Bootcamp not appearing in Startup Disk Manager

Question

Level 1

8 points

Bootcamp not appearing in Startup Disk Manager

I partitioned my MacOS hard drive in order to reallocate more space to Windows (using MiniTool Partition Wizard in Windows to merge the new partition with bootcamp. Method here: https://youtu.be/-WRkeL1Lnq8).

After partitioning, Windows is no longer appearing in the Startup Manager so is no longer bootable. I can see bootcamp in Finder and in System Preferences > Paragon. It is not appearing under System Preferences > Startup Disk (but it wasn't appearing there before anyway).

I am using a MacBook Air (11-inch, Mid 2012) with an upgraded hard drive, running Mojave 10.14.6.

diskutil list:

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.1 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_APFS Container disk1 374.9 GB disk0s2

3: Microsoft Basic Data To Merge 44.0 GB disk0s3

4: Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP 80.9 GB disk0s4

/dev/disk1 (synthesized):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: APFS Container Scheme - +374.9 GB disk1

Physical Store disk0s2

1: APFS Volume Smith Macbook Air 243.8 GB disk1s1

2: APFS Volume Preboot 30.6 MB disk1s2

3: APFS Volume Recovery 507.4 MB disk1s3

4: APFS Volume VM 1.1 GB disk1s4

Any assistance appreciated.

Jess

MacBook Air 11″, macOS 10.14

Posted on Jan 15, 2021 2:44 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Jan 16, 2021 4:27 PM in response to Jesssmithica

The reason you see the split entries is due to the GPT entries.

MBR3 - Start - 732637184, Size - 244135936
GPT3 - Start - 732637184, Size - 85870592
GPT4 - Start - 818769920, size - 158003200
Adding the highlighted sizes, you get 243873792, which is smaller than 244135936 by the amount of the gap between GPT3 and GPT4 by 262144.
If the GPT3 is corrected to match MBR3 size, they would match and give you the correct size.
Install GPT FDisk (https://sourceforge.net/projects/gptfdisk/) which can be used to correct the issue with GPT.

Reply

Answer 2

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Jan 16, 2021 7:11 AM in response to Jesssmithica

Your GPT is corrupt and does not match the MBR. You have GPT3 which is incorrect. GPT4 should not exist, since your MBR has only three entries. If Windows does boot, then the GPT must be corrected to match the MBR, not the other way. Once the GPT is corrected then you should be able to see Windows files in macOS Finder.

Also, Paragon NTFS will not allow your Windows installation to show up in System Preferences -> Startup Disks. See https://kb.paragon-software.com/article/204 for reference.

Reply

Answer 3

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Jan 15, 2021 8:16 PM in response to Jesssmithica

MPT is a very bad tool on Macs. It doe into work properly, and can cause data loss. Are you able to see Windows files in macOS Finder?

Reply

Answer 4

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Jan 18, 2021 1:31 PM in response to Jesssmithica

Assuming SIP is disabled, run (do not type text like this)

sudo gdisk /dev/disk0

p (print)

d (delete)

3 (GPT3)

d (delete)

4 (GPT4)

n (new)

3 (GPT3 - combined version of the old GPT3+GPT4)

732637184 (Start - new GPT3)

976773119 (End - new GPT3)

07 (NTFS)

p (print)

w (write)

y (confirm write)

q (if necessary)

Reboot and post the output of

diskutil list

Reply

Answer 5

Jesssmithica Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 15, 2021 3:19 PM in response to Jesssmithica

I ran these commands for additional info:

$ sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

Password:

gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=500107862016; sectorsize=512; blocks=976773168

gpt show: /dev/disk0: PMBR at sector 0

gpt show: /dev/disk0: Pri GPT at sector 1

gpt show: /dev/disk0: Sec GPT at sector 976773167

start size index contents

0 1 PMBR

1 1 Pri GPT header

2 32 Pri GPT table

34 6

40 409600 1 GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B

409640 732226544 2 GPT part - 7C3457EF-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

732636184 1000

732637184 85870592 3 GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

818507776 262144

818769920 158003200 4 GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

976773120 15

976773135 32 Sec GPT table

976773167 1 Sec GPT header

$ sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

Disk: /dev/disk0 geometry: 60801/255/63 [976773168 sectors]

Signature: 0xAA55

Starting Ending

#: id cyl hd sec - cyl hd sec [ start - size]

------------------------------------------------------------------------

1: EE 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [ 1 - 976773167] <Unknown ID>

2: 00 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 [ 0 - 0] unused

3: 00 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 [ 0 - 0] unused

4: 00 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 [ 0 - 0] unused

Reply

Answer 6

Jesssmithica Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 15, 2021 3:53 PM in response to Jesssmithica

So I've gone a bit further now...

As per the thread: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6465316?answerId=26354134022#26354134022

I performed:

$ sudo fdisk -e /dev/disk0

password

setpid 4

07

flag 4

p

write

y

q

And after rebooting while holding the Option key, Windows now appears in the Startup manager and I can select it but it does not open Windows.

I get a black screen with a flashing icon in the top right hand corner.

Reply

Answer 7

Jesssmithica Author

Level 1

8 points

Jan 16, 2021 12:04 AM in response to Loner T

Oh, I have used it already!

Thank you for the response. And thanks for all the info you've posted about this issue. Very much appreciated.

Windows is up and running now.

I followed your instructions here:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/250431579

and rebuilt the MBR to match the GPT per your instructions here:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7279210?answerId=29103282022#29103282022

and then I went through with the MPT Move/Resize...

Unfortunately, as you may have predicted, I cannot see Bootcamp in MacOS finder anymore, I have two greyed out partitions in Disk Utility and things look very funny from Settings > Paragon.

Do you have any solutions??

Jess

Reply