I've realized something is wrong with my disks/drives/partitions structure when I tried countless installing Windows via Bootcamp but it would always fail.
Please take a look at what I have:
This is it. Please let me know if you guys need more information. I just wish to clean up the mess and reset the disk structure to the same one that I'd be getting with a clean install.
MacBook Pro 15", macOS 10.14
Disconnect all external storage during the installation of Windows. They can be connected, once Windows is fully installed. You will need to merge and restore your disk to a single partition. If you need detailed steps, let me know.
Can you post the output of
diskutil list
The mount order may be different than the volume order.
timelover wrote:
Yes, I got it all working now! Great :)
Excellent!
Final concern: do you know if I can safely use tools like Paragon Camp Tune to resize my bootcamp partition? I'm not sure how much space I'm gonna need in the future but I'm sure it will be different from the amount I assigned right now at the initial setup.
My suggestion, since this is a new installation, is to Remove Windows from your Mac using Boot Camp - Apple Support and re-install it. I recommend 100-128GB as minimum, since you have a 500GB disk. On my MBPs, I split a 512GB disk in half for macOS and Windows.
Do you have an SD Card inserted in your Mac?
Your disk structure under Mojave should be
Can you remove it and retry BC Assistant?
timelover wrote:
Maybe cloning?
Look at Winclone.
Cool, it worked! Now, two questions if you dont mind:
1- Can I force bootcamp to install windows from a custom ISO? It won't let me normally. If not, can I set things up with an official ISO and then later boot through a USB flash drive and install my custom Windows ISO over that?
2- Is there any way a can safely remove that VM partition?
timelover wrote:
Cool, it worked! Now, two questions if you dont mind:
1- Can I force bootcamp to install windows from a custom ISO? It won't let me normally.
No. BC Assistant validates the ISO to be a Windows Retail ISO.
If not, can I set things up with an official ISO and then later boot through a USB flash drive and install my custom Windows ISO over that?
Yes, For example. Windows Education editions use this method.
2- Is there any way a can safely remove that VM partition?
No. It is an inherent part of the macOS side.
Got it. The reason I thought I had a messy disk structure is because before I even attempt bootcamp, I couldn't partition the drive due to overallocation errors. I managed to fix that but when I saw later that Windows wouldn't install, I thought the problem was deeper than that. Especially cause I've had several MacOS installations in the past as well, god knows how these things can get tangled.
So just for confirmation sake, you don't see anything else that needs fixing on my end?
Yes, here it is:
/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.3 GB disk0
1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1
2: Apple_APFS Container disk1 450.0 GB disk0s2
3: Microsoft Reserved 16.8 MB disk0s3
4: Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP 50.1 GB disk0s4
/dev/disk1 (synthesized):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: APFS Container Scheme - +450.0 GB disk1
Physical Store disk0s2
1: APFS Volume Preboot 87.8 MB disk1s2
2: APFS Volume Recovery 1.5 GB disk1s3
3: APFS Volume VM 1.1 GB disk1s4
4: APFS Volume Mojave 286.7 GB disk1s5
/dev/disk3 (external, physical):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *5.0 TB disk3
1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk3s1
2: Microsoft Basic Data STUFF 5.0 TB disk3s2
/dev/disk4 (external, physical):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *5.0 TB disk4
1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk4s1
2: Microsoft Basic Data STUFF BACKUP 5.0 TB disk4s2
Yes, I got it all working now! Great :)
Final concern: do you know if I can safely use tools like Paragon Camp Tune to resize my bootcamp partition? I'm not sure how much space I'm gonna need in the future but I'm sure it will be different from the amount I assigned right now at the initial setup.
Cool, yeah, definitely! Better to tried to keep things simple right now. Later in the future though, if I end up changing my mind, would you recommend a specific way to increase/decrease the size without fresh installing? Maybe cloning?
Is it okay if the order is different? Mine is VM, PREBOOT, MACOS, RECOVERY.
Need help figuring out what is wrong with my disk structure