Installing Windows MBR VS GPT

[Michael McChesney]

Near as I can tell, the PC h tried hardware is working.  I am trying to install Windows on a 500 GB Samsung EVO SSD.  The first time I tried i had an error message that I thought I resolved by unplugging the mechanical HDD I had installed, leaving the SSD as the sole storage.  Windows began installing.  I looked away from the screen for a bit and looked back up and saw I was back at the install screen.  I tried to start the installation again but got an error message at the screen where I have to select the drive to install Windows.  The first time (without the HDD connected) the SSD had no partitions.  But this time "Drive 0" had 2 partitions.  Partition 1 System Reserved 579.0 MB  and Partition 2 465.2 GB.  But "Windows cannot be installed to this disk.  the selected disk has an MBR partition table.  On EFI systems, Windows can only be installed to GPT disks.  

 

Near as I can tell the Windows installer must have been the one to partition the disk.  But my question is how do I reformat the drive as a GPT disk without having an OS installed?  Is there a way to get the Bios to format the drive?  Thanks.

[Windows7ge]

From the installation media you can remove the partitions then create new ones by going though the custom partitioning menu option. When you create the new partitions the installer will automatically convert the disk to GPT.

 

The same can also be achieved via CLI (Shift + F10) but isn't necessary.

[Michael McChesney]

I was able to get to a command line and followed some directions for partitioning the drive.  But then the USB drive wouldn't install windows.  I am creating a new Windows installer on a different USB drive.  I hope that works.