Since Windows 11 boots from UEFI, if your Win 10 works on MBR system disk, you must convert MBR to GPT for Windows 11 update. Luckily, this article will introduce a powerful MBR2GPT converter to change MBR to GPT without losing data. Windows built-in tools are also covered.
Microsoft released Windows 11 on October 2021. In addition to bringing a new UI design, Windows 11 also provides many innovative features that support the current mixed working environment, focusing on improving user productivity in a new and flexible experience.
According to official information, the system requirement for Windows 11 will be higher than other Windows OS. Cause Windows 11 needs to boot from UEFI, which means that the system disk must be a GPT disk. Well, this article aims to show you how to convert MBR to GPT for Windows 11.
Before converting MBR to GPT, you should figure out what is GPT and UEFI, and what is the relationship between them.
Boot mode is actually the program that guides the computer to start. To put it simply, it is a program that is first started after the computer is turned on to prepare for the start of the operating system. After the operating system is booted, we can see the Windows desktop.
Generally, there are two boot modes: Legacy BIOS and UEFI. BIOS is an earlier boot mode, while UEFI is a new generation of bios. In contrast, UEFI has faster boot speed, higher security, and supports larger-capacity hard drives. And it is displayed in a graphical interface, allowing users to operate it more intuitively.
MBR and GPT are disk partition styles used to store data on HDD and SSD, but they are also different:
MBR (Master Boot Record) is an old partition style that requires a traditional BIOS to boot, and supports hard drives up to 2 TB and 4 partitions in the drive. While GPT (GUID Partition Table) is a new partition style that requires UEFI mode to boot. Not only does it have no size limit, but it also has unlimited partitions on a single drive.
In most cases, we use MBR + BIOS, but this is no longer compatible with Windows 11. If you want to upgrade Windows 10 to Windows 11 from the "Check for updates", you need to convert system disk to GPT, and then change the BIOS to UEFI boot mode.
You may know that Windows built-in programs DiskPart and Disk Management can convert disks to GPT, but they can only convert MBR disks to GPT disks by deleting all the partitions on the target disk. You will lose all your data! And they cannot convert the system disk to a GPT disk, because Windows does not allow deleting the system partition.
So, how to convert MBR to GPT on Windows 11, 10, 8, and 7 without data loss? I highly recommend you use AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, this is one of the most popular disk management tools in the market. It aims to solve various problems for users in a simple way. Its built-in function Convert to GPT disk can help you to convert disk between MBR and GPT both system disk and data disk, the converted disk can use normally without losing any data.
Next, I will show you how to convert MBR to GPT for Windows 11 update with it.
Step 1. Install and run AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. Right-click the disk (take the system disk as an example) and choose “Convert to GPT”.
Step 2. Click “OK” to confirm your operation.
Step 3. Click “Apply” to commit the pending operation.
After that, you have converted MBR to GPT. In addition, you can also convert GPT to MBR without data loss.
As we mentioned before, Windows native converters require empty partitions, which certainly causes data loss. If you don't mind losing data or don't want to use third-party tools, keep reading to know how to convert MBR to GPT for Windows 11 update via Disk Management and DiskPart
Disk Management helps you expand, shrink, delete, and format volumes and disks. It also allows you to convert MBR disks to GPT disks. You can follow the steps below.
Step 1. Right-click the Windows icon and select Disk Management.
Step 2. Right-click the volumes of the target MBR disk, select Delete Volume, and repeat this operation to delete all volumes.
Step 3. When the disk is displayed as unallocated space, right-click the disk and select Convert to GPT Disk. And finish all the rest steps.
Besides DM, you can also choose another built-in tool Diskpart to help you convert MBR disks to GPT. Follow the steps below.
Step 1. Click the Start button and type cmd. Then right-click Command Prompt and select Run as administrator.
Step 2. Type diskpart and click Enter.
Step 3. Type the following commands one by one and hit Enter each time.
list disk
select disk 1 (you need to choose your MBR disk.)
clean
convert gpt
Step 5. Type exit when the conversion process completes.
No matter which way you use to Windows 11 convert MBR to GPT, you need to change Legacy to UEFI after conversion. Here are the steps:
Step 1. After the computer is turned on, quickly press the shortcut key prompted at the bottom of the computer screen to enter the BIOS.
Step 2. Navigate to the Boot tab, where you can switch from Legacy to UEFI.
Step 3. Now, save the settings and exit according to the prompted keys.
Finally, you just need to go to “Settings”> “Update and Security”> “Windows Update”, and then click “Check for Updates”.
If available, you will see Windows 11 updates, click Download and Install to complete.
From what has been discussed above, this is the whole process of convert MBR to GPT for Windows 11 update. With the help of AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, converting MBR to GPT is no longer a problem.
Last but not least, it can do many things. Including migrating OS to SSD, cloning disk, converting primary partition to logical drive, etc. By the way, if you want to do these in Windows Server, please use AOMEI Partition Assistant Server.
It is easy to use the Disk Management to determine if the disk is of MBR or GPT. Right-click the Window button and chose "Disk Management" to open it. Right-click the target disk and select “Properties”, go to the “Volumes” and you will find out the partition style.
If you want to upgrade from an old Windows version to Windows 11, you can only install the system on a GPT disk, because Windows 11 needs to be booted by UEFI boot mode.
Converting an MBR disk to GPT generally involves restructuring the partition layout on the disk. When converting from MBR to GPT using a reliable tool like AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, this process is designed to preserve data.
The existing partitions on the disk are the main factor that causes issues in the MBR to GPT conversion. This is because Disk Management can only convert an empty non-system disk file. Hence, it's recommended to resort to a third-party MBR2GPT converter.