How to Fix the Error Selecting Partition for Install Windows 11

There Is an Error Selecting This Partition to Install Windows 11

After analyzing extensive user reports on forums, I found that the “error selecting this partition for install Windows 11” issue mainly occurs when reinstalling or upgrading to Windows 11. The problem troubles a lot of users, like the one on the Reddit forum:

Hi all. All goes well until trying to install Windows 11, when I choose my partition and click Next, I get "There is an error selecting this partition for install. Please select a different partition or refresh selections.” Has anyone encountered this or knows my issue?https://www.reddit.com/r/WindowsOnDeck/comments/1funft9/error_selecting_partition_for_install/

What causes the Windows 11 installation error selecting this partition? The exact reason for the issue remains to be determined, but some possible causes are summarized as follows:

• Insufficient space on the target partition
• Incompatible partition table
• Corrupted ISO files
• Faulty USB flash drive
• Problematic hard drive

How to Fix the Error Selecting Partition for Install Windows 11

This part offers you 7 effective solutions for the “there is an error selecting this partition to install Windows 11” problem. These solutions have been tested by users, so give them a try.

Before You Do

Before you fix the “Windows 11 setup there is an error selecting this partition for install” issue, I strongly recommend that you back up all important data on the hard drive. This is because you may need to delete partitions on the hard drive in order to solve the problem.

How to back up files on Windows 11 quickly? MiniTool ShadowMaker can easily do this work. It’s an expert backup utility that allows you to back up files, folders, partitions, and the operating system on Windows computers.

What’s more, it can easily clone a hard drive to another one and create a system image so that you can revert the system to an earlier state. Let’s get the software package from the following button and install it on your PC. Then you can start backing up data:

MiniTool ShadowMaker TrialClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Step 1. Launch MiniTool ShadowMaker to get its main interface and go to the Backup section on the left side.

Step 2. Click the SOURCE tab and select the type: Disk and Partitions or Folder and Files based on your needs. Here I take the latter for example.

Step 3. Click the DESTINATION tab, select your target drive that contains the backup, then click OK > Back Up Now, and click OK to start the operation. Once backed up, you will find a backup image file on the target drive.

Step 4. To restore your data from the backup image, go to the Restore tab from the left panel, highlight the image file, and click the Restore button. Then follow the on-screen instructions to finish the restore.

Now, you can start getting rid of the “error selecting this partition for install Windows 11” without any concerns. You can try the following 7 solutions one by one until the problem is fixed.

Solution 1. Delete the Partition to Install Windows 11

Many users from both the Reddit and Microsoft forums have proven that the “Windows 11 setup there is an error selecting this partition for install” issue can be solved by deleting the partition you intend to install the OS on.

To do that, follow the steps below:

Step 1. Click OK in the Windows 11 Setup error message to exit it.

Step 2. Press the Shift + F10 keys simultaneously to open the elevated Command Prompt window.

Step 3. Input the following commands in order and press Enter after each one to delete the partition.

• diskpart
• list disk
• select disk * (* represents the disk number where you want to install Windows 11)
• list partition
• select partition
• delete partition * (* represents the partition number you want to install Windows 11 on)
• exit

Step 4. Now, you can click Next in the “Select location to install Windows 11” window and see if you can continue the installation successfully. If the “there is an error selecting this partition to install Windows 11” issue persists, move down to the next solution.

Solution 2. Create a Primary Partition for the Installation

The primary partition is the major partition where the Windows OS and other data are located. It is the only partition that can be set active. If deleting the setup partition doesn’t work, you can try creating a primary partition on the unallocated space.

Step 1. Open the elevated Command Prompt window as shown above.

Step 2. Type the following commands in order and press Enter after inputting each one to create a primary partition on the selected disk.

• diskpart
• list disk
• select disk * (* represents the disk number where you want to install Windows 11)
• create partition primary size=204800 (in MB)
• assign letter=D (assign a new drive letter for the partition)
• format fs=ntfs quick
• exit

After that, you can continue to install Windows and check if the error is solved when selecting the partition to install.

Solution 3. Delete All Partitions on the Hard Disk

For some users from the answers.microsoft.com forum, the “error selecting this partition for install Windows 11” issue can be solved by deleting all partitions on the hard disk. This will clean install Windows 11 from the ISO and create four default partitions on the disk. Let’s have a try:

Step 1. Open the Command Prompt window again.

Step 2. Run the following commands one by one to delete all partitions on the hard disk. After that, you should be able to clean install Windows 11 without the error.

• diskpart
• list disk
• select disk * (* represents the disk number where you want to install Windows 11)
• clean
• exit

Solution 4. Convert the Hard Disk to GPT

If your hard disk is an MRB partition table, you may encounter the “there is an error selecting this partition to install Windows 11” issue. In this case, you can convert MBR to GPT disk. This has been proven by some users to be helpful.

To do that, you can delete all partitions by referring to the steps in Solution 3, type convert gpt, and press Enter to convert the hard drive to GPT. After that, you can continue installing the system and check if the “Windows 11 installation error selecting this partition” disappears.

Solution 5. Check Your Hard Drive for Errors

The “Windows 11 setup there is an error selecting this partition for install” issue might be caused by the disk itself. So, you’d better check if there are any bad sectors or file system errors on the hard disk using the CHKDSK command.

Step 1. On the Select location to install Windows 11 screen,open the elevated Command Prompt window again by pressing the Shift + F10 keys.

Step 2. Input the chkdsk C: /f /r command and press Enter. Here, the C: represents the drive letter you want to check. The /f parameter fixes any errors it detected. The /r parameter locate bad sectors on the drive and marks them as unusable.

Solution 6. Redownload the Windows 11 ISO

If the ISO file gets corrupted, you may also encounter the “error selecting partition for install Windows 11” problem. To rule out the factor, you can re-download the ISO file from Microsoft and create a bootable USB drive again to install Windows 11.

Solution 7. Reformat the USB Drive

Sometimes, your USB flash drive is one of the reasons for the “Windows 11 setup there is an error selecting this partition for install”. To check that, you can use a different USB drive or reformat the drive if you don’t have an extra one.

Here, I highly recommend that you use a free USB formatter: MiniTool Partition Wizard to format the drive. It can format the drive to FAT16, FAT32, exFAT, NTFS, Ext2/3/4, and convert FAT32 to NTFS without data loss. Here’s how to use it.

MiniTool Partition Wizard FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Step 1. Plug the USB drive into a working computer and launch MiniTool Partition Wizard to enter its main interface.

Step 2. Select the USB from the disk map and click on Format Partition from the left action panel.

Step 3. Select NTFS from the File System drop-down menu and click OK to confirm the change. Here, you can also set the cluster size and partition label based on your needs.

Step 4. Click on Apply to execute the formatting operation. After that, you can re-create the bootable USB using the ISO file and reinstall Windows 11.

Bonus Tip: How to Migrate Windows 11 OS on Your PC

Do you want to migrate the Windows OS to another disk? MiniTool Partition Wizard allows you to migrate Windows OS to SSD/HDD or copy a hard disk to another one easily. What’s more, it can help you migrate OS even if the computer is unbootable with a burned MiniTool bootable drive. Here’s how to use it:

MiniTool Partition Wizard DemoClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Step 1. Launch the software to enter its main interface and click on Bootable Media from the upper right corner.

Step 2. Then you can create a bootable USB drive by selecting the USB Flash Disk. Alternatively, you can select the ISO file or CD/DVD writer based on your needs.

Step 3. Once created, restart your computer and press the F2 or Delete key to enter BIOS. Set the USB drive as the first boot order by changing the boot order, and follow the on-screen prompts to enter the software.

Step 4. Click Migrate OS to SSD/HD Wizard from the left panel, select Option A, and click Next to copy all partitions on the system disk. If you want to copy the system-required partitions only, select Option B.

Step 5. Select the target disk that you want to hold the source disk content and click Next. Then choose the copy options based on your preference.

Step 6. Read the Note information and click the Finish button in the pop-up window. Finally, click on Apply to execute the migration.

I receive the “there is an error selecting this partition to install Windows 11” message when reinstalling. Fortunately, this post helped me solve the problem and reinstall Windows 11 successfully.Click to Tweet

The End

What to do if you receive the “there is an error selecting this partition to install Windows 11” message? This post has introduced several proven solutions for the error. I believe that they can help you solve the problem.

If you just want to migrate Windows 11 OS to a new hard disk, I strongly suggest you use MiniTool Partition Wizard because it can work even on an unbootable computer. By the way, you can contact us via [email protected] if you have any difficulty using the MiniTool software.