Windows Installation won't work due to 'Unexpected 0x00005 Error' - How to Fix

Introduction to the problem

When attempting to install windows 10/11 (I tried several distributions including official images) i encountered error “Unexpected 0x00005 error, verify source is available”. Possible causes are:

• faulty memory (storage or RAM)
• usb installation source filesystem - during installation some fíes may be created that are larger than 4gb - it’s better to use NTFS instead of FAT32

There also might be indication that something’s off, when before the installation begins, selecting the unallocated space on the target storage drive triggers Setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing one.

💡 If you’re flashing the USD drive from windows - make sure you run Rufus or any other program as Administrator - it’s absolutely necessary.

In my case, while installing the Tiny11 build of Windows, the installation failed at 33%. I figured this might be because some files generated during the process were larger than 4GB. On my Mac, I could only format the thumb drive to FAT32 since NTFS is not supported. I stumbled upon another solution: since the storage drive of the target machine is formatted with NTFS, we can boot from it using one of the partitions as the installation source.

Solution

Following guide in this Microsoft support unswear

We shall be using diskpart command line utility. When in boot screen of windows installer press fn+F10 to open the terminal. First format the disk, which you will use to install windows

diskpart
list disk
# list volume
# list partition
select disk 0 # from the output of the command above
clean

If there’s any sort of issues with cleaning the disk, we can check it for corrupt memory slots and fix them. Exit the diskpart by typing exit, then:

chkdsk /f /r

Another way is to use System File Checker

sfc /scannow

💡 Side note
There might be issues involved, that are out of the scope of this article, like it might be defective CPU or RAM, specific BIOS settings or just anything else really. While researching this issue there were many discussions that resolved in faulty hardware - so be aware.

Next, we need to create partition on the target storage drive.

diskpart
list disk
select disk 0 # from the output of the command above
create partition primary size=5000 # without the size argument it'll take all unallocated space
# 5gb is enough for the tiny11 build, official images require more space
format fs=ntfs quick # quick is really quicker
assign # to choose the letter must be followed by letter=H
active
list partition # check that partition exists

💡 On newer machines the disk is required to have GPT style partition in order for the installation to start, but on older machines it has to be MBR and setting it active is crucial in this case. To clarify what your case might be you need to conduct your own research.

diskpart
select disk 0
convert GPT

Next, copy your installation media contents to this new partition we’ve just created

xcopy c: d: /h /i /c /k /e /r /y

Restart the machine and boot from storage device - unplug the USB - it’ll assure the installation screen actually comes from the internal drive.

Following these steps should help resolve the "Unexpected 0x00005 error".

Additional Tips

In BIOS, configure boot options:
• Disable CSM and use legacy boot if needed.
• For Tiny11 builds, disable TPM; for official Windows 11, enable TPM (since it requires it)
• Consider disabling virtualization settings (e.g., Intel Virtualization).

Please add your tips and solutions in the comments to help others who are struggling to resolve these installation errors!