Cannot delete bootcamp partition/free space on HD (OS X Mavericks)

Boot Camp Assistant is the only way to remove the partition. You should never use Disk Utility. In doing so you have corrupted the RDB. The only solution is to backup your hard drive, then repartition the drive to a single OS X partition, next restore your backup.

Give this a try:

Install Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion Using Internet Recovery

Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.

Boot to the Internet Recovery HD:

Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND-OPTION- R keys until a globe appears on the screen. Wait patiently - 15-20 minutes - until the Recovery main menu appears.

Partition and Format the hard drive:

1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.

2. After DU loads select your external hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.

3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed. Quit DU and return to the main menu.

Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion. Mavericks: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion, Mavericks and click on the Install button. Be sure to select the correct drive to use if you have more than one.

Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet

if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

This will install the default version of OS X that came with your computer if it came with Lion or later. If it came with Snow Leopard, then you must do this instead:

Clean Install of Snow Leopard

Be sure to make a backup first because the following procedure will erase

the drive and everything on it.

1. Boot the computer using the Snow Leopard Installer Disc or the Disc 1 that came

with your computer. Insert the disc into the optical drive and restart the computer.

After the chime press and hold down the "C" key. Release the key when you see

a small spinning gear appear below the dark gray Apple logo.

2. After the installer loads select your language and click on the Continue

button. When the menu bar appears select Disk Utility from the Utilities menu.

After DU loads select the hard drive entry from the left side list (mfgr.'s ID and drive

size.) Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window. Set the number of

partitions to one (1) from the Partitions drop down menu, click on Options button

and select GUID, click on OK, then set the format type to MacOS Extended

(Journaled, if supported), then click on the Apply button.

3. When the formatting has completed quit DU and return to the installer. Proceed

with the OS X installation and follow the directions included with the installer.

4. When the installation has completed your computer will Restart into the Setup

Assistant. Be sure you configure your initial admin account with the exact same

username and password that you used on your old drive. After you finish Setup

Assistant will complete the installation after which you will be running a fresh

install of OS X. You can now begin the update process by opening Software

Update and installing all recommended updates to bring your installation current.

Download and install Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1.

I have the exact same problem, let me know if u have found a solution to this please.

The solution is posted above.

I just rechecked your profile, and I think I have a way through this. It seems your model is a Mid-2010 model. It can be upgraded to use Internet Recovery. If you haven't already installed that firmware, here is the link: MacBook Pro (13-inch, Mid 2010) EFI Firmware Update 2.5. After this firmware update you will be able to use full Internet Recovery:

Install Mavericks, Lion/Mountain Lion Using Internet Recovery

Be sure you backup your files to an external drive or second internal drive because the following procedure will remove everything from the hard drive.

Boot to the Internet Recovery HD:

Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND-OPTION- R keys until a globe appears on the screen. Wait patiently - 15-20 minutes - until the Recovery main menu appears.

Partition and Format the hard drive:

1. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.

2. After DU loads select your external hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.

3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed. Quit DU and return to the main menu.

Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion. Mavericks: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion, Mavericks and click on the Install button. Be sure to select the correct drive to use if you have more than one.

Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet

if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

This should allow you to fully repartition the drive plus reinstall OS X without the need for your Snow Leopard DVD.

I would like to know why this happens? I have done this many times under Lion/snow leopard and no problem removing Windows 7/8. Now Mavericks on a new rMBP 2013 is having all kind of problems installing and removing through the Bootcamp disk. Is Mavericks the problem?

No, it is not. It is the result of trying to remove a Boot Camp partition with Disk Utility instead of with Boot Camp Assistant as it should be.

Sorry I was not clear, When I go to Boot Camp Assistant not Disk Utility, I cannot remove the Boot Camp partition. I get the same errror as above. The only way to remove the partition is to use the Internet recovery option or just as noted above. I have done this twice and both times the Boot Camp partition cannot be removed by the Boot Camp Assistant.

Just wanted to add in, I attempted recently to add a bootcamp of 8.1 pro to my late 2013 MacPro (

MacPro6,1), and tried to partition with bootcamp. First attempt failed, then I used disk utility to wipe that, somehow that didn't mess up the first time, but the second time, I got a free space partition that I could not get rid of.
I tried disk utility in the OS, used repair disk multiple times hoping it'd update the boot map, and it didn't work. Tried the same using the partition with Alt Boot, didn't work either, and also tried making a recovery USB drive. Didn't work either.
FINALLY, I tried using the command/alt/r recovery mode, and due to Disk Utility being not on the OS/not on the computer per say, I was able to use disk utility to wipe the drive and partition it back to default.

Glorious success was had, and there was much rejoicing.

I then proceeded to restore from Time Machine, and so far, everything has worked perfectly. Attempt 2 on 8.1 pro is on its way, hopefully it'll take this time.

this video will help you delete the windows partition and restore the space back to your mac os, through disk utility

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtDYNCldC24

Hey Kappy and Everyone else,

Im running a late 2012 27' iMac with 1tb fusion drive

been working fine since i got it 2 years ago

Im having the same issue as everyone else, except the problem exists on the fusion hard drive.

The 1tb fusion hd is used to 836 approx gb and there is a 220ish empty space on the hd

it all started from trying to install windows 8.1 with bootcamp assistant, the computer restarted after all the nessary bootcamp assistant steps, i allocated 100 GB for windows, leaving me an additional 100 GB for OSX, the mac then booted in windows off of my efi usb and wouldn't go past the part in which you are supposed to choose which partition to install windows on. (this may be related to the fusion drive)

So i reboot the computer into OSX Mavericks and try and delete the partition with bootcamp assistant, didn't see the option so i go in to delete the partition with disk utility ( YES I KNOW THIS IS WRONG, now, too late)

Instead of deleting the 100 GB i allocated for windows bootcamp partition, it did something else were it basically took all of my remaining space, and partitioned off as "free space".

So my computer is filled to the max on its fusion HD mac osx partition, and then there is a 200 something GB partition as free space which i cannot reconnect to the original partition.

I read through several forums and followed instructions, including Kappy's guide, (the only difference being that he is fixing an external hd partition)

either way, even when i booted from internet recovery, disk utility would not let me resize or touch the fusion drive, i even erased the partition with all my info on it, but it was still split into 2 partitions.

So here i am, 2 partitions, no data, I'm restoring from my time machine backup, and for some reason thats gonna take 13 hours and i can't even stop it (maybe because its from internet recovery)

So i still haven't figured it out, how to return my computer to 1 partition, any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!

Update!!

After 14 hours of restoring Time Machine through Internet Recovery my computer turned back on, everything restored, but the 212 Gigs of freespace still untouchable.

I followed advise i received to partition it again through bootcamp assistant. Bootcamp Assistant only allowed me to partition off space on what was left from my 800ish GBs but anyways i partitioned off an additional 20GBs. once the process completed my computer restarted without successfully installing windows, yet when i restarted osx and choose to delete the earlier allocated 20 GB for an additional windows partition, it successfully deleted both the original problematic partition and the new one, freeing up the free space and getting me back to normal.

So in short, if you are using bootcamp and want to delete the partition, do it through the bootcamp assistant!! Or else you'll have trouble 🙂

Now heres to trying it all again 😝

The problem is more than likely that the OS X or the other partition were created as coreStorage volumes. When you guys go to Yosemite the problems will be worse. You can change the volumes back to HFS+ if FileVault isn't on or you don't have any other inception on the disks.

Open Terminal, and run this (you can copy/paste):

diskutil cs list

This will give you a list of partitions similar to this:

Thanks to BrettApple at the MacRumors forum for this.

Okay. See how it says “Revertible: Yes”? That means we can convert it back. You’ll need that super-long string of letters/numbers. In the same Terminal window, type:

diskutil coreStorage revert [THAT LONG STRING OF STUFF]

So in this particular case, we would run:

diskutil coreStorage revert 47F9D6B1-F8F2-4E64-8AD4-9F2E2BD78E29