined in this article, you should be able to overcome this issue and successfully install Windows on your disk with a GPT partition style. Remember to always back up your data before making any changes to your disk partitions and firmware settings to avoid any data loss.