To troubleshoot a hard disk partition when you install Vista and you cannot select or format it

Recently, when you have a friend install Vista, you encounter a situation where you cannot select or format a hard disk partition, basically one or more of the following symptoms:

• The system does not list the hard drives to install Windows Vista.

• Unable to select a hard disk partition to install Windows Vista.

• Unable to format one or more hard disk partitions.

• Unable to set the correct size for the hard disk partition.

• You receive the following error message: Windows cannot find a system volume that meets its installation criteria

Cause Analysis: This problem may be caused by one of the following reasons-

Windows Vista is not compatible with mass storage controllers or bulk storage drivers.

• The mass storage controller or bulk storage driver has expired.

• The hard disk to install Windows Vista is a dynamic disk.

• A data cable in the computer is loose or there are other hardware problems.

• The hard drive or Windows file system is corrupted.

• You are trying to select a FAT32 partition or other partition type that is incompatible with Windows Vista.

Solution: To resolve this issue, use one or more of the following methods-

Method One: Verify that the partition is compatible with Windows Vista

Windows Vista cannot be installed on the FAT32 partition. In addition, dynamic disks must be configured correctly to be used for Windows Vista. To verify that your partitions are compatible with Windows Vista, follow these steps:

1. For dynamic disks with simple volumes, use the Diskpart.exe utility to configure the disk as an active disk. For more information about how to use the Diskpart.exe utility, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: