Windows installer does not open after running boot camp; cannot boot Windows from partition

Question

Windows installer does not open after running boot camp; cannot boot Windows from partition

Hi! Thanks in advance for reading.

I am trying to install Windows 10 on a partition on a brand new 2017 iMac running MacOS Mojave 10.14.2

I have downloaded the Windows 64bit ISO (from Microsoft site) and run boot camp. Boot camp appears to run successfully, downloading Windows support software, then the computer restarts automatically, and loads back into Mac OS.

I can see that it partitioned successfully and Disk Utility shows a drive called BOOTCAMP which has 101.92GB free. It lists Mount Point: /Volumes/BOOTCAMP; SATA Internal Physical Volume; Windows NT File System (NTFS).

However I cannot boot up this drive using any of the methods I have read (most say to hold Option key as it's booting up, this has no effect.)

I have tried a hard shut down and refresh of NVRAM and then re-doing the whole process - I don't get any further.

Any ideas??

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Jan 24, 2019 9:50 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

elle_zelle183 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 27, 2019 7:07 PM in response to Loner T

Thank you!

This behavior typically indicates underlying file system issues.

This was the clue to get it working. I'm still not sure exactly what fixed it because I tried a bunch of different things, but here's all the steps I took, in case it may be useful to someone else:

(NB In between each attempt at boot camp the hard drive was restored to a single partition.)

> Brand new 2017 iMac running High Sierra with no updates

> Downloaded Windows 10 October 64bit ISO from Microsoft website

> Ran Boot Camp --- Failed for unknown reason. Vague error message.

> Was given advice to try the April version of Windows instead. Repeated above steps using this ISO. Failed again.

> Updated OS to Mojave.

> Tried again using the April version. Boot Camp appeared to work, successfully partitioning the disk, but does not boot up Windows. Cannot boot Windows manually.

> Reset NVRAM; hard shutdown

> Tried again, same result

> Tried again using a new download of the ISO file, got error message "The Windows support software could not be saved to the selected drive. An error occurred while saving the Windows support software." Diskutil showed a disk image indicating an error finalising the partitioning.

> Reset computer. Ran Boot Camp to restore to single partition.

> Attempts to fix file system issues:

* Hard shut down

* Reset NVRAM

* Start in Safe Mode and restart

> Ran Boot Camp again using the Windows 10 64bit October ISO

> Success! Windows booted up as intended. I could then finish the Boot Camp process as per Apple's instructions.

So... I'm not sure exactly what fixed it but if anyone is having the same issues, I'd suggest:

> Update your OS

> Download the latest ISO file from Windows

> Do a hard shutdown, start in Safe Mode, then restart

> Run Boot Camp

Good luck everyone... It took me a week but eventually it worked!

Thanks Loner T for your response.

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Answer 2

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jan 27, 2019 12:44 AM in response to elle_zelle183

Thanks for replying.

Here is the state of diskutil after partitioning worked and the computer restarted, but Windows did not run:

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/ba3d476f-3832-495f-8fa6-c938caba6f27

You do not need any external storage on a 2017 Mac to install Windows.

My partner tried again to run Boot Camp by restoring to a single partition and then running it again. This time it gave an error message "The Windows support software could not be saved to the selected drive. An error occurred while saving the Windows support software." (NB This did not occur last time)

This behavior typically indicates underlying file system issues.

Here is the current state of diskutil (I have not clicked okay or done anything else on Boot Camp):

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/d917a4b2-d5a1-44f8-9e48-a5f20fb65d90

You may get the same error again.

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Answer 3

Jan 26, 2019 6:54 PM in response to Loner T

Thanks for replying.

Here is the state of diskutil after partitioning worked and the computer restarted, but Windows did not run:

My partner tried again to run Boot Camp by restoring to a single partition and then running it again. This time it gave an error message "The Windows support software could not be saved to the selected drive. An error occurred while saving the Windows support software." (NB This did not occur last time)

Here is the current state of diskutil (I have not clicked okay or done anything else on Boot Camp):

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