Setup was unable to create a system partition...

Originally Posted by undertow

I had exactly the same problem.

Here's what I was initially doing:

Boot device 1 = CD-ROM
Boot device 2 = Blank Intel SSD
Boot device 3 = USB stick with ICH10R AHCI drivers

Setup starts fine, you can load the drivers, it lets you choose a partition but then says "unable to create system partition".

The solution for me was as follows:

1) Do not have USB stick plugged in when booting, so only:
Boot device 1 = CD-ROM
Boot device 2 = Blank Intel SSD

2) At the setup page which says you can load other drivers, insert the USB stick, then click the link and load the drivers

3) Unplug the USB stick

4) Continue with setup

Hope that helps

Thank you, your instructions work exactly as written. you saved me hours maybe days worth of time. This was my first build and first time installing win7x64 on raid 0. i have a cooler max haf 922 box/rig with amd phenom II x4 955 blk. ed. , asus m4a89gtd pro/usb3 mobo . 8gb of corsair 1600 ram, 2 wd 320 gb hdd and ocz 600w modxstream pro psu

Originally Posted by undertow

I had exactly the same problem.

Here's what I was initially doing:

Boot device 1 = CD-ROM
Boot device 2 = Blank Intel SSD
Boot device 3 = USB stick with ICH10R AHCI drivers

Setup starts fine, you can load the drivers, it lets you choose a partition but then says "unable to create system partition".

The solution for me was as follows:

1) Do not have USB stick plugged in when booting, so only:
Boot device 1 = CD-ROM
Boot device 2 = Blank Intel SSD

2) At the setup page which says you can load other drivers, insert the USB stick, then click the link and load the drivers

3) Unplug the USB stick

4) Continue with setup

Hope that helps

Oh yea! He is right, it works like a charm! Thank you very much! Saved me countless hours of BS! I also removed usb stick and changed a bios setting. CD boot & hard drive boot only, no third boot device.

I'm getting this error when trying to boot off a USB drive. I have only one physical hard drive and I've formatted and partitioned it every which way I can think of to no avail. I have nothing else plugged in. The hard drive is first in the BIOS boot settings. I've tried unplugging the USB drive I'm trying to boot off of, not exactly expecting it to work, and then instead of getting this error, I get "Windows is unable to install to the selected location: error 0x80300001", presumably because it doesn't have the install disk anymore. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Ok... do not make your USB drive your first boot device. Make it second or third and use the pop up boot selection menu to select the USB drive for the first stage of installation.

What happens is that after the first reboot during install, windows sees the USB drive as c: and since it's removeable, it will bomb out on you.

Originally Posted by kab761

The hard drive is first in the BIOS boot settings.

Thanks, commontater, but that's not my problem.

A much easier way would have been the following.

1. boot DVD and press F6 to get to the boot menu
2. press F8 to go into safe mode
3, select safe mode with command prompt
4. type diskpart and enter
5. type SELECT DISK <number>
6. type CLEAN or CLEAN DISK
7. type EXIT
8. reboot with DVD in drive

this procedure would have erased any partition or other information on the disk that would prevent you from creating a system partition. Now when you go into advanced mode you can create the partition you want and windows will create you system partition for you.

GL

ImToast

Hello.
i have a asrock mobo(m3a785gxh) and two hard disks(1x200gb wd,1x500 gb seagate).
when i try to install 7 this message occured.
:"setup was unable to use the existing system partition because it does not contain the required free space"

in the 200 gb disk was my old os and various staff the 500gb disk is new.
I try to make new partition in the set up menu but the same message.I disconnected the 500 gb disk no luck,
'Any ideas?

Originally Posted by undertow

I had exactly the same problem.

Here's what I was initially doing:

Boot device 1 = CD-ROM
Boot device 2 = Blank Intel SSD
Boot device 3 = USB stick with ICH10R AHCI drivers

Setup starts fine, you can load the drivers, it lets you choose a partition but then says "unable to create system partition".

The solution for me was as follows:

1) Do not have USB stick plugged in when booting, so only:
Boot device 1 = CD-ROM
Boot device 2 = Blank Intel SSD

2) At the setup page which says you can load other drivers, insert the USB stick, then click the link and load the drivers

3) Unplug the USB stick

4) Continue with setup

Hope that helps

I honestly didn't think that trying this would work, something this ridiculous, but to my relief it worked first time. Can't thank you enough for this info.

I am another person shaking my head in disbelief and relief.

My setup differs quite a bit from the original poster, but the solution was the same.

I encountered the same error and knew the problem was something to do with the RAID1 setup because Win7 would install fine in IDE mode, but whenever I tried with RAID that error kept popping up. So I typed in the error message and 'RAID' and stumbled upon this thread. Thank God for the Internet!

I have a Rampage 2 Gene, and just wanted to install Win7 ontop of the RAID1 setup on Intels Storage Matrix thing (<will be back to correct once windows is sorted). I wasn't trying to install drivers or anything, I just happened to have left a usb stick in there and pulling it out sorted everything. Godam!

I hope putting in these keywords will help other people come across this thread and save the amount of hassle I've had, and by the sounds of it, everyone else!

Thank you undertow

Hello there !

Hello !!!

I'm just bumping this thread shortly after registration because I had the same error installing my fresh MSDNAA Windows 7 OS.
By copy/pasting the error on google, i found this thread that simply and quickly solved my problem.

Thank you for the author and the problem solver for making everyone winning a lot of time !

See ya !

Mike.