Forum Discussion
MBR2GPT Disk layout validation failed
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.
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?macsrweDon't think of the process as how you described. Think of simply decreasing the volume size.
Read my instructions again. The instructions don't get specific about using Disk Management since all those who had posted were well versed with that portion, apparently. You're really not "reversing" the instructions. You are simply using the same instructions to reduce the volume and allow Windows to determine the "where" to move things around.
Open Disk Management (use the search bar in Windows - it will appear as "Create and format hard disk partitions" - click and look around to get used to where things are, labels, options, etc.
When you're comfortable that you have at least an idea of what you are going to do, then "select" (click on) the volume you want to edit.Since you've already determined where you need space, you are going to reduce the volume by the amount you have determined using the "log" information where it states how much the volume size is over - or, too close to ?
Right click on the volume that needs to be reduced in size. You will have an option appear in the list from your right click where you can click on "Shrink Volume".When you click on that another window will appear. In that window you will see the size of the volume and a field you can change the numbers (size) of the volume. Change that number to comply with what your "log" said (something like "too close to XX").
There is a calculation between the size of the volume and what the log says it should be. In your case, your log will state something like "...too close to beginning of disk. Should begin at offset X or more, found at X.
So you want to calculate the difference between "Should begin..." and "...found at..."
The difference is the amount you will "shrink" the volume (change the numbers in "Shrink Volume") so that the volume matches what the log is telling you. If you make the volume slightly smaller than recommended, that's better - just don't go more than a few digits smaller than recommended (unless you have lot of space on the drive that's not used).
When you have manually changed the volume numbers, click "Shrink" in the little window and Windows will do the work.When that is completed, run the MBR2GPT test again. You should see that the test is happy with the volume at that point.