Microsoft KB Archive/928231

Knowledge Base

The destination hard disk does not appear in the "Where do you want to install Windows?" disk configuration window when you try to install Windows Vista

Article ID: 928231

Article Last Modified on 3/15/2007

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APPLIES TO

• Windows Vista Ultimate
• Windows Vista Enterprise
• Windows Vista Business
• Windows Vista Home Premium
• Windows Vista Home Basic
• Windows Vista Starter
• Windows Vista Enterprise 64-bit edition
• Windows Vista Home Basic 64-bit edition
• Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit edition
• Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit edition

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SYMPTOMS

When you try to install Windows Vista, the hard disk on which you want to install Windows Vista does not appear in the Where do you want to install Windows? disk configuration window.

CAUSE

This issue occurs if the hard disk partition contains an invalid byte offset value. For example, this issue occurs if the partition has a byte offset of zero (0).

RESOLUTION

To resolve this issue, remove the partitions on the hard disk, and then run the Windows Vista Setup program to install Windows Vista. To remove the hard disk partitions, follow these steps.

Important These steps remove all the information from the hard disk.

1. Use the Windows Vista DVD to start the computer.
2. At the Windows Vista installation screen, click Next, and then click Install Now.
3. Press SHIFT+F10 to start a command prompt.
4. At the command prompt, type diskpart, and then press ENTER.
5. Type select disk number, and then press ENTER. In this command, replace number with the number of the hard disk that you want to modify. For example, if you want to install Windows Vista on the first available hard disk, type select disk 0, and then press ENTER.

6. Type clean, and then press ENTER. You receive the following message:

   DiskPart succeeded in cleaning the disk.

7. Type exit, and then press ENTER to exit the DiskPart tool.
8. Type exit, and then press ENTER to exit the command prompt.
9. Restart the computer, and then start the Windows Vista installation.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

300415 A description of the Diskpart command-line utility

For more information about Diskpart.exe, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServer/en/library/ca099518-dde5-4eac-a1f1-38eff6e3e5091033.mspx?mfr=true

Keywords: kbfilesystems kbdeployment kbdiskmemory kbexpertisebeginner kbhardware kbtshoot kbprb KB928231

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