Solving the "Windows Cannot Be Installed to This Disk. MBR" Issue

The solutions on this page apply to fix the "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is of the MBR partition style" error in Windows 11/10/8/7. Learn how to troubleshoot this issue yourself.

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Overview of "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. MBR"

The error message "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk has an MBR partition style" may pop up during Windows installation, and you won't be able to finish the process unless you fix it. There is another similar error: "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk has a GPT partition style." Learn how to resolve this issue here. This article will show you how to deal with these issues and why they occur.

How to Solve the "Windows Cannot Be Installed to This Disk. The MBR is corrupt" Error

How to solve the "Windows cannot be installed to this disk" error? The error message provides the answer: convert MBR to GPT. How to convert MBR to GPT? There're 3 ways.

• Method 1. Convert MBR to GPT Without Losing Data
• Method 2. Convert MBR to GPT Using Disk Management
• Method 3. Convert MBR to GPT Using Diskpart

Method 1: Convert MBR to GPT without Data Loss

First of all, we recommend a simple and easy-to-use tool - AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. It can help you create a bootable USB/CD with utilities, with which you can boot your computer and then use it to convert disk from MBR to GPT. Most importantly, you can convert the disk without deleting any existing partitions and erasing any data.

Main features of Partition Master:

- Convert MBR to GPT and vice versa easily and for free. - No data or partitions will be deleted during the conversion. - It's not just a one-time tool, but also helps users to resize partition, move, or clone partition. - 100% safe. It has been approved by authorities like SOFTPEDIA, PCWorld, and TechRadar.

Follow these steps to learn how to convert MBR to GPT and fix the “Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The disk is MBR” error on your computer:

Step 1. Insert your blank USB drive or CD/DVD into a working computer. Start Partition Master, click “Bootable Media,” then choose “Create Bootable Media.” Click “Next” to proceed.

Step 2: Choose USB or CD/DVD, then click "Create" to start creating the bootable media.

Create Bootable Disk with Partition Master Tool

Step 3. Connect the USB with the bootable media to your computer, and then reboot from the tool's bootable media.

Press F2 or Del to enter BIOS, and set the computer to boot from "Removable Device" (boot USB drive) or "CD-ROM Drive" (boot CD/DVD). Press "F10" to save the settings and exit. The computer will restart and load the tool from the startup media.

Step 4: When you boot into "Partition Master," select "Disk Conversion," then click "Convert MBR to GPT." Click "Next" to proceed.

5. Select the MBR disk you want to convert to GPT and click "Convert" to start the conversion.

There's a video tutorial that explains how to use a partition manager tool to convert between MBR and GPT disks. Check out that tutorial and see if you can convert MBR to GPT without losing data.

Method 2: Convert MBR to GPT Using Disk Management

You can also convert the disk type from within Computer Management. You can also use Disk Management to delete, extend, or shrink volumes. Here's how to convert a disk from MBR to GPT using this method, which involves volume deletion. Make sure you have a full backup first.

Step 1: Open Computer Management.

Open the Control Panel, select Administrative Tools, and then click on “Computer Management.” You can also right-click on “This PC” and select “Manage” to open the Computer Management window.

Step 2: Delete the target MBR disk.

Click on "Disk Management." Here, you'll see all of your partitions. Right-click on one and select "Delete Volume." Repeat this step to delete all partitions.

Step 3: Choose “Convert to GPT disk”.

Then right-click on the MBR disk and select the “Convert to GPT Disk” option.

Method 3: Convert MBR to GPT Using Diskpart

If you're installing Windows from a Windows installation DVD or USB, you can also use that to convert MBR to GPT. However, this will delete all the files on your disk. To avoid data loss, use Method 1 instead, or back up your disk files with a file backup program like Todo Backup. You'll also need to create a bootable device with the program to back up an MBR disk.

Step 1: Turn off your PC, and then insert the Windows installation DVD or USB drive.

Step 2: Boot your computer from the DVD or USB drive.

3. During the installation, press "Shift + F10" to open the Command Prompt.

Step 4. Type the following command to convert the MBR disk to GPT:

• diskpart
• list disk
• select disk 1 (Select the disk where you want to install Windows)
• clean
• convert gpt
• exit

After you enter this command, close the Command Prompt, and then continue with the installation of Windows.

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"The selected disk has an MBR partition table" occurs because the disk you're referring to uses the Master Boot Record (MBR) as its partitioning scheme. The Master Boot Record is a legacy method dating back to the early days of personal computers for organizing and booting from hard disk drives. It's a 512-byte sector at the beginning of a storage device that contains boot loader information and a partition table. This error or message typically appears when you're trying to perform an operation that is incompatible with MBR, such as installing a newer operating system that prefers theGUID Partition Table (GPT) format, or when dealing with disk management utilities.

The error message itself gives the reason why Windows cannot be installed on an MBR disk: your computer has an EFI system, which is incompatible with MBR disks. This means that your computer's hardware does not allow it to boot from a disk with an MBR partition table. However, many users are confused about what an MBR partition table is, what an EFI system is, and why Windows can't be installed on an MBR disk on an EFI system. Here are the answers.

What is an MBR Partition Table?

A partition table is what organizes the layout of a hard drive, such as an HDD or SSD, and tells Windows how to access the data on it. The MBR (Master Boot Record) is a traditional partitioning method that supports disks up to 2 TB in size. However, there's a limit with MBR where you can only create four primary partitions on an MBR disk.

Unlike MBR, the GPT is a newer standard for disk partitioning. It supports disks larger than 2 TB, and in theory, there's no limit to the number of partitions that can be created on a disk.

MBR and GPT are two commonly used partition styles in computers. For more information, refer to the "MBR vs GPT" article.

EFI stands for "Extensible Firmware Interface." It is a modern firmware technology used in the boot and initialization process of computers. EFI was developed by Intel as an alternative to the traditional BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) and provides a more modern and flexible platform allowing for more efficient interaction between the operating system and firmware. It features a graphical user interface, an extended scripting language, support for plug-and-play devices, and can handle larger amounts of memory and more complex system configurations compared to BIOS. In Apple Mac computers and many modern PCs, EFI has been superseded by its successor, UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface).

Most computers use one of two boot modes: BIOS or UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface). The EFI Partition is the name for the partition that stores UEFI boot files.

Why can't I install Windows on an MBR disk?

MBR disks use the standard BIOS partition table, whereas GPT disks use UEFI. Thus, if your computer uses traditional BIOS firmware, you should install Windows on an MBR disk. Likewise, if your computer is based on UEFI, you can install Windows only on a GPT disk.

Now you know why you get the “Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk has an MBR partition table.” error. It's because you're trying to install Windows on an MBR disk on a computer with UEFI firmware, which isn't compatible.

Bottom line

The only way to fix the “Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is of the MBR type” error is to convert MBR to GPT. You can do this with a partition tool, like Partition Master, or with a Windows installation DVD/USB, depending on whether or not you want to keep your files on the MBR disk. Hopefully, one of these methods will work for you.

Relevant Issues

You may be interested in some issues related to MBR disks.

"How to convert MBR to GPT?"

If your computer boots normally, you can change MBR to GPT via Disk Management. If your computer fails to boot, you can convert MBR to GPT with Partition Master or Windows installation media.

"How to delete the MBR partition table?"

Partitions are necessary for using a disk, so you can't simply do away with the MBR partitioning style. If you don't want it, you should convert to GPT instead.

"Can Windows 10 be installed on an MBR partition?"

Whether you can install Windows on an MBR disk depends on your computer's firmware. If your computer uses BIOS, or it uses UEFI with BIOS compatibility, you can install Windows 10 on an MBR disk.

"Can Windows 11 be installed on an MBR disk?"

No, actually! Windows 11 requires Secure Boot, a feature that only works in UEFI boot mode. Since UEFI booting necessitates a disk with the GPT partition style, you'll need to convert your operating system drive to GPT format before installing or upgrading to Windows 11.