RA_Mac_Book_User

Q: Boot Camp 'Your bootable USB drive could not be created' error

I have a Mac Mini with OS X version 10.8 and Boot Camp version 5.  I am trying to create a bootable USB drive using Boot Camp.  I am using a Windows 7 Pro iso file and a 4 GB flash drive to create it.  I select 'Create a Windows 7 install disk' along with the other two selections.  Everytime I try it, I get the same error message of:  Your bootable USB drive could not be created.  An error occurred while formatting the disk.

 

Could this be a bad flash drive or a software error?

Mac mini, OS X Mountain Lion

Posted on Aug 5, 2012 5:44 AM

Close

Q: Boot Camp 'Your bootable USB drive could not be created' error

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

first Previous Page 4 of 5 last Next
  • by mikethemartian,

    mikethemartian mikethemartian Nov 27, 2015 1:51 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Nov 27, 2015 1:51 PM in response to Loner T

    1. You should disconnect all storage that is not needed for Windows installation. Only the USB Installer (SanDisk) and the internal disk on Mini should be connected.

     

    So I have now physically removed my TM backup disk (which was on FireWire) and my USB hub.  The flashdrive is connected directly to my Mac USB3 port.  I read somewhere that using USB3 might be a problem but as far as I can tell all the ports are USB3.

     

    2. Is disk6 your ISO?

    Yes, I believe so.  I generated the list right after the installation failed.  Right after it formats and right before it starts copying Windows files it remounts the ISO and thus causes the error.  I regenerated the list below with my TM drive and USB hub physically disconnected and right before I press continue on "The drive will be erased" dialog box.

     

    3. Your USB seems to be correctly formatted.

     

    OK

     

    4. We can manually create a USB Installer, if necessary. Do you want to try this method?

     

    Yes, I would like to try to.

     

    Thanks again.

     

     

    Mikes-Mac-Mini:~ Mike$ diskutil list

    /dev/disk0

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *121.3 GB   disk0

       1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1

       2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         121.0 GB   disk0s2

       3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk0s3

    /dev/disk1

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk1

       1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk1s1

       2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         999.3 GB   disk1s2

       3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.1 MB   disk1s3

    /dev/disk2

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           *1.1 TB     disk2

                                     Logical Volume on disk0s2, disk1s2

                                     C0DA7F0B-28F9-46F5-AC5B-6AED8CFE4EC0

                                     Unencrypted Fusion Drive

    /dev/disk3

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *32.0 GB    disk3

       1:                 DOS_FAT_32 UNTITLED 1              32.0 GB    disk3s1

    Mikes-Mac-Mini:~ Mike$

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Nov 27, 2015 2:08 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 7 (23,828 points)
    Safari
    Nov 27, 2015 2:08 PM in response to Loner T

    1. Your Mini has a 1TB Fusion drive, so the Windows installation will be installed on the HDD part, which going to be slow.

    2. Erase/Format your USB SanDisk 32GB.

    3. Copy the contents of the Windows USB drive including the setup.exe that you have from your IT department to the root of the USB.

    4. Run BCA and only click on Download Software...

    5. Create a directory/folder on your OSX side which contains the zip or the expanded  .zip contents.

    6. Copy the $WinPEDriver$ folder to the root of the SanDisk.

    7. Copy the Bootcamp folder to the root of the SanDisk.

    8. Copy the AutoUnattend.xml to the root of the USB.

     

    Your  USB should look similar to the following.

     

    BootcampUSB.png

  • by mikethemartian,

    mikethemartian mikethemartian Dec 1, 2015 7:06 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Dec 1, 2015 7:06 PM in response to Loner T

    Loner T, thanks for all the help.  I only need Windows 10 for PowerPoint since the Mac version continually crashes on me so I assume it will be fast enough.  I assume that the Win10 partition would also have been installed on the slow HDD part of the Fusion Drive even if I was able to do it through the normal automated Boot Camp installation.  I have Parallels 10 but I haven't been successful installing it in a VM either.  I assume that there is some step that I missed when creating the ISO file in Disk Utility.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Dec 1, 2015 7:20 PM in response to mikethemartian
    Level 7 (23,828 points)
    Safari
    Dec 1, 2015 7:20 PM in response to mikethemartian

    The HDD part is very reasonable. If your HDD is 7200rpm, it will be a bit better, but I know Apple started using 5400rpm HDDs to avoid heat issues and subsequent failures. You are correct that BCA would also use the HDD part for Windows on a Fusion drive by design.

     

    Once the USB is built, there is one more step to make it bootable. Post back once you have the USB built, and I can provide steps.

  • by mikethemartian,

    mikethemartian mikethemartian Dec 17, 2015 2:06 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Dec 17, 2015 2:06 PM in response to Loner T

    Loner T, I just got back to trying to install Win10 on my Mac.  I followed the instructions you gave me and my USB root directory looks familiar to the example you provided.  The only thing that was different is that there was no zip file.  BCA only allowed me to download the support software directly to the USB (not Mac drive) and the $WinPEDriver$ folder, the Bootcamp folder and the AutoUnattend.xml file were all directly copied to the root of the USB.

     

    Can you give me the instructions you mentioned about making the USB bootable and what else I need to do to start the installation?


    Thanks again


    Mike

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Dec 17, 2015 2:51 PM in response to mikethemartian
    Level 7 (23,828 points)
    Safari
    Dec 17, 2015 2:51 PM in response to mikethemartian

    Connect the USB and post the output of

     

    diskutil list

    sudo fdisk /dev/diskN - where N points to the USB as shown by the previous command.

  • by mikethemartian,

    mikethemartian mikethemartian Dec 17, 2015 3:27 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Dec 17, 2015 3:27 PM in response to Loner T

    So I have done that, what is the next step?

     

    Thanks

     

    Mike

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Dec 17, 2015 3:35 PM in response to mikethemartian
    Level 7 (23,828 points)
    Safari
    Dec 17, 2015 3:35 PM in response to mikethemartian

    Can you post the output of the two commands?

  • by mikethemartian,

    mikethemartian mikethemartian Dec 17, 2015 3:43 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Dec 17, 2015 3:43 PM in response to Loner T

    I should mention that instead of using the 32Gb USB stick, I have switched to an 8Gb SanDisk (disk 4 below)

     

    Mikes-Mac-Mini:~ Mike$ diskutil list

    /dev/disk0

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk0

       1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1

       2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         999.3 GB   disk0s2

       3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.1 MB   disk0s3

    /dev/disk1

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *121.3 GB   disk1

       1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk1s1

       2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         121.0 GB   disk1s2

       3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk1s3

    /dev/disk2

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           *1.1 TB     disk2

                                     Logical Volume on disk1s2, disk0s2

                                     C0DA7F0B-28F9-46F5-AC5B-6AED8CFE4EC0

                                     Unencrypted Fusion Drive

    /dev/disk3

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *2.0 TB     disk3

       1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk3s1

       2:          Apple_CoreStorage                         2.0 TB     disk3s2

       3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk3s3

    /dev/disk4

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *7.8 GB     disk4

       1:                 DOS_FAT_32 Win10E                  7.8 GB     disk4s1

    /dev/disk5

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:                  Apple_HFS TM Backup              *2.0 TB     disk5

                                     Logical Volume on disk3s2

                                     19AF0415-7257-4569-823E-DFFA07C7041D

                                     Unlocked Encrypted

    /dev/disk6

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:                            Boot Camp              *2.8 GB     disk6

    Mikes-Mac-Mini:~ Mike$ sudo fdisk /dev/disk4

    Password:

    Disk: /dev/disk4 geometry: 947/255/63 [15223808 sectors]

    Signature: 0xAA55

             Starting       Ending

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

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

    1: 0B 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         2 -   15223806] Win95 FAT-32

    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     

    Mikes-Mac-Mini:~ Mike$

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Dec 17, 2015 4:02 PM in response to mikethemartian
    Level 7 (23,828 points)
    Safari
    Dec 17, 2015 4:02 PM in response to mikethemartian

    Please ignore the i386 MBR error, but not any others in the following steps.

     

    sudo fdisk -e /dev/disk4

    p

    flag 1

    p

    w

    y

     

    Now BC Assistant, and click only on the 'Install...' option and partition your drive as necessary and install Windows. If you see any error messages, please post back.

  • by mikethemartian,

    mikethemartian mikethemartian Dec 17, 2015 4:14 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Dec 17, 2015 4:14 PM in response to Loner T

    Not sure if this is an error but after typing  w I get "Device could not be accessed exclusively. A reboot will be needed for changes to take effect. OK? [n] "

     

     

    Mikes-Mac-Mini:~ Mike$ sudo fdisk -e /dev/disk4

    Password:

    fdisk: could not open MBR file /usr/standalone/i386/boot0: No such file or directory

    Enter 'help' for information

    fdisk: 1> p

    Disk: /dev/disk4 geometry: 947/255/63 [15223808 sectors]

    Offset: 0 Signature: 0xAA55

             Starting       Ending

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

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

    1: 0B 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         2 -   15223806] Win95 FAT-32

    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     

    fdisk: 1> flag 1

    Partition 1 marked active.

    fdisk:*1> p

    Disk: /dev/disk4 geometry: 947/255/63 [15223808 sectors]

    Offset: 0 Signature: 0xAA55

             Starting       Ending

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

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

    *1: 0B 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         2 -   15223806] Win95 FAT-32

    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     

    fdisk:*1> w

    Device could not be accessed exclusively.

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

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Dec 17, 2015 4:53 PM in response to mikethemartian
    Level 7 (23,828 points)
    Safari
    Dec 17, 2015 4:53 PM in response to mikethemartian

    Type 'y' and continue. Type 'q', if necessary to exit from Fdisk. Eject the USB, connect it again, and check the output of

     

    sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

     

    If it shows the asterisk in the first entry with 0B, you are good to proceed further.

  • by mikethemartian,

    mikethemartian mikethemartian Dec 17, 2015 5:13 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Dec 17, 2015 5:13 PM in response to Loner T

    I assume you meant disk4, and I do get the asterisk.  I'll let you know if the install is successful.

     

    Thanks again for all your help

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Dec 17, 2015 5:25 PM in response to mikethemartian
    Level 7 (23,828 points)
    Safari
    Dec 17, 2015 5:25 PM in response to mikethemartian

    Yes, disk4 was the intended target. If you have any issues, please post back.

  • by mikethemartian,

    mikethemartian mikethemartian Dec 17, 2015 5:56 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Dec 17, 2015 5:56 PM in response to Loner T

    I started BCA and it asked me how large I wanted to create the partition, I chose 100GB.  After some time I got a black screen with a boot error.  I unplugeed the.USB stick and tried a hard power reset of Mac and I get the error "No bootable device -- Insert boot disk and press any key".  So I can't boot my Mac now.  I did a TM backup right before I started so I shouldn't have lost any data but I don't know what to do to get the Mac to boot now.  I am posting using my iPad.

first Previous Page 4 of 5 last Next