Cannot Reinstall Windows on GPT Partition


  1. jdp13
    Posts : 13
    Windows 10 Home N
       New #1

    Cannot Reinstall Windows on GPT Partition


    I need to reinstall Windows 10 on a partitioned hard drive. The hard drive has 8 partitions - I only care about the 1 partition that has my data on and I don't want to lose it during the install. Other partitions are where I had Windows originally installed, system recovery, MBR reserved and some other randoms.

    I tried to select the partition which currently has my corrupted Windows on but cannot install there because it is in GPT format.

    I am trying to install from the Windows media creation tool which has been burned to a USB stick in NTFS format.

    How can I reinstall without losing my GPT partition with data on it?
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  3. Samuria
    Posts : 8,107
    windows 10
       New #2

    You are booting from the usb? Can you post a copy from disk management showing all details so we can see
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  4. NavyLCDR
    Posts : 18,432
    Windows 11 Pro
       New #3

    jdp13 said:
    I am trying to install from the Windows media creation tool which has been burned to a USB stick in NTFS format.

    How can I reinstall without losing my GPT partition with data on it?
    The Media Creation Tool will create a FAT32 USB flash drive, not an NTFS flash drive. And that's your problem. You likely really used Rufus to create the flash drive and it is in the wrong format. It needs to be FAT32 so that it can booted in UEFI mode which is required to install to a GPT partitioned drive.
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  6. Ztruker
    Posts : 14,046
    Windows 11 Pro X64 22H2 22621.1848
       New #4

    I'll post this one more time:

    Here is a manual (non-Rufus) procedure originally posted by @NavyLCDR that I recorded and saved (with slight modifications). I've used it many times now and it works under all boot conditions, UEFI/GPT/MBR or BIOS/MBR.

    1. Use the Media Creation Tool to download and save the ISO file to your hard drive.
    2. Insert the USB flash drive.
    3. Open a Administrator Command Prompt. It will say Administrator Command Prompt in the Title bar. Enter the following commands:
    4. diskpart
    5. list disk
    6. select disk # <- replace # with the actual disk number of the USB flash drive
    7. clean <- this will erase the disk selected above, make sure you selected the USB flash drive!
    7a. If the flash drive shows as GPT then you need to convert it to MBR: convert mbr
    8. create part pri
    8a. sel part 1
    9. format fs=fat32 quick
    9a. assign
    10. active
    11. exit
    12. exit - and if the first Command Prompt was not an Administrator Command Prompt, exit that one too.
    13. Mount the ISO you downloaded. If you are using Windows 8 or 10, you only have to right click on it and click on mount. If you are using Windows 7, then you must use a program like WinCDEmu to mount the ISO file:
    WinCDEmu - the easiest way to mount an ISO. And more...
    14. Copy all the files and folders from the mounted ISO file to the USB flash drive.
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  7. jdp13
    Posts : 13
    Windows 10 Home N
    Thread Starter
       New #5

    Thanks guys! That worked !

    But now I am stuck with a network issue if you can help.

    Unidentified Network - Ethernet doesnt have a valid IP configuration - Windows 10 Forums
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