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Master Boot Record (MBR) disks use the standard BIOS partition table. GUID partition table (GPT) disks use the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). One advantage of GPT disks is that you can have more than four partitions on each disk. GPT is also required for disks larger than 2 terabytes (TB).
You can change a disk from MBR to GPT partition format as long as the disk contains no partitions or volumes.
Important
To complete the disk conversion by using Disk Management, follow these steps.
Before conversion, back up or move the data on the MBR disk.
In the search box on the taskbar, enter Create and format hard disk partitions to launch Disk Management.
Delete all partitions and volumes on the MBR disk.
Select and hold (or right-click) the MBR disk to convert to the GPT format, and select Convert to GPT Disk.
The process notifies you when the conversion completes.
To complete the disk conversion from the command line with the diskpart disk partition process, follow these steps.
Before conversion, back up or move the data on the MBR disk.
Open an elevated command prompt: select and hold (or right-click) Command Prompt, and select Run as Administrator.
At the prompt, enter diskpart
to initiate the disk partition process.
Prepare the MBR disk for conversion by cleaning (deleting) any partitions or volumes.
Note
If the MBR disk doesn't have any partitions or volumes, skip to the last step to apply the conversion.
At the DISKPART prompt, enter list disk
. Make a note of the MBR disk number that you want to convert to GPT format.
At the DISKPART prompt, enter select disk
<disk-number>
, where <disk-number>
is the MBR disk number to convert.
At the DISKPART prompt, enter clean
to delete all partitions and volumes on the disk.
At the DISKPART prompt, enter convert gpt
to convert the MBR disk to the GPT partition format.
The diskpart process notifies you when the conversion completes.
The following table shows a summary of the commands for the diskpart process.
Command | Description |
---|---|
list disk |
Displays a list of disks and information about them, such as their size and the amount of available free space. The command also shows whether the disk is a basic or dynamic disk, and whether it uses the MBR or GPT partition format. In the list of results, the disk marked with an asterisk (*) has the current focus for entered commands. |
select disk <disk-number> |
Selects the specified disk, where <disk-number> is the disk number that you want to select. The command also gives the current focus to the specified disk. |
clean |
Removes all partition or volume sections from the disk that has the current focus. |
convert gpt |
Converts an empty basic disk with the MBR partition format into a basic disk with the GPT partition format. |
As an alternate approach, you can use the MBR2GPT.EXE tool to convert the MBR disk to the GPT partition format. Keep in mind that the tool can be more complicated to use than the diskpart
process. For details, see Convert MBR partition to GPT.
Events
Apr 29, 2 PM - Apr 30, 7 PM
Join the ultimate Windows Server virtual event April 29-30 for deep-dive technical sessions and live Q&A with Microsoft engineers.
Sign up nowTraining
Module
Manage storage on Windows clients - Training
This module describes some of the different storage technologies, including different types of server-based and cloud-based storage. This module will also cover considerations for configuring storage for use in Windows client.