Solved Reinstalling Win 7-"Setup was unable to create a new system..."

[AlwaysNTroule]

Reinstalling Win 7-"Setup was unable to create a new system..."

Conclusion/Summary
Goal: Do clean reinstall of Windows 7
Problem: While trying to install from OEM CD to my Hard drive I got this message:

"Setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing partition. See the Setup log files for more information."
​

Here's what I did (thanks to everyone's help) that eventually worked:
1. Deleted all partitions into one section (Disk 0)
2. I did Shift+F10 to pull up the command window
3. Ran the following commands to clean disk 0: DISKPART <Enter> list disk <Enter> select disk 0 <Enter> clean all [Took overnight to run, just the command "clean" would probably been sufficient] exit <Enter> exit <Enter>
4. Created an active partition of 100gb through commands as seen in this tutorial: How to Optimize an SSD / HDD When You're Ready to Reinstall the Operating System
5. After creating the new active partition (disk 1) I was able to do a reinstall of Windows!

Note: I later extended disk 1 to include dik 0's 900GB.

Thanks for your help everyone; I hope this may be helpful for others!
-Andrew

Original message:

I am trying to do a reinstall of Windows 7 Home Premium from an OEM Reinstall disc. I deleted all partitions, so now all I have is partition 0 (931.5GB free). [Screenshot 1] However, when I try to click next I get a message saying:


"Setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing partition. See the Setup log files for more information."

Disk Part Fix
I came here to this (awesome) forum and tried doing the Shift+F10 disk part fix. I did the clean all command, but 12 hours later there was no success message and I read the average speed was 320GB/hour.
Clean/Clean All
I also read that some people had run the clean all command for 16+ hours, and it turned out they only need to do the clean command. So I tried the clean command, and performed it quickly, but I'm still getting the, "Setup was unable..." message.
More Info
Let me know if you need more info from me. I'm not overly tech savvy, but I'm willing to try anything at this point.
Here are some additional screenshots from diskpart showing no partition or volume:


"There are no partitions on this disk to show."



DISKPART> detail disk

Would highly appreciate your help!
Andrew

 

[AddRAM]

Set your bios to defaults, if that doesn`t work IM Gregrocker.

 

[AlwaysNTroule]

Alright, I'm resetting the BIOS Default and will give it another try. Should I do the clean or clean all command? If I do clean all it'll be many hours before I'll know it this was successful.
-Andrew

I wish I'd contacted you guys sooner, I'm really in a pickle. It started with a PFN List BSOD, upon restart was unable to access Windows even in safe mode. Startup repair didn't fix it (ran it more than 3 times), did system restore from system recovery with no change and couldn't do the Dell Factory Restore. Ended up buying new ext. hard drive, backed up files through cmd and am now trying to do this reinstall.

 

[AlwaysNTroule]

Update: I set BIOS to default settings, upon restart I booted the Reinstall DVD. At the language/keyboard selection I did Shift+10 and I ran DISKPART> clean on my drive. It was completed successfully. Now I am doing the clean all command.
Will let it run over night and let you know what happens in the morning.

 

[AddRAM]

There is no reason to do a clean all if you had no problems with the drive.

Make yourself a Partition Wizard Boot CD.

http://www.partitionwizard.com/partition-wizard-bootable-cd.html

 

[AlwaysNTroule]

I went ahead and did the clean all command before I went to bed and it was completed successfully this time. However, I'm still getting the, "Setup was unable to create..." message. I'm downloading the Partition Wizard Boot CD right now...

 

[AlwaysNTroule]

I am changing all sectors to zeros using the Partition Wizard. Could take awhile.

Don't know if this could be of use:
Well, I was still in the Installing Windows - window when I put the Partition Wizard Boot CD into the drive. It kind of froze up and this message came up: (screenshot)

At that point I was unable to click Next> and restarted the computer.

 

[gregrocker]

Unplug all other HD's and peripherals, wipe the HD with Clean command, create an Active partition as shown in Step 2.2 of SSD - HDD Optimize for Windows Reinstallation.

If that fails, check for newer BIOS update. If none boot into BIOS setup to set to defaults: Clear CMOS - 3 Ways to Clear the CMOS - Reset BIOS.
Is there an EFI Boot disk in BIOS Boot order? If so remove it and set Legacy BIOS to enabled if available.

Other steps to assure a perfect Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

 

[AlwaysNTroule]

It looks like creating the new partition did the trick.

It appears that Windows 7 is installing now.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

 

[AlwaysNTroule]

Woohoo! I was finally able to get past the Windows Recovery Enviroment and boot to Windows 7!


I am following the advice in this article: New Installation: How to Create a General System Image in Audit Mode



However, I noticed that the only hard drive I have is the 100GB "Windows 7" partition you had me create. How do I access the other 900gb?

 

[gregrocker]

Extend C to the size you want to work with in Disk Mgmt: Partition or Volume - Extend

 

[AlwaysNTroule]

I was able to extend the C drive to its full cap.
However, I followed the instructions in this tutorial: New Installation: How to Create a General System Image in Audit Mode
So, my computers is currently in Audit mode and I'm trying to use sysprep to switch it to Open Box mode when I get this fatal error. (screenshots)





I also get an error when trying to use some programs because it says I don't have .NET Framework.
I haven't run the updates yet, so I'll go ahead and run them now.