220-1102 Operating Systems Practice Question
A technician is installing Windows 10 on a new computer with an empty SSD. The technician boots from the USB installation media. At the 'Where do you want to install Windows?' screen, the SSD appears as 'Unallocated Space'. Which action should the technician take to proceed with a standard installation?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates often overthink the process and assume they need to manually partition or format the drive (as in older OS installations), but Windows 10 Setup is designed to handle unallocated space automatically, making any extra steps incorrect.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
B. Select the unallocated space and click Next.
When installing Windows 10 on a new, empty SSD, the 'Unallocated Space' indicator is exactly what the installer expects. Windows Setup can automatically create the necessary system and primary partitions (including the 100 MB EFI System Partition on UEFI systems) and format them with the correct file system (NTFS for the main partition). Selecting the unallocated space and clicking Next is the correct and simplest action to proceed with a standard installation.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
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A. Create a new partition and format it as FAT32.
Why it's wrong here
Formatting the system partition as FAT32 is incorrect for Windows 10 because the Windows Boot Manager requires NTFS for the system and boot volumes. FAT32 does not support files larger than 4 GB and lacks the security and reliability features (like journaling) needed for a robust OS. In Setup, Windows creates the necessary NTFS partitions automatically when you select unallocated space, so manually formatting to FAT32 yields an unworkable configuration.
- ✓
B. Select the unallocated space and click Next.
Why this is correct
Selecting the unallocated space and clicking Next is the correct and recommended method because Windows Setup automatically detects the empty disk and creates the required partitions: a System Reserved partition (for boot files and BitLocker) and the primary C: partition, both formatted with NTFS. This process also aligns the partitions for optimal SSD performance without any manual intervention. It is the simplest, most reliable way to install Windows 10 on a blank drive.
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C. Press Shift+F10 to open Command Prompt and use Diskpart to clean and format the drive before clicking Next.
Why it's wrong here
Using Diskpart via Shift+F10 is unnecessary for a brand-new empty SSD because Windows Setup already initializes, partitions, and formats the drive automatically when you choose the unallocated space. While the 'clean' command can remove existing partitions, here there are none to delete; running Diskpart introduces a risk of incorrect syntax or wiping the wrong disk. Moreover, it requires extra steps—like selecting the correct disk and creating a primary partition—that Setup handles faster and more safely.
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D. Click 'Load Driver' to install a driver for the SSD.
Why it's wrong here
The 'Load Driver' button is only required when the installation media lacks a driver for the storage controller—such as an NVMe SSD before an underlying controller driver is installed—making the drive invisible. Since the SSD appears as unallocated space in the setup screen, the appropriate driver has already been loaded or is built into Windows 10, so clicking Load Driver would be superfluous. This option is therefore not relevant to the situation described.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
File Systems: NTFS, FAT32, exFAT
Key term
Windows
Windows is a family of operating systems developed by Microsoft that manages computer hardware and software, providing a graphical user interface for users to interact with their devices.
Key term
Unified Extensible Firmware Interface
UEFI is the modern replacement for BIOS that controls how a computer starts up and loads the operating system.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This 220-1102 practice question is part of Courseiva's free CompTIA certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the 220-1102 exam.