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Install Windows On Nvme

am on Windows 10 Pro 64bit 21H1 (all the latest updates)

Note that the errors below are very common issues on x570 boards with NVME drives.

I ran into an issue when installing a fresh install of windows on an NVME drive. It started with the error "Setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing system partition...". After I fixed that I would get the error that the drive was in a MBR partition but needed to be in a GPT partition. No matter what I did I kept going between the two errors.

I researched and found some videos on both issues then combined them into one set of instructions of which allowed me to get windows 10 up and running just fine. Here are those instructions:

These instructions are a slight modification as to what happens in the video, I only added the change to GPT. Please read through all the steps below before watching the video (link will be provided in the comments, if allowed)!

Start with using the Windows media creation tool to create an ISO file on your PC, then download and use Rufus to create a bootable USB with that ISO.

Unplug all drives from your system leaving only the drive you are trying to install Windows to and the thumb drive with the Windows ISO on it. It is very important you remove all other drives because you could easily wipe the other drives out accidentally doing it this way.

Go into the BIOS and turn off CSM support (if your device has it). Change the primary boot device to the USB drive under boot in the BIOS menu.

Start your system with the USB drive as the primary boot device, start the install but choose Repair computer in the bottom left of the second screen and then select command prompt in safe mode.

In the command prompt window Type these commands in this order (after every typed command hit enter if it doesn't say so):

Type diskpart and hit enter.

At the DISKPART prompt, type list disk. Note the disk number you want to convert. Hit enter.

At the DISKPART prompt, type select disk <disknumber> where the <disknumber> is the disk you want to install Windows to. Hit enter. In my system I typed select disk 0. Note: it will be the larger size of the two listed.

At the DISKPART prompt in the disk you selected previously, type clean. Hit enter. Note: Running the clean command will delete all partitions or volumes on the disk.

At the DISKPART prompt, type convert gpt. Hit enter.

From there I followed the rest of the video instructions and they are as followed:

Now type create partition primary size=5000 and hit Enter. I used 8000 just to be on the safe side as this video is 3 years old.

Now type format fs=ntfs quick and hit Enter. This command will format the partition using NTFS. Hit enter.

Type assign and hit Enter. This will assign a drive letter to the partition. Hit enter.

Type active and hit Enter.

Type list volume and hit Enter. To list the drive letters of the Windows installation media.

Type exit and hit Enter.

Change directory to the USB flash drive, in my case it was: D: Hit enter.

Copy all the Windows installation files from USB drive to C: drive by entering the following command: xcopy d: c:/e /h /k Hit enter. Note that C: should be the other drive.

This last part will take awhile as it copies all the files over.

Remove the installation USB from the computer and restart.

From there you should not have any issue.

After all that I enabled TPM in my bios (fTPM for AMD systems).

Note that this issue started when I was researching how to make my system ready for Windows 11 based on the current criteria. When I tried to switch my drive from MBR to GPT in Safe Mode Command Prompt it ruined the boot sector on the drive and I could not get into Windows, in fact it would not even let me reinstall windows to the disk. For some reason the backup image I created before attempting conversion to GPT failed to install properly. I ended up having to follow the above steps to get windows 10 reinstalled.

After all that my system is now Windows 11 ready.

My system: AMD 3900x on a Gigabyte x570 Aorus Elite Wifi with 64gb of Trident Z Neo and a GTX 1070.

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