Setup was unable to use the existing partition...

Critical Jeff

New Member
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Setup was unable to use the existing partition because it does not contain the required free space.

I've tried installing Windows 8 onto two different hard drives. With the first one I tried using a 30gb partition, formatted and unallocated. I still got the same error. A few times when I tried formatting the partition within the installed, but got a 0xAC68BF60 error. I also tried installing on a completely unallocated disk, still the same error. I even tried on a different disk which is a 1tb, completely unallocated. Same error. This is getting really frustrating and I would like some help. Thanks

I've included phone screen shots to help explain.
HR3ip.jpg
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Winows 7
Here is a screenshot of my Disk Manager in windows 7. From the top down in the graph at the bottom:
The 700gb I'm trying to install to
My 1tb files disk
My 50gb SSD with win7 installed
phone
dvd drive
qg8GR.png
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Winows 7

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8250 x86 + 7 SP1 x86 + Ubuntu 12.04 LTS x86
    CPU
    P4 3.4 GHz HT
    Motherboard
    MSI-7211
    Memory
    OCZ 2 GB DDR @ 400 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    HIS AGP HD 3850 Turbo Ice-Q
    Sound Card
    MOTU Traveler firewire interface
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer x223w
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    WD Caviar Black 1 TB Sata II, WD 400 GB Sata I, WD 120 GB Sata I
    PSU
    300W generic
    Case
    Cybertron
    Keyboard
    Logitech Classic Keyboard 200, Dell RT7D20
    Mouse
    Logitech M510
    Internet Speed
    2 MByte/sec Down, 250 KByte/sec Up
So this just allows me to install Win8 to the HDD without booting to the CD at all? Interesting, lets see if I can do this.

Yes. In fact, I wouldn't even call it an install. It's really only a copy of data from install.wim to the new partition. But yup, end result is that it's installed.

In Windows 7, I would format the partition or drive you want to copy to, to NTFS quick and assign it a drive letter before beginning.

If you run into any problems, let us know. Should go very smoothly. I've done it myself without issues.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8250 x86 + 7 SP1 x86 + Ubuntu 12.04 LTS x86
    CPU
    P4 3.4 GHz HT
    Motherboard
    MSI-7211
    Memory
    OCZ 2 GB DDR @ 400 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    HIS AGP HD 3850 Turbo Ice-Q
    Sound Card
    MOTU Traveler firewire interface
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer x223w
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    WD Caviar Black 1 TB Sata II, WD 400 GB Sata I, WD 120 GB Sata I
    PSU
    300W generic
    Case
    Cybertron
    Keyboard
    Logitech Classic Keyboard 200, Dell RT7D20
    Mouse
    Logitech M510
    Internet Speed
    2 MByte/sec Down, 250 KByte/sec Up
Okay, so in the post is says

The (elevated) command was

>imagex /apply R:\sources\install.wim 1 J:

does this mean, after installing the Windows AIK, going into the Command Prompt and navigating to the imagex folder with the CD command... I can then use this command to install from the win8 ISO to the hdd? Sorry if this is confusing, i may need to reword that.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Winows 7
Nope, your post is not confusing. And yep, you got it right. That's the way.

So download/install WAIK. While it's downloading, prepare the drive by formatting to NTFS quick and assign it a drive letter.

After WAIK installed, open elevated command prompt. Use chdir /d command to go to where WAIK installs the imagex.exe. (You'll see where easily in Windows Explorer. On my 32 bit, it was somewhere in Program Files, but if you have 64 bit, it might be Program Files (x86).)

Once you've changed to the correct directory, run the command that fafhrd shows for imagex, using the correct drive letter for your mounted iso and for the new partition you just formatted/assigned a letter to.

When done, use EasyBCD to add the new partition to the boot menu. Don't forget to hit save.

Reboot and use the menu to start Windows 8. It will take a little time to setup and then you'll be at desktop.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8250 x86 + 7 SP1 x86 + Ubuntu 12.04 LTS x86
    CPU
    P4 3.4 GHz HT
    Motherboard
    MSI-7211
    Memory
    OCZ 2 GB DDR @ 400 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    HIS AGP HD 3850 Turbo Ice-Q
    Sound Card
    MOTU Traveler firewire interface
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer x223w
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    WD Caviar Black 1 TB Sata II, WD 400 GB Sata I, WD 120 GB Sata I
    PSU
    300W generic
    Case
    Cybertron
    Keyboard
    Logitech Classic Keyboard 200, Dell RT7D20
    Mouse
    Logitech M510
    Internet Speed
    2 MByte/sec Down, 250 KByte/sec Up
Sounds simple enough. Do you have any idea why I get this error though? I installed the dev preview on the 700gb HDD while I was using it as my Boot disk for Win& (before I got my SSD). And it dual booted fine, but I uninstalled win8. Now that the consumer preview has been out, I wanna try using these extra hard drives I have; but, as you have read it fails to install on either my 1tb or 700gb hdd.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Winows 7
Probably has to do with how you uninstalled Win8. You're welcome to attach a screenshot of msconfig boot tab to see how that is, currently.

(Type msconfig in the start menu, then press Enter.)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8250 x86 + 7 SP1 x86 + Ubuntu 12.04 LTS x86
    CPU
    P4 3.4 GHz HT
    Motherboard
    MSI-7211
    Memory
    OCZ 2 GB DDR @ 400 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    HIS AGP HD 3850 Turbo Ice-Q
    Sound Card
    MOTU Traveler firewire interface
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer x223w
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    WD Caviar Black 1 TB Sata II, WD 400 GB Sata I, WD 120 GB Sata I
    PSU
    300W generic
    Case
    Cybertron
    Keyboard
    Logitech Classic Keyboard 200, Dell RT7D20
    Mouse
    Logitech M510
    Internet Speed
    2 MByte/sec Down, 250 KByte/sec Up
Probably has to do with how you uninstalled Win8. You're welcome to attach a screenshot of msconfig boot tab to see how that is, currently.

(Type msconfig in the start menu, then press Enter.)

The drive I had windows 8 installed on has been formatted, encrypted, and reformatted. I dont think that the problem lies there.

Untitled-13.png

Yet, I am applying the image with imagex now. I hope all goes well.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Winows 7
True. Looks good to start with. Maybe it has something to do with your bios settings. Can't really say off the top of my head...there are way too many variables and reasons that can cause install failures. That's precisely the reason I advised to skip over all that and do things the imagex way.

Hope so too...good luck.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8250 x86 + 7 SP1 x86 + Ubuntu 12.04 LTS x86
    CPU
    P4 3.4 GHz HT
    Motherboard
    MSI-7211
    Memory
    OCZ 2 GB DDR @ 400 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    HIS AGP HD 3850 Turbo Ice-Q
    Sound Card
    MOTU Traveler firewire interface
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer x223w
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    WD Caviar Black 1 TB Sata II, WD 400 GB Sata I, WD 120 GB Sata I
    PSU
    300W generic
    Case
    Cybertron
    Keyboard
    Logitech Classic Keyboard 200, Dell RT7D20
    Mouse
    Logitech M510
    Internet Speed
    2 MByte/sec Down, 250 KByte/sec Up
Okay, So I installed to my HDD with imagex, and tried make a boot menu with the

>bcdboot J:\windows /s W:

command. Yet, when I choose my HDD that I just installed win8 onto, it just gives me a cursor at the top left. Any tips?
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Winows 7
True. Looks good to start with. Maybe it has something to do with your bios settings. Can't really say off the top of my head...there are way too many variables and reasons that can cause install failures. That's precisely the reason I advised to skip over all that and do things the imagex way.

Hope so too...good luck.

I tried switching my bios sata controller back to ATA, as I have it on ACHI for my SSD. Didn't do anything.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Winows 7
Okay, So I installed to my HDD with imagex, and tried make a boot menu with the

>bcdboot J:\windows /s W:

command. Yet, when I choose my HDD that I just installed win8 onto, it just gives me a cursor at the top left. Any tips?

Use EasyBCD instead. Don't forget to save after adding. Version 2.0.2 is sufficient and is free. (Right side of linked page.)
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    8250 x86 + 7 SP1 x86 + Ubuntu 12.04 LTS x86
    CPU
    P4 3.4 GHz HT
    Motherboard
    MSI-7211
    Memory
    OCZ 2 GB DDR @ 400 MHz
    Graphics Card(s)
    HIS AGP HD 3850 Turbo Ice-Q
    Sound Card
    MOTU Traveler firewire interface
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer x223w
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    WD Caviar Black 1 TB Sata II, WD 400 GB Sata I, WD 120 GB Sata I
    PSU
    300W generic
    Case
    Cybertron
    Keyboard
    Logitech Classic Keyboard 200, Dell RT7D20
    Mouse
    Logitech M510
    Internet Speed
    2 MByte/sec Down, 250 KByte/sec Up
I somehow messed up my mbr on my win7 installation with easybcd. it says something like the checksum doesn't match. I tried fixing the mbr with Hiren's boot disk, but couldn't exactly figure it out. I also tried fixing the mbr with the cmd in the win8 install disk. Didn't work either. I feel like I need to use the actual win7 install disk. I'm at work now, so it won't be till tomorrow until I try fixing both of these boot records. I just hope my ssd(win7) isn't lost for good. If it is, atleast I have all my files on my 3rd(700gb) encrytped hdd.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Winows 7
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