Creating a primary partition on a Windows system is a fundamental task that can be accomplished using the built-in Disk Management tool or through the Command Prompt. This article will guide you through the process of creating a primary partition using Command Prompt, which is particularly useful for automation or when the graphical interface is not available.

Why Create a Primary Partition?

A primary partition is a type of partition that can host an operating system. On Windows, you can have up to four primary partitions on a single disk. Creating a primary partition is essential for organizing your data, installing multiple operating systems, or setting up a dual-boot system.

Prerequisites:

• Administrative privileges on the Windows machine.
• A hard disk with unallocated space.

Steps to Create a Primary Partition Using Command Prompt:

1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator:

   • Press Windows + X and select "Command Prompt (Admin)" or "Windows PowerShell (Admin)".

2. Open DiskPart:

   • Type diskpart and press Enter. This will open the DiskPart tool, which is a command-line utility for disk management.

3. List Available Disks:

   • Type list disk and press Enter. This command will display all the disks connected to your system.

4. Select the Disk:

   • Identify the disk where you want to create the partition. For example, if it's Disk 1, type select disk 1 and press Enter.

5. Create the Primary Partition:

   • Type create partition primary and press Enter. This command will create a primary partition using the available unallocated space on the selected disk.

6. Format the Partition:

   • To format the partition with the NTFS file system, type format fs=ntfs quick and press Enter. The quick option speeds up the process by skipping the zeroing of the disk.

7. Assign a Drive Letter:

   • Type assign letter=X (replace X with the desired drive letter) and press Enter. This assigns a drive letter to the partition, making it accessible from File Explorer.

8. Exit DiskPart:

   • Type exit and press Enter to close the DiskPart tool.

Example:

C:\WINDOWS\system32> diskpart

DISKPART> list disk

  Disk ###  Status         Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
  --------  -------------  -------  -------  ---  ---
  Disk 0    Online          476 GB      0 B
  Disk 1    Online          100 GB   100 GB

DISKPART> select disk 1

Disk 1 is now the selected disk.

DISKPART> create partition primary

DiskPart succeeded in creating the specified partition.

DISKPART> format fs=ntfs quick

  100 percent completed

DiskPart successfully formatted the volume.

DISKPART> assign letter=E

DiskPart successfully assigned the drive letter or mount point.

DISKPART> exit

By following these steps, you will have successfully created and formatted a primary partition on your Windows system.