Windows 7 Setup was unable to create a system partition...

[usnbrendon]

Incredibly frustrated by a dozen or more attempts at a clean installation of Windows 7 RC1 x64 on a brand new system I just built! Win7 RC1 (x64) simply will NOT install in a RAID 0 configuration on my setup. Each time my installation process stalls with the same message:

"Setup was unable to create a system partition or locate an existing partition."


I cannot go any further and I am forced to end my installation and the computer reboots. I have the latest Intel ICH10R SATA RAID drivers on a thumbdrive (instead of crappy floppy 'F6' style) and I've tried loading the ICH10R drivers from thumbdrive AND mb maunfacturer's DVD. The partitioned drives are never recognized properly by the Win7 setup apparently. Although the patitions ARE VISIBLE and I can expand the ADVANCED OPTIONS and delete, format, etc., I receive the same error message above and can go no further. No luck with anything I've tried. I've spent hours and hours scouring the net for answers to this issue. Apparently this message is VERY COMMON but no one has a reliable answer at all.

I have checked, checked and RECHECKED my BIOS settings and have even gone to great lengths to insure that ALL non-essential hardware is disconnected during these install attempts. I have even moved my SATA DVD connection from the ICH10 to onboard Gigaraid SATA controller. The ONLY HDDs installed on the ICH10 are the two velociraptors which are configured by the RAID BIOS and are properly recognized by the system and Win7 installer.


My system:
GIGABYTE EX58-EXTREME mb
Intel i7 920 quad-core processor
12GB DDR3-tri-channel OCZ ram
(2) 300 GB WD Velociraptors in RAID 0 configuration
Samsung SATA DVD burner
Sapphire HD4870 1GB GDDR5 PCIe GPU
((no FDD at all, so using 8GB thumbdrive for F6 drivers))

All additional drives (WD 1TB eSATA drive and other Raptor drives) are NOT connected at this time to avoid causing conflicts!

I have recently read posts that indicate there are 2 log files created during each attempt at installing Windows 7. I found them in the following location: X:\windows\panther\ however, there seems to be no usable information contained in these files to aid in troubleshooting this problem.

Is this a known problem with a workaround, or is M$ even trying to resolve this issue, which is happening to countless individuals trying to perform a clean installation Win 7 RC1 (and Beta build 7000)?

Thanks in advance for any and all help!
Brendon

sidenote: Win7 RC1 x64 installed and worked great on my old Gigabyte 8i955x Royal system w/ Pentium D (EM64T), 2gb DDR2 and 4 Raptors in Raid 10 using ICH7R controller. That system had a tri-boot configuration that was far more complex than this new system I just built. Perhaps Win7 just doesn't play nicely with certain newest pieces of hardware? I have read about many users successfully installing and using W7 x64 on very similar systems with little to no problems. I'm baffled by this!

 

[nishi100]

i have exsamctly the same problem

i was on dual boot beetween windows 7 and xp

i found the problem - on xp it said C:/ is unacessable acess is denied

so i boot in safe mode in win xp and clicked security etc


IF you are on dual boot check win xp the error C:\ is unacessable acess is denied

fix this error then retry to install windows 7

 

[reghakr]

Sorry I can't help with your problem, but I believe the Panther directory relates to Group Policy

 

[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

 

[usnbrendon]

Hey undertow...thanks for passing on your hints! I believe I tried just about every combination of things possible, however, with the increasing irritation that grew after countless failed attempts at installing 7 in a RAID 0 config, I cannot recall if I tried it exactly the way you described or not! So, I've saved the few bookmarks and such that I've accumulated under my current 7 install and I'm off to format and try it all over again. Wish me luck...I'll see ya on the other side to let you know how I faired.

Thanks again for your response!

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

Undertow--thank you a thousand times. You were right. The one thing that I was missing...and on which there is ZERO documentation...is the fact that the USB flash drive MUST BE REMOVED immediately after loading the RAID / AHCI drivers before clicking NEXT! I followed your tip and although I did have to click "RESCAN" after plugging in the USB flash drive before I could "BROWSE" for the drivers, it worked like a charm. Who would have thought that keeping the USB drive inserted throughout the installation process would result in the OS completely halting and refusing to recognize the HDD partition(s)??? That did NOT happen to me on Vista and it didn't happen on my other computer with 7 beta on it. Go figure. One step forward...two steps back!

 

[gjbnh]

I just had this problem too, only the problem was caused either by a SDHC card or a USB mouse. When I remove them from system, I was able to install. So I guess the rule of thumb is, UNPLUG Everything.

 

[undertow]

You're welcome

I've reported it on TechNet

 

[wesochuck]

Dell Optiplex GX280 - Single SATA Drive - Partition Error

I was having the same error message come up when trying to get a fresh copy of Windows 7 installed on a Dell Optiplex GX280 with a single 80 GB SATA drive. It kept throwing up the error about not being able to use or create the system partition.

Finally solved my problem by adding some Intel Chipset drivers to the USB key I was installing Win 7 from. Then during setup, I clicked on the Load Drivers button on the drive page and then pointed it to the Vista 32 bit drivers (which I had on my flash drive) that can be downloaded from Intel here:

http://is.gd/HsXi-

Oddly enough on the drivers to load page it didn't seem to have anything to do with with SATA interface. But after selecting both of the drivers that were presented to install (crtl + click highlighted them both); when I was returned to the drive/partition screen as soon as I selected the clean 80 GB drive on my system I was able to install.

Also for those who might need it I found it useful to checkout things with diskpart to make sure that I had everything setup correctly. You can launch a command any time during the setup by hitting SHIFT + F10.

 

[gjbnh]

good info to know.

 

[javelincts]

Wheeew

Life saving information, was trying everything I could think of to get Win 7 working. I was just getting ready to reinstall XP I was so frustrated. As you pointed out pulled out two flash drives changed some bios settings so that hard drives were the priority and away I went. Cheers mate!

 

[techguyisme]

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

 

[evm]

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.

 

[kab761]

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.

 

[CommonTater]

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.

 

[kab761]

The hard drive is first in the BIOS boot settings.

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

 

[Imtoast]

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

 

[cult]

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?

 

[lAbsolutel]

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.

 

[duel]

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

 

[lmlmike]

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.