Windows 10: Clean Install while existing merged partitions

Hello all,

I am using Windows 10 on a PC.

I had merged my non-system partitions for storage. When my system crashed and cannot boot anymore, I decided to go with long due system hard drive increase and bought another SSD. I made a clean install only by disconnecting one of these hard drives. After the installation I connected it again and now the system gets stuck at the spinning dots during the boot. If I disconnect the hard drive again it boots normally.

I am guessing this has something to do with partition merge. I don't want to lose my data in those hard drives.

What can I do?

Thanks in advance...

:)

 

W7 Hard drive partition issue

to get rid of that 100 meg windows partition that setup creates for you on a new install on a blank hdd:

- press shift+f10 when on the partition management screen in setup <-- this opens a command prompt
- diskpart <-- start the windows command line partition management tool
- list disk <--- list the installed hdds in this computer for the next step
- select disk 0 <- might have to replace 0 with the number of the correct disk
- clean <-- this will erase all data on the disk you selected one step up- dont use the wrong disk!
- create partition primary <- creates a primary partition taking up all space on the drive, adjust the command if necessary
- exit, exit to exit diskpart and the command prompt
- click refresh in partition manager and select your newly created partition and install to that

 

Cant merge Partitions

This.

Open an admin command prompt.

type

Code: diskpart[/quote] then

Code: list disk[/quote] then find your drive (look at the size of the drives listed)

then type

Code: sel disk x[/quote] (where 'x'x is your disks number)

then type

Code: clean[/quote] then in disk management (so you can work with a GUI) just right click on the now blank HDD and make a new partition.

 

Clean Install Windows 10 partition issue

Hello,

Thank you for writing to Microsoft Community Forums.

I appreciate the troubleshooting steps performed to resolve the issue. However, let’s try with the further troubleshooting steps and see if it works. Initially, I would suggest you to create a bootable media with a USB/Flash drive of capacity 8GB.
For better understanding, you may watch the video with the procedure from the article on
How to Clean Install Windows 10 on a PC Step-by-Step
Guide.

Set the boot priority to USB once after creating a bootable media using a USB and proceed with the Windows Installation. On the drive selection window, press Shift + F10 keys to open the Command Prompt. Then follow the steps listed
below:

• Type the following command in the Command Prompt window and press Enter:
  diskpart
  
• Once after executing the above command, type the following command to list the current drives and press Enter:
  list disk
  
• List disk will give you the list of drives, use the following command to select the drive and press Enter: select disk 0
  
• Type the following command to check if the disk is online: online disk
  (if the disk is not online)
  
• Type the following command to clean the drive and press Enter:
  clean
  
• To create a partition, type the following command and press Enter:
  create partition primary
  
• To select the partition that you created, type the following command and press Enter:
  select partition 1
  
• To set the partition active, type the following command and press Enter:
  active (if this is the boot partition)
  
• Type the following command to assign a drive letter and press Enter:
  assign letter(letter)
  

• After completing all this, close the command prompt screen and click on
  refresh button.
  
• Then you will only have one drive with “unallocated space”, just select the partition to start the installation.
  

Let us know how it goes and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Regards,

Mala S

Microsoft Community - Moderator