I have broken this down into three formats: Option 1: Troubleshooting Guide (For a Blog or Internal KB) Title: Fix: "Disk 0 Cannot Be Formatted" in ZTIDiskPart on Dell PowerEdge Servers
Let me know what PERC controller you have (H330, H740P, etc.) if the issue persists. Use this in WinPE as a replacement for raw ZTIDiskPart:
Hi there – this is a common Dell deployment issue. ZTIDiskPart is failing because Disk 0 has a protected partition, old RAID config, or is offline. disk 0 cannot be formatted in ztidiskpart dell
diskpart list disk select disk 0 clean convert gpt exit Then restart the deployment task sequence. In your MDT/SCCM task sequence, insert a step to clear the disk via PowerShell:
Dell PowerEdge (Rx40, Rx50, Rx60), Dell Precision Workstations, Windows Deployment Services (WDS), Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT). I have broken this down into three formats:
Get-Disk -Number 0 | Clear-Disk -RemoveData -RemoveOEM -Confirm:$false Do not rely on Disk 0 . Modify your ZTIDiskPart.wsf or custom script to select the disk by size (e.g., the largest physical disk):
select disk=systemdisk (requires custom variable) Alternative: Set an MDT variable OSDDiskIndex based on WMI query for SELECT * FROM Win32_DiskDrive WHERE InterfaceType != "USB" . Outdated firmware can cause the RAID controller to report the disk as "write-protected." Update using Dell SUU (System Update Utility) or Lifecycle Controller. Option 2: Forum/Support Chat Response User: "Help! My Dell PowerEdge is failing at 'disk 0 cannot be formatted in ztidiskpart' during Windows deployment." diskpart list disk select disk 0 clean convert
Get-Disk | Where-Object Size -GT 100GB | Clear-Disk -RemoveData -Force This ignores USB keys/SD cards.
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