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Disk

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Disk specifies the disk settings to add or to edit on the destination computer. Disk is a list item type, and each instance of Disk in an unattended installation answer file applies to a single hard disk (specified by DiskID).

Child Elements

Setting Description
CreatePartitions Specifies a list of CreatePartition items.
DiskID Specifies the identification number of the disk to edit.
ModifyPartitions Specifies a list of ModifyPartition items.
WillWipeDisk Specifies whether to reformat the disk.

Valid Configuration Passes

windowsPE

Parent Hierarchy

Microsoft-Windows-Setup | DiskConfiguration | Disk

Applies To

For a list of supported Windows editions and architectures that this component supports, see Microsoft-Windows-Setup.

XML Examples

BIOS-Based System with Two Hard Drives

The following XML output for the DiskConfiguration setting shows partition modifications for a BIOS-based computer with two hard drives.

<DiskConfiguration>

  <!-- First hard drive -->
  <Disk wcm:action="add">
    <DiskID>0</DiskID> 
    <WillWipeDisk>true</WillWipeDisk> 
    <CreatePartitions>

      <!-- System partition -->
      <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>1</Order> 
        <Type>Primary</Type> 
        <Size>300</Size> 
      </CreatePartition>

      <!-- Windows partition -->
      <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>2</Order> 
        <Type>Primary</Type> 
        <Extend>true</Extend> 
      </CreatePartition>

    </CreatePartitions>
    <ModifyPartitions>

      <!-- System partition -->
      <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>1</Order> 
        <PartitionID>1</PartitionID> 
        <Label>System</Label> 
        <Format>NTFS</Format> 
        <Active>true</Active> 
      </ModifyPartition>

      <!-- Windows partition -->
      <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>2</Order> 
        <PartitionID>2</PartitionID> 
        <Label>Windows</Label> 
        <Letter>C</Letter> 
        <Format>NTFS</Format> 
      </ModifyPartition>
    </ModifyPartitions>
  </Disk>

  <!-- Second hard drive -->
  <Disk wcm:action="add">
    <DiskID>1</DiskID> 
    <WillWipeDisk>true</WillWipeDisk> 
    <CreatePartitions>

      <!-- Data partition -->
      <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>1</Order> 
        <Type>Primary</Type> 
        <Extend>true</Extend> 
      </CreatePartition>

    </CreatePartitions>
    <ModifyPartitions>

      <!-- Data partition -->
      <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>1</Order> 
        <PartitionID>1</PartitionID> 
        <Label>Data</Label> 
        <Letter>D</Letter> 
        <Format>NTFS</Format> 
      </ModifyPartition>

    </ModifyPartitions>
  </Disk>

  <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI> 
</DiskConfiguration>

<ImageInstall>
  <OSImage>
    <InstallTo>
      <DiskID>0</DiskID> 
      <PartitionID>2</PartitionID> 
    </InstallTo>
  </OSImage>
</ImageInstall>

For full XML examples and recommended partition configurations, see How to Configure UEFI/GPT-Based Hard Disk Partitions or How to Configure BIOS/MBR-Based Hard Disk Partitions.

DiskConfiguration