Solved Install error: Unable to create new system partition or locate....

[spaceboy909]

Hi all. I know this is a 'common' problem. I've just spend the last 3 hours scouring web sites on this issue, but the solutions suggested so far haven't worked, or it may be that the one thing I'm leaving out is actually required.

I have the Win 7 Ultimate 64 bit Upgrade. I also have a GRUB dual boot with Linux, and maybe that's the problem as I am deliberately not using the 'clean' command. (see below)

I did have XP loaded, but I wanted a clean install so I wiped the partition with the 7 installer. I'm afraid I've been naive about all of the 7 installation woes which I'm finding out about now. I thought it would be easy and simple like in the past.

After getting the error in the title, I found sites telling how to use diskpart to manually setup the partition. I tried this with the exception that I did not use 'clean' and hence did not need to create a brand new partition, the reason being that I have other partitions that I want to save.

I had deleted and then created the primary part. with the 7 installer, and then when that failed, I used diskpart to format it and set it to active. After that, I exit diskpart and reboot the machine but I'm still getting the same error. As per the instructions, after the reboot I simply clicked 'next' with the default partition selected and did not do any extra fiddling.

So, one obvious question is, is 'clean' required by Win 7? Is the Grub MBR fouling this up? I would think an install wouldn't care what was there before as long as it has permission to overwrite it. I don't want to erase those other partitions if I can avoid it. Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[gregrocker]

The fix which works most often is "Clean" Command but you can try the other steps first for Overcoming Windows 7 Installation Failures - Windows 7 Help Forums.

There is a simple solution here that works well for Dual boot Ubuntu-Win7

 

[spaceboy909]

The fix which works most often is "Clean" Command but you can try the other steps first for Overcoming Windows 7 Installation Failures - Windows 7 Help Forums.

There is a simple solution here that works well for Dual boot Ubuntu-Win7

Thanks for the reply, but neither of those is what I'm needing. The first one is what I have already tried but without the clean command, because clean will apparently wipe out all partitions on the disk.

The second one is how to install Linux, but I don't need help with that. I need to get past this install error, and I do not know what is causing it. I'm only speculating that it is due to me not using the clean command.

I'm looking to get past the install error without deleting any other partitions besides the one I'm installing Win7 to.

 

[Kaktussoft]

How many partitions dow you have now? Which one is active? All are primary?

 

[spaceboy909]

How many partitions dow you have now? Which one is active? All are primary?

I have 9 partitions on this drive, including the extended. Only 1 is primary. The primary is/was active. That was where I had XP, but that part was deleted through my trials and reformatted and made active via diskpart.

I did notice one thing in diskpart, though. The primary is listed at #1, and the extended is listed as #0. I don't know if this ordering happened after deleting and recreating the primary part, or if it was this way the whole time. It's been quite awhile since I last edited my parts and did Linux installs. But ftr, I have not had any partition problems in the past. It's all been very straight forward.

I typically use either Gparted or Easus to work with them, so maybe I need to dig out a disc and see what I can do in there. Worst case scenario, I can backup my data from the other parts and use the clean command if that's the only way.

This just seems like such a bizarre bug. Disk partitioning is really not hard stuff, and to run into a "cannot find" error is just ridiculous! lol Can't find it? It's right there! Created, formatted, ready for use!

One other thing to note. I have tried setting the bios to AHCI, but then my dvd won't boot. I have always kept it set to IDE from the beginning and I think that must be the reason, although I had long forgotten about it.

 

[Kaktussoft]

extended partition is marked 0 in diskpart .... quite normal.
Have you only the internal harddisk connected to the system during install? No usb flash disk, no other internal/external disk?

 

[Kaktussoft]

Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows Vista setup log file locations
It describes where to find the setup log files. In particular if you can find setupact.log and post the last bit of it (especially any ERROR lines), it might be helpful

 

[Kaktussoft]

diskpart
list  disk

Waht is listed in column "Dyn" ... Is it empty or a *?

 

[gregrocker]

The fix which works most often is "Clean" Command but you can try the other steps first for Overcoming Windows 7 Installation Failures - Windows 7 Help Forums.

There is a simple solution here that works well for Dual boot Ubuntu-Win7

Thanks for the reply, but neither of those is what I'm needing. The first one is what I have already tried but without the clean command, because clean will apparently wipe out all partitions on the disk.

The second one is how to install Linux, but I don't need help with that. I need to get past this install error, and I do not know what is causing it. I'm only speculating that it is due to me not using the clean command.

I'm looking to get past the install error without deleting any other partitions besides the one I'm installing Win7 to.

The first link I gave you overcomes 90% of installation failures in a series of steps, only one of which is Clean command. Did you even look at the steps? How would I know which ones you've done to also know that it isn't what you need? It's what 90% of others needed.

Since you'll most likely have to wipe the disk which is the key crucial step to overcoming installation faiilures due to conflicting boot code needing wiped, I also provided you with the best way to Dual Boot Linux in case this is necessary.

If you're able to get into Windows or boot Partition Wizard boot disk please post back a screenshot or camera snap of full Disk Management - Post a Screen Capture Image - Windows 7 Help Forums . We may be able to spot something that's interfering.

 

[spaceboy909]

SOLVED!

Thanks everybody for your help!

It turned out to be the secondary hard drive as suggested by a few of you. I wasn't keen on unplugging my second internal hard drive (especially with my back flaring up on me), but fortunately, my system drive and dvd's are sata's and my secondary hard drive is an ide, so I was able to simply temporarily disable the IDE interface in the bios and that did the trick. No problems at all after that. I'm fully installed and updated. (I reenabled IDE after I got the main installation done and was booting from the hard drive)

For anyone else who finds this thread and wants to try disabling IDE in the bios rather than unplugging a drive, just remember, your system drive and a dvd drive have to be sata or it will shut them down too! (Could be vice versa for some people, i.e., shut off sata)