"Windows cannot be installed to this disk"

Hi there,

I found this useful forum while doing a google search on the error, which is: "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. This computer's hardware may not support booting to this disk. Ensure that the disk's controller is enabled in the computer's BIOS menu".

I have tried the methods outlined in the post i found

• "Try wiping the HD first: SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation"
  
• "Next try clearing the BIOS CMOS: Clear CMOS - 3 Ways to Clear the CMOS - Reset BIOS Try setting SATA controller in BIOS setup to AHCI first, then IDE if necessary."

But unfortunately it is still coming up during installation when it asks to select a partition.

Any help would be appreciated :)

Have you tried booting with any other OS disk to see if it sees the drive ??

Any onboard diagnostics you can run on the drive ??

Do you have an EFI BIOS? Look in BIOS setup to see if there are EFI settings, or if there is an EFI Boot disk to select in BIOS boot order: UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with - Windows 7 Forums

While in the BIOS see if he HD registers anywhere. If so, follow Step 2.2 here to format and mark Active, then try install again: SSD - HDD Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

Report back as based on these results there will be more steps.

gregrocker said:

Do you have an EFI BIOS? Look in BIOS setup to see if there are EFI settings, or if there is an EFI Boot disk to select in BIOS boot order: UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with - Windows 7 Forums

While in the BIOS see if he HD registers anywhere. If so, follow Step 2.2 here to format and mark Active, then try install again: SSD - HDD Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

Report back as based on these results there will be more steps.

I don't have an EFI Bios unfortunately, not that i can see anyway.

I've also been through that whole SSD - HDD Optimize guide with no luck

I noticed in the boot order it is AHCI HDD rather than IDE (AHCI CD is first to boot from Windows Disk). Does this require some sort of special attention then installing windows?

What are the available settings under HD's or Storage Controllers? If it's set to AHCI now, try IDE mode.

There was actually an option to disable Legacy OS or something like that, which says that it will boot it up in EFI mode, although i don't know how you tell if it is in EFI mode

Also, there only is the 1 drive available, AHCI, i can't change it to IDE as it says there is none

edit: rebooted and started installation and created new partition like the UEFI page suggests but it only created 1 partition and still get the error

Look in the BIOS Boot order if there is an EFI Boot disk choice, or something similar.

gregrocker said:

Look in the BIOS Boot order if there is an EFI Boot disk choice, or something similar.

There isn't unfortunately, just dvd drive and hd. The Legacy OS option when it is disabled says it will try boot EFI mode as default if i can, but i'm guessing it cannot.

It is this: Specs - Notebooks NP-RV510I | Samsung Laptops

After re-enabling the Legacy OS mode, it actually then let me do a complete install, before restarting and saying "no operating system found". Putting DVD back in, it goes to installation and has the same error again