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[Fixed] “Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is of the GPT partition style.”

By Jabin Manandhar

[Fixed] “Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is of the GPT partition style.”

Whenever you try to install Windows on a disk with GPT partition style, the Windows setup can display the “Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is of the GPT partition style” error message.

This happens if there’s a mismatch between the BIOS mode and disk partition style. In this particular case, your BIOS is likely set to Legacy BIOS mode which isn’t supported by the disk with GPT partition style.

To solve this issue, you simply need to use the correct BIOS mode with GPT, which is UEFI.

Note: A GPT disk is only compatible with UEFI and an MBR disk with Legacy BIOS mode.

Set the BIOS Mode to UEFI

On an older system, you can set the BIOS mode to either UEFI or Legacy.

However, the newer systems these days provide an additional option called Compatibility Support Mode (CSM) which provides backward compatibility for old legacy systems.

Now, to resolve the above issue, you can completely disable the CSM.

Even if you need to enable CSM to use some of the legacy options, you must set the Boot from Storage devices option under CSM to UEFI. Such an option can have a different name depending on your specific system.

If you don’t find any such option, disable the CSM and your BIOS will by default use UEFI.

  1. Close the error message window. Then, cancel the Windows installation and restart your PC.
    Close-error-and-cancel-Windows-setup-1024x538
  2. On the boot screen, keep pressing one of the function keys until you enter into the BIOS. While most systems use F2 or Del key, it can be different depending on your particular motherboard. To be sure, check out your motherboard manufacturer’s official site.
  3. Go to the Boot section. If you don’t find it on the main screen, look for it in advanced options or similar.
  4. Then, switch the Boot mode from Legacy to UEFI. 
  5. If your system doesn’t specifically have the UEFI option, look for another option called CSM and disable it.
    Disable-CSM-1024x538
  6. If you still want to enable the CSM for legacy support, make sure you set the Boot Device Control option to UEFI under CSM.
    Set-Boot-Device-Control-to-UEFI-under-CSM-1024x538
  7. Press F10 or another function key depending on your particular system to save changes and exit.
  8. Restart the system.
  9. Enter into BIOS and make sure the USB is set to boot first. Then, boot from the USB on your particular system (ASUS, Gigabyte, ASRock, MSI).
    Boot-from-USB-1024x538
  10. Now, the error won’t show up when you select the desired disk on the “Where do you want to install Windows” screen.
    Windows-Installation-Setup-without-GPT-error-1024x538
Note: Alternatively, you can still use the Legacy BIOS mode. However, this option requires you to convert the whole disk into MBR and erase all its contents.