Fixed: Failed to Format the Selected Partition

About “Failed to format the selected partition”

Sometimes you need to reinstall Windows for various reasons. Things didn't go so well and you get stuck with receiving the following error messages: “Failed to format the selected partition, error 0x80070057” or “Windows could not format a partition on disk 0, error code: 0x80070057". It's really bad because you have made many preparations for Windows reinstallation. 

What are the causes of these errors? The main reason for this issue is that the system reserved partition is damaged. In addition to this, “Failed to format the selected partition error 0x” may appear due to damaged setup disk, hardware issues, incompatible storage controller or storage driver and so on.

Fixes for “Failed to format the selected partition” error

Don't be flustered when “Failed to format the selected partition” in Windows 7 error happens. Three practical methods are recommended here. After formatting, all data on the partition will be deleted. You'd better make sure whether there is any important file on it, if there is, please backup files to external hard drive. Let's see the details.

Fix 1. Format partition with Diskpart

Step 1. Boot the computer with your installation media. Go Repair Your Computer > Advanced Startup > Command Prompt (Admin).

Step 2. Type the commands below into the Command Prompt one at a time and press Enter after each command. 

• diskpart

• list disk

• select disk 0

• clean

• create partition primary

• select partition 1

• active

• format fs=ntfs

Step 3. After formatting, type exit and then press Enter.

Fix 2. Format partition during Windows installation process

If you are not good at Diskpart in Command Prompt, you can try the second method. To do this, you can follow the steps below.

Step 1. Run the installation media. Set your preferences and click Install now.

Step 2. Click I accept the terms of license after reading the Microsoft Software License Terms. Then click Next.

Step 3. Click Custom (advanced).

Step 4. Choose Disk 0 Partition 1 and Delete. Then click OK when prompted.

Step 5. Repeat Step 4 to delete Disk 0 Partition 2. Then click New to create a new partition.

Step 6. Define the size of the disk and then click Apply. Click OK when prompted.

Tips: The size of the default value is the maximum size of the disk.

Step 7. Select Disk 0 Partition 2 and then click Format. Click OK when prompted.

Step 8. Formatting should be completed correctly. You can click Next to reinstall Windows.

The two methods mentioned above might look a bit complex. Please be very careful when using them because all operations steps take place immediately so that you cannot step back. If you want to format disk partition easily, read on to find out.

Fix 3. Format partition via free disk partition manager

AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard makes things easy in many ways. It enables you to format partitions effortlessly with its intuitive interface. In the process of using it, you can go back to the previous step easily if you are not satisfied with the current operations.

By using this utility, you are allowed to format hard drive to exFAT, NTFS, FAT32 or Ext 2/3/4 in Windows 10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP. Additionally, it supports formatting large partitions. Anyone can download and use this program, free of charge! Here you can do as following steps:

Step 1. Insert a CD a USB drive to your computer with AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard installed. You can make a bootable CD or a bootable USB drive. Click Tools and then Make Bootable Media.

Step 2. Plug the bootable media to the computer you need to reinstall Windows. Change the boot order to boot the computer from the bootable media. Then enter this format utility.

Step 3. Right click the partition you want to format and then select Format Partition. 

Step 4. Add Partition Label, set File System and Cluster Size. Then click OK.

Step 5. Click Apply to format the partition.

Verdict

After you format partitions to fix "Failed to format the selected partition" error, you can continue your Windows reinstallation. Using AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard to format partitions should be the easiest way. By the way, this freeware works well when you need to format bootable SD card, format SSD and so on.

AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional can manage your disk more flexibly. For instance, allocate free space from one partition to extend system drive. But if you are a Windows Server user, AOMEI Partition Assistant Server is your best choice.