Windows 10: Windows could not prepare the computer to boot into the next phase of installation. To install windows, restart the installation

installationmulti-bootpartitioninguefiwindows 10

I'm having trouble installing Windows 10 on my laptop alongside a linux partition.

My hard drive is GPT partitioned, and I'm trying to install Windows 10 in UEFI mode at the beginning of the drive. The Windows 10 installer fails when trying to "Copy files" with

Windows could not prepare the computer to boot into the next phase of installation. To install windows, restart the installation.

It appears that the linux partitions are interfering with the Windows 10 installer. See fdisk output below (Note: /dev/sda5 is an EFI Systems Partition for linux).

$ fdisk -l
enter code hereDisk /dev/sda: 465.8 GiB, 500107862016 bytes, 976773168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: 8D205EE8-3B6D-4C18-B358-44C7486F12A6

Device         Start       End   Sectors  Size Type
/dev/sda1       2048    923647    921600  450M Windows recovery environment
/dev/sda2     923648   1128447    204800  100M EFI System
/dev/sda3    1128448   1161215     32768   16M Microsoft reserved
/dev/sda4    1161216 135864319 134703104 64.2G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda5  135864320 137961471   2097152    1G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda6  137961472 941170687 803209216  383G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda7  941170688 974725119  33554432   16G Linux swap
/dev/sda8  974725120 976773119   2048000 1000M Windows recovery environment

/dev/sda[1-4] is created by the installer before it fails. People who have had similar problems have recommended that you completely wipe the hard drive before installing windows. However, this is not an option for me as I would like to keep my linux partitions. Is there anyway to install Windows 10 on a hard drive with other partitions?

Here is the output of efibootmgr if it helps.

$ efibootmgr
BootCurrent: 0024
Timeout: 2 seconds
BootOrder: 0026,0022,0025,000F,0023,0024,000D
Boot0002  Setup
Boot0003  Boot Menu
Boot0004  Diagnostic Splash Screen
Boot0005  Lenovo Diagnostics
Boot000D* PCI LAN
Boot000F* USB CD
Boot0010  Startup Interrupt Menu
Boot0011  Rescue and Recovery
Boot0012  MEBx Hot Key
Boot0013* IDER BOOT CDROM
Boot0014* IDER BOOT Floppy
Boot0015* ATA HDD
Boot0016* ATAPI CD
Boot0017* PCI LAN
Boot0022* USB FDD
Boot0023* ATAPI CD0
Boot0024* ATA HDD0
Boot0025* USB HDD
Boot0026  Linux Boot Manager

Best Answer

When doing a fresh install of Windows 10 I have always had to disconnect every single other efi bootable drive. If I don’t I’m stuck in an endless loop of the same error getting. What the others have told you is correct. As long as that Linux partition is visible from the installer you’re going to continue receiving that error.

If you don’t want to back up your Linux partition so you can wipe the drive and reinstall later, you’re going to need a second drive so you can at least disconnect the Linux drive.

Related Question