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How to Remove GPT Disk Partitioning System to Install Windows

Updated on Oct 6, 2013 by Tuan Do

For some reasons, you would need to install or re-install Windows on your machine, probably when you want to do a clean install or when your PC has a crash on startup.

I had an issue in booting with my Windows 8 PC, and as all repair tools provided by them did not work, I had to do a clean install. However, another issue appeared when I proceed the installation.

As normal, I boot up with Windows 8 Installation USB and follow steps to install Windows. Then, the error showed up when I chose partition to install the Windows:

Windows cannot be installed on this disk. The selected disk is of the GPT partition style.

gpt-partition-error

Yes, the problem is caused by GPT based disk. GPT (GUID Partition Table) is the standard for partition table on our hard drive. The GPT based disk has some great benefits over MBR disk, for example, it supports up to 128 primary partitions, its data structures are well defined and that helps detect data corruption easier, and also improve the odds of successful data recovery when our hard drives are damaged or have bad sectors. The drawback of GPT is that it is not supporting booting through BIOS mode, you are required to have Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI).

When you have a hard drive with capacity smaller than 2TB, the GPT is unnecessary. Therefore, you can remove the GPT protective partition and continue installing Windows. Here are the simple steps:

1. Go to Command Prompt. You can also find it in the Windows 8 Installation Disk/USB, navigate to Repair Your Computer -> Advanced Options -> Command Prompt.

2. Type in diskpart in the command line.

3. Type in list disk to see all your disks and which one is GPT styled. The GPT based disk is marked with asterisk icon in the last column Gpt.

delete-gpt-partition

4. Choose the disk you want to delete GPT by typing select disk n (remember to change n to your disk number).

5. After the disk is selected, you can clean the disk by typing in clean.

clean-gpt-partition

Now you can check again and see that your disk is not GPT anymore. Just go ahead and install Windows 8, let me know if you have any problem in the process.

Disclosure: We might earn commission from qualifying purchases. The commission help keep the rest of my content free, so thank you!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Mohammad Agha Rahimi says

    Jan 14, 2014 at 5:42 am

    thanks a lot for your help i had a problem for 10 days with the GPT partition style with above information i solved the problem
    From Afghanistan

    Reply
  2. Johnny ng says

    Apr 13, 2014 at 10:29 pm

    Thanks so much, gpt partition style gave me a lot of headache. My problem is solved now.

    Reply
  3. deepak says

    Sep 3, 2014 at 2:24 am

    sir I do this, but disk is not change from gpt to mbr

    Reply
  4. tet says

    Oct 26, 2014 at 10:20 am

    you supposed to mentioned that when we do disk it will wipe all partition and data will be lost, it happened to me :(
    thanks anyway..

    Reply
  5. crazy G says

    Jan 7, 2015 at 2:31 am

    THX finally i can do clean install with usb instead cd

    Reply
  6. Mohd Asif says

    Jan 15, 2015 at 4:06 am

    You can’t convert a disk from GPT to MBR if windows is installed on that disk…..
    How to do that….?
    Plz help

    Reply
  7. manju says

    Aug 20, 2015 at 2:21 pm

    Thank you

    Reply
  8. Imran says

    Nov 17, 2015 at 8:13 am

    Thanks Dude

    Reply
  9. Ali ahmadi says

    Dec 5, 2015 at 11:28 am

    Thank you so much, my grandmaster

    Reply
  10. Iteleti Medical says

    Dec 20, 2015 at 11:43 am

    There are a lot of programs out there advising users you need this or that program with a partition manager. However, through Tuan Do at TECHWALLS one will become educated quite quickly on how to remove GPT partition so you can do a fresh install. It’s so easy, anybody can do it! Thank you

    Reply
  11. johan says

    Jan 16, 2016 at 7:48 pm

    I have win 10 installed and would like to downgrade to 8,1. will this delete windows on the drive?

    Reply
  12. Unwana bright says

    Jan 26, 2016 at 7:30 am

    It worked but all other partition were deleted

    Reply
  13. AR says

    Mar 2, 2016 at 2:18 pm

    Hi. Thanks for your guidance. It was practically helpful.

    Reply
  14. Sunny says

    Mar 8, 2016 at 7:03 am

    What if i have formatted my primary memory which is gpt protected and want to install windows on it?

    Reply
  15. michael buro says

    Apr 26, 2016 at 6:39 am

    Scoured the internet for a solution yours was the only one that worked. You have no idea how many times I partitioned and re-partitioned my MAC machine in order to use Win 10. Bootcamp was useless in this instance. I would like to add a couple more items.
    I did not use the USB created install from the ISO image, I started up from my install DVD
    After step 5 repeat step 3 just to make sure. I then tried to install windows 10 got another error message which I solved by using the format command. Re-booted and the install was flawless.

    Reply
  16. Amit says

    Oct 15, 2016 at 5:04 am

    All my drivers and data got deleted. . .what to do now

    Reply
    • [email protected] says

      Feb 6, 2023 at 11:15 am

      I just spent several days trying to avoid this but I gave up snd In the end I bought another hard drive and used that. Data is safe!

      Reply
  17. Jimmy says

    Feb 9, 2017 at 2:19 am

    Awesome. Saved my ass

    Reply
  18. Anthony says

    Apr 5, 2017 at 7:21 am

    Solved my problem after struggling for two damn days! Unfortunately, I did not know it will wipe clean my hard disk, I mean, I lost literally everything, and worst part is, it is a SONY Vaio laptop belonging to one of my students. Phew, she will be so annoyed but I had explained to her there is a possibility of losing everything.

    Reply
  19. frank zaza says

    Jun 8, 2017 at 2:50 am

    Thank you very much….

    Reply
  20. Ravi limbasiya says

    Jun 20, 2017 at 1:36 am

    If we remove gpt then our data is loss or as it is??

    Reply
    • Tuan Do says

      Jun 20, 2017 at 2:40 am

      Your data will be lost, so back it up first.

      Reply
      • Ravi limbasiya says

        Jun 20, 2017 at 2:52 am

        Ok thank u so much

      • Suhag says

        Apr 30, 2018 at 4:43 pm

        I formatted c drive.
        Windows 10 not installing on gpt.
        I don’t have backup of other partitions.
        How to take backup

  21. Brannon says

    Jul 22, 2017 at 10:30 pm

    Thank you so much! Bye Bye Windows 10!!

    Reply
  22. 2B says

    Aug 4, 2017 at 11:42 pm

    thanks for the solution but I didn’t know that it will format the whole drive… all files are gone. I don’t know what to say to my client :( :(

    Reply
    • Kedex says

      Sep 18, 2017 at 8:19 pm

      I was worried it would do that. try a file recovery software, it should recover your deleted files.

      Reply
  23. Kedex says

    Sep 18, 2017 at 8:06 pm

    Will it delete personal files as well??

    Reply
  24. Bimaleswar Ptel says

    Sep 23, 2017 at 9:38 pm

    wow it works on my hp note book…..
    thanks brother
    one more question
    my hp note book pre installed windows10 home 64 bit
    my notebook configuration is intel core i3 6th generation 4gb ram can i install windows7 32 bit in this note book……
    please help me…………..

    Reply
  25. Shivansh Saxena says

    Sep 28, 2017 at 7:04 pm

    Please help me i have a major problem.
    I’ve formatted the hard disk and still it’s showing the same error what should I do i cannot even use cmd. Please help asap.

    Reply
  26. Dennis says

    Oct 10, 2017 at 8:20 am

    Great article. Worked! So simple

    Reply
  27. alem khan says

    Nov 12, 2017 at 1:52 am

    Thanks sir it is a good and short way to remove this style partition.

    Reply
  28. Connor says

    Feb 6, 2018 at 5:44 am

    Many thanks, it worked a dream my grand daughter can now play her games again. Once again thank you.

    Reply
  29. mdd says

    Feb 13, 2018 at 10:11 am

    i really appreciate your blog post

    Reply
  30. k.mohammed suheal says

    Oct 9, 2018 at 1:50 am

    Thank u sir very useful

    Reply
  31. Satvinder singh says

    Feb 10, 2019 at 8:16 am

    Thanks my problem solved.

    Reply
  32. Jaime Casado says

    Dec 12, 2020 at 8:56 am

    I worked great. Thanks

    Reply
  33. Vincent says

    Jan 19, 2021 at 2:02 pm

    the information above has really helped me on windows 8, thanks very much

    Reply
  34. Tina Joel says

    Mar 17, 2021 at 5:53 pm

    It worked perfectly well after struggled for days, I successfully installed Win 8 after deletion of GP partition/ you are truly God sent

    Reply

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