Unable to Select Partition when Installing Windows Vista or Windows 7

Windows Vista and Windows 7 are Microsoft releases, which remove several bugs and incompatibilities issues that existed in their earlier members. These operating systems are available with major security and performance improvements. But, at times, when you try to install any of them, odds are that you might fail to select or format the target hard disk partition. Among other reasons, one possible cause is hard disk file system corruption. You might need to remove all the disk partitions, to restore which an updated data backup is required. In case, you cannot restore from backup, you are suggested to use a Partition Recovery Software to recover them.

For example, when trying to install Windows Vista or Windows 7, you might encounter the below error message:

“Windows is unable to find a system volume that meets its criteria for installation”

You may experience this error message with/without any of the these symptoms:

• You try to install Windows Vista or Windows 7 on the hard disk, but it is not listed

• To install the operating system, the formatting of target partition is required, but you fail to do so

• You cannot select the target partition

• Attempts of setting the hard disk partition for correct size fail

Cause

There can be several reasons for this problem to occur:

• Outdated or incompatible mass storage driver or mass storage controller

• Hardware issues, like loose data cable

• You are trying to install on a dynamic disk

• Damaged file system

• Incompatible hard disk partition is being tried to select, for example FAT32 that is incompatible with Windows Vista and Windows 7

Solution

Following solutions can help you recovering from the existing issue:

• Update the hard disk controller drivers when trying to upgrade to Windows Vista or Windows 7. You can select 'Load Driver' option of Setup when trying to perform clean Windows installation. This will provide the correct hard disk controller drivers.

• Make sure you have installed all latest firmware and BIOS updates

• Check if BIOS correctly detects the hard drive

• Run chkdsk to correct the disk for errors

• Use Convert.exe command to convert incompatible FAT partition to NTFS file system partition

• If all the above measures fail, you should use Diskpart.exe to remove all the existing partitions and data to run the Windows setup again

If you opt for applying last step, you will need to restore data from backup. However, if no valid data backup exists, a powerful partition recovery utility will be required. Partition Recovery Software are specific applications designed to perform thorough disk scan in order to locate and restore all the data safely.

Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery is a comprehensive recovery utility that salvages lost disk partitions for Windows 7 RC1, Vista, XP, 2003 and 2000 based systems. It is a reliable partition recovery tool that provides advanced options, like Disk Cloning, Append Header, RAW File Recovery and others. It supports FAT32, VFAT, NTFS and NTFS5 file systems.