Bootcamp 5.1.1 on Mac Pro Cylinder can't install Windows 8

Question

Bootcamp 5.1.1 on Mac Pro Cylinder can't install Windows 8

Hi,

I've gone through almost every discussion regarding the common issue "Windows coud not update the computer's boot configuration" but none is related to Bootcamp version 5.1.1 and latest Mac Pro cylinder.

I already tried the solution presented by Jarvil at this discussion: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5490486?answerId=23545780022#23545780022

Based on Jarvil's solution there is a very important thing that is not happening in my case, that is that I never get the option to boot from the "Windows" partition. I only have 3 options, 1) Macintosh HD 2) Recovery 3) EFI Boot.

By not having the option to boot from Windows partition I automatically deviate from Jarvil's solution.

So, I proceed with EFI boot, I reach the step where I have to select the partition and I pick the 4th partition and it says that Windows can't be installed in this partition so I delete/format it and proceed with installation and it goes all well until the very end where it's finishing the install that I get the message:

"Windows coud not update the computer's boot configuration".

I also tried skipping the install --> login into Mac OS X --> Disk Utility --> Delete partition --> Create ExFAT partition (tried FAT also) --> Reboot --> EFI Boot (Windows partition still not available) --> Format partition --> Proceed with install --> Same error again.

After the error, it reboots and then I get a blue screen (**** Windows blue screens) with a message:

Recovery

Your PC Needs to be repaired

The Boot Configuration Data file is missing some required information.

File: \BCD

Error code: 0x0000034

You'll need to use the recovery tools on your installation media. If you don't have any installation media (like a disc or USB device), contact your system administrator or PC manufacturer.

So I reboot holding Option key and now the partition Windows appears and if I boot from it I get the same blue screen with the recovery error. So I reboot again and login into OSX, go to Disk Utility and delete the "Untitled" partition and I recreate it using ExFAT but then it gets stuck "Preparing to partition disk".

I'm attaching snapshots.

I really hope that someone from Apple support can provide a solution. Thank you very much in advance.

Alejandro

Mac Pro (Late 2013), OS X Mavericks (10.9.1)

Posted on Jan 25, 2014 10:51 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Number88

Level 3

800 points

Jan 26, 2014 5:07 AM in response to Community User

It's not an Apple response but it is something which worked for me. This is an exerpt from a post I made on another site. It's a bit involved and you may think this should not be necessary (and you'd be right) but if you want to try it you're welcome. No guarantess.

Install Windows again just like you did before with Bootcamp (but you may have to remove any traces of it first).

So starting again with Bootcamp Assistant and with Macintosh using the whole disc again begin the process.

Allow Windows to be installed as normal.

When the BCD error box opens up DO NOT click on OK - immediately do a hard shutdown of the Mac by holding the power button. This is so the changes are not rolled back.

Start up the Mac again holding the Alt key and choose the USB EFI Boot option in the boot menu (it will be orange). At this point if you get a Windows blue screen error shutdown and take out the USB then restart the machine holding Alt and at the boot menu plug in the USB again and do the above.

At the installer's start screen press shift + F10 to get a command prompt.

In the command prompt type

diskpart and hit enter

type

list volume and hit enter

Note the volume letters and numbers of all the volumes . One should be an EFI partition of type FAT32 and it will have no drive letter.

Now type

list volume and hit enter (note the letters and numbers of the displayed volumes) One will be your EFI partition of FAT32 type and it will have no letter, just a number.

type

select volume X (where X is the number of your EFI partition) and hit enter

type

assign letter=B and enter

type

exit and enter

type

bcdboot C:\Windows /l en-GB /s B: /f ALL *** note the /l en-GB is for locality and language and will default to English US if not changed. Obviously you need to change to your own locale and language code***

press enter (after checking all spaces etc). You may also struggle to find the \ key on your keyboard, it may change position once in command prompt!.

After a few seconds it should report that the boot files were written. If it does that you can type in

wpeutil reboot and press enter at which point your Mac will reboot. Hold the Alt key and choose your new EFI Boot option and hopefully Windows will boot.

Obviously all of this can be a little daunting and should not be taken on lightly. Having said that Windows is not currently installing and you've got nothing to lose. You can always go back to what you have now (with TM backups of course, and maybe even without).

Good luck

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Answer 2

Jan 26, 2014 9:17 AM in response to Number88

Thank you for your quick reply. This helped me understand the problem and command prompt better. I'm a web programmer so the commands were pretty simple. Now I'm getting the error "Windows could not get the computer to boot into the next phase of installation. To install Windows, restart the installation"

I'm not sure the command line bcdboot C:\Windows /l en-GB /s B: /f ALL did what it was supposed to because after I ran it, it returned a list of command options:

Right now I have the Mac stuck at the error that can't boot into the next phase and will wait until I find something to do after this.

When I ran the installer again and selected the partition, the instaler gave me a warning that the partition was not the minimum size suggested. I started with 50GB and after I ran the command bcdboot C:\Windows /l en-GB /s B: /f ALL the partition size went down to about 33Gb, which I found it very strange and probably a clue for what the problem might be now. It also warned me that any previous Windows installation files will be moved to an OLD folder.

Any clues? I'll start Googling this new error now.

Thanks a lot,

Alejandro

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Answer 3

Number88

Level 3

800 points

Jan 26, 2014 9:22 AM in response to Community User

It would appear that you didn't type "exit" (from diskpart) before you typed the bcdboot command. So the command did not run. If it runs correctly you should get a notice that the boot files were copied correctly.

Just out of interest what happens if you reboot holding the Alt key? Do you see a grey disk named EFI boot? If so and you select that option what happens? The USB should be taken out for this.

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Answer 4

Number88

Level 3

800 points

Jan 26, 2014 9:30 AM in response to Number88

Just for your information Windows is actually still installed at the moment (due to the hard shutdown). It just won't boot because the boot files are not in the EFI partition. That's what we're trying to accomplish with the bcdboot command.

To backtrack you can boot from the EFI boot (orange) Windows installer again and do the shift + F10 again and follow the guide again to assign the letter B to the EFI partition (unless it's still there, but probably not) then, when finished following the guide you type exit and enter to leave the diskpart program.

You can then try running the bcdboot command.

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Answer 5

Jan 26, 2014 10:13 AM in response to Number88

I did miss to exit before running bcdboot but still it didn't write the files after I did it right the 2nd time.

This is a photo right before I hit enter:

Ans this is the results after I hit enter:

And this is my boot options after I reboot:

I think I'm still in the wrong directory when I run bcdboot. Should I be at x:\Sources> ??

Thank you!

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Answer 6

Jan 26, 2014 10:16 AM in response to Community User

I think I'm entering the parameter wrong... /l... I'm doing capital "i" I think... let me run it again

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Answer 7

Number88

Level 3

800 points

Jan 26, 2014 10:17 AM in response to Community User

Should be a lower case L like this l

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Answer 8

Jan 26, 2014 10:36 AM in response to Number88

This is what's up now... :-(

I found this on Google, tried the revised command but it doesn't run:

http://www.techrecyclebin.com/2011/09/bcdboot-failure-when-attempting-to-copy.ht ml

I'll keep on Googling :-(

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Answer 9

Number88

Level 3

800 points

Jan 26, 2014 10:51 AM in response to Community User

I have not seen that error before, sadly.

Did you boot from the EFI boot USB option? I'm wondering why WININSTALL is listed in list volume when that isn't a boot option in the ALT + boot menu. Maybe that's just what Windows sees.

You could try this after assigning B and exit

cd /d B:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\

If this message gives you a "no such directory" then the directory hasn't been created.

If the message is accepted without comment type dir and press enter.

You should see the conents of the directory. Look through and see if there's a BCD file and if so what size is it? If it's about 8100 bytes then it's empty. A normal one should be about 23000 bytes iirc.

If it's 8100 ish type

ren BCD BCD.bak (renaming BCD to BCD.bak)

then run the bcdboot command again. It should report that boot files were copied successfully.

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Answer 10

Jan 26, 2014 11:17 AM in response to Number88

When I bootup the install I only have the option EFI Boot with the Orange drive icon. After the installation fails then the 4th drive 'Windows" comes into existance with the blue screen error. So yes, I'm always booting from the EFI Boot drive.

This is what's inside cd /d B:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\

The BCD file is empty.

I renamed BCD and when I run bcdboot from here I get the same error:

I'm headed to TekServe now, hopefully their tech staff will know something. I have all these snapshots in my phone. If they are of no help I might stop by the actual Apple Store in Fifth Avenue, they have a million geniuses on staff there...

Thanks again and I shall report back later.

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Answer 11

Number88

Level 3

800 points

Jan 26, 2014 11:24 AM in response to Community User

Hmm, that's a shame. AS I say I haven't seen the BFSVC error before and I'm not sure what it means.

However, strangely the fact that you have a Windows choice in your boot manager means that the Windows files have been created - but the BCD is just empty.

If all of this goes nowhere and you need to get rid of that Windows entry manually you'll need to mount the EFI partition in OSX and manually delete any folder but the Apple one. Leave that one alone! 😁

Good luck and if I think of anything I'll get back to you.

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Answer 12

Jan 26, 2014 7:19 PM in response to Community User

TekServe people don't know of any problem with Bootcamp (yeah right) but they can figure it out for $200 in 4 business days. I shall continue investigating for a solution on the web since I'm more interested in learning the solution than just having someone else do it for me since I'm sure I'll need to reinstall in the future.

Hopefully there will be more follow ups on this thread.

Alejandro

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Answer 13

Number88

Level 3

800 points

Jan 27, 2014 12:49 AM in response to Community User

Is the Mac brand new? You should get 90 days Applecare support with a new machine. 3 Years of it if you bought Applecare.

Did you install gdisk? The output from the p command might be of interest. Once installed, in the terminal use

sudo gdisk /dev/disk0

then type in "p" no quotes and the partition details will be shown. It may give something interesting.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/gptfdisk/files/gptfdisk/0.8.8/gdisk-binaries/

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Answer 14

Jan 27, 2014 10:35 AM in response to Number88

Hi Numbers88,

I had the same issue as desribed by Alejandrop, and your suggestion got me further along the path. When I boot off the Windows partition to continue the install, I no longer get the Blue File:\BCD screen, but as the insaller gets to 100% of the "configuring devices" I get a new error as follows:

"Windows setup could not configure Windows to run on this computer's hardware"

I started the install from a Windows 8 USB key as configured by Boot Camp. This error would suggest that Boot Camp did not include the neccsary drivers on the USB key.

Any suggestions?

Roy

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Answer 15

Number88

Level 3

800 points

Jan 27, 2014 10:45 AM in response to rbailey64bit

Have a look at the contents of the USB. If the drivers are present there'll be a Bootcamp folder and a $WinPEDriver$ folder together with a file called AutoUnattend.XML but I don't think that's the cause.

If you take out the USB and reboot holding the Alt key is there a Windows/Bootcamp drive listed in the boot manager. It will be grey like your Macintosh HD drive.

If there is try booting it. What happens?

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