Failed to Create a New Partition on the Selected Unused Space
The Symptom
When trying to install Windows 10/8/7 from a removable disk, the Install Windows tool may ask you to select a partition to install the system, prompting you to click "New" to create a new partition with the unallocated space, but instead, you get an error message.
The error "Failed to create a new partition on the selected unused space. [Error: 0x8007045d]" occurs when there's an issue with creating a new partition on unused space, likely due to disk or partitioning system problems. This error can also manifest as 0x8004240f under certain conditions, indicating a more complex problem. To resolve this, you might need to check the disk for errors, ensure the partitioning system (like Disk Management in Windows) is functioning correctly, and possibly run a disk check or repair the disk if necessary.
The Cause
On a master boot record (MBR) disk, you can only have 4 primary partitions or less than 4 primary partitions and 1 extended partition, unless you convert it to a dynamic disk. If you already have 4 primary partitions, Windows cannot create a new partition for Windows installation, resulting in an error similar to "we couldn't create a new partition".
The Solution
To resolve error codes 0x8004240f or 0x8007045d, you can try one of the following solutions. These errors are often related to issues with Windows Update, so checking the Windows Update settings and ensuring that the update is not paused or disabled is a good starting point.
Clean the disk and start to create new partition
This method will delete all the data on the selected disk, so make sure there are no important data on it or you have backed them up.
- In the Install Windows screen, press Shift+F10 to open a command prompt. This will allow you to enter commands and troubleshoot issues with the installation process.
- Type "diskpart" and press Enter.
- Type "list disk".
- Type "select disk X" in the command prompt, replacing "X" with the number of the disk you want to delete.
- Type "clean" to delete all partitions on the disk.
The disk clean process can take a significant amount of time, depending on the amount of data to be deleted. Once complete, you can close the command prompt window and proceed to create a new partition by clicking "New".
Delete one primary partition
- In the Diskpart window, type "list volume".
- To delete a specific volume, type "select volume X" where "X" is the volume number you want to delete. For example, if you want to delete volume 3, you would type "select volume 3".
- Type "delete volume".
The volume deletion will complete instantly, and then you can create a new partition. Alternatively, you can use partition manager software to convert a primary partition to a logical partition without data loss.
Merge partitions without data loss
If you're experiencing issues with Windows being unable to create a partition, you can use a free partition manager software like Qiling Disk Master to merge partitions without losing any data.
1. Download and run Qiling Disk Master,
2. In the main interface, right click on one of the two partitions to be merged and select "Resize Partitions", which allows you to merge two adjacent partitions into one, or merge unallocated space with one of the existing partitions.
3. In the pop out window, check the partitions to be merged.
4. The partition layout will be revised to accommodate the new changes, and a preview of the updated layout will be displayed. If the revised layout meets your requirements, you can proceed with the changes by clicking the "Proceed" button. This will apply the updated partition configuration, and the system will be modified accordingly.
You can use a freeware to create a bootable media and boot your computer to convert the system disk to GPT format without data loss, allowing you to create a new partition on the unused space. Alternatively, you can use Qiling Disk Master Professional to convert the system disk to GPT format. This will enable you to create a new partition on the unused space.