Install Windows 7 after Ubuntu: Cannot install because of GPT partition

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I'm trying to install Windows 7 on a NTFS partition after installing Ubuntu 14.04. But it says that I'm using a GPT partition. The solution I found was to erase everything, then install Windows 7 then reinstall Ubuntu. I can't believe it can't be possible to get rid of this issue without deleting my Ubuntu system. But I still don't understand why I have this GPT issue. I'm using UEFI with Fastboot off.

There used to be a UEFI Matshita DVD boot option in my BIOS. But it doesn't exist anymore. I guess if I'm able to restore it, I could boot from it and finally install Windows 7 on GPT. What do you think about that ? Is it possible to get this boot option back ? (Dell Latitude E6540)

Or maybe creating a bootable USB drive would help, but will it work on UEFI?

Neovea

Posted 2014-12-25T15:16:05.750

Reputation: 33

1Very likely like @Cornelius stated, you probably have the 32-bit version of Windows 7. Windows 7 and even XP include compatibility, but for GPT in the 64-bit versions only. I have that setup as well and found that out from online documentation. 32-bit versions require MBR. – Jeff Clayton – 2014-12-25T16:44:24.573

Google for "gptsync" and be done in 5 minutes! – Eugen Rieck – 2014-12-25T18:07:30.153

Answers

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But I still don't understand why I have this GPT issue.

Very simple. If you are booting the Windows installation media in legacy BIOS (CSM) mode then it will throw this error and will ask you to re-partition the HDD to MBR scheme.

You must install Windows in UEFI mode. You'll need Windows 7 x64 and you must boot from the installation media in UEFI mode.

From DVD: In your PC's BIOS settings be sure to have CSM (or Legacy Boot, or similar) disabled. Try to boot from DVD.

There used to be a UEFI Matshita DVD boot option in my BIOS.

Disabling CSM should bring it back. Also you'll need an UEFI bootable disk (Windows 7 x64 disk should be so).

If you can't, make a bootable USB.

From USB: Making a bootable UEFI USB for Windows 7 requires formatting the USB as FAT32 with GPT scheme, copying all the files from Windows ISO to it then extracting a specific file from Windows install.wim image. See my tutorial - scroll down to the GPT for UEFI section!

Another issue: If you manage to install Windows, you'll lose the Ubuntu boot menu option (Ubuntu will not get deleted but you'll not be able to boot into it). This is a good place to start looking for a solution to bring back Ubuntu as a boot menu option.

Cornelius

Posted 2014-12-25T15:16:05.750

Reputation: 2 524

Thanks fir this well detailed answer. I actually have a x64 windows version. I created a uefi usb windows boot device thanks to rufus usb creator. It helped a lot. But the install failed because the partition needed to be at the begining of the drive. Which was not as I only use linux. So I finally save my important files from ubuntu and totally formated my drive to make 2 clean installs. It worked like a charm and I now have a clean dualboot system. Thanks to that I learned a lot and understood exactly how to manage this for the future :) thank you again – Neovea – 2014-12-26T17:26:46.423

Asked: 2014-12-25T15:16:05.750

Viewed: 4 384 times

Active: 2015-11-21T14:48:30.380