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I cannot install BOOT CAMP on my Mac Pro (2009)

Hi there! I am trying to install windows 7Ultimate (because that's the only DVD with original copy I have on my own) on my Mac Pro running High Sierra (with all updates on it), 64Gb of memory 4T of hard drive. I have followed many on these explanations here in the community regarding this error that seems it is very common (I had already two other iMacs 27" and MacBook installed Windows 7 without any problem like this one!). I am trying to install Windows without using the BootCamp Assistant because it just gives me the option to download files and nothing else (and still getting that annoying message about the partition).

So I decided to create a partition with 1T for my BootCamp (created many times as ExFat, MS-DOS (FAT32), MacOS journaled non-encrypted) with all the previous types and nothing. When I create the partition and reboot my machine using "OPTION" key down to get access to my bootable DVD the Windows installation disk began but then when I get to the option of which drive to install, tells me an error regarding GPT. I tried to format it (partition 4), and still shows me GPT error. Then went back to TERMINAL and used the disk and disk and got an error on partition 4 as this partition does not exist or it is toot big.

Ok, any help on how to install this W7 Ultimate? I have reinstalled (fresh installation) of the Mac OS X 10.13 already 3 times (as recommended in some of the community feedback)

Thank you.

Mac Pro, macOS 10.13

Posted on Mar 20, 2020 12:24 PM

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27 replies

Mar 22, 2020 2:01 PM in response to Loner T

Lake-Nona-Mac-Pro:~ lakenonapowermac$ diskutil partitionDisk disk0 4 GPT FAT EFI 200MiB EXFAT WINDOWS 999GiB %Apple_Boot% "Recovery HD" 650MB jhfs+ "Macintosh HD" R

FAT does not appear to be a valid file system format or partition type

Use diskutil listFilesystems to view a list of supported file systems

Lake-Nona-Mac-Pro:~ lakenonapowermac$ diskutil list

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *4.0 TB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 3.0 TB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3

4: Apple_HFS Untitled 999.2 GB disk0s4

Lake-Nona-Mac-Pro:~ lakenonapowermac$

OBS: I did not erase the 1T partition for FAT32 yet

Mar 22, 2020 5:34 PM in response to Loner T

Error at the end about mounting:

Lake-Nona-Mac-Pro:~ lakenonapowermac$ diskutil partitionDisk disk0 4 GPT fat32 EFI 200MiB exFAT WINDOWS 999GiB %Apple_Boot% "Recovery HD" 650MB jhfs+ "Macintosh HD" R

Started partitioning on disk0

Unmounting disk

Error: -69888: Couldn't unmount disk

Lake-Nona-Mac-Pro:~ lakenonapowermac$

Mar 22, 2020 5:57 PM in response to Loner T

diskutil info /

Device Identifier: disk0s2

Device Node: /dev/disk0s2

Whole: No

Part of Whole: disk0

Volume Name: Macintosh HD

Mounted: Yes

Mount Point: /

Partition Type: Apple_HFS

File System Personality: Journaled HFS+

Type (Bundle): hfs

Name (User Visible): Mac OS Extended (Journaled)

Journal: Journal size 311296 KB at offset 0x3a3a000

Owners: Enabled

OS Can Be Installed: Yes

Booter Disk: disk0s3

Recovery Disk: disk0s3

Media Type: Generic

Protocol: SATA

SMART Status: Verified

Volume UUID: BD502E2D-5958-33FE-9F21-699573F3D2E0

Disk / Partition UUID: 5F4855BA-0957-45C5-808B-6D3DC05BC310

Partition Offset: 209735680 Bytes (409640 512-Byte-Device-Blocks)

Disk Size: 3.0 TB (3001577267200 Bytes) (exactly 5862455600 512-Byte-Units)

Device Block Size: 512 Bytes

Volume Total Space: 3.0 TB (3001577267200 Bytes) (exactly 5862455600 512-Byte-Units)

Volume Used Space: 73.5 GB (73505923072 Bytes) (exactly 143566256 512-Byte-Units) (2.4%)

Volume Free Space: 2.9 TB (2928071344128 Bytes) (exactly 5718889344 512-Byte-Units) (97.6%)

Allocation Block Size: 8192 Bytes

Read-Only Media: No

Read-Only Volume: No

Device Location: Internal

Removable Media: Fixed

Solid State: No

Hardware AES Support: No

Device Location: "Bay 1"

Mar 22, 2020 6:11 PM in response to Loner T

This is the only disk in MC.

The interesting thing is when I partitioned the hard drive in 3 parts before, I was able to at least boot from the Windows DVD and format the partition that I want to install, but then the Windows installation stops.

Also in the last command the partition that I created for the bootcamp (999GiB), this partition does not show up anymore. So, it was unmounted (at least shows that way in the Disk Utility).

Mar 22, 2020 11:12 AM in response to Loner T

Sorry for the misunderstanding. Partition 1: as "Windows", correct? And MBR (???) Master Boot Record, how?

Or the MacOS partition as 1T? and the rest on 3T?

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

Mar 22, 2020 5:18 PM in response to MorcegoVermelho

Try

diskutil partitionDisk disk0 4 GPT fat32 EFI 200MiB exFAT WINDOWS 999GiB %Apple_Boot% "Recovery HD" 650MB jhfs+ "Macintosh HD" R

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

Mar 22, 2020 5:52 PM in response to MorcegoVermelho

Can you post the output of

diskutil info /

Notice the trailing space followed by "/".

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

Mar 22, 2020 6:03 PM in response to MorcegoVermelho

We cannot partition the disk, if it is your boot disk. Is this the only disk you have in the MP? Do you have another disk which has the macOS version that you plan to use?