Not able to install new ISO on SSD

Mark Phelps said:

Basically, I got fed up with the daily problems from doing an "upgrade" from Win8.1 to Win10TP 32-bit and decided to install afresh from the latest ISO. Since I have a 64-bit processor and 8GB of memory (now) I thought I'd try the 64-bit version.

Booted from the USB stick, chose Install, clicked next, saw the drive with the formatted NTFS primary partition (empty) for Win10 and select that ...

And got the dreaded "we couldn't create a new partition or locate an existing one. See the setup log files".

OK...

So, I removed the partition, leaving an unallocated drive, and using the "New" icon, created a new one. That appeared to go OK. Selected it -- and got the same error message again!

Went through the same stuff with the 32-bit version -- same sequence, same error messages.

So, I have two questions:
1) When you're in the installer, how do you look at the setup log files to see the detail messages?
2) What is the "secret" to installing Win10 on an SSD? (Note, I had Win8 install just fine to this same SSD (Crucial 120GB) and move Win8.1 to a larger SSD when I bought a new one. So, I know this SSD works OK.

I ran into this same bunch of problems with the original Win10TP install -- which is why I ended up cloning Win8.1 to this SSD and then doing an "upgrade". But this time, I want to do a clean install.

Can anyone help?

I wish I had seen you post earlier. I ran into this issue some time ago and discovered the problem with USB3 flash drives.
Solved error - Windows 10 Forums

I was having the same problem as Mark, and I was also using a Kingston DataTraveler USB 3.0 flash drive, but switching to a different installation medium (in my case burning a DVD) didn't fix the problem. I still got that "we couldn't create a new partition or locate an existing one. See the setup log files" error trying to select a drive.

In the end, the thing that fixed it for me was unplugging the other hard drives in my PC.

Yes, it's strange, but it works. thanks.

wildchill said:

I strangely got this dreaded error too while installing Windows 10 Pro (32bit and 64bit) final edition.

Turns out it was because of my USB Flash drive ! ! !

What i found was Win 10 Preview edition installed ok.
But Win 10 final edition just refused to install on any laptop/desktop, even after trying everything from pre-OS AHCI drivers and changing BIOS settings.

I then eventually realised that the only difference was the USB flash drives i used !

If I used my Kingston DataTravelerG4 USB 3.0 drive, i would always get that dreaded error when it tried to create the partitions.
But if i used my cheapo Sandisk Cruzer Facet USB 2.0 drive, Win 10 would install perfectly without issues !

Windows 10

Kari said:

I've had this issue in quite a many vm installations. There's an easy workaround, works at least on virtual machine installations.

When in partitioning dialog to select which partition to use, delete all partitions on disk 0 (if other disks present you don't have to delete partitions on them), then click the Close button:

Attachment 9522

Accept with Yes:

Attachment 9520

Again, click Close:

Attachment 9521

PC will reboot now, let it boot from the install media, when selecting the install location select the disk 0 which is now completely unallocated and click Next:

Attachment 9523

Should start installing now. If you do not want to use whole disk for system you can later shrink it in Disk Management.

(Screenshots from Hyper-V vm installation.)

Kari

Good god thank you I really hate Microsoft and all computers right now I was beating my head against the wall for hours. Why such a simple solution so hard to find or why measures were not put in place from Microsoft to detect and fix such stupid problems. Ughhhh well thank you for saving the rest of my day today