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I’m trying to overwrite my current OS (Nas4Free) with Windows Vista Business.

Vista came with the computer, but I wanted to try out Nas4Free. I am trying to format my partitions, but whenever I click Format, it comes up with:

Failed to format the selected partition. [Error: 0x80004005]

2 Answers 2

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There are a couple of ways to accomplish this task. Searching for the specific error code "Failed to format the selected partition. [Error: 0x80004005]":

One method as outlined here

https://social.technet.microsoft.com/forums/windows/en-US/19ccf0d4-bc9b-40ad-80cf-be2be546e4c0/error-0x80070057-failed-to-format-the-selected-partition

***************************************************************************************** Only use this method if doing a complete clean/fresh install! The hard disk information will be destroyed! ALWAYS BACKUP IMPORTANT INFORMATION! *****************************************************************************************

  • Plug the hard disk into a computer with Windows Vista or Windows 7 and format it with diskpart.exe.

  • To open diskpart.exe click Windows Start Button in the Search programs and files box. More information on DiskPart can be found at https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc766465%28WS.10%29.aspx Answers to many questions can be found here.


a. type: diskpart

  • Right click on diskpart.exe and select Run as administrator (note: Can also be done with a cmd.exe window with administrator privileges and typing diskpart then press .)

b. type: list disk

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c. type: select disk #

  • Where "#" is the number of the disk to be fixed, e.g., select disk 2 (**WARNING:** Make sure the number selected is the hard disk that needs to be formatted.)

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d. type: clean

  • This will delete everything on the hard disk, including the MBR.

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e. type: create partition primary

  • (Note: This will use the entire hard disk as one partition. Creating more than one partition specify size by typing: create partition primary size=#000 where the # is the number in gigabytes (GB), e.g., create partition primary size=80000. This will create a partition that is 80GB.)

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f. type: list partition


g. type: select partition #


h. type: active


i. type: format fs=ntfs

  • After format is finished; installation of any Windows OS will proceed providing there are no errors on the installation disk, or no errors found on the hard disk during formatting.

  • Another way to "clean" the hard disk is by using Paladin Linux Live CD/USB disk managing tools or more specifically the wipe tool. (Note: I'm not sure if it will work with as a Live USB, but I'll assume it does seeing how just about every other version of Linux I've used can be formatted this way. I won't give a guide in using this as most Linux users already are familiar with how to make a "Live CD", and can figure out how to push the wipe button on the tool.) The benefit here using the Live CD is that you don't have to remove the hard disk. The work can all be done on the same machine. Paladin Linux can also make an image of the disk prior to wiping, providing you have a place to put the image.

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I can see that you have already found an answer, but I'm still including this post for more detailed info.

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I've found a solution! :D

Instead of formatting the partitions, delete them and it'll become unallocated. Use that and the installation will start.

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    How did you accomplish this, explain in detail, how you did it. If you had this question, others might also, but might not understand how to accomplish your solution.
    – Ramhound
    Aug 23, 2015 at 16:37

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