Error when installing Build 10041: “Windows can’t be installed because this PC has an unsupported disk layout for UEFI firmware.”

Hello,

For this build, the Windows setup team added a check to make sure systems are configured correctly for UEFI before they upgrade.  The check we added was overly aggressive and is blocking people who should not be.  We are working on solving this in our next build.

You can resolve this error by creating a Microsoft Reserved Partition (MSR), however there are inherent risks involved when creating MSR partitions.  If done improperly, it may cause the disk to become unreadable.  If you do not feel comfortable following the steps for creating an MSR partition, you may wish to wait until the next build.

To create an MSR partition:

1. Open a command prompt as an administrator

2. Run diskpart.exe

3. Type the command:

   List disk

4. Note how many disks are listed, and then follow the steps listed in the appropriate section below.

If only 1 disk is shown:

1. Type the command:

   List volume

2. Find the volume listed in the Info column as the Boot volume (typically the C drive) and note the number of the volume.

3. Run these commands:

   Select volume X (where X is the volume number noted in the previous step)

   Shrink desired=50 minimum=40

   Create partition msr

4. To verify that the partition is created, run the command:

   List partition

5. Then exit diskpart or close the command prompt.

If you have 2 or more disks, it gets more complicated.  In order to make space for the MSR, we need to search Disk 0 for a partition that Diskpart is able to shrink:

1. Type the commands:

   Select disk 0

   List partition

   Select partition 1

   Detail partition

2. Within the details, look to see if this partition is Letter C and/or if it is an NTFS partition.  If it is, proceed to Step 3 below to shrink the partition.  If not, check the next partition:

   Select partition 2

   Detail partition

   And continue in this manner until you find that the partition you’ve selected is Letter C and/or NTFS. 

3. Type the commands:

   Shrink desired=50 minimum=40

   Create partition msr

4. To verify that the partition is created, run the command:

   List partition

5. Then exit diskpart or close the command prompt.

You can also verify that the partition is created by running Disk Management (by typing diskmgmt.msc into the Search box and pressing Enter).  The MSR partition should appear at the end of the disk.

You can find more detailed information about creating MSR partitions athttps://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc770438.aspx.