Need help upgrading to Windows 11 (boot disk is MBR)

NapMan · Oct 13, 2021

I discovered I will be unable to upgrade to Windows 11 because my boot disk is partitioned as MBR. PC Health Check says I need to enable Secure Boot, but it is enabled in the BIOS.
I did some searching and found ways to convert the disk to GPT without losing any data but it did not work. I tried a partitioning app (AOMEI) and it states that I cannot convert it because my boot partition and system partition are on different disks. I don't know why it ended up like this. I'm looking for help on how I can correct this without having to start from scratch. Here is what my disk info looks like:

It looks like the system partition is small enough to fit onto the SSD (Disk 1) but I don't know how to move it. I'm looking for any advice and/or help in this matter.
I didn't build the system, my partner did.

I appreciate any help.

Bree · Oct 13, 2021

NapMan said:
I discovered I will be unable to upgrade to Windows 11 because my boot disk is partitioned as MBR.

Welcome to Eleven Forum NapMan

That's not your only barrier to being offered the W11 upgrade. Your AMD Ryzen 5 1600 is not on Microsoft's list of supported AMD processors.

There are ways to install W11 or upgrade to W11 on unsupported devices. You'll find plenty of workarounds in Eleven Forum posts, and even Microsoft have published some ways to do it. But your existing Windows 10 will be fully supported with cumulative and feature updates until October 2025.

I would not recommend it if this is the machine that you rely on for daily use. I would only do it on a spare PC for test purposes, such as on my completely unsupported Legacy MBR, 1st gen i5, TPM 1.2 System Two below.

Microsoft said:
Warning:

Microsoft recommends against installing Windows 11 on a device that does not meet the Windows 11 minimum system requirements. If you choose to install Windows 11 on a device that does not meet these requirements, and you acknowledge and understand the risks, you can create the following registry key values and bypass the check for TPM 2.0 (at least TPM 1.2 is required) and the CPU family and model....

Ways to install Windows 11 | Microsoft Support

Learn how to install Windows 11, including the recommended option of using the Windows Update page in Settings.

support.microsoft.com

NapMan · Oct 13, 2021

Bree said:
Welcome to Eleven Forum NapMan

That's not your only barrier to being offered the W11 upgrade. Your AMD Ryzen 5 1600 is not on Microsoft's list of supported AMD processors.

There are ways to install W11 or upgrade to W11 on unsupported devices. You'll find plenty of workarounds in Eleven Forum posts, and even Microsoft have published some ways to do it. But your existing Windows 10 will be fully supported with cumulative and feature updates until October 2025.

I would not recommend it if this is the machine that you rely on for daily use. I would only do it on a spare PC for test purposes, such as on my completely unsupported Legacy MBR, 1st gen i5, TPM 1.2 System Two below.

Ways to install Windows 11 | Microsoft Support

Learn how to install Windows 11, including the recommended option of using the Windows Update page in Settings.

support.microsoft.com

Thank you for the response. I'm confused because PC Health Check says something different:

BunnyJ · Oct 13, 2021

That's kind of odd.. if you check this out the 5 1600 isn't on the list

Windows processor requirements Windows 11 supported AMD processors

This specification details the AMD processors that can be used with Windows 11 customer systems that include Windows products, including custom images.

docs.microsoft.com

NapMan · Oct 13, 2021

BunnyJ said:
That's kind of odd.. if you check this out the 5 1600 isn't on the list

Windows processor requirements Windows 11 supported AMD processors

This specification details the AMD processors that can be used with Windows 11 customer systems that include Windows products, including custom images.

docs.microsoft.com

Yeah I don't see it on that list either. But I'm running the Microsoft PC Health Check.

Bree · Oct 13, 2021

NapMan said:
I'm confused because PC Health Check says something different:

That's odd, your processor isn't on the MS list here:

Windows processor requirements Windows 11 supported AMD processors

This specification details the AMD processors that can be used with Windows 11 customer systems that include Windows products, including custom images.

docs.microsoft.com

maybe MS have now added it to the supported processors, but not got round to updating their documentation yet.

Well, if your motherboard has a UEFI bios and a lack of Secure Boot with a GPT disk is your only impediment, then it is possible to convert a Legacy/MBR install to UEFI/GPT without data loss. Be sure to make a system image with something like Macrium Reflect Free before you try though.

Convert Windows 10 from Legacy BIOS to UEFI without Data Loss

How to Convert Windows 10 from Legacy BIOS to UEFI without Data Loss

www.tenforums.com

Superfly · Oct 13, 2021

NapMan said:
Thank you for the response. I'm confused because PC Health Check says something different:

View attachment 9934

R5 1600 AF is supported - it's Zen+

NapMan · Oct 13, 2021

Bree said:
That's odd, your processor isn't on the MS list here:

Windows processor requirements Windows 11 supported AMD processors

This specification details the AMD processors that can be used with Windows 11 customer systems that include Windows products, including custom images.

docs.microsoft.com

maybe MS have now added it to the supported processors, but not got round to updating their documentation yet.

Well, if your motherboard has a UEFI bios and a lack of Secure Boot with a GPT disk is your only impediment, then it is possible to convert a Legacy/MBR install to UEFI/GPT without data loss. Be sure to make a system image with something like Macrium Reflect Free before you try though.

Convert Windows 10 from Legacy BIOS to UEFI without Data Loss

How to Convert Windows 10 from Legacy BIOS to UEFI without Data Loss

www.tenforums.com

Will that work even though my boot partition and system partition are on different disks? That's the issue I've encountered.

Bree · Oct 13, 2021

NapMan said:
Will that work even though my boot partition and system partition are on different disks? That's the issue I've encountered.

That's just making life complicated for yourself

@NavyLCDR is more knowledgeable about such things than I am, he may be able to help.

NapMan · Oct 13, 2021

Bree said:
That's just making life complicated for yourself

@NavyLCDR is more knowledgeable about such things than I am, he may be able to help.

Haha, I know. Hey, if he's a Navy Lt. Commander I'm sure he can help. I'm former Navy myself!

Here is what happens when I try the conversion. That error window always pops up too:

RogerOver · Oct 13, 2021

Hi,

I had the same problem (WIN 10 / WIN 11 dual boot on 2 disks (!), not partitions (!)). I made backups with Macrium Backup, after having converted both disks from MBR to GPT / EFI (with the mbr2gpt tool which is in Windows as explained in the link above), I made backups with Macrium, but Macrium copied only 2 partitions from the first disk and NOT the WIN 11 partition I wanted to backup (and which was on the second disk).

But there is a tool in Macrium which (in my opinion) could resolve this. After installing Macrium, go to "Rescue" (upper left icon in the macrium window) and run it. It copied the two partition which were on the wrong disk to the right one (but not the "System reserved partition, which apparently is not necessary). (You then need to restart the computer).

When you then make the backup, please pay attention that the "hooks" before the partitions to be copied are all on the same disk (Macrium seems to prefer to backup the "originals" on the other disk and not the "copies" on the same disk.

I cannot garantee the outcome, because I had more partitions on my disk than you, but just try it. Macrium is free !

NapMan · Oct 13, 2021

RogerOver said:
Hi,

I had the same problem (WIN 10 / WIN 11 dual boot on 2 disks (!), not partitions (!)). I made backups with Macrium Backup, after having converted both disks from MBR to GPT / EFI (with the mbr2gpt tool which is in Windows as explained in the link above), I made backups with Macrium, but Macrium copied only 2 partitions from the first disk and NOT the WIN 11 partition I wanted to backup (and which was on the second disk).

But there is a tool in Macrium which (in my opinion) could resolve this. After installing Macrium, go to "Rescue" (upper left icon in the macrium window) and run it. It copied the two partition which were on the wrong disk to the right one (but not the "System reserved partition, which apparently is not necessary). (You then need to restart the computer).

When you then make the backup, please pay attention that the "hooks" before the partitions to be copied are all on the same disk (Macrium seems to prefer to backup the "originals" on the other disk and not the "copies" on the same disk.

I cannot garantee the outcome, because I had more partitions on my disk than you, but just try it. Macrium is free !

I installed the free version of Macrium Reflect 7. I don't see a "Rescue" option. There is a Restore option, and under Other Tasks there is "Create Rescue Media".

Bree · Oct 13, 2021

NapMan said:
I installed the free version of Macrium Reflect 7. I don't see a "Rescue" option. There is a Restore option, and under Other Tasks there is "Create Rescue Media".

You need to make the Macrium rescue media USB and boot from that to see operations that can only be carried out while the system is not running. One such option that's only available when booted form a recovery USB is 'fix Windows boot problems' on the 'Restore' menu.

NapMan · Oct 13, 2021

Bree said:
You need to make the Macrium rescue media USB and boot from that to see operations that can only be carried out while the system is not running. One such option that's only available when booted form a recovery USB is 'fix Windows boot problems' on the 'Restore' menu.

Ah, OK. I'll have to look into that later.

Slavic · Oct 13, 2021

NapMan, because you already have installed Macrium Reflect, it would be wise to start from creating the backup of your current not converted OS drive. Looking at the error at your first attempt, the second one may make the drive non-operative, so your backup copy will be very useful. Of course I wish it's not your case, but anyway, an extra backup on removable drive is never excessive. You may easily delete it after conversion to UEFI when you made another backup of working OS.

And if you will have continuous problem with conversion, it's possible to install Windows 11 on MBR, even though it's officially counted non-supported configuration. You can convert the drive in Windows 11 later or keep it for a while, at least now "unsupported" PCs are still supported, they all got the last Tuesday update.

iko22 · Oct 13, 2021

NapMan said:
I cannot convert it because my boot partition and system partition are on different disks

Part of the problem is that your OS disk (disk 1) has no space on it for the System Reserved partition. You would need to first shrink the OS partition to create space.
Then, if you disconnect disk 0 from the power, the computer will think it has no MBR so you manually create a new System Reserved partition on the OS disk, and then rebuild the MBR.
When finished, you will have an OS partition with System Partition on the same disk.

Use a Recovery disk or an Installation disk to boot the computer without the MBR, and enter the command prompt from that environment.

How to Manually Rebuild the MBR System Reserved partition, follow this tutorial:

Windows 10 - Manually Rebuilding a Windows Boot Partition (MBR)

The thread focuses on manually rebuilding Windows’ boot setup for legacy BIOS systems (MBR) when the “System Reserved” partition is missing, using tools...

windowsforum.com

If you're starting with no system partition
The first thing we need to do is to create our system partition
At the command prompt type the following.

Type diskpart

Type list disk

If you only have 1 disk then type select disk 0

If you have multiple disks, you will want to select each in turn and type detail disk to identify the correct disk. Most of the time you will have the system partition on the same drive as the C volume. Typing detail disk will show you what volumes are on the selected disk

Now create the partition with create part primary

Type list part and ID the newly created partition. (If the system partition was deleted the new partition will be the same size and less than 1GB)

Now select the partition with select part # where # will be the number identified from the list command

With the new partition selected mark it active by typing active

Now format the partition with format fs=ntfs quick label="System Reserved"

Type list vol and make note of your new partition

Type select vol # where the # is the number assigned to your volume

Type assign letter E the letter can be any non-assigned drive letter (we'll need this in a later step, also make note of your OS assigned letter [it might not be C])

We're all done preparing the disk so type exit

~~If the system partition exists and you just cant boot start here~~ (continue with the next section)
Now it's time to prepare or repair the system partition

First we need to make sure the system partition has a valid MBR on it by typing bootrec /fixmbr

Now we need to copy critical system files and BCD store. From my example above my system partition is E and my OS is C type the following bcdboot C:\Windows /s e:

With a rebuilt MBR on the new System Reserved partition, you can then proceed conversion to GPT.

Hope that helps

NapMan · Oct 13, 2021

Slavic said:
NapMan, because you already have installed Macrium Reflect, it would be wise to start from creating the backup of your current not converted OS drive. Looking at the error at your first attempt, the second one may make the drive non-operative, so your backup copy will be very useful. Of course I wish it's not your case, but anyway, an extra backup on removable drive is never excessive. You may easily delete it after conversion to UEFI when you made another backup of working OS.

And if you will have continuous problem with conversion, it's possible to install Windows 11 on MBR, even though it's officially counted non-supported configuration. You can convert the drive in Windows 11 later or keep it for a while, at least now "unsupported" PCs are still supported, they all got the last Tuesday update.

I will make a backup before I do anything. Thanks for the suggestion.

NapMan · Oct 13, 2021

iko22 said:
Part of the problem is that your OS disk (disk 1) has no space on it for the System Reserved partition. You would need to first shrink the OS partition to create space.
Then, if you disconnect disk 0 from the power, the computer will think it has no MBR so you manually create a new System Reserved partition on the OS disk, and then rebuild the MBR.
When finished, you will have an OS partition with System Partition on the same disk.

Use a Recovery disk or an Installation disk to boot the computer without the MBR, and enter the command prompt from that environment.

How to Manually Rebuild the MBR System Reserved partition, follow this tutorial:

Windows 10 - Manually Rebuilding a Windows Boot Partition (MBR)

The thread focuses on manually rebuilding Windows’ boot setup for legacy BIOS systems (MBR) when the “System Reserved” partition is missing, using tools...

windowsforum.com

With a rebuilt MBR on the new System Reserved partition, you can then proceed conversion to GPT.

Hope that helps

Maybe I don't fully understand. When you say the "system reserved partition", is that not the 50 MB partition on Disk 0? The boot disk has 28 GB free.

iko22 · Oct 13, 2021

NapMan said:
Maybe I don't fully understand. When you say the "system reserved partition", is that not the 50 MB partition on Disk 0? The boot disk has 28 GB free.

Yes, I meant the 50 MB partition on Disk 0. That is the partition you are trying to move/recreate on the OS disk (Disk 1)?

The "boot disk", or rather the "OS partition" on disk 1, has 28GB free, but this is not useable in a scenario where you are re-creating the MBR on disk 1. That 28GB is only useable to the C: partition, so you would need free up some disk space by shrinking the C: partition.

That is just my suggestion, anyway.

NapMan · Oct 13, 2021

iko22 said:
Yes, I meant the 50 MB partition on Disk 0. That is the partition you are trying to move/recreate on the OS disk (Disk 1)?

The "boot disk", or rather the "OS partition" on disk 1, has 28GB free, but this is not useable in a scenario where you are re-creating the MBR on disk 1. That 28GB is only useable to the C: partition, so you would need free up some disk space by shrinking the C: partition.

That is just my suggestion, anyway.

I appreciate your help. I guess I don't really understand freeing up disk space on the C: partition by shrinking the C: partition. If I make the C: partition smaller wouldn't that create less free space?

Need help upgrading to Windows 11 (boot disk is MBR)

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