Setup was unable to create a new system partition

Not sure is this'll help anyone but it worked for me, regarding the original issue of setup was unable to create system partition. This is caused by a previous installation of windows or another os and for some reason wiping the drive out in the windows setup doesn't always do the trick. What you need to do is something called a dry wipe and you can do that by obtaining a copy of hariks boot and nuke iso. Burn it a CD/DVD/flash drive doesn't matter. Boot to it and make sure that you only have the one HDD connected to your computer you want to wipe. If you have multiple hdds they'll be wiped too. When it boots, type autonuke and wait for it do its thing. Once you see the percentage wiped you can shut off the computer, u don't have to wait for it to complete. Boot to windows 7 setup and install to unpartitioned drive!

Dear hArLtRoN, I came across this post via google and your solution worked perfectly! Thank you so much for posting this information because otherwise I would have had no idea how to get past the "unable to create a new system partition..." problem. Thanks again hArLtRoN!

(PS I made this account for the purpose of thanking you :))

Thanks for all the help. I did everything suggested in this thread and still the install could not find the systems disk.

In the end I found the problem was that the install would not work from a USB memory stick.

Worked fine first time from a bootable USB Harddrive with the files from the ISO copied to the root directory.

Hey, i´ve made all you said, but I can´t install Windows, I have still the problem "Setup was unable to create a new system partition", but now i just have one partition, I'll try again, i hope that's not a bad idea, anyway, do you think that the real problem is that i'm trying to install Windows 7 from a booted USB?

P.S. I´m sorry about my english, i´m mexican so i guess you woludn't take me serious with a kinda Spanglish

Work through Overcoming Windows 7 Installation Failures - Windows 7 Help Forums

hArLtRoN said:

1. Set your PC to boot from DVD via BIOS
2. Put the DVD in and let it load until you get to this screen:
   
3. Once at this screen, press: (SHIFT+F10) to get a CMD window
   
4. MAKE SURE YOU SELECT THE DRIVE YOUR INSTALLING WINDOWS TO NOT ANOTHER. In the CMD window, type in Each Command and Press <ENTER> Key as follows:
   
   DiskPart <ENTER>
   list disk <ENTER>
   select disk 0 <ENTER>
   clean <ENTER>
   create partition primary align=1024 <ENTER>
   format fs=ntfs <ENTER> (Will Take a While)
   assign <ENTER>
   active <ENTER>
   exit <ENTER>
   exit <ENTER>
5. After it completes, exit the INSTALL COMPLETELY and reboot.
6. Once you are back in, go about installing Windows just DO NOT ALLOW Windows to create a new partition, use the only one there.
   
7. Windows will now install

Hope this helps! Post back if you need further instructions or help :)

When i typed format fs=ntfs and got to nearly 50% it stopped and said something like "error;incorrect parameter"
I closed cmd and reopened it but now i couldn't select disk 0 or "system".
Please i need help!!!!

Test you hard drive from Troubleshooting steps in profile pic below.

What are the results of the other steps I gave you above?

Please help, what to do if I stopped by mistake the fs=ntfs format?

Do it over.

I tried, no disk has been selecte. Did I just ruin my laptop?