When you encounter this issue, you’ll receive the following full error message; Generally, this is an indication that the SMART data the disk is producing is warning about imminent failure. Windows cannot be installed to this disk – The disk may fail soon. If other hard disks are available, install Windows in another location.
Why Windows cannot install to disk?
Windows users that receive the error message “Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is not of the GPT partition style” is because your PC is booted in UEFI mode, but your hard drive is not configured for UEFI mode. To resolve the issue, you need to configure your drive for UEFI by using the GPT partition style.
How do you fix Windows cannot install on this drive?
There are quite a number of ‘Windows cannot install on this drive’ errors, and resolving the error depends on the instance of the error you have encountered on your Windows PC. Generally, to fix Windows cannot be Installed on Drive (0), you can try the following suggestions:
Erase your drive to avoid compatibility with previous partitioning systems.Select the correct option for booting, Legacy BIOS or UEFI.Change the partitioning table from GPT to MBR (Backup your data if any).
Windows cannot be installed to this disk, The disk may fail soon
If you’re faced with this issue, you can try our recommended suggestions in the order presented below to resolve the Windows cannot be installed to this disk – The disk may fail soon error on your Windows 11/10 computer. Let’s take a look at the description of the process involved concerning each of the listed solutions.
1] Run CHKDSK
If hard disk contains bad sectors, you can try repairing it. Ensure that all files are backed up first to prevent data loss that might occur due to the repair operation. Keep in mind that Windows operating system shouldn’t be installed to a hard drive that contains bad sectors. You can run CHKDSK to repair bad sectors that might be triggering the Windows cannot be installed to this disk – The disk may fail soon error on your Windows 11/10 computer.
2] Run S.M.A.R.T. test
S.M.A.R.T. (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology; often written as SMART) is a monitoring system native to HDDs, SSDs and eMMC drives found in Windows computers. The utility’s primary function is to detect and report various indicators of drive reliability with the intent of anticipating imminent hardware failures. When S.M.A.R.T. data indicates a possible imminent drive failure, software running on the host system may notify the user so preventive action can be taken to prevent data loss, and the failing drive can be replaced and data integrity maintained.
3] Replace hard drive
Depending on the result or the outcome of the two tests above, your only option may have to be to backup your files (if the drive wont boot, you can try retrieve your files using Linux Live USB), replace the drive with a healthy drive and then clean install Windows 11/10. Hope this helps!
How do I know MBR or GPT?
To know if your disk is MBR or GPT on your Windows 11/10 computer, follow these instructions: Open Disk Management. On the left of the right lower pane, right-click on your hard drive and select Properties. Select the Volumes tab. Check the Partition Style value which is either Master Boot Record (MBR), or GUID Partition Table (GPT).
What is EFI GPT?
The EFI GPT drive/disk must contain a system partition. On GPT drives, this is known as the EFI System Partition, or the ESP. This partition is usually stored on the primary hard drive. The device boots to this partition. The minimum size of this partition is 100 MB and must be formatted using the FAT32 file format. Related post: Windows cannot be installed to this disk, Disk is of the GPT style.
