Forum Discussion
MBR2GPT Disk layout validation failed
Watch this video. https://youtu.be/ytRJhwL6vAg
Rasel2500 has provided an answer that most people - including most in this thread (from everything I've read in the entire thread) - overlooked.
Watching the video provided a VERY good answer that the video just glossed over...even though the person in the video just quickly mentioned the logs and where to find them.
Here's the video he posted - Watch this video. https://youtu.be/ytRJhwL6vAg
Read the log reports "after" running \Windows\system32>mbr2gpt /validate /allowfullos in the command prompt as admin.
What "I" found was in the last entry in the log found in C:\Windows\setupact.log
Run mbr2gpt validate again and read the "last" entry, the "last" line in that entry. Here was the entry I found in the last line the last time I got the failure error:
ValidateLayout: Last partition too close to the end of the disk. Should end at offset 1000204869120 or below, found at 1000204886016
What that's saying is the third partition I have was too close to the end of the drive and the size of the volume (partition) needed to be reduced.
I calculated the difference between what was the expected end ("should end at") and the actual end of the partition. Using that number I used "Disk Management" in Win 10 to "Shrink Volume" by the amount of the "difference" between the 2 numbers. (In my case, I needed to shrink the volume by 16,896 MB.)
After I shrank the volume by the specific difference between the 2 log numbers, I ran mbr2gpt /validate one more time.
It passed!
I was then able to use mbr2gpt /convert and the conversion worked!
Nothing was lost (other than a lot of hair), and I checked the system with PC Health and got confirmation - the system requirements for Windows 11 are now met! I can install 11...whenever it's rolled out to my computer...
The "secret" to watching the video wasn't all the steps. The secret was that the video shows you how to look at the log files and see "why" the error message appears, but the guy in the video didn't even say that - he just turned a light bulb on in my head that said to "check the logs".
Check your log entries!
Every time you run mbr2gpt it's logged. Everything that happens when you run that command is detailed in the log.
Comply with the details in the log to correct the error and you are then ready to run mbr2gpt successfully!
Thanks Microsoft for letting us all know there is a critical step to get answers about why our system does not meet the Win 11 requirements.
It's too bad we all have to spend an inordinate amount of time jumping through these hoops. But now you have a "great" way to find a resolve.
Your system may have a different reason the validation failed, but looking at the log entries will tell you the answer to your error.
I hope this makes a lot of people smile after all the frustration they've had.
Thank you, finding that log file was the key. I just needed to free up 1024mb of space at the end of the disk. Job done.
where can i find the logs?
Bless you!
you should only follow this advice if you want to lose 16gb of space for no reason. The numbers returned are in bits -- you only need ~16mb to make the validation pass.
- Mr Garrison's Jan 02 2022 reply worked for me. Thank you so much!
Mr_Garrison The log hint in the video was extremely valuable.
Unfortunately, it turns out that my personal failure mode for MBR2GPT seems to be:
ValidateLayout: First partition too close to the beginning of the disk. Should start at offset 17408 or above, found at 512
I have no idea what, if anything, I would be able to do to remedy that. I'm assuming that first partition is crucial (even though it show as 100% free) and I can't just remove it.
My disk looks like:
and
macsrwe- reverse the instructions. If you are "too close" to the beginning of the partition, follow the instructions, but you'll be creating space in front of the partition instead of at the end of the partition.
The answer to your issue is in the response from the log. So you want to create more space, just like the log instructs you - start the offset at 17408 or more (e.g. 17410).- Sorry for the late reply, I never got a notification of this response.
I hear what you're saying, but it sounds tougher than "reverse the instructions." Following the instructions to grow or shrink dead space in a partition is relatively pedestrian. But I don't have any instructions on hand that let me shift an entire partition rightwards by 17K, data and all. How do I do that?
- Your comment was exactly what I needed to solve my problem so thank you very much! Interestingly the amount I needed to shrink my volume was exactly the same amount. Another weird Windows thing I guess. Anyway thanks a lot again and I hope you have a great week!
Jillan741 You are very welcome. I'm glad that my instructions helped people.
@Mousefluff - People want "less" technical jargon and "more" information that directly helps their issue(s). I read through all your posts and found them less than valuable for this specific issue.
Technically speaking, you can in theory run Windows 11 Home on any computer with a 64-bit processor and hybrid UEFI BIOS. You could live without the TPM, but it would lack certain features for encyption. This was no different on Windows 10, which if it doesn't recognize your motherboard or CPU, you can bypass it with a registry fix (once you have it installed and activated, updated drivers will allow it to set up the TPM automatically from within the OS itself.)
"Thanks Microsoft for letting us all know there is a critical step to get answers about why our system does not meet the Win 11 requirements."
^ Your issue is just not having an EFI system partition (FAT32,) between 100MB-260MB, with the correct bootloader installed (which this tool DOES in fact create one for you, sometimes it may fail to set up the bootloader after it's done, which I have provided instructions, if you read all the articles in the links in the post above, to achieve this result.) In theory, any computer manufactured within the last 10 years, probably already meets the minimum requirements. It will accept 3rd-party TPM modules as well. I would not watch that video, I would simply read the instructions on the Microsoft site, and modify all these other examples to create your own solution (lots of information available.)
"Ways to install Windows 11" -> https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/ways-to-install-windows-11-e0edbbfb-cfc5-4011-868b-2ce77ac7c70e
"Enable TPM 2.0 on your PC" -> https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/enable-tpm-2-0-on-your-pc-1fd5a332-360d-4f46-a1e7-ae6b0c90645c
- Thanks for sharing your experience. I am certain people reading this thread will find the answer they are looking for. This thread has grown from very little info to a knowledge base for this issue.
Kind regards.
