SOVLED! “Windows Can’t Be Installed Because This PC Has An Unsupported Disk Layout For UEFI Firmware”

About the “Windows can’t be installed because this PC has an unsupported disk layout for UEFI firmware” error during Windows installation, hard drive’s partition structure not being supported is usually the cause. For the installation to proceed, you must create a new Microsoft Reserved Partition (MRP) on your hard disk. In addition, you could convert the partition. Read to the end to learn what must be done. 

The Number One Suspect: Partition

All in all, it’s not uncommon for Windows installation to ground to a halt as a result of issues. Still, if you see “Windows can’t be installed because this PC has an unsupported disk layout for UEFI firmware”, you must take a look at the hard drive’s partition structure. If there is no GPT partition table, it’s only natural for Windows installation to run into problems. On the bright side, if you know the way, you could get the installation to resume in mere moments. 

Approaches To The Situation

Create A Microsoft Reserved Partition (MRP)

For your information, Microsoft Reserved Partition (MRP) is used on UEFI/GUID Partition Table (GPT) disks. Thus, once it comes to “Windows can’t be installed because this PC has an unsupported disk layout for UEFI firmware”, you should consider creating a MRP. 

• Step 1: Go to Search bar, type cmd and hit Run as administrator. 
• Step 2: In Commands Prompt (Admin), run each of the commands down below:
  • Diskpart
  • list disk 

Note: In the case that you see an asterisk (*) mark under GPT, your system is using the GPT partition structure and you can proceed. On the other hand, you must first convert your hard drive to GPT format before installing Windows.

• Step 3: Proceed to run these commands in Commands Prompt (Admin):
  • Select disk# (# represents the actual disk number as displayed in the list disk in the previous step)
  • list partition (you should see all the partitions present on the disk)
  • Create partition msr size=128 (the command is going to create a 128 MB partition on the disk)
  • list partition (verify whether the partition was created)

After you finish, exit Command Prompt and restart your computer. When the screen comes back on, you could install Windows one more time. 

Convert Partition 

Your disk uses Master Boot Record (MBR) instead of GUID Partition Table (GPT) partition style? In that case, it’s a good idea to convert partition. 

• Step 1: Go to Search bar, type cmd and hit Run as administrator. 
• Step 2: Commands Prompt (Admin), run the command diskpart.
• Step 3: Proceed to run these commands in Commands Prompt (Admin):
  • list volume (you should see all the volumes present on the disk)
  • select volume # (# represents the partition that Windows is installed on)
  • detail partition (details of the selected partition would be shown)
  • X:\>mbr2gpt /convert /disk:# (Convert Master Boot Record (MBR) to GUID Partition Table (GPT). # represents the disk you want to convert)

Assuming that you don’t mess up, MBR2GPT is going to convert the partition of your disk from Master Boot Record (MBR) to GUID Partition Table (GPT). Now, all you have to do is to restart your computer, install Windows and see how things turn out. 

Other UEFI-Related Questions

How Do I Access UEFI Firmware Settings In BIOS?

• Step 1: Go to Search bar, type UEFI and press Enter. 
• Step 2: Hit Restart now.
• Step 3: Select Troubleshoot option, choose UEFI Firmware settings and hit Restart button. 

What Happens If I Change Boot Mode From Legacy To UEFI?

If you change the mode from Legacy to UEFI while your PC runs on a Legacy Windows version, nothing changes. After UEFI checks for a UEFI Windows version and finds none, Windows should automatically load in Legacy mode.