hodsonus

Q: "Missing Operating System" Error

     Hello all. I am attempting to dual boot a late 2013 macbook pro with windows 10 and el capitan. I need to be able to run windows 10 to use certain programs required by my university. I have actually been able to setup my computer fully, so that it is working on both partitions perfectly, but within a few days the windows partition seems to fail. This has happened three times now, and with each failure I have completely wiped the partition and started from scratch. The error I receive seems to be completely random, and occurs when I turn my computer off, turn it on, and try to boot the "Windows" partition. It reads "Missing Operating System _".

     To install Windows 10 to begin with, I used the boot camp assistant tool to make a partition of 100GB out of my 500GB drive. I went through the process in boot camp and created a bootable usb from the windows 10 iso image. I booted from the USB, and installed windows and everything was working perfectly. I did have to delete the partition that the boot camp assistant created and create a new one from the unallocated space on my hard drive with the usb boot because it would not allow me to install windows on the partition that boot camp originally created. I installed all the drivers through the bootcamp tool that popped up once windows 10 was installed and everything was all good. I performed all of the updates to Windows 10 through the settings and then I performed all of the app updates through the store. I installed about 4 basic applications; this includes chrome, iTunes, and uTorrent.

     There seems to be no problems with my el capitan partition whatsoever, and I have been completely unable to find anything on the internet to help me with this problem. I have chatted with both microsoft support and apple support. I was told that "It seems that the operating system on the Windows side is having an issue staying setup and that is causing the issue" by apple support. I was also told by the microsoft that "maybe microsoft and apple cannot work together in one machine :-)".

 

     Any help at this point would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

          John

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.5), Windows 10 as well

Posted on Jul 12, 2016 9:12 PM

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Q: "Missing Operating System" Error

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  • by hodsonus,

    hodsonus hodsonus Jul 12, 2016 10:09 PM in response to hodsonus
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Windows Software
    Jul 12, 2016 10:09 PM in response to hodsonus

    Should I give up on trying windows 10 and try to use something like windows 7? Does this seem like an issue with Windows 10 or my Macbook? thanks

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jul 13, 2016 4:38 AM in response to hodsonus
    Level 7 (24,409 points)
    Safari
    Jul 13, 2016 4:38 AM in response to hodsonus

    hodsonus wrote:

     

    I did have to delete the partition that the boot camp assistant created and create a new one from the unallocated space on my hard drive with the usb boot because it would not allow me to install windows on the partition that boot camp originally created.

    This is not normal. What was the error using the BCA-created partition? If you delete the small MSR partition, it will cause problems in Windows booting.

     

    From OS X Terminal, can you post the output of

     

    diskutil list

    diskutil cs list

  • by hodsonus,

    hodsonus hodsonus Jul 13, 2016 8:49 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Windows Software
    Jul 13, 2016 8:49 AM in response to Loner T

    hi, thanks for the help.

     

    output of diskutil list:

    diskutil list.png

     

    output of diskutil cs list:

    diskutil cs list.png

     

         John

  • by hodsonus,

    hodsonus hodsonus Jul 13, 2016 8:56 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Windows Software
    Jul 13, 2016 8:56 AM in response to Loner T

    I dont remember the exact error, but I believe that it had something to do with the format that BCA used.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jul 13, 2016 9:09 AM in response to hodsonus
    Level 7 (24,409 points)
    Safari
    Jul 13, 2016 9:09 AM in response to hodsonus

    There are two types of Windows installation on your specific model.

     

    1. Legacy BIOS/MBR - typically used for WXP, W7, Vista.

    2. EFI/GPT - typically used for W8.1, W10.

     

    Your disk layout seems to indicate a legacy installation of W10, which is supported. If you post the text output of the OSX Terminal command

     

    sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

     

    we can confirm. This requires your password, which will not be echoed back to you. A screen shot may not be appropriate, in case you mistype it and it shows up. Remove any personal information as you see fit, before you post the output.

  • by hodsonus,

    hodsonus hodsonus Jul 13, 2016 10:57 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Windows Software
    Jul 13, 2016 10:57 AM in response to Loner T

    This is the output of the sudo fdisk /dev/disk0 command:

     

    sudo fdisk.png

     

    Thanks,

     

         John

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jul 13, 2016 11:16 AM in response to hodsonus
    Level 7 (24,409 points)
    Safari
    Jul 13, 2016 11:16 AM in response to hodsonus

    The MBR needs to match the GPT. Post the output of

     

    sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

     

    The header should be a valid NTFS header

     

    sudo dd if=/dev/rdisk0s4 count=1 2>/dev/null | hexdump -C

     

    Is Windows currently bootable?

  • by hodsonus,

    hodsonus hodsonus Jul 13, 2016 12:52 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Windows Software
    Jul 13, 2016 12:52 PM in response to Loner T

    output of sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0 command:

    Screen Shot 2016-07-13 at 3.44.59 PM.png

    output of sudo dd if=/dev/rdisk0s4 count=1 2>/dev/null | hexdump -C command:

    Screen Shot 2016-07-13 at 3.45.44 PM.png

     

    No windows will not boot, I get the "Missing Operating System" error again.

     

    Thanks,

     

         John

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jul 13, 2016 7:11 PM in response to hodsonus
    Level 7 (24,409 points)
    Safari
    Jul 13, 2016 7:11 PM in response to hodsonus

    Can you install GPT Fdisk - https://sourceforge.net/projects/gptfdisk/ and post the output of

     

    sudo gdisk -l /dev/disk0

  • by hodsonus,

    hodsonus hodsonus Jul 15, 2016 8:00 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Windows Software
    Jul 15, 2016 8:00 PM in response to Loner T

    Hey, sorry about getting around to it so late, I was out of town.

     

    output of sudo gdisk -l /dev/disk0 command:

     

    Screen Shot 2016-07-15 at 10.59.02 PM.png

     

    John

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jul 15, 2016 8:40 PM in response to hodsonus
    Level 7 (24,409 points)
    Safari
    Jul 15, 2016 8:40 PM in response to hodsonus

    The deletion of partition in Windows installer is one potential cause of your problems. Automatic Windows Updates is another. How willing are you to re-install Windows (a fourth time) without deviating from the standard process?

  • by hodsonus,

    hodsonus hodsonus Jul 15, 2016 9:26 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Windows Software
    Jul 15, 2016 9:26 PM in response to Loner T

    I don't mind at all, however how am I supposed to install windows with the windows installer without deleting the partition? Last time it said it wasn't the proper format and wouldnt allow me to. Another question, what do you mean by "Automatic Windows Updates" ? Do you mean the updates that I did through the settings once windows was installed?

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jul 16, 2016 6:10 AM in response to hodsonus
    Level 7 (24,409 points)
    Safari
    Jul 16, 2016 6:10 AM in response to hodsonus

    hodsonus wrote:

     

    I don't mind at all, however how am I supposed to install windows with the windows installer without deleting the partition? Last time it said it wasn't the proper format and wouldnt allow me to.

    The normal method requires a reformat (not a delete) of the BC Assistant-created partition.

     

    S0005_W10InstallUSB.png

    S0004_W10FormatUSB.png

     

    Another question, what do you mean by "Automatic Windows Updates" ? Do you mean the updates that I did through the settings once windows was installed?

    W10 has forced updates. For example it can update drivers which can cause problems. Please see Windows 10 crashing, but not sure why. as an example.

  • by hodsonus,

    hodsonus hodsonus Jul 16, 2016 5:12 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Windows Software
    Jul 16, 2016 5:12 PM in response to Loner T

    Hey, tried to install Windows on a brand new partition, but after selecting "format" it wouldn't let me install and gave me this error message.

     

    IMG_0447.JPG

     

    sorry for bad quality, had to take a picture with my phone because i couldn't screen cap it.

     

    John

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