How to Fix Setup Was Unable To Create A New System Partition Error
If attempting to install Windows from a USB drive, external drive, thumbdrive, USB stick, etc instead of using a CD or DVD, the following error can appear:
This error is hardware-dependant and its appearance varies from PC to PC. It depends on your motherboard, your USB interface, the USB stick you are using, and the version of Windows you are installing. This error does not normally apply to EFI and UEFI installations of Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10.
Depending on how your PC is configured and which hardware you are using, Windows setup can sometimes be unable to tell which drive is an external USB drive and which drive is a local disk that Windows should be installed to. This especially happens when using larger USB drives to install Windows or if you have configured your BIOS to boot from the USB drive first always. Also, some USB sticks present themselves to Microsoft Windows as a regular drive instead of identifying as a bootable USB.
If Windows setup cannot reliably determine which is the boot drive, this error will appear.
The easiest solution for this error is to force Windows to re-arrange its ordering of the drives.
1. Upon seeing the error message remove your Windows setup USB from the PC.
2. Press the red “X” button to exit the installation wizard. You will be asked to confirm that you’re sure you want to do this and that Windows will not be installed if you do. Press OK and exit anyway. You won’t actually leave the setup environment, you’ll just be taken back to the main page.
3. Back at the main setup page, select “Install Now” without re-inserting your USB stick.
4. You’ll see an error about Windows being unable to locate setup files, and asking you to load a CD/DVD driver for Windows setup to proceed:
5. Click “OK” then exit the setup dialog once more to return to the main setup screen.
6. Re-insert your USB at this point, then select “Install Now” again.
This time, everything should go as planned since Windows has been forced to recognize that the setup USB is a removable drive, and it can identify the correct boot drive to install the Windows boot files to.
This error is hardware-dependant and its appearance varies from PC to PC. It depends on your motherboard, your USB interface, the USB stick you are using, and the version of Windows you are installing. This error does not normally apply to EFI and UEFI installations of Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10.
Depending on how your PC is configured and which hardware you are using, Windows setup can sometimes be unable to tell which drive is an external USB drive and which drive is a local disk that Windows should be installed to. This especially happens when using larger USB drives to install Windows or if you have configured your BIOS to boot from the USB drive first always. Also, some USB sticks present themselves to Microsoft Windows as a regular drive instead of identifying as a bootable USB.
If Windows setup cannot reliably determine which is the boot drive, this error will appear.
The easiest solution for this error is to force Windows to re-arrange its ordering of the drives.
1. Upon seeing the error message remove your Windows setup USB from the PC.
2. Press the red “X” button to exit the installation wizard. You will be asked to confirm that you’re sure you want to do this and that Windows will not be installed if you do. Press OK and exit anyway. You won’t actually leave the setup environment, you’ll just be taken back to the main page.
3. Back at the main setup page, select “Install Now” without re-inserting your USB stick.
4. You’ll see an error about Windows being unable to locate setup files, and asking you to load a CD/DVD driver for Windows setup to proceed:
5. Click “OK” then exit the setup dialog once more to return to the main setup screen.
6. Re-insert your USB at this point, then select “Install Now” again.
This time, everything should go as planned since Windows has been forced to recognize that the setup USB is a removable drive, and it can identify the correct boot drive to install the Windows boot files to.