I've started this thread because I found lots of references to this in older versions of Windows, but not Windows 8, and their answers are all quite confusing.
On doing a clean install (the advanced option in Setup), the available disk partitions on your PC are displayed. But when you click Next, it falls over with one of several errors, most of which say something like: "Cannot find or create a partition to install to" and use the code 0x80300001
This is a long-standing issue with Windows installers, where essentially they get confused when there are a number of disc drives, or possible places in which disc partitions could be. It seems that it tries to go through them all in sequence, and if the first one it finds is not the one you specified, it will fail. Or something along those lines.
There is another potential cause - which is that the driver you have installed for the only disc drive you have is not compatible. However, before you reach this conclusion, read the whole of 'The FIX' below, because that's what I thought my problem was, but it wasn't.
Anyway - the FIX:
Essentially you have to give Windows Setup no choice whatsoever. Do everything within your power to stop it from having to guess where the install partition is, and give it only the choice of the one you want.
IF you have multiple internal or external drives, physically disconnect all of them.
IF you have done this, or don't think you have any other drives, go in to your BIOS/CMOS setup - at boot look for the text that says e.g. Press F2 for Setup
- Once in your BIOS setup, the job in hand is to find all of the options for where hard disc drives (HDD) can live, and disable all but the one on which your target hard disc lives. In my case, the motherboard has both an IDE interface for Hard Drives and a SATA interface. In the BIOS, all of these interfaces where set to auto-detect. I worked out that my only hard drive was a SATA drive (By watching the diagnostic screen on the BIOS startup), and set both IDE channels to 'DISABLED'
If you are convinced that you have totally given Windows no option but to use the disc you intend, then you may well have the driver issue discussed above.
In this case, you have to go to the website of your PC manufacturer and find the relevant drivers. The disc partition selection screen in Windows 8 Setup has an option for you to change the drivers, so click this, and have the drivers you downloaded on a USB stick so Windows can grab them.