a number of the simpler solutions i've found for this either didn't work, or stopped working (possibly because of hotfixes i integrated). here's a simple way to do this from the GUI installer: * start with no partitions (all unallocated space) * create a small partition (i used 1024 MB) - windows cannot install here, so no prompt for the 'system reserved' partition * expand the small partition into the unallocated space done!