Windows operating systems have come a long way during their existence. They improved every year, and now the latest version of Windows 8 was released, it froze right at the first Microsoft presentation, and then was considered a failure by the development company. And here the user is faced with a very serious problem. On the one hand, all the latest models of computers and laptops are produced with G8. On the other hand, modern hard drives used in them have gpt partitioning. As a result, an error occurs when installing Windows 7. What could be the reasons? Why does my laptop display the message “Windows cannot be installed on this disk”? The GPT partition is to blame.

"An old man" or a reliable friend?

Until the creation of Windows 8, operating systems used hard drive partitioning called mbr. Accordingly, support for sections in them is carried out exclusively up to the latest version. Thus, if you are going to remove the installed "eight" and install an older version of the operating system, then they will not be able to recognize the latest GPT interface, as a result of which during installation the message "Windows cannot be installed on this disk" may appear. GPT will not be recognized, so the user will not even be able to determine what the problem is. Let's understand its essence.

Older operating systems work with the MBR. What it is? The MBR (Master Boot Record) is the program code and information needed to pre-start the system. They are located in the first designated sector of the hard drive. The MBR launches after the BIOS has initially checked all devices. Its main function is to determine the location of the files necessary to boot the operating system. As you understand, an error when installing Windows 7 may be caused by the fact that the new EFI standard, which uses GPT, is not able to detect the OS and write it to its startup partition.

What is GPT?

GPT is a standard format for placing partition tables on a hard disk. The fact is that Intel has proposed a new interface to replace the familiar BIOS. It's called EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface), and part of it is the new format - GPT.

One of the features of the EFI standard is that it has both possible boot methods. Since GPT uses a logical block addressing system, the starting blocks have the following structure:

1. LBA 0- the very first sector containing MBR information. This is how the creators ensured that they could always convert the disc to the required format.
2. LBA 1- here is the table of contents of the GPT partition table.
3. LBA 2- this sector is intended to store the partition table itself.

Based on the above, you should understand that these two disk partitioning standards are so different that installing Windows on new hard drives is impossible. GPT will simply prevent an operating system using mbr from erasing hard disk partitions and thereby possibly damaging its structure.

On your marks!

So, if you decide to reinstall the operating system, do not forget to prepare everything you need:

Are you ready? Then let's begin.

Reinstallation

The first series of steps to follow when installing an operating system are:

1. Start rebooting your computer. At this moment, hold down the F2 key in order to get into the BIOS management. Remember that the buttons required to run this routine may differ for different laptop models, and due to the very short period of time in which you need to press the button, it is better to simply hold it down for the entire reboot.
2. Once in the BIOS, you can complete the last stage of preparation for the reinstallation - insert the installation disk into the computer.
3. In the settings, specify the device from which you want to boot the laptop. You need to install your drive on the first line.
4. In the additional options, in the security settings, instead of the UEFI standard used, set the parameter “Legacy” or “Legacy and UEFI”. This will remove protection from reinstallation.
5. Save and exit BIOS. After this, restart the computer.
6. When the message “To boot from disk, press any key...” appears, we comply with the computer’s request.
7. The operating system installer start window appears. We go through the dialog boxes and get to the hard drive management manager. We delete all existing partitions (except for the very first). We try to specify it to install the OS.
8. It is at this stage that the system may warn you that installing Windows on this disk is impossible. The GPT format will not allow you to install the system.
9. If you do not encounter any difficulties or messages, proceed calmly with the installation according to these instructions. If you are unable to complete the installation, see the next chapter of this article.
10. So, having eliminated all obstacles, we proceed to installation. It can take up to two hours of your free time, so, leaving the computer, you can safely go have tea.
11. The last step will be the initial setup of the PC. Set the time and language. Enter your activation key. Your OS is ready to go.

Conversion

If you encounter a problem at the stage of selecting a hard drive for installation, and you receive a message that installing Windows on this disk is impossible, you need to convert the gpt format to mbr. To do this you will have to perform the following steps. Press "Shift + F10". And then enter several commands sequentially:

diskpart - sel dis 0 - clean - convert mbr - exit - exit.

This will allow you to convert partitions to mbr format. Now you can safely continue installing the operating system according to the previous chapter.

Exception

So, after reading, you can proceed to reinstall the operating system yourself. Despite what was said in this article, installing Windows on gpt (partition without "witchcraft") is possible in two cases. Firstly, if you are installing an operating system or assembly that supports GPT disk partitions. Secondly, in the case when a build of an operating system “younger” than Windows 8 is independently capable of converting hard drive partitions into the required format. In other cases, installation is impossible; gpt has nothing to do with it. The creators of the laptop could have initially taken care that users themselves did not reinstall the OS and did not produce pirated copies.

Users who install the latest three versions of Windows operating systems – 7, 8 or 10 (any build) – can see a message on the screen with the text “the selected disk has a GPT partition style.”

The problem is the incompatibility of outdated laptop or computer software with more modern drive characteristics.

The choice of a specific solution to the problem primarily depends on the bit depth of the Windows system being installed and the firmware interface (BIOS or UEFI).

What are GPT and MBR?

Before you continue installing the operating system on your PC and converting partition styles, it is worth finding out what is causing the problem.

Thus, most relatively old motherboards were equipped with BIOS software, the tasks of which were primary diagnostics and loading the operating system.

By the way, you can read on our website.

The software was designed to work only with MBR boot records.

A newer version of the interface, UEFI, allows you to work with both old styles and new ones, GPT.

Rice. 1. Error when installing Windows on a disk with GPT partition style.

The advantages of the updated software are increased loading speed and data security - due to more reliable loading and support for hardware encryption of drives.

In addition, UEFI works with the GPT style, which supports writing and reading large files. This is especially important for hard drive sizes larger than 1 TB.

You should know: UEFI is compatible with both BIOS and MBR. This means that when working with the new interface, the disk style does not matter. At the same time, the BIOS does not work with either UEFI or GPT.

Rice. 2. Defining disk styles using special utilities.

Options for solving the problem

As a rule, most more or less new motherboards are already equipped with a modern interface.

And problems with installing an operating system due to the GPT style can appear only in two cases - if the computer is relatively old or the UEFI settings do not support the new style.

The first version of the problem can be solved in only one way - by changing the hard drive settings.

As a result, it will be more difficult to work with large files, but you will be able to install the system.

If the problem is that GPT support is disabled, you just need to enable it and continue installing the platform.

Installing the system on GPT disks

It is advisable to solve problems with installing the system on a HDD with GPT partitions by observing the following conditions:

1. Using a 64-bit system;
2. By setting the boot mode to UEFI.

However, most often the cause of the error is the failure to fulfill the second condition, since it hardly makes sense to install a 32-bit system now (except for computers with 32-bit processors).

To correct the situation, you will either need to change the BIOS settings, or prepare it in such a way that it supports working with UEFI automatically.

Setting up BIOS or UEFI

The first steps that should be performed when installing Windows of one of the latest three generations on a PC is (or, more precisely, UEFI).

This usually requires pressing a certain key while the operating system is loading.

In Windows 7, you most often need to press Esc, F1 or F2, depending on the motherboard manufacturer.

For Windows 8, this will require changing the system boot settings (through the additional parameters of the “Diagnostics” menu, called up by pressing the Win + C keys).

Rice. 3. Enter the Windows 8 system boot change menu.

For Windows 10, to enter the UEFI settings you will have to run:

1. Click on the notifications icon and select settings;
2. Go to the update and security window;
3. Select recovery partitions, special boot methods and immediate reboot one by one;
4. After the system has rebooted, select advanced options and UEFI settings.

Now that the BIOS has turned on, you should configure its menu to automatically install the new system on GPT disks.

To do this, the user must install UEFI boot instead of the standard CSM.

Rice. 4. Installation of loading the new UEFI interface.

The second step is to select the appropriate disk operating mode - instead of IDE, designed for the old type of HDD, you should choose.

Configuration can be done in the Peripherals or SATA Configuration menu.

Rice. 5. Setting the operating mode for SATA drives.

Sometimes, for Windows 7, it is necessary to additionally disable such an option as UEFI.

You should know: In different versions of UEFI, all these items may be located in different places. However, the names of the settings are saved and are relatively easy to find.

You may be interested in:

Possible installation problems

After making all the changes, just save them and restart your computer (or laptop). There should be no error messages or other similar problems.

If problems still persist, you should fix them by creating a special boot disk.

One of the easiest ways to do this is to use the command line or special programs like Rufus.

Rice. 6. Create a boot disk that supports GPT by default.

When using such a drive, the probability of error-free system installation is almost 100 percent.

However, to be on the safe side, you should perform one more action - delete the bootmgr file in the main directory of the USB flash drive, which may lead to another attempt to boot without GPT support.

Now the system will install without errors.

Converting a disk from GPT to MBR

In the absence of the ability to configure UEFI, and especially in the complete absence of this interface, the user has no other option but to change partition styles.

To do this, you can try to use the already built-in tools of the installed operating system or special utilities.

Important: If necessary, the methods for changing styles back from MBR to GPT are just as simple. Moreover, the data written on the disc is not lost, unlike conversion to an older format.

Conversion via command line

An option to change the disk style, suitable for computers with an outdated boot interface and, especially, an old type HDD (IDE).

A necessary condition for performing such actions is that the hard drive partitions must be empty, since all data is deleted during the conversion process.

If the information on the disk is not needed by the user, it does not need to be deleted.

To change the style to the MBR, the person installing the operating system will need to do the following:

1. When selecting a partition type during system installation, press the Shift and F10 keys;
2. In the command line that opens on the screen, enter two commands - first discpart, then list disk;
3. After the list of hard disk partitions appears, write select disk A, where A is the number of the part that should be converted to GPT.

The user's next actions can continue by entering the clean command. In this case, all partitions of one of the disks will be deleted.

The second option is manual removal, which requires entering three commands in turn (detail disk, select volume, delete volume).

The last stage is changing the style. To do this, enter another command in the line - convert mbr.

After manual conversion to MBR has been completed, you need to:

1. Enter one more final command Exit ;
2. Close command prompt;
3. Divide the disk into new partitions (it is advisable to leave a smaller part of the HDD for the system and applications, and a larger part for storing important information);
4. Continue installing the operating system.

As a rule, no errors occur in this case.

The only reasons for continued problems are problems with the hard drive or a corrupted software distribution.

In the first case, you will have to contact service to fix the problem, in the second, use another installation disk.

Selected disk has GPT partition style when installing Windows

Attention: this is not the only way to solve the problem: you can also simply enable EFI boot for the installation drive without converting the HDD.

Convert to MBR in Disk Management menu

The second option for manually switching from GPT to MBR is suitable for computers on which a working Windows 7 or 8 is already installed, and the disk is not a system one.

To resolve the issue, the user is required to:

1. Go to the disk management menu (one of the simplest options is through the run window, in which you should enter the command diskmgmt.msc);

Rice. 7. Disk management menu.

2. Find a physical (that is, not a partition, of which there can be many on an HDD) hard drive that will be converted;

3. Delete all partitions from the HDD by selecting the delete item in the menu;

4. Right-click on the disk name and select conversion to MBR.

5. Restart your computer and continue installation.

Convert GPT hard drive to MBR basic

Convert a GPT hard drive to MBR (basic) using Paragon Hard Disk Manager.

Style conversion utility

In addition to standard methods involving the use of built-in Windows tools, there is also the opportunity to simplify your task using special utilities.

Some of the most convenient are Minitool Partition Wizard and Acronis Disk Director. The downside to these apps is that you have to pay to purchase them.

While downloading the Aomei Partition Assistant program can be done completely free of charge.

And among the many possibilities, there is not only changing styles, but also other options for customizing hard drives.

Rice. 8 Working with the Aomei Partition Assistant utility

You should know: When using applications that allow you to change hard disk style settings, you can delete the first boot partition of the HDD. In this case, converting GPT to MBR and back will be much easier.

• Translation

Have you ever wondered how your computer boots? Regardless of the hardware and operating system, all computers use either the traditional BIOS-MBR method or the more modern UEFI-GPT method, implemented in the latest versions of the OS, when booting.

In this article, we will compare GPT and MBR partition structures; GPT stands for GUID Partition Table and MBR stands for Master Boot Record. Let's start by looking at the download process itself.

The following chapters highlight the differences between GPT and MBR partition styles, including instructions on how to convert between the two styles and advice on which one to choose.

Understanding the Boot Process

When you press the power button on your PC, it starts a process that will eventually load the operating system into memory. The first command depends on what the partition structure is on your hard drive.

If there are two types of partition structures: MBR and GPT. The partition structure on a disk determines three things:

1. Data structure on disk.
2. The code that is used during boot if the partition is bootable.
3. Where does the section begin and end?

MBR boot process

Let's return to the download process. If your system uses an MBR partition structure, the first execution process will load the BIOS. The Basic Input/Output System includes bootloader firmware. The bootloader firmware contains low-level functions such as keyboard input, video display access, disk I/O, and code to load the initial stage of the bootloader. Before the BIOS can detect the boot device, it performs a sequence of system configuration functions, starting with the following:

• Self-test at power-on.
• Detection and initialization of the video card.
• Displays the BIOS start screen.
• Perform a quick memory (RAM) test.
• Plug and play device configuration.
• Boot device definition.

Once the BIOS has detected a boot device, it reads the first disk sector of that device into memory. The first sector of the disk is the master boot record (MBR), which is 512 bytes in size. Three objects fit into this size:

• First stage of the bootloader (446 bytes).
• Disk Partition Table (16 bytes per partition × 4 partitions) - MBR only supports four partitions, more on that below.
• Signature (2 bytes).

At this stage, the MBR scans the partition table and loads the boot sector - Volume Boot Record (VBR) into RAM.

A VBR usually contains an Initial Program Loader (IPL), this code initiates the loading process. The program's boot loader includes a second boot loader stage, which then loads the operating system. On Windows NT family systems, such as Windows XP, the bootloader first loads another program called NT Loader (NTLDR), which then loads the operating system.

For operating systems based on the Linux kernel, the GRUB (Grand Unified Bootloader) bootloader is used. The download process is similar to that described above, the only difference is the name of the loaders at the first and second stages.

In GRUB, the first stage of the boot loader is called GRUB Stage 1. It loads the second stage, known as GRUB Stage 2. The second stage load retrieves a list of operating systems on the hard drives and provides the user with a list to select an OS to boot.

GPT boot process

At the same boot stage, the following happens in the GPT partition structure. GPT uses UEFI, which does not have the MBR procedure of storing the first stage of the bootloader in the boot sector and then calling the second stage of the bootloader. UEFI - Unified Extensible Firmware Interface - is a more advanced interface than BIOS. It can analyze the file system and even download files itself.

After turning on your computer, UEFI first performs system configuration functions, just like BIOS. This includes energy management, setting dates and other system management components.

UEFI then reads the GPT - GUID Partition Table. GUID stands for Globally Unique Identifier. GPT is located in the first sectors of the disk, just after sector 0, where the master boot record for the Legacy BIOS is still stored.

GPT defines the partition table on the disk where the EFI boot loader recognizes the EFI system partition. The system partition contains bootloaders for all operating systems installed on other partitions of the hard drive. The bootloader initializes the Windows boot manager, which then boots the operating system.

For Linux kernel operating systems, there is an EFI-enabled version of GRUB that loads a file, such as grub.efi, or an EFI boot loader, which loads its own file, such as elilo.efi.

You may notice that both UEFI-GPT, And BIOS-MBR they transfer control to the bootloader, but do not directly load the operating system themselves. However, UEFI does not require you to go through multiple stages of the bootloader like BIOS. The boot process occurs at a very early stage, depending on your hardware configuration.

Differences between GPT and MBR partition structures

If you've ever tried to install Windows 8 or 10 on a new computer, you've probably seen the question: which partition structure to use, MBR or GPT.

If you want to know more or are planning to install a new operating system on your computer, then read on. We've already looked at differences in boot processes that are worth keeping in mind when partitioning a disk or choosing a partition structure.

GPT is a newer and more advanced partition structure, and it has many advantages, which I will list below. MBR has been in use for a long time, it is stable and has maximum compatibility. Although GPT may eventually replace MBR as it offers more advanced features, in some cases only MBR can be used.

Master Boot Record

MBR is a traditional structure for managing disk partitions. Since it is compatible with most systems, it is still widely used. The master boot record is located in the first sector of the hard drive or, more simply, at the very beginning. It contains a partition table - information about the organization of logical partitions on the hard drive.

The MBR also contains executable code that scans partitions for the active OS and initiates the OS boot procedure.

An MBR disk allows only four primary partitions. If you need more, you can designate one of the partitions as an extended partition, and you can create more subpartitions or logical drives on it.

The MBR uses 32 bits to record the partition length, expressed in sectors, so that each partition is limited to a maximum size of 2 TB.

Advantages

• Compatible with most systems.

Flaws

• Allows only four partitions, with the ability to create additional subpartitions on one of the main partitions.
• Limits the partition size to two terabytes.
• Partition information is stored in only one place - the master boot record. If it is damaged, the entire disk becomes unreadable.

GUID Partition Table (GPT)

GPT is a newer standard for defining the partition structure of a disk. Globally unique identifiers (GUIDs) are used to define the structure.

This is part of the UEFI standard, meaning a UEFI-based system can only be installed on a drive that uses GPT, such as the Windows 8 Secure Boot feature.

GPT allows for an unlimited number of partitions, although some operating systems may limit the number to 128 partitions. There is also virtually no limit on partition size in GPT.

Advantages

• Allows an unlimited number of sections. The limit is set by the operating system; for example, Windows allows no more than 128 partitions.
• Does not limit partition size. It depends on the operating system. The maximum partition size limit is greater than the capacity of any disk available today. For drives with 512-byte sectors, a maximum supported size of 9.4 ZB (one zettabyte is equal to 1,073,741,824 terabytes)
• GPT stores a copy of the partition and boot data and can recover the data if the main GPT header becomes corrupted.
• GPT stores cyclic redundancy checksum (CRC) values ​​to verify the integrity of its data (used to verify the integrity of GPT header data). If corrupted, GPT can notice the problem and attempt to recover the corrupted data from another location on the disk.

Flaws

• May not be compatible with older systems.

GPT vs MBR

• GPT allows an unlimited number of primary partitions, while MBR allows only four primary partitions and the rest are secondary.
• GPT allows you to create partitions of any size, while MBR has a limit of 2 TB.
• GPT stores a copy of the partition data, allowing it to be restored if the main GPT header becomes corrupted; MBR stores only one copy of partition data in the first sector of the hard disk, which can lead to the loss of all information if partition information is damaged.
• GPT stores checksum values ​​to verify that data is not corrupted and can perform necessary recovery from other areas of the disk if corruption occurs; The MBR has no way of knowing if data is corrupted; you can only find out if the computer refuses to boot or the partition disappears.

Operating system compatibility

The first sector (sector 0) on a GPT disk contains an MBR protection record, which records that the disk has one partition that spans the entire media. In case of using older tools that only read MBR disks, you will see one large partition the size of the entire disk. The protective record is made to prevent the old tool from mistaking the disk as empty and overwriting the GPT data with a new master boot record.

MBR protects GPT data from being overwritten.

Apple MacBooks" and use GPT by default, so it is not possible to install Mac OS X on an MBR system. Even though Mac OS X can run on an MBR disk, it is not possible to install on it. I tried this, but without success.

Most Linux kernel operating systems are GPT compatible. When installing Linux OS on the disk, GRUB 2 will be installed as the bootloader.

For Windows operating systems, booting from GPT is only possible on UEFI computers running 64-bit versions of Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10 and related server versions. If you bought a laptop with a 64-bit version of Windows 8, then there is a high probability that it has GPT.

Windows 7 and earlier systems typically install on MBR disks, but you can still convert partitions to GPT, as discussed below.

All versions of Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10 can read and use data from GPT partitions - but they cannot boot from such non-UEFI drives.

So GPT or MBR?

You can feel comfortable with both MBR and GPT. But considering the advantages of GPT mentioned earlier and the fact that modern computers are gradually switching to this technology, you may prefer GPT. If the goal is to support older hardware or need to use a traditional BIOS, then you are stuck with MBR.

Check the hard drive partition type

On each Windows hard drive, you can check the partition type using Disk Management. To launch Disk Management, do the following:

Press the Windows + R hotkey combination to open a window for launching programs.

Type diskmgmt.msc and press Enter.

Windows will scan your hard drives and show them shortly. To check the partition type of any hard drive, right-click on the disk plate at the bottom of the interface. You need to click on “Disk 0”, “Disk 1” and so on, and not on partitions.

In the context menu that appears, select “Properties”. A window with the properties of the selected disk will open.

Go to the Volumes tab and look at the Partition Style value.

If you prefer the command line, you can choose another option. Its advantage is that it is slightly faster, since it immediately displays drives and partition styles.

1. Press the Windows key, type cmd.exe, hold Ctrl and Shift, press Enter.
2. Confirm the UAC message about increasing system privileges.
3. Type diskpart and press Enter.
4. Type list disk and press Enter again.

All drives are listed. The Gpt column indicates the partition style for each disk. If you see an asterisk in the column, then it is GPT; if it is not there, it is MBR.

Convert between MBR and GPT during Windows installation

There are two common error messages that may appear when installing Windows on a hard drive:

• Error #1: “Windows cannot be installed on this drive. The selected disk does not have a GPT partition style."
• Error #2: “Windows cannot be installed on this drive. The selected disk has a GPT partition style."

When one of these two errors appears, you may not be able to select a partition to install. But this does not mean that there is something wrong with the computer.

As you already know, MBR and GPT are two completely different hard disk partition structures. MBR is the traditional partition structure, while GPT is the newer one.

Error #1 occurs when you try to install Windows on a UEFI computer and the hard drive partition is not configured for UEFI mode or Legacy BIOS compatibility. Microsoft TechNet offers two options to resolve the issue.

1. Reboot the computer in Legacy BIOS compatibility mode. This option will keep the current section style.
2. Reformat the disk for UEFI using the GPT partition style. This option will allow you to use UEFI firmware features. You can do the reformatting yourself by following the instructions below. Always back up your data before formatting.

Of course, there are third-party utilities that can convert disks to GPT while preserving the data, but it is still safer to make a backup copy in case the utility fails to complete the conversion.

Instructions for converting a hard drive from MBR to GPT

Using Windows Setup

1. Select the unallocated space and click Next. Windows will detect that the computer is booted in UEFI mode and will automatically reformat the drive using the GPT partition style. The installation process will begin immediately after this.

Manual conversion

1. Turn off your computer and insert a bootable Windows drive (USB or DVD).
2. Boot from it in UEFI mode.
3. Clean the disk: clean .
4. Conversion to GPT is done with the convert gpt command.

Instructions for converting a hard drive from GPT to MBR

Sometimes it is necessary to convert a disk to an MBR partition structure. For example, if you receive the following error message during Windows installation:

"Windows cannot be installed on this drive. The selected disk has a GPT partition style"

Booting from GPT is only supported on 64-bit versions of Windows Vista, 7, 8, 10 and corresponding server versions on UEFI systems. This error message means that your computer does not support UEFI, and therefore you can only use a BIOS that works with the MBR partition structure.

Microsoft TechNet offers two options to resolve the issue.

1. Reboot the computer in BIOS compatibility mode. This option will keep the current section style.
2. Reformat the disk using the MBR partition style. Always back up your data before formatting. Although there are third-party utilities that can convert disks to GPT while preserving the data, it is still safer to make a backup copy in case the utility fails to complete the conversion.

If you chose the second option, then follow the step-by-step instructions:

Using Windows Setup

1. Turn off your computer and insert a bootable Windows drive (USB or DVD).
2. Boot from it in UEFI mode.
3. Select "Other" (Custom) in the installation type.
4. A screen will appear asking “Where do you want to install Windows?” Select all partitions on the disk and click Delete.
5. After successful removal, the disk will be a single area of ​​unallocated space.
6. Select the unallocated space and click Next. Windows will detect that the computer is booted in BIOS mode and will automatically reformat the drive using the MBR partition style. The installation process will begin immediately after this.

Manual conversion

1. Turn off your computer and insert a bootable Windows drive (USB or DVD).
2. Boot from it in BIOS mode.
3. From the Windows installation, press Shift+F10 to open the console. After each next command, press Enter.
4. Run the diskpart tool with the diskpart command.
5. To select the disk to convert, type list disk .
6. Specify the disk number to convert: select disk # .
7. Clean the disk: clean .
8. Conversion to GPT is done with the convert mbr command.
9. Type exit to exit diskpart.
10. Close the console and return to the Windows installation.
11. When choosing an installation type, select "Other". The disk will be a single area of ​​unallocated space.
12. Select the unallocated space and click Next. Windows will begin installation.

Very often, when reinstalling the operating system or during other manipulations with it, the error “The disk has a GPT partition style” may appear.

Therefore, a completely logical question arises regarding how to change the style of GPT partitions on a laptop.

The above error usually looks like this.

It is in this very style that the solution to the problem lies.

But before you understand changing styles, you should understand why such an error occurs in the first place and what the concept of “GPT partition style” means.

Reason for the error

In general, the concept of “partition style” refers to how all the information is distributed on a computer’s hard drive. So, there are two types of these same styles - GPT and MBR.

Modern operating systems use the GPT partition style.

It became part of UEFI, that is, a new type of interface connecting hardware and the operating system itself. You may be more familiar with the concept of BIOS.

So, UEFI has replaced BIOS. Both UEFI and BIOS are responsible for ensuring that all components of the computer can work correctly and the equipment can accept the commands that are given to it.

But the problem is that in some cases you still need to return to the old MBR style. In particular, such cases arise when it is necessary to install an old operating system.

This is also true for laptops, especially those that are not very powerful. For powerful gaming laptops, changing the partition style makes no sense.

And the solution to the “The disk has a GPT partition style” error is to install a newer operating system.

And now, in fact, let's move on to changing the style of GPT partitions on the laptop. There are several ways to do this.

Using standard Windows tools

Let's say right away that the solution to the problem of changing the partition style is to change the GPT to the MBR. This can be done very simply.

Important: When using this method, all data from the hard drive will be completely erased!

To change the style of partitions using standard Windows tools, you must do the following:

• On your keyboard, press the Shift and F10 buttons simultaneously. This will bring up the command line. On some laptop models you also need to press the Fn key.
  This should be done if the error that is shown in Figure 1 or at any other stage of working with the operating system occurs.
  If, at the stage where you are when the error occurs, the command line does not start after pressing the key combination Shift +F10 or Fn +Shift +F10, you should return to one stage. But in most cases it should run.
• At the command line, enter the command “list disk”. All this looks as shown in Figure 2. The command we need is underlined there with a red line.

• As you can see, after this a table of all the disks that are on the computer appears. Here we need to remember the disk numbers, which are circled in green circles in Figure 2.
  By the way, there will be an asterisk next to those disks that have the GPT style. In the example above, disk number 0 has just such an asterisk. By the way, you can use it to find out which disk should be converted.
• Next you need to enter the command “select disk a”, where “a” is the disk number (it is circled in green in Figure No. 2). In Figure 3 this command is shown with a red line. After entering this, the message “Disk a selected” will appear, as shown below.

• Now the selected disk needs to be cleaned. To do this, enter a command with a quite logical name - “clean”. This is shown in Figure 4.

• Now another command is entered with the same logical name - “convert mbr”. Actually, it is responsible for converting the partition style to MBR.

• Now we need to make a new partition on the same disk. Otherwise, there will simply be no partitions on the disk, and the data will not fit anywhere. Then the hard drive will simply become lifeless.
  To create a new partition, use the “create partition primary” command.

• Next, you should link the created partition to the entire system. This is also an important step, because, otherwise, the partition will exist on the disk, but the system simply will not see it. For the link, there is a command also with a logical name - “assign”.
  After this, you can exit the command line using the “exit” command.

That's all. Now the disk has been converted to MBR and you can try to install an operating system on it or perform other manipulations.

Through the installation window

There is a much simpler way than described above. It consists of selecting “Disk Settings” right in the installation window.

First, you need to close the window that says “The disk has a GPT partition style” and return to the window for selecting a disk for installation.

This method is suitable for cases where the hard drive capacity does not exceed 2.2 TB.

Interestingly, this is precisely the limitation of the MBR style. Finding this inscription is very simple; its location is also shown in Figure No. 8.

Of course, before clicking on it, you need to select the desired disk or the desired partition; to do this, you just need to click on it in the list.

After clicking on this inscription, a window will appear with all partitions of the selected disk. They should simply be deleted and then created again, only with the MBR style.

This is also done very simply, and specifically, using the following sequence of actions:

• After clicking on “Disk Setup”, a set of commands will appear, which are shown in Figure 9. Among them, select the “Delete” command.

• In the window where the list of disks and partitions was previously located, the so-called Unallocated space on the disk will be present. It will be called that (an example of this is shown in Figure No. 10).
  We need to select it and click the “Next” button (located in the lower right corner). After this, the installed system itself will automatically select which style it needs and convert the system to this style.

Still, the first method is more reliable than this and there are several reasons for this, namely:

• The installed system may not convert the partition style correctly;
• In the first method, the user has the ability to control the entire conversion process;
• The command line can be called anywhere in the system installation or at any stage of other manipulations.

For these and other reasons, it is better to call the command line and convert partitions using standard system tools.

The command line may look scary, but there is nothing criminal in it.

If time and opportunities allow, you can completely interrupt all operations, go to a regular desktop and convert the style of partitions on the disk using one of the special programs designed for this.

Using additional programs

Let’s say right away that this method has several very significant advantages and they are as follows:

• Convenient interface in programs (no need to enter any commands);
• High functionality of the programs (you can not only convert from GPT to MBR, but also perform a huge number of other operations);
• Data from disks is not erased (!).

Of course, its disadvantage is that you will have to interrupt all manipulations with the operating system, and then start all over again.

As for what programs there are to accomplish the task we have set, there are a lot of them. One of the most popular is called Minitool Partition Wizard Bootable.

The huge advantage of this program is that, firstly, it is free, and secondly, it has truly impressive functionality. Of course, a simple interface is also present.

To run it, you will need Daemon Tools or any other tool that accepts ISO images. But it’s better to take Daemon Tools.

To do this, click on the “Download” button highlighted in Figure 12. By the way, the lightest version, that is, the Lite version, is quite suitable for us.

Accordingly, Daemon Tools needs to be downloaded and opened. In the window that opens, select the image installation button (highlighted in Figure 13) and add the Minitool Partition Wizard Bootable image.

In Minitool Partition Wizard Bootable itself, all we have to do is select the desired partition and click on the “Convert GPT Disk to MBR Disk” command in the left toolbar (highlighted in Figure No. 14).

You can also select the same section at the bottom of the program window, then right-click on it and in the drop-down menu, highlighted in Figure 14 with a green frame, select the same item as described above.

Visual instructions for the latter method are presented in the video below.

Convert GPT disk to MBR disk | MiniTool Partition Wizard Official Video Guide

How to change the style of GPT partitions on a laptop - Livehack

The same article explains in detail:
How to prepare a bootable UEFI USB flash drive for Windows 7 64-bit.
How to properly configure UEFI BIOS to boot from a USB flash drive and then install Windows 7 on a GPT disk.
How to convert your hard drive to GPT in Windows 7 installer and finally install the operating system.

• Note: Friends, I want to tell you this, Windows 7 installed on a GPT disk works a little faster, but of course not as fast as if you !
• All the differences between new GPT disks and old MBRs are described in our article.
• Today’s article describes a rather complicated method for beginners to create a bootable UEFI flash drive with Windows 7; there is a much simpler method and it is described in our other article -.
• Today we will install Windows 7 with you on a GPT disk of a computer with an ASUS motherboard, but if you have a GIGABYTE motherboard, read another article

Connect the Windows 7 bootable USB flash drive to the USB 2.0 port (black), when connecting the flash drive to the USB 3.0 port (blue), an error may occur, since the Windows 7 installer does not have USB 3.0 drivers.

As usual, at the beginning of the article, we publish a letter from a reader of our site.

Hello admin, I ask for your advice! I bought a powerful system unit. The BIOS on a new computer is, you guessed it, UEFI. I installed the Windows 7 64-bit operating system myself, but ran into a problem. My hard drive has a capacity of 3 TB and after installing the operating system, 745 GB remained unallocated on it. After a short search for information on the Internet, I realized that this is due to the fact that my hard drive has the most common and already outdated type of partition table layout, MBR, which does not see all the space on a hard drive larger than 2 TB. This means that my hard drive needs to be converted to the new GPT partition table format, which, by the way, has many other advantages over MBR. This is where my adventures began, judging by numerous posts on the Internet, I’m not the only one.

On one very authoritative resource they offered me a helping hand with such an “encouraging” message “ None of the editions of Windows 7, unlike Windows 8, support installation on drives with GPT contents" In my case, I just need to buy an additional SSD solid-state drive and install the Windows 7 64-bit operating system on it, then convert my second 3 TB hard drive to GPT and use it for file storage.

Administrator's note: This can only be done if all sections have been deleted on it and, accordingly, there is no information.

Installed?

Now run the following command:

xcopy I:\*.* F:\ /e /f /h (where I is the drive letter of the connected ISO image with Windows 7, and F is the drive letter of the flash drive). The Windows 7 installation files are copied to a flash drive, which takes 3-5 minutes.

There are a few commands left:

xcopy F:\efi\microsoft\*.* /e /f /h F:\efi\

xcopy C:\Windows\boot\efi\bootmgfw.efi F:\efi\boot\bootx64.efi(where F is the drive letter of the flash drive)

We answer the question by pressing on the keyboard (F).
And the last one:
bootsect /nt60 F: (where F is the drive letter of the flash drive) (the file is located F:\boot\bootsect)
Our UEFI bootable USB flash drive Windows 7 64-bit ready!

Note: If you enter the command bootsect/nt60 the following error will appear "bootsect" is not an internal or external command, executable program or batch file, then change the command to this I:\Boot\bootsect.exe /nt60 F:(where I is the drive letter of the connected ISO image with Windows 7, and F is the drive letter of the flash drive).

BIOS UEFI

To install Windows 7 on a GPT disk, we need to properly configure our UEFI BIOS.

When loading, press Delete or F2 and enter the UEFI BIOS. Click Advanced (F7).

and select the USB support option and set the Full Initialization parameter.

Then go to the menu CSM (Compatibility Support Module)

And set the Launch CSM position to Enabled.

Boot Device Options– set to UEFI only

Click on the arrow and exit the menu - set the Windows UEFI mode parameter and exit back.

Download priority

Boot option No. 1 – select our flash drive

Boot option No. 2 – select our hard drive.

That's all the settings. Press F10, this saves the changes we made to the UEFI BIOS.

In general, in UEFI BIOS you can change the boot priority in the initial window. In the initial phase of booting the computer, press Delete or F2, enter the UEFI BIOS, select the boot menu (F8),

Then we select our flash drive, it boots from the flash drive.

We boot into the Windows 7 installation program. Everything is as usual. Further.

Install. We accept the license agreement. Full installation (additional options).

In this window, we do not pay attention to existing sections.

We call the command line, in it we will convert our hard drive to the GPT standard, all partitions and data on the disk will be deleted. Press Shift + F10 on the keyboard. On the command line, enter the commands sequentially:

diskpart
seldis 0
clean
convert gpt
exit
exit

click Update.

The usual Windows 7 installation process occurs. For those who don’t know how to install Windows 7 on a computer, read our article.
After installing the Windows 7 operating system, go to Disk Management, right-click on our disk and select Properties,