Windows 10: Cannot upgrade due to unsupported disk layout for UEFI firmware

Thanks, but if you read my more recent posts you will see that I no longer have a legacy install. I now have a UEFI install and everything is the way it should be. Yet Windows 10 will still not install the upgrade and I have no intention of trying again after so many failures. Thank you for the offer to help, but I am through with version 1511 forever.

 

I asked for an up to date Disk Management picture which would have shown your current configuration.

Hopefully, you get it worked out and at some future time are able to do the update.

 

In my opinion, I would not upgrade to 1511, as there are a lot of bugs. I had to revert back due to issues with boot and programs not working.

 

What Windows did your Device come with? Windows 7, 8 or 10?

 

Success at last!!

I gave it a rest over Christmas and just came back to the problem this morning. I decided to completely change tack and not follow any of the advice I have read about so far. Of course I am grateful for earlier advice which helped me to get my partitions in order. But it seemed that I struck icebergs every time I tried to install from a USB or by booting from the Windows install disk.

What finally worked for me was installing from a newly created Windows 10 disk within the existing Windows environment. I summarize my procedure as follows:

1) I downloaded a fresh ISO using Media Creation Tool.

2) Burnt this ISO to disk.

3) Shut down Windows, waited 30 seconds, removed all USB devices, and rebooted the computer back to Windows 10. (The reboot is probably not necessary, but I did this just for the sake of completely refreshing the memory).

4) After Windows had booted up I inserted the newly created Windows disk.

5) I followed the installation procedure (this time it was seamless!).

6) Windows restarted automatically and hey presto, I have Version 1511.

I can now mark this one as solved! Of course the above procedure requires the correct disk layout which I originally did not have. I am still puzzled as to why I had so much trouble installing the upgrade using other methods, even after my partition layout was fixed.

In my case, Media Creation Tool would not work when attempted as an automatic download and install. It would only work if I used the tool to download a fresh copy of the ISO and create a new Windows 10 dvd, then install from that dvd from within the original Windows 10 environment.

Installing from USB always seemed to result in Windows confusing the USB drive with a partition on the hard drive... or something. *Confused At least I would always end up with a bad partition layout for some reason and a failed install. As for using Windows update (the one that comes with Windows), forget it! Every time I used this it failed.

Anyway, success at last! *Party

 

I have attempted to re-trace all of the steps that I followed to find a solution. I am posting them here in case anyone else should have similar problems.

Consecutive problems upgrading to Windows 10 Version 1511:
Problem A. Cannot upgrade to Version 1511 due to unsupported disk layout for UEFI firmware.
Problem B. Cannot upgrade to Version 1511 even after disk layout for UEFI firmware has been created and original Windows system has been restored.

Solution for Problem A: You will need to install the correct partition layout on your PC.
Solution for B: You will need to install the new version of Windows using a newly created DVD disk from within the existing Windows environment (i.e. DO NOT use automatic updating, either from Windows Update or Creative Media Tool, and DO NOT attempt to install the new version by booting from the Windows 10 disk).

Warning! In order not to lose any apps, settings or other data, please follow these instructions to the letter.

1) Using Macrium Reflect, create a boot recovery on a USB stick, then do a complete back up of your current hard disk and its partitions on to DVD (this may take 6-8 DVDs to complete).
2) Boot from your Windows 10 Home (original core edition) DVD.
3) In the ‘Windows Setup’ wizard click on ‘Next’ and click on ‘Repair your computer’.
You will then see a blue screen and an option to choose.
4) Click on ‘Troubleshoot’ then click on ‘Advanced Option’ and then click on ‘Command Prompt’.
5) Type these commands at the Command Prompt for UEFI configuration:
a. Type Diskpart.
b. At the DISKPART prompt, type "List Disk". Make note of the disk number you want to convert.
c. At the DISKPART prompt, type "Select Disk <disknumber>".
d. At the DISKPART prompt, type "Clean". This command will COMPLETELY ERASE your hard drive.
e. Once that's done type in "Convert GPT"
f. You should get a message on the next line saying something like "Conversion to GPT was successful".
g. Type in "exit," and then type in "exit," again. Your Command Prompt Window is now closed.
Success! You now have the correct disk layout for UEFI firmware.
6) Now insert your Macrium Reflect USB boot recovery.
7) Start up your computer and hit delete to enter bios.
8) Important: If “Legacy mode” is enabled in bios, please select “UEFI mode only”.
Also, select to boot from UEFI dvd as the first in your boot sequence.
9) Save and close down your computer.
10) Using your Windows 10 (NOTE: original core version) disk, reinstall Windows 10.
11) Shut down your PC, plug in your Macrium Reflect USB boot recovery stick and restart, then hit delete to enter bios.
12) Select to boot from UEFI USB device (note: wording may vary depending on your bios).
13) Restart to boot to the Macrium Reflect recovery utility.
14) In Macrium Reflect, insert the last disk of your back up set into the DVD drive to read the image of your old hard drive.
15) Select and paste only the Windows partition of the hard drive over the top of the newly installed Windows partition. In most cases this will be labelled "C:/Windows". This will completely re-install your old Windows system over the top of the new one.
16) After re-installing your old Windows system, remove the USB stick and DVD, then shut the computer down.
17) On restart enter bios and check that "boot from UEFI on hard disk" is the first in your boot sequence.
18) Restart and attempt to boot to Windows. Under most circumstances this will fail.
19) If it fails, plug in the USB stick and restart your computer (making sure "UEFI from USB" is the first in your boot sequence in bios).
20) Once Macrium Reflect boots up, click on "Fix Windows Boot". This will rewrite the boot partition.
21) Shut down your computer, unplug the USB stick and reboot.
22) You should now boot up Windows 10, complete with all your former apps and settings.
23) In some cases you may experience a blue screen of death at some time after rebooting. This is apparently due to mismatches with certain drivers. If this occurs, run Disk Cleanup. If the problem persists download "Driver Support" and allow it to update all of your drivers.
24) Once you have Windows running smoothly again, reboot it a few times to make sure everything is running normally.

You can now attempt to install Windows 10 Ver. 1511 from within your existing Windows 10 environment. I would strongly advise against doing an automatic update using Windows Update or Creative Media Tool, as I twice got a black screen of death after the install had reached 41% and had to start from scratch!! Proceed to step 25.

25) Download a fresh ISO of Windows 10 using Microsoft’s "Media Creation Tool".
26) Burn the ISO to disk and remove it from the drive. Warning: DO NOT boot from this disk!
27) Shut down Windows, wait 30 seconds, removed all USB devices, and reboot the computer to Windows 10. (The reboot is probably not necessary, but I did this just for the sake of completely refreshing the memory).
28) Once Windows has fully booted up, you can now insert the newly created Windows install disk.
29) Follow the installation procedure (this time for me it was seamless!).
30) Windows should restart automatically and hey presto, you will now have Version 1511.

Postscript: I am still puzzled as to why I had so much trouble installing the upgrade using other methods, even after my partition layout was fixed.