Question Convert GPT to MBR

[hemilee]

My new computer has one M2 drive and I wanted to install Win 10 os on it but could not because the drive is GPT. When I went to convert it to MBR was told it could not be converted?? How come and is there any way around this problem?

 

[Insert_Nickname]

My new computer has one M2 drive and I wanted to install Win 10 os on it but could not because the drive is GPT. When I went to convert it to MBR was told it could not be converted?? How come and is there any way around this problem?

You don't need to convert the drive. In fact it will be counterproductive, since you'll install 10 in legacy mode, which is not optimal as it disables all kind of stuff.

When you boot from your install media (I'm assuming a flash drive), you should enter the BIOS/UEFI, and in the boot menu/options select something along the lines of "UEFI: flashdrivename". This boots the OS in UEFI mode, from where you should be able to install normally.

That's all there is to it.

 

[Campy]

You should use GPT, it's superior to MBR.

 

[hemilee]

You don't need to convert the drive. In fact it will be counterproductive, since you'll install 10 in legacy mode, which is not optimal as it disables all kind of stuff.

When you boot from your install media (I'm assuming a flash drive), you should enter the BIOS/UEFI, and in the boot menu/options select something along the lines of "UEFI: flashdrivename". This boots the OS in UEFI mode, from where you should be able to install normally.

That's all there is to it.

Thank you for responding to my question. I tried what you suggested and all was going fine until I was ask "where do you want to install Windows, I selected the drive and it said "We couldn't make a new partition or find an existing partition..." What do I do now?

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Thank you for responding to my question. I tried what you suggested and all was going fine until I was ask "where do you want to install Windows, I selected the drive and it said "We couldn't make a new partition or find an existing partition..." What do I do now?

Still sounds like you're booting the legacy installer.

What kind of computer are we talking about, desktop, laptop, or?

 

[john3850]

The first few win 10 installs I was forced to use MBR I then used the MBR2GPT.EXE.
MBR2GPT. EXE is located in the Windows\System32 directory

 

[hemilee]

Still sounds like you're booting the legacy installer.

What kind of computer are we talking about, desktop, laptop, or?

A desktop, "Digital Storm," I'm using a flash drive with windows 10 on it that came with the computer "Recovery".

 

[Insert_Nickname]

A desktop, "Digital Storm," I'm using a flash drive with windows 10 on it that came with the computer "Recovery".

I have no knowledge of that brand. You might try getting an install media directly from Microsoft:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

Just need a clean 16GB flash drive.

If you're just looking to reinstall Windows, 10 has a built in reset mode you can use:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...-your-pc-51391d9a-eb0a-84a7-69e4-c2c1fbceb8dd

 

[Shmee]

AFAIK most m.2 drives, or at least NVMe ones, need to be booted in UEFI mode with GPT.

 

[nosurprises]

I have booted an Nvme drive with MBR on Windows 10 install -- might be motherboard dependent.

 

[john3850]

I have booted an Nvme drive with MBR on Windows 10 install -- might be motherboard dependent.

When I booted a few Nvme drives with MBR on Windows 10 instal my speed was way to low and when I changed it to GPT I got 3400 reads with 3100 writes or normal speeds.

 

[Steltek]

1) Set the boot mode of the target machine to UEFI (not Legacy) in the system BIOS. Also in BIOS, make sure Secure Boot is disabled - it must be disabled, or it won't work. Also, if there are multiple storage drives in the system, power down and unplug all of them except your intended boot disk to simplify the install.

2) Create a UEFI bootable installer flash drive. The first part of this video (from beginning to 12:35 minutes) shows how to do that using Rufus.

3) Boot the machine using the UEFI boot flash drive. Make sure to select the correct boot partition on the flash drive to boot from (you may have to press F12 or whatever key your particular system uses to choose boot media at startup).

4) After Windows installer boots, choose the custom install option. When you get to the screen showing the drive partitions and formats, if it won't let you create partitions follow the instructions in this video beginning at 01:23 minutes to create a GPT partition structure. Basically, this video shows you how to use SHIFT-F10 at the right time during the install process to allow you to run DISKPART to clean the install disk and create the GPT partition structure.

5) Complete the install - Windows shouldn't give you a problem at this point. Once Windows is installed, shut down and plug any other system drives back in, and you should be good to go.