Get the fix for the Windows setup error How to Setup was unable to create a new system partition that appears when attempting to install the following versions of Windows from a bootable USB: Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.
If attempting to install Windows from a USB drive, external drive, thumb drive, USB stick, etc instead of using a CD or DVD, the following error can appear:
Method 1. Eject and re-insert the USB
Eject and re-insert the USB is the easiest solution that I would like to recommend when you want to fix “Setup was unable to create a new system partition” error. Here is how to do it:
Remove all partitions on the drive (no need to launch diskpart, you can just use the partition selection screen)
1. Unplug the USB drive.
2. Click Next. You will get: Windows is unable to install to the selected location. Error: 0x80300001.
3. Replug the USB drive.
4. Click Refresh.
5. Click Next.
Method 2. Use a CD or DVD Drive
Method 3. Manually create the boot partition:
The first method might only work well to solve “Setup was unable to create a new system partition” problem in Windows 7 but don’t help with Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. So I would like to introduce another solution that will be suitable for any Windows version.
If you prefer to do this manually, you can use diskpart from the Windows setup command line to copy the setup/installation files from the USB to the local drive and then use the local drive to both boot from and install to, bypassing the USB completely and preventing Windows from getting confused:
- Boot Windows installation from USB flash drive.
- Press Shift+F10.
- In console type diskpart.exe and press enter. In this program execute following:
- select disk=0. Disk 0 is your destination drive, so be careful, all information on this drive will be removed.
- create partition primary size=xxx, where xxx – is the size of new partition.
- select partition=1.
- active.
- format fs=ntfs quick.
- assign.
- exit, now you have bootable drive C.
- Navigate to USB flash drive, in my case: cd d:.
- Copy all files from USB drive to C: drive: xcopy d: c: /e /h /k.
- Go to boot folder: cd boot.
- Make you C: drive bootable with following command: bootsect /nt60 c:.
- Put off USB flash drive from computer and restart them.
- Install Windows.
- Remove unnecessary menu item from bootscreen.
- Run cmd.exe as Administrator
- See boot menu list bcdedit
- Find Windows Setup and copy identifier
- Run bcdedit /delete {identifier}
Eject the USB drive from your computer, and restart
Boot back into Windows setup and select “Install Now”
I really hope there is, at least, one way that can help you fix “Setup was unable to create a new system partition” error and achieve a successful Windows installation.