Unable to install Windows due to 2 serperate volumes being marked as C

Let me give you some background:

I have two 1 TB internal hard disks.

On Disk 0 there is nothing but data, but on Disk 1 my Windows OS use to reside, until a horrible malware attack removed all my program files and Windows folders. I had no disk backup.

This is the layout of my 2 disks:

Disk 0 :

• One large data partition. No OS.

Disk 1:

• 1 Partition for Windows 10 in UEFI mode
  1 partition for data
  1 partition for data.

The partition that housed the OS was the one effected.

Now all I want to do is just install Windows back to my system partition. Without performing a clean on my HDD.

I have tried everything like copying the installation media contents of a separate 9 GB partition and then starting the installation.

I keep getting the following error:



Can someone explain to me how on earth can there be 2 mount points with the same name as C ?

This is causing problems like :





This is what I believe the root of the problem is. Please note that I had to create my USB Installation media from Linux, as I don't have a CD Drive or another Windows machine.

Why is the Microsoft installer so buggy ?

How can I just install Windows without removing other partitions ?

Having had malware consider copying and pasting files to another drive > delete all partitions making an unallocated drive > clean install Windows 2004.

This can place the partitions in the optimal order for future upgrades.


To see the current partition structure type:

Code:

diskpart
lis dis
sel dis 0
det dis
lis vol
lis par
sel par 1
det par
sel par 2
det par
sel par 3
det par
sel par 4
det par
sel par 5
det par
sel par 6
det par
sel par 7
det par
sel par 8
det par
sel par 9
det par
sel dis 1
det dis
lis par
sel par 1
det par
sel par 2
det par
sel par 3
det par
sel par 4
det par
sel dis 2
det dis
lis par
sel par 1
det par
sel par 2
det par
sel par 3
det par
sel par 4
det par

Code:

bcdedit /enum all
bcdedit | find "osdevice"

That is interesting. Do you get that evry time you boot the installation media?

Have you tried using using diskpart to change one of those letters?

You could apply the image from the wim/ esd using dism or similar without wiping anything off the target partition. I do it frequently.

@sreyan32 has a "horrible malware attack" but does not want to do a clean install...

I guess @sreyan32 doesn't want to get rid of the "horrible malware".

AddRAM said:

I don`t see why it won`t, but then I`ve only ran Linux live, never installed it permanently.

Last year, I used Linux on a daily basis. I had used "USB Image Writer", a Linux tool, to create an installer from a Linux ISO file. I don't see why the Linux tool cannot do the same from a Windows ISO file.

AddRAM said:

If his installer worked correctly, then he should be able to delete everything on Disk 1, except his 2 Data partitions.

Linux Live has GParted, which works the same as (or even better than) DiskPart.

idgat said:

Disconnect the data drive.

Boot > Clean install on the (former) system drive

Is the previous install either an upgrade from Win 7 or a proprietary OEM installation, perhaps? Both had a propensity for creating all sorts of (unnecessary) extra partitions - a clean install of Win 10 will give you 2 - a systems, and the OS/programs (although sometimes 3 including a recovery, which can be deleted because it's next to useless and rarely works and/or solves problems)



However, you will of course have backed up all your data anyway, won't you?

Which may be the last resort solution - backup personal data, wipe everything, then try re-installing on whatever Win 10 decides is the appropriate target system drive.

Let me clear, I never used Windows 7 ever and I am not going to backup my data and remove all my partitions.

Why can't I keep my data partitions and then just install Windows ? Seems like a no-brainer. Why is the installer so dumb and buggy ?

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AddRAM said:

If you had a "horrible malware attack" as you say, why wouldn`t you want to do a clean install ?

All you have to do is format your install partition. You do not have to do anything to the other 2 partitions.

You also need to unplug the power cable from Disk 0 before you attempt any of this, as already mentioned.


Can anyone who uses Linux on a daily basis, confirm whether or not it can make a windows usb installer, that works properly to install windows 10 ?

I wish things were as easy as you said.

I have deleted all Windows, MSR, Reserved and EFI System partitions. But the partitions exist on the disk that I am installing Windows to.

I have tried everything.

I have tried pointing the installer to the unallocated space so it can create its own C Drive, EFI System Partition, MSR partition, and Reserved partition.

But every time the installation fails by saying:



I have also tried creating the ESP, MSR, Reserved and C Drive partitions manually. But I still get the same error.

And I have discovered the root of the problem. The installer is so buggy and useless it is actually marking the Recovery partition as C:.



There is just no way I can rectify this. I manually set and the installer sets it back.

It is confused by my 2 data partitions that I already have on disk.

There is no way I can delete them or backup them, and I am installing via UEFI.

In short, the installer is horrible and buggy.

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zbook said:

Having had malware consider copying and pasting files to another drive > delete all partitions making an unallocated drive > clean install Windows 2004.

This can place the partitions in the optimal order for future upgrades.

Yeah, I don't have enough space in any other drive, and is the installer really that useless that it can't handle 2 data partitions ?

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SIW2 said:

That is interesting. Do you get that evry time you boot the installation media?

Have you tried using using diskpart to change one of those letters?

You could apply the image from the wim/ esd using dism or similar without wiping anything off the target partition. I do it frequently.

Well yes I have tried changing the C Drive multiple times from Diskpart, but the damn installer sets it back since its so "smart".

I of course do not understand what you mean by:

"You could apply the image from the wim/ esd using dism or similar without wiping anything off the target partition. I do it frequently. "

Please note that I don't have a bootable Windows system. So I am not sure about what you want me to do.