Setup was unable to create a new system partition

Gumy · 22 Dec 2013

Hi folks!

I've been experiencing some troubles installing Windows 7 from a bootable USB.
I was so clever that I deleted all the partitions even with my Windows 8.

I was trying to downgrade and had loads of issues getting the USB to work, but that's fine now and I got to the setup. However, I had problems with partitions unable to be written onto. I have cleaned and formatted and set the partition to ntsf as I found somewhere in these forums. At The end, I'm still getting the same old error setup was unable to create a new system partition..............

Setup was unable to create a new system partition-image.jpg

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Ztruker · 22 Dec 2013

Hmmm, is this a UEFI based system? If so you need to do things differently to install Windows 7.
See here: UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with

If no help, try this.

Delete both partitions.
Create one single partition encompasing the entire drive (you can re-size it later if you want another partition or two).
DO NOT format, just click next and let the install program do what it needs.
See if that works.

whs · 22 Dec 2013

If that is an UEFI system you may have to set the BIOS to Legacy Mode.

theog · 22 Dec 2013

Your specs say LENOVO.

1) DISABLE Secure Boot.

2) Boot the Windows 7 x64 DVD in UEFI mode.
3) Delete all partitions & than use Drive Options>NEW to make the UEFI Partitions.
4) screenshots in
UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with

Gumy · 22 Dec 2013

Thanks guys...worked like a charm! For some reason I considered that first partition to be my USB (just cause of the similar size - although....I have no idea why - was scared comp. recognised it somehow)

It's all well now. I'm all set. Thanks for The help again