Fixed: This Computer's Hardware May Not Support Booting to This Disk

Scenario

Hello all, my M.2 SSD has just come back from repair and I am trying to install Windows on it. When I try to it comes up with an error saying “Windows cannot be installed to this disk. This computer's hardware may not support booting into this disk. Ensure that the disk’s controller is enabled in the computers BIOS menu.” I have already checked in BIOS and under SATA controller it is enabled, any help? Thanks!

-- From tomshardware

Normally, this error warning pops up when users are installing a newer Windows than the old Windows Therefore, users might meet “Windows cannot be installed to this disk” in Windows 10, Windows 8, and Windows 7.

And under most situations, the problem is the partition style or the selected partition itself. If your devices have already checked the BIOS version, the disk’s controller, and relevant settings, but the error is still here, then let’s quickly go to the next part to fix this issue.

2 ways to fix “Windows cannot be installed to this disk”

In this part, we’ll show you clear operations to help you fix this issue. The first way is to convert the disk partition style, the other is to rebuild the disk.

Way 1. Convert to GPT disk during the installation

In this method, we’ll present the steps of 2 tools. One is to convert via CMD, which will cause data loss; the other is a third-party tool that can execute the conversion without doing any harm to your data. If your disk doesn’t store much information, CMD is fine; if your disk has an amount of data stored, we suggest you use third-party software. Select a more suitable tool based on your exact situation.

Option 1. Convert via CMD

Step 1. On the page of “Active Windows”, press “Shift” + “F10” to open CMD.

Step 2. Type the following commands and press “Enter” after each:
diskpart
list disk
select disk x (x is the number of the target disk)
clean (This step will delete all data, so make sure it doesn’t have any important data, or you can do a backup before the installation.)
convert gpt

Option 2. Convert via a handy third-party tool

You can also try AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional to convert the disk to fix the “Windows cannot be installed to this disk” error. Windows users with Windows 11/10/8/8.1/7/XP/Vista can convert system/data/external disk between MBR and GPT, and all conversions are data-safe.

If you’re a Windows Server user, don’t worry, this software has Server edition to offer you perfect disk management. You can also use this reliable tool to migrate OS, convert dynamic disk, and check disk/partition…

To fix the error “Windows cannot be installed to this disk this computer's hardware…” you need to prepare a USB (8GB is enough) because the first step is to make a bootable media.

▶ Section 1. Make a bootable media

Step 1. Install and run Partition Assistant on a normal Windows computer, plug your USB in.

Note: All data on this USB will be deleted, please back up if there’re important data files on it.

Step 2. Click the “Make Bootable Media” feature, and click “Next” in the pop-up window.

Step 3. Choose “USB Boot Device”, and select your USB, click “Proceed”.

Step 4. Click “Yes” in the information window. Then, you can wait for the operation progress, and click “Finish”.

▶ Section 2. Convert to GPT

Step 1. Plug this USB into the target computer, and enter BIOS to change the boot order to boot this PC from this USB.

Step 2. After that, you’ll see the interface of the AOMEI Partition Assistant. Now, all your disks will show in this window, right-click the MBR disk, and select “Convert to GPT”.

Step 3. In the pop-up windows, click “OK” to continue.

Step 4. Click “Apply” to operate and then your disk will be changed into GPT disk style.

After you convert your disk to GPT, try to install Windows again, check if the error disappears.

Way 2. Recreate & reformat drive via Diskpart/CMD

Another way is to delete all data on the target disk, create a new primary partition, and format it.

First, you need to press “Shift” + “F10” to open CMD on the page of “Active Windows”,

▶ Section 1. Create primary partition

Step 1. Type “diskpart”. Then, input the following orders and press “Enter” after each”:
list disk
select disk x (x is the number of disks)
clean
create partition primary size=xxxxxx (You need to type number to create a partition with exact size)

▶ Section 2. Format the partition

Type:
format fs=ntfs quick
activate
assign
list volume
exit

Then you’ll see a new partition has been created, we don’t assign an exact number, so it will be automatically named.

▶ Section 3. Transfer C drive content to the new partition

After we exit from diskpart, now we’ll use CMD. Please type:
cd: C
xcopy C: E:/e/h/k (this order is to copy all from the C drive to the new drive, please replace the alphabet according to your computer.)
exit

You’ll need to wait for a while, when the procedure is over, you can type exit, close all, and exit the boot. Then, reboot the PC, try to install it again. The error will disappear and you can install windows to the partition you want.

These are 2 methods to solve the “this computer's hardware may not support booting to this disk” error. Hope you can successfully fix this issue with one of them.