Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk in Windows 10  

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    Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk in Windows 10

    Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk in Windows 10

    How to Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk in Windows 10
    Published by Category: Hardware & Drivers
    26 Aug 2020
    Designer Media Ltd

    How to Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk in Windows 10


    GPT (GUID Partition Table) and MBR (Master Boot Record) are two different partition styles that can be used for a disk.

    MBR disks use the standard BIOS partition table. GPT disks use unified extensible firmware interface (UEFI).

    MBR vs GPT Basic Comparison:

    MBR GPT
    Older partition style. Newer partition style.
    All Windows support as data drive. Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10 support as data drive.
    All Windows can boot from. Windows can't boot from unless installed with 64-bit and UEFI.
    Supports up to 4 primary partitions, or 3 primary partitions and 1 extended partition with up to 128 logical volumes. Supports up to 128 primary partitions.
    Supports up to 2TB for a partition. Supports up to 256TB for a partition.
    Removable media is MBR by default. Removable media cannot convert to GPT.

    This tutorial will show you different ways on how to convert a data disk from GPT to MBR in Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.

    You must be signed in as an administrator to convert GPT disk to MBR disk.


    It is recommended to only convert GPT to MBR for a data disk and not an OS disk to avoid potentially not being able to boot the OS afterwards.



    Contents

    • Option One: Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk using MiniTool Partition Wizard Free without Data Loss
    • Option Two: Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk using EaseUS Partition Master Free without Data Loss
    • Option Three: Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk using Disk Management with Data Loss
    • Option Four: Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk Disk using Diskpart command with Data Loss








    1 If you haven't already, you will need to download and install MiniTool Partition Wizard Free Edition.

    2 Open MiniTool Partition Wizard, and click/tap on Launch Application. (see screenshot below)

    Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk in Windows 10-mbr_to_gpt-minitool_partition_wizard_free-1.jpg

    3 Click/tap on the disk # (ex: Disk 4) of the GPT disk you want to convert to MBR, and click/tap on the Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk link in the left pane. (see screenshot below)

    Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk in Windows 10-gpt_to_mbr-minitool_partition_wizard_free-2.jpg

    4 Click/tap on the Apply (check) button in the toolbar. (see screenshot below)

    Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk in Windows 10-gpt_to_mbr-minitool_partition_wizard_free-3.jpg

    5 Click/tap on Yes to confirm. (see screenshot below)

    Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk in Windows 10-mbr_to_gpt-minitool_partition_wizard_free-4.jpg

    6 The data disk will now start converting from GPT to MBR. (see screenshot below)

    Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk in Windows 10-mbr_to_gpt-minitool_partition_wizard_free-5.jpg

    7 Click/tap on OK when it has successfully finished. (see screenshot below)

    Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk in Windows 10-mbr_to_gpt-minitool_partition_wizard_free-6.jpg

    8 You can now close MiniTool Partition Wizard if you like.







    1 If you haven't already, you will need to download and install EaseUS Partition Master Free.

    2 Open EaseUS Partition Master.

    3 Click/tap on the disk # (ex: Disk 3) of the GPT disk you want to convert to MBR, and click/tap on the Convert GPT to MBR link in the left pane. (see screenshot below)

    Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk in Windows 10-gpt_to_mbr-easeus_partition_master_free-1.jpg

    4 Click/tap on the Apply (check) button in the toolbar. (see screenshot below)

    Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk in Windows 10-gpt_to_mbr-easeus_partition_master_free-2.jpg

    5 Click/tap on Yes to confirm. (see screenshot below)

    Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk in Windows 10-mbr_to_gpt-easeus_partition_master_free-3.jpg

    6 The data disk will now start converting from GPT to MBR. (see screenshot below)

    Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk in Windows 10-gpt_to_mbr-easeus_partition_master_free-4.jpg

    7 Click/tap on OK when it has successfully finished. (see screenshot below)

    Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk in Windows 10-mbr_to_gpt-easeus_partition_master_free-5.jpg

    8 You can now close EaseUS Partition Master if you like.






    OPTION THREE

    Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk using Disk Management with Data Loss


    You will lose all data on the disk you are converting using this option.


    1 Press the Win + R keys to open Run, type diskmgmt.msc in Run, and click/tap on OK to open Disk Management.

    2 In the disk (ex: Disk 3) that you want to convert, right click or press and hold on each partition (volume) on the disk, and click/tap on Delete Volume until the disk shows as unallocated. (see screenshot above)

    You can only convert a disk from MBR to GPT partition style in Disk Management if the disk does not contain any partitions or volumes.

    Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk in Windows 10-mbr-gpt_disk_management-1.jpg

    3 Right click or press and hold on the disk # (ex: Disk 3) box of the GPT disk you want to convert to MBR, and click/tap on Convert to MBR Disk. (see screenshot below)

    Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk in Windows 10-gpt_to_mbr_disk_management-2.jpg

    4 You can now create a New Simple Volume on the unallocated MBR disk. (see screenshot below)

    Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk in Windows 10-mbr-gpt_disk_management-3.jpg






    OPTION FOUR

    Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk using Diskpart command with Data Loss


    You will lose all data on the disk you are converting using this option.

    Be sure you verify the correct disk number of the disk you want to convert from Disk Management (diskmgmt.msc) before starting this option.


    1 Open either an elevated command prompt or a command prompt at boot for what you want to use.

    2 Type the diskpart command into the command prompt, and press Enter. (see screenshot below)

    3 Type the list disk command into the command prompt, and press Enter.

    4 Type the command below into the command prompt, and press Enter.

    select disk #

    Substitute # in the command above with the actual disk number (ex: "3") of the disk you want to convert.

    For example: select disk 3


    5 Type the clean command into the command prompt, and press Enter.

    6 Type the convert mbr command into the command prompt, and press Enter.

    7 You can now create a New Simple Volume on the unallocated MBR disk.

    Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk in Windows 10-gpt_to_mbr-command.png


    That's it,
    Shawn






  1. Posts : 15,441
    Windows10
       #1

    It's funny that the mbr2gpt utility in version 1703 can convert an OS drive from mbr to gpt without data loss but cannot do it for a simple data partition - lol.

    I tried it but it failed as I expected

    2017-05-31 08:52:07, Error ValidateLayout: Wrong boot partition count, expected 1 but found 0.2017-05-31 08:52:07, Error Disk layout validation failed for disk 2
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 68,654
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #2

    Yeah, you would think that Disk Management would be able to do so without data loss by now, but nope.
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 4
    Win10Pro-64bit
       #3

    I looked up EaseUS free (just now) because I tried GPT to MBR once 6 months ago and the specific operation
    (GPT to MBR) is only listed for NON-System Disks. It "is" added in a PAID version as a "new" feature.
    As proof, I offer the following link:
    <<http://www.partition-tool.com/easeus-partition-manager/comparison.html>>
    Last edited by rickg474243452; 01 Jun 2017 at 08:17. Reason: Typos.
      My Computers


  4. Posts : 68,654
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #4

    Hello Rick, :)

    Correct. This tutorial is only for data disks, and not for the Windows OS disk.

    You can use the tutorial below to convert the Windows OS disk to UEFI for GPT instead.

    Convert Windows 10 from Legacy BIOS to UEFI without Data Loss Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials
      My Computers


  5. Posts : 4
    Win 10 Enterprise (ver. 1803, build 17134.345)
       #5

    Recently I met an occasion where a Win10 installation on a GPT disk needed to be converted to MBR.
    I think my experience may be of some help.

    The target system was Win10 Enterprise, installed on an empty 300GB HD. The layout (as reported by "diskpart") was :
    Code:
     Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
     ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
     Volume 1     C                NTFS   Partition    297 GB  Healthy    Boot
     Volume 2         Recovery     NTFS   Partition    450 MB  Healthy    Hidden
     Volume 3                      FAT32  Partition     99 MB  Healthy    System

    Basically I followed "OPTION ONE" of Shawn Brink (the author of the original post).
    Steps 1-3 were straightforward.
    After clicking "Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk" in Step 3, a warning poped out :

    Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk in Windows 10-warn01.jpg

    Click "OK" to dismiss, then proceed to Step 4.
    After clicking "Apply", another warning appeared soon :

    Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk in Windows 10-warn02.jpg

    Click "Restart Now" to proceed.
    The restart triggered the conversion before loading the OS.
    When the conversion was completed (in just one or two minutes), the system was restarted again.
    But this time it CRASHED : some error message saying OS not found.

    This is normal, because the conversion tool did not mark the system partition as "bootable".
    Now :
    1. Boot the target system with the Win10 installation media (DVD/USB etc).
    2. Select language & click the "Next" button.
    3. Click the "Repair your computer" link.
    4. Click the "Troubleshoot" square.
    5. Click the "Command Prompt" square.
    6. At the command prompt, invoke the "diskpart" tool.
      • Locate the target partition by using the "select" and "list" commands.
      • Execute the "select partition x" command, where x is the target partition number.
      • Execute the "active" command to mark it as "bootable".
      • "exit" the "diskpart" tool.
    7. "exit" the command prompt.
    8. Click the "Startup Repair" square. The system will restart after the repair.
    9. Done.

    After the fix, the layout of the target disk looked like :
    Code:
      Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
      ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
      Volume 1                             Partition    450 MB  Healthy    Offline
      Volume 2                             Partition     99 MB  Healthy    Offline
      Volume 3     C                NTFS   Partition    297 GB  Healthy    System

    Finally, a couple of remarks :
    • The time required for the "Startup Repair" step varies on different systems. For the 300GB disk mentioned above, it was finished in less than a minute. On another case with 1TB HD, it took nearly 3 hours of heavy disk read-write to complete the operation.
    • One downside of the method is worth notice : almost all of the functions in "Advanced startup" ("Start" -> "Settings" -> "Update & security" -> "Recovery" -> "Advanced startup") were gone after the conversion.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 68,654
    64-bit Windows 11 Pro for Workstations
    Thread Starter
       #6

    Hello anctop, and welcome to Ten Forums. :)

    This tutorial was meant to be used for a data disk, but thank you for sharing your results for an OS disk.
      My Computers


  7. Posts : 19
    Windows 10
       #7

    I have a Windows OS disk (Windows 10) I'm trying to convert from GPT to MBR. Any possible help would be nice
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 56,806
    Multi-boot Windows 10/11 - RTM, RP, Beta, and Insider
       #8

    urbanman2004 said:
    I have a Windows OS disk (Windows 10) I'm trying to convert from GPT to MBR. Any possible help would be nice
    @urbanman2004
    This option above should do the job for you. MiniTool is used by many here on Ten forums.

    Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk in Windows 10 | Tutorials
      My Computers


  9. Posts : 19
    Windows 10
       #9

    f14tomcat said:
    @urbanman2004
    This option above should do the job for you. MiniTool is used by many here on Ten forums.

    Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk in Windows 10 | Tutorials
    Thanks, however the tutorial you suggested seems to be treading in the same direction as many other tutorials I've already come across online. I currently use AOMEI Partition Assistant Pro Edition which allows me to copy my OS onto another SSD (via USB external). I then convert the newly duplicated disk to MBR. After doing so I would connect the SSD to another system (BIOS, not UEFI), but that system would give me a booting error. Being that this was just my first attempt/effort, I'm learning from my missteps. I'm currently repeating the process again, but instead I will be using the "Migrate OS to SSD" option within the app this time since I read up a/b it which indeed will lead me in the right direction.
      My Computer


 

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