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bootcamp assistant not formatting usb

Hi everyone,


I'm trying to install Windows 10 on my imac 27 inch late 2013. Some important specs, my 3TB HDD recently failed and I switched it out for a 2TB Evo Samsung SSD. I'm running Catalina on it and it's basically a brand new computer with not much on it.


When I try to run bootcamp assistant, it tells me that an error occurred while trying to format the disk device. I'm using a 128GB SanDisk Cruzer USB 2.0 Flash Drive. I've tried most suggestions online of erasing the flash drive and formatting to MS-DOS FAT with Master Boot Record as the scheme. I've also made sure to unmount the Windows ISO file. Still no luck and the same error reads.


Speaking of, the ISO file I have is Win10_20H2_English_x64.iso


So I have a few questions:

1) Could the issue be the flash drive I have?

2) Could the issue be that it's Windows 20H2 and not 1909? If so, how can I get the 1909 iso file?

3) I bought the Windows10 box with the actual Microsoft USB stick provided, as well... can I install using this at all?


Any help is much appreciated as given everything is so fresh I would expect this to be a pretty seamless process.

iMac 27″, macOS 10.14

Posted on Nov 21, 2020 6:41 PM

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Posted on Nov 22, 2020 8:22 AM

Bootcamp Assistant does not support this layout. If you have a Time Machine backup, I suggest you rebuild the Fusion drive. Try the steps in the link I posted. If that does not work, we can rebuild it manually. Be aware that Samsun EVOs do not work well with BC/Windows installers.

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10 replies

Nov 21, 2020 9:21 PM in response to Loner T

Thanks, Loner. I appreciate your help. I'll try a smaller flash drive tomorrow and post progress.


Regarding the fusion, I do not know, I had a repair shop do it. If it helps, it lists the two drives as separate ones, not two volumes under the same one if that makes sense. I remember the Fusion before was listed as a disk with two volumes, one as the 3tb HDD and one as the 128gb SSD. Now in disk utility it lists the Samsung 2tb SSD as a separate disk from another disk titled "Unknown" and its listed as flash storage. Hope that makes sense and amswers the question.

Nov 22, 2020 6:22 AM in response to Loner T

Thanks, Loner. Here's the terminal output:


/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):


   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER


   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *121.3 GB   disk0


   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1


   2:                  Apple_HFS Untitled                121.0 GB   disk0s2




/dev/disk1 (internal, physical):


   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER


   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *2.0 TB     disk1


   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk1s1


   2:                 Apple_APFS Container disk2         2.0 TB     disk1s2




/dev/disk2 (synthesized):


   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER


   0:      APFS Container Scheme -                      +2.0 TB     disk2


                                 Physical Store disk1s2


   1:                APFS Volume Macintosh HD - Data     12.9 GB    disk2s1


   2:                APFS Volume Preboot                 82.3 MB    disk2s2


   3:                APFS Volume Recovery                529.0 MB   disk2s3


   4:                APFS Volume VM                      2.1 GB     disk2s4


   5:                APFS Volume Macintosh HD            11.2 GB    disk2s5

Nov 22, 2020 8:28 AM in response to Loner T

Thank you so much for this clarity, Loner. I do not have a Time Machine backup as I did a factory reset before getting the new hard drive installed.


To be honest, having Windows 10 on my Mac is not crucial and I'd rather not rebuild or reconfigure my hard drive set up. Now that I know that it's because of the hard drive (Samsung) that BC and Windows doesn't work well with, then in my specific position it is not worth the trouble. I will just return Windows 10.


Thank you so much for your help and prompt responses. It really means a lot. I will mark the issue as solved.

Nov 22, 2020 8:37 AM in response to Loner T

Thanks, Loner. I do have a few externals and usually make clones of the entire disk before doing any software updates, plus have externals to back up individual files. Thankfully, I didn't lose any crucial data before doing the hard drive swap.


I will also consider using Time Machine from here on ou as a fresh start. Thanks for the suggestion!

bootcamp assistant not formatting usb

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