We were unable to create a new partition or find an existing partition. Error: “Setup was unable to create a new or find an existing system partition We were unable to create a new partition error 0x8007045d

Users of modern Windows 8, 8.1 and 10 operating systems may encounter the message “ We were unable to create a new or find an existing partition" After this message appears, the OS installation usually stops, and when trying to repeat the installation, the user again encounters the same problem. In this article I will tell you what the error “could not create a new partition” is, what are the reasons for its occurrence, and how to fix it.

As I mentioned above, the message “We were unable to create a new or find an existing partition...” appears when trying to install Windows OS versions 8, 8.1 and 10. On Windows 7, this problematic message looks like "Setup was unable to create a new or find an existing system partition", and on Windows Vista as "Windows cannot find a system volume that meets the installation requirements".

Typically, this dysfunction occurs when trying to install from a flash drive, when, in addition to the OS already existing on the computer, the user tries to install another one. In this case, a significant reason for the described dysfunction may be the presence of user-created partitions on the hard drive, which occupy the entire disk space. In this case, the installation program simply has nowhere to create system partitions, and for some reason the previous system partitions are missing on this disk.

In addition, other reasons for this phenomenon may be:

  • Flash drive failure;
  • Incorrect boot priority setting in BIOS.

We were unable to create a new or find an existing partition - how to fix the error

So, how to fix the “failed to create a new partition” error? I recommend doing the following:

  • Disconnect all external devices. If you encounter the above message, then it is quite possible that external devices are connected to your PC (external HDD, USB flash drive or SD card). Just disconnect (remove) all external devices and try to continue the installation (or continue the last one after restarting the computer). Some users, for example, recommend doing as in the video below:

  • Set boot priority in BIOS to your hard drive (HDD) instead of a flash drive;
  • Use the diskpart command interpreter. At the same time, I immediately warn that for ordinary users who are not familiar with the functionality of this command, it will be easier to use special programs that make such work easier (for example, EaseUS Partition Master), and leave the diskpart functionality aside.

Resolving Windows installation errors using the diskpart command

So, if you decide to work with diskpart, then run the Windows OS installer using a bootable USB flash drive or DVD. If you encounter the error message in question, close Setup and click on the Repair button, select Advanced Tools, and then run command line(Command prompt).


With Command Prompt open, type start diskpart and press enter.

Then type list disk and press enter. You will see a list of all hard drives connected to your computer. Determine the drive letter that is needed to install the system, and enter the following at the command line:

select disk X (instead of X, enter the desired drive letter)

Now type the following commands one by one, remembering to press “Enter” after each of them and replace X with the desired drive letter:

disk x clean
disk X create partition primary
disk X active
disk X format fs=ntfs quick
disk X assign

After entering all these commands, click Exit and try to start the installation process again. If the error is repeated, then move on.

Make the section active. Repeat the steps in the previous section, log into the command line, type start diskpart again, and try to set the partition on which you want to install Windows OS as active.

To do this, type:

List disk - and press enter.

You will see a list of all drives. Find the disk you need to install and type:

Select disk X(instead of X, put the letter of the desired drive)

Then enter:

List partition

and press enter, after which a list of available partitions will appear. Select the partition on which you want to install Windows OS and enter:

select partition 1 - (instead of 1, enter the number of the partition you need).

Then enter

active

and press enter. After that, type exit , exit the command line and try to start the installation process again.

At one time, the error “The installation program was unable to create a new or find an existing system partition” pretty much frayed my nerves, but fortunately now I know the reason and several ways to bypass or fix it, which I share with you.

The message “Setup was unable to create a new or find an existing system partition” can sometimes be received when installing Windows 7 or installing Windows 10, the error looks something like this:

In this case, partitions on the hard drive can be created, formatted or deleted, but when you select a partition for installation and click the “Next” button, a message is displayed stating that Windows cannot be installed on this disk. Most often and as a rule, this error occurs when installing Windows from a USB flash drive.

Causes of the error “Setup was unable to create a new or find an existing system partition”:

  • In the BIOS of a computer or laptop, the first device in the boot list is not the hard drive, but any other device - DVD, flash drive, network boot, etc.
  • Your computer has more than one hard drive or SSD installed; you can disable the one you don’t need while installing Windows.
  • Incorrect boot settings in BIOS
  • The flash drive with which Windows is installed is not suitable for this; it is recommended to recreate the bootable flash drive with another program and use another Windows image, preferably the original one.

The most common reason for this error is the first one. Starting with Windows 7, the installer checks the BIOS settings and does not always do it correctly; if the installer decides that the hard drive you specified for installing Windows is not selected first in the list of devices to boot, it does not allow the installation to continue and displays the message: “The installation program was unable to create new or find an existing system partition."

To fix this error you can do the following:

1. Go to the BIOS and configure the list of devices to boot in such a way that the hard drive is always first in it; some BIOS even have a special Fixed Boot Order item - which fixes the order you specify and does not allow it to change. In some, usually older BIOSes, the boot order of devices cannot be configured; you can configure it more precisely, but when a flash drive is connected, such a BIOS for some reason always puts it above the hard drive. If you managed to configure the boot order, then use the Boot-Menu to boot from a flash drive; it can be called up with the F8-F12 keys, or less frequently Esc, F1 or F2, and then Windows installation will proceed as normal.

2. There is another more reliable way to solve this problem, you need to partition the hard drive and copy the installation files to it, make it bootable and reboot, in this case the Windows installation will be launched directly from the hard drive and will proceed as normal without problems. To do this, you need to start the installation and in the installer create one partition on your hard drive, which will be drive C, then press Shift+F10, a command line should open, you need to run several commands in it:

diskpart- the utility will start

list disk- will show a list of available disks, the list must have at least one hard drive and a bootable flash drive, based on the size it is easy to understand which disk you need to select, remember its number, to select the disk with which we will work, enter the command:

select disk 0(select disk 0, if you have a hard disk with a different number, indicate it)

list part We display a list of partitions on the disk, in the installer you should have created one partition, remember its number and indicate it in the following command, for example, we need partition number 1:

select partition 1

active- make this section active, that is, it will be used when loading

Now all that remains is to format our system partition, to do this, enter the commands:

format fs=ntfs quick

assign letter=C(C is the drive letter that you want to assign to the partition; if C is busy, you can choose another one, remember it, it will be useful to us at the stage of copying files)

exit- exit the disrpart utility and continue working on the command line.

We need to determine the letter assigned to the flash drive in order to copy files from the flash drive to the newly created and formatted partition on the hard drive. To search for the letter of the flash drive, you can type the command cd e: or simply e: where e is a possible letter of the flash drive, sometimes letters are assigned not from the beginning of the alphabet, but from the end, try if the disk with the letter you selected does not exist, you will receive an error message, if there is a disk with the same letter, the command will be executed, in this case, run the command DIR it will show a list of folders and files - from them you can understand which drive the letter belongs to. Once the letter assigned to the flash drive has been found, you can begin copying files.

For example, the letter of the flash drive is E, the letter of the hard drive partition is C, then the command for copying files will look like this:

xcopy E: C: /e /h /k

when copying is finished run the command:

bootsect /nt60 c:(where c is the letter of the partition on the hard drive, do not confuse it)

The last command makes disk C bootable, after which you can remove the flash drive, configure the BIOS to boot from the hard drive and reboot the computer. If everything is done correctly, then Windows installation should start and proceed normally without any problems with selecting a partition or disk for installation .

After completing the installation process, you can remove unnecessary entries from the boot menu using the msconfig command, as well as delete installation files from your hard drive; they will most likely no longer be needed.

I hope this detailed instruction will help you find the reasons and fix the error: “We were unable to create a new or find an existing system partition.”

Recently I decided to reinstall Windows, but during the installation, when the process reached the selection of the local disk on which to install the operating system, Windows produced the following error: The installer was unable to create a new or find an existing system partition. This error occurs when trying to install the Windows 7 operating system. When trying to install Windows 8 or Windows 8.1, the error “We were unable to create a new or find an existing partition” appears. I saw both of these mistakes with my own eyes and therefore I can safely say that they are solved in the same way. I will also provide data that I found on the Internet: the same error in Windows Vista will sound like this: “Windows cannot find a system volume that meets the installation requirements.” All these errors differ from each other only in writing, so let’s proceed to solving it, but before that I will describe the symptoms of this disease. In addition to the errors mentioned above, you may notice that the system recovery partition is not created (the size of this partition differs in different operating systems. Thus, up to and including Windows 7, this partition takes up 100 MB, and in Windows 8 and higher - 350 MB.)

How to get rid of the error: it was not possible to create a new or find an existing system partition?

In an attempt to get rid of this problem, several steps were taken, which I also suggest you do:

  • Changing Windows distribution. Create a new one, preferably using a new distribution.
  • Formatting and deleting all partitions on your hard drive. Use disk formatting whenever possible if there is no important data. After deleting partitions, you should try several options:
    • Install Windows on an unmarked area.
    • Create one partition and try to install it.
    • Create 4 partitions and try on one of them. There is information that when creating 4 or more partitions, the system recovery partition is not created and the installation can be successful.
    • Create one partition and try to install Windows in the remaining unallocated area.
  • You can try the same steps via the command line using . To open the command line, press Shift+F10.
  • In the BIOS, switch the SATA mode from IDE to ACHI, or vice versa.
  • Try resetting the BIOS settings to default settings.
  • Disconnect any other flash drives or other USB devices from the computer.
  • In the BIOS, set booting from the hard drive in first place, and put your boot disk in second place. If the hard drive already has an operating system (for example, if you want to dual boot), then during boot use the F10 or F12 keys to call up the boot menu, where you select your flash card or CD. If there is no OS installed on the hard drive, the system will automatically boot from your distribution.
  • I also heard that a flash card needs to be inserted into the computer only after the computer is turned on (in my opinion, this is nonsense).
  • If you have multiple physical disks, disconnect all but one.

In most cases, the above options should help and the system should install. If these steps did not help you and you are still seeing the message “could not create a new or find an existing system partition,” then read on.

Installing Windows from a hard drive

I think no one will be surprised by the information that Windows is possible from a flash card or from a CD (DVD) disc. What all these options have in common is that the operating system image is located on external media (flash card, CD, or deployment server). Now we will try to install Windows in a more complex and dramatically different way. During installation, the Windows image will be located on the hard drive itself, where we are going to deploy this image! To pull off this scam, follow my tips:

  1. Boot from a regular installation disk (it looks like you already have one).
  2. Go to the hard drive settings window, where we ran into our error.
  3. Partition your hard drive to your heart's content. If there is no important information on the disk, it is best to make one partition for the system and leave the remaining area unallocated. The partition for the system needs to be formatted.
  4. After that, press the key combination Shift+F10 (or Alt+F10), which will open a command line window.
  5. In the command prompt window, enter the command:

    which will list all drives.

  6. Most likely, two disks will be listed there - your hard drive and a flash card. There will be a number next to your hard drive, which you need to specify in the next command. Most likely this is number 0.

    The response to this command will be a list of existing partitions. If, on my advice, you created only one section, then this is exactly what you will see. If not, then look for the partition on which you want to install Windows and remember its number.

  7. Given the partition number, run the following command:

    select partition 1

  8. Next we make the section active:

    active

  9. Format:

    format fs=ntfs quick

    10. assign

    This exits the Diskpart utility, but does not exit the command line window.

  10. With the following command we go to the root of our flash card (CD disk):

    cd d:

    UPDATE: And so that this moment passes without any complications and visitors stop complaining about possible errors in the comments, I would like to explain that the letter D: is not necessarily the letter of your flash drive and it can take the form of any other letter of the Latin alphabet. To find out for sure, you need to enter the commands sequentially in the command line window

    diskpart

    list volume

    The response to these commands will be a list of all logical partitions on your computer and the corresponding letter names, among which you must find your flash drive, understand and remember the letter of the flash card and use it in further commands instead of writing d:. To find out the drive letter without interfering with our main affairs, it would be better if you open another command line window, for which read step 4 again.

  11. We execute the command:

    xcopy d: c: /e /h /k

    which copies all installation files from the flash card to the C: drive. Wait until copying finishes.

  12. We execute the command:

    bootsect /nt60 c:

    Which adds special boot code to the C drive, making it a bootable Windows hard drive.

  13. This completes the creation of a bootable hard drive. Now you can remove the flash card and restart the computer. The next time you boot, the computer initiates the installation of Windows directly from the hard drive. When the operating system is installed and the desktop appears in front of you, you must perform the following steps.
  14. Press Win+R and open the application

    msconfig

    In the window that opens, go to the Download tab and remove the Windows Setup (or Windows Installation) item from there.

  15. Open drive C:. Now we need to clean the disk from installation files that we no longer need. Here is a list of files and folders that need to be deleted, you can take it from your installation flash drive.
  16. Congratulations, you have solved the problem.

In this complex, but quite interesting way, you can get rid of the error The installation program was unable to create a new or find an existing system partition. Good luck to you!

“We were unable to create a new partition or find an existing partition. See the installer log files for more information." - one of the most popular errors when installing Windows 10 and other versions of this operating system. The error occurs both during the first installation of the OS and during subsequent reinstallations.

Error Fix: Could not create a new or find an existing partition

There are only two reasons for this error:

  • Windows 10 has no place to create disks to store system data. This is due to improper partitioning of the hard drive.
  • Random error. This error may occur due to incorrect recording of the installation disk or flash drive.
  • Port 80 is occupied by Windows services, Openserver does not work - how to fix it?

    • In the second case, there is only one solution - rewrite your disk or look for another version of Windows 10. Use licensed operating systems, they are the most reliable and have a minimum of various bugs.

    Fixing an error on a disk with unimportant data

    If you have the opportunity to delete data located on one of the hard drive partitions (see photo), then the problem can be solved in several steps:

    • select the partition that you plan to completely clean;
    • in the menu that appears at the bottom, select the “Delete” or “Format” buttons;
    • wait until the memory on the volume is cleared;
    • select the cleaned partition and click on the “Next” button, the installation of Windows 10 will continue.

    Try to use the “Format” function, since the “Delete” button only partially removes data from the SSD partition.

    Troubleshooting a hard drive with important information

    This method is suitable in cases where only one volume was created on which important information needed by the user. Due to lack of space for system data, Windows 10 will not install. You can create this place using special programs, but it is better to use the Windows functionality:

    1. Right in the Windows 10 setup program, press the following key combination: ShiftFnF10. If you don't have the Fn key, try the combination without it.
    2. A command line will launch, in which you must perform the following actions (enter all data as indicated in quotes).
    3. Enter the phrase “Diskpart> list volume” - the screen will display all currently available disk partitions.
    4. “Diskpart> select volume 1” - this function selects the volume on which further operations will be carried out. If there are several volumes, enter the number you need.
    5. “Diskpart> shrink desired=750 minimum=750” - this action will free up the specified amount of memory. In a specific case, 750 MB will be freed.
    6. Close the window and continue installing Windows 10, the freed MB will be used to create system files.

    The photo above shows how to enter data correctly.

    Installing Windows 10 on PC is very easy. All you have to do is paste it and follow the wizard. When installing, Windows 10 will ask you to select a partition. Typically, you simply select the partition or drive you want from a list and Windows does the rest of the job. However, sometimes Windows may show you an error message: " We were unable to create a new or find an existing partition". This error can occur for a number of reasons, even on perfectly functioning SSDs and hard drives. In this guide, we will look at how to fix, what to do and how to resolve this error in Windows 10.

    1. Remove additional drives

    Nowadays, SSD drives are very often used for installation and workWindows and a regular hard drive for data storage. When using multiple hard drives, you need to disconnect all hard drives except the main hard drive on which you install Windows. After disconnecting all other hard drives, try installing Windows again and see if you can continue with the installation.

    2. Disconnect all USB drives and memory cards

    Apart from the actual Windows 10 bootable USB flash drive, if you have other USB drives and CD memory cards connected to your system, then in rare cases Windows may confuse these drives with regular hard drives. Disconnect these additional USB drives or CD memory cards and try installing Windows again.

    3. Use USB 2.0 port

    If you are using a bootable USB 3.0 drive to install Windows, this could be the reason why Windows is giving you this particular error. To solve this problem, you can try using USB 2.0. Typically USB 2.0 are ports on a computer or laptop. of blue color, just insert the bootable USB flash drive into another port on your computer.

    4. Make the section active

    This method will erase ALL data on the selected hard drive.

    If the above methods do not work, then the partition on which you are trying to install Windows 10 may not be active. To make the partition active, you need to access the command line. To access, return to the initial Windows installation screen and click the link " System Restore" > "Troubleshooting" > "Command line". More details in pictures, like Windows 10.

    • Open the command line and run the command diskpart, press "Enter".
    • Next enter the command list disk to view all connected drives to your computer.
    • Find the drive where you want to install Windows. In my case, the disk number is "1", since I entered commands for the flash drive.
    • Enter the following command select disk 1 to select a drive. Remember to replace "1" with your actual disk number.
    • Next, clean up the selected disk clean.
    • To make the primary disk, run the command create partition primary.
    • Activate the section active.
    • After activation, enter format fs=ntfs quick to format the file system in NTFS.
    • Now you can assign the drive by running the command assign.
    • That's it, enter exit to exit the diskpart utility and the command line.

    After closing the Command Prompt, restart your computer and try installing Windows again and the “We were unable to create a new or find an existing partition” error should be resolved.