Bootcamp partition with Windows 7 no longer recognisable

I have a Mac Mini with 2 partitions, one with macOS High Sierra and the other with Windows 7 via boot camp. The partition with the Windows 7 used to be the main system by booting on it directly.


However, yesterday I have updated my macOS with Catalina and this made my bootcamp partition with Windows 7 disappear from my system. I can no longer dual boot like I used to do before. Holding the 'option' button after boot sound also doesn't seem to work anymore (I can only see Mac partition in the disk selection screen.) I also decided to revert back to macOS High Sierra since Catalina is incompatible with Windows 7 systems but that also didn't seem to work either.


If I use the Disk Utility I can still see the Windows 7 partition, but it's unmounted and greyed out. Its name also changed from 'BOOTCAMP' to 'disk0s4.' Clicking on 'Mount' does nothing and it remains unmounted and unusable.


There were other people with similar problems but I'm not really sure myself if their procedures to fix this problem apply to my problem. So I decided to post this and wait for a solution. Thank you.



macOS High Sierra

Version 10.13.6

Mac mini (Late 2012)

Mac mini, macOS 10.13

Posted on Sep 30, 2020 12:25 PM

Reply
43 replies

Oct 1, 2020 8:58 PM in response to gradiusV

The following commands will make the Bootcamp partition active (Do not type text like this). You can safely ignore the i386 MBR error, but not others.


sudo fdisk -e /dev/disk0

p (print)

setpid 4 (Partition id 4)

07 (make it NTFS)

flag 4 (make partition 4 active)

p (print)

w (write)


If you get a write error, you will need to temporarily disable SIP to allow write.

Oct 3, 2020 12:02 PM in response to Loner T

It's the tool called gdisk, correct? So, basically, the steps I need to take are the following:


Rebuild GPT4 using start/end offsets


  1. Sudo gdisk /dev/rdisk0
  2. P (print the full list of parts)
  3. D (delete)
  4. 4 (part 4)
  5. N (new part)
  6. 4 (part 4)
  7. 101003264 ( - Start offset in sectors or the start point for Bootcamp part)
  8. +875767808 ( - Size offset, as opposed to End offset)
  9. 0700 (Windows part type)
  10. P (print list of all parts just to see what changes will be made)
  11. W (Write the new GPT)
  12. Y (Yes! really write the new GPT)


Rebuild MBR to match the new GPT information thus resetting the Hybrid MBR. Use defaults for other questions (like partition codes). The only values that need modifications are the Boot flags and step 10. Accept all other defaults that Gdisk offers. Please see thesample Q&A as an example. These steps can be repeated if you make a mistake before you get to Step 12, otherwise start from Step 1 for these steps. Step 6 has numbers which are typed with a space between the numbers. Please see the sample Q&A before you execute these steps.


  1. Sudo gdisk /dev/rdisk0
  2. P (Print list of parts)
  3. R (Recover)
  4. O (print current Hybrid MBR)
  5. H (chooses Hybrid)
  6. Partitions numbers to be hybridized: 2 3 4
  7. Y (Good for GRUB question)
  8. N (part 2 boot flag)
  9. N (part 3 boot flag)
  10. Y (part 4 boot flag make NTFS bootable partition)
  11. O (print current Hybrid MBR)
  12. W (Write the new MBR)
  13. Y (Yes! write the new MBR)
  14. Reboot


Let me confirm these steps with you before I attempt to do anything here.

Oct 3, 2020 10:33 AM in response to gradiusV

Ah, I see the post now. It only shows Users, but the Windows files are missing. We can try and update the GPT and MBR, but, the issue now is that your Recovery HD for High Sierra now overlaps the NTFS partition. This usually happens if you upgrade to Mojave (or later), because Recovery HD ends up as an APFS volume, instead of being a partition under High Sierra.


We can try to correct the GPT and MBR and test if Windows will work. Be aware that it may not. There is a risk that you may need to re-install W7.

Oct 4, 2020 6:38 AM in response to gradiusV

If Testdisk is unable to find the NTFS header, you may be able to salvage W7 files using PhotoRec, otherwise you will need to use commercial disk recovery software. I do not have a specific recommendation for such software. Parts of your NTFS seem to have been overwritten during the downgrade to High Sierra, since Testdisk can see the Users directory/folder.


Do you have any backup of your Windows non-OS files?

Oct 6, 2020 8:51 PM in response to Loner T

Yes I figured out the macOS/BC Assistant was the one causing trouble this time, and not the hard drive. I had to downgrade my macOS to Sierra and do pretty much everything Boot Camp Assistant related from there, but hey it finally worked. I managed to make a new partition and install Windows 7 in it. If anything unusual happens again I will make sure to report here, but so far everything is good.

Oct 4, 2020 10:18 AM in response to gradiusV

gradiusV wrote:

Thanks. I will try using PhotoRec first and see if I can manage to get my most important files from it.

👍


It's really unfortunate that it has come to this. Once I'm done recovering my files, am I allowed to delete this faulty partition and start over again?

Yes.

And as you said before in this thread, if I ever have to update my macOS to Mojave or Catalina and this problem happens again, I should never downgrade my macOS, correct?

I do not recommend any macOS downgrades which move between non-APFS and APFS releases. High Sierra is one of them.

If it weren't for that, then the Recovery HD wouldn't mess up with the Windows partition.

Based on your Testdisk output, yes.

Also let me thank you for assisting me through all this ordeal. From now on I will start making backups of literally everything. 😖

Good to hear that. It is rather unfortunate that macOS upgrades are a bit cavalier about this.

Oct 6, 2020 2:59 PM in response to gradiusV

The Disk Utility partition is formatted as Apple HFS, but Windows needs it to be FAT32. You should be able to remove the partition and allow BC Assistant to create one. If the size cannot be changed from 42Gb/~8Gb to any other value, you have an issues with High Sierra. It does not handle the Apple HFS Macintosh HD partitioning correctly.

Oct 1, 2020 8:44 AM in response to Loner T

No, I cannot see or find any files from my Windows partition. I searched for files right now on macOS High Sierra, but I'm pretty sure I did the same on macOS Catalina when this problem occurred. I also wasn't aware about Catalina being compatible with older Boot Camp installations, but after all that happened it's too late now.

Oct 2, 2020 7:39 AM in response to Loner T

After the 'w (write)' instruction I get the following message:


Device could not be accessed exclusively.

A reboot will be needed for changes to take effect. OK? [n] 


Is this supposed to happen? Should I let it reboot or is it an error? If it's the former than what should I type?


Also I believe I have SIP already disabled here.


EDIT: I ran 'csrutil status' and it says:

System Integrity Protection status: disabled.

Oct 2, 2020 8:15 AM in response to gradiusV

Ok, I searched for similar cases where such instructions were given and apparently I needed to confirm the reboot to finish the whole process. I typed 'y' and reboot my Mac as instructed.


During boot I held the option/alt button and the Windows 7 partition reappeared in the disk selection screen. However if I select it it gives me an error, 'Missing Operating System.' The screen just stays there and I can't do anything but force shutdown my Mac.


Going back to Mac I still can't see my Windows partition or its files. It remains unchanged from the images from my second post (greyed out, inaccessible, impossible to mount.)

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Bootcamp partition with Windows 7 no longer recognisable

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