Installing Windows 8 on a vhd, error 0x80300024

Hey there,

Here's my problem: I'm trying to install windows 8 consumer preview onto a virtual hard disk using the method outlined here:

Guide to Installing and Booting Windows 8 Developer Preview off a VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) - Scott Hanselman

Essentially, the method states: create DVD ISO, open diskpart during the windows 8 installation, create a vhd, attach said vhd, make windows 8 install on the vhd.

Simple enough, until I encountered error 0x80300024 when I tried to put w8 on my virtual disk: "We couldn't install Windows in the location you chose."

Here is my computer/vhd configuration:

Disk 0 = SSD w/ Windows 7 Ultimate 64x OS, MBR, Basic
Disk 1 = HDD, GTP, Basic, With general data on it

For the vhd, I am storing it on my non-OS drive, Disk 1, so the HDD (format GTP) is housing the vhds. I have made expandable (dynamically expanding) volumes varying from 50 to 100GB. I have tried leaving them unformatted (RAW), as well as formatting them to MBR +NTFS + Basic, before creating partitions through diskpart. I assume that although the root drive is GTP, since the vhds are formatted to MBR then they can have an OS written to them.

The main problem with this error (from the hours of stalking other threads here) seems to be partitioning difficulties. Here are some of the things I've tried that I have seen advised on this forum:

I have tried cleaning the vhds using 'clean' on diskpart, and then adding a primary partition, as well as trying to have 2 primary partitions for the 1 vhd post-clean.
I have tried cleaning, adding partitions and then formatting the vhd after.
I have tried unplugging all my other drives (Disk 0, my SDD) from the Mobo, leaving only the target drive there.
I have unplugged all usb devices, including the mouse.
I have used bcdedit in prep for w8 boot, but this is an extraneous step for w8 I realised...
I have changed the boot order of my HDDs in the BIOS menu so that the drive I am trying to install windows on is priority.

The only thing I have not tried to do is use the 'clean all' function on diskpart. Perhaps I should use 'clean all' on the vhd, although I am wary that it will erase the entire HDD and not just the vhd. When I use the command 'list disk' on diskpart, the vhd comes up as a separate disk to my HDD, of course, but from what I've heard, 'clean all' is hard drive specific, not disk specific, and wipes the entire drive clean, no matter how many disks may be on there. Is this the case?

If you have any suggestions, or I have overlooked anything, please feel free to jump in!

Thank you kindly guys, I really appreciate any help I can get.

Brink said:

Snakola,

I just had a thought. Is the drive/partition letter that you are trying to install Windows 8 to set to boot to automatically at startup? If not, set it to be so to see how doing the tutorial works afterwards.

Default Operating System - Change Default Boot OS

The drive I am trying to install windows 8 onto isn't bootable at startup, yet. Since it is a vhd, I have already created a boot menu using BCDedit in preparation for when I install windows 8 onto the virtual drive. I have tried assigning my partition a letter, but I don't think that has helped.

But I just found a way to install windows 8 on my original OS SSD using vhds. I unplugged my data HDD, created a new vhd on the OSS drive and then tried to install to it. Bingo, worked like a charm.

Thanks so much Shawn for your patience and time :)

Alas, the mystery of 0x80300024 remains unsolved for my other drive; spooky :)