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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

Best reply

Number88

Level 3

806 points

Posted on Jan 26, 2014 5:07 AM

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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148 replies

Number88

Level 3

806 points

Feb 2, 2014 9:32 AM in response to Community User

Have a look at Isty's post on page 36. Could be something. It fits.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5474320?answerId=24732249022#24732249022&ac_cid=tw123456#24732249http://

fbis

Level 1

0 points

Feb 2, 2014 10:26 AM in response to Number88

Number88 wrote:

Have a look at Isty's post on page 36. Could be something. It fits.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5474320?answerId=24732249022#24732249022&ac_cid=tw123456#24732249http://

THANKS, this solved my problem!

// Frank

Lextar

Level 1

0 points

Feb 2, 2014 10:39 AM in response to Number88

After about 14 failed windows installations, trying all suggestions in this thread and several Time Machine restores, the NVRAM reset finally solved my problems!

It didn't work at first when I tried to install Windows 8.0 from an USB stick, but after another NVRAM reset and Disk Utility repair which recreated the EFI partition, I could eventually install Windows 8.1 Pro 64 bit from an Apple USB SuperDrive.

I *nearly* gave up before it finally worked. YAY! Thank you!

Feb 3, 2014 7:05 AM in response to Lextar

what a horrible experience for this bootcamp installation!!!

finally, I have got my Win8 installed.

expericne sharing:

(from the MacPro 2013 going to HK (I've got one on Jan18, continous trial of win 8 installation 😟 with various methods in the communities)

1. use a USB3.0 stick to make a bootable USB disk with Win8.0 English Version 64-bit

2. during the Bootcamp reboot, interrupt this and go back to OSX and delete the partition

3. verify the disk and do repair the disk of OSX

4. leave the deleted partition as free space

5. reboot the MP and go to orange icon as target

6. wait until fail (cant update boot configuration)

7. shut down the MP and restart

8. reset the NVRAM

9. restart the MP and target to WINDOWS

10. message shows repair win is required

11. shut down the MP

12. unplug the USB stick and plug the superdrive with Win8 DVD

13. boot the DVD and then choose the repair option

14. choose to auto repair PC

THAT'S WORK....

what a poor little MP taking us so much time to install WIN8...

Feb 3, 2014 7:31 PM in response to Community User

I can confirm I got windows 8 working in my internal SSD by using the following steps:

Using Disk Utility

1) Make sure your INTERNAL drive is the full size, verify it and repair it if it needs to be repaired

2) Launch BootCamp assistant and select option 3 to install windows select the appropriate size according to your needs.

3) The computer will reboot, when the chime sound plays, IMMEDIATELY press and hold ALT+OPTION+P+R, (this will reset the PRAM), keep them pressed until the computer reboots, When the chime tone plays again press option and select your Windows EFI (orange) icon.

4) Follow the installation wizard, I NO longer had the error message stating"

"Can't update boot configuration"

The Key step for me was to reset the PRAM before I booted from the EFI USB and launch the Windows installer.

Good Luck!

Feb 3, 2014 11:07 PM in response to jesush1234

worked for me! the simplest solution, thanks jesush for derivating down this thread, thanks alejandro for the thread itself

Feb 4, 2014 1:38 AM in response to webhitman

Doesnt work for me 😟

What am i missing ?

I run bootcamp and create usb stick with windows 8 and create partition. enter password and on reboot i reset nvram.

Still get boot config error during windows install

Feb 4, 2014 9:34 PM in response to mrthaibox123

You have to start the installation from scratch to make sure your doing everything correctly.

1) You need to make sure sure your HD is back to 1 single partition, if you can't delete the 2 partitions in disk utility created by Bootcamp and the Windows Installer, you need to boot from your installation USB and delete them from there.

2) I suggest you delete all the folders inside your EFI partition EXCEPT the apple folder and everything inside it.

a). in Terminal run this command:

diskutil list

In my case, the volume identifier of the EFI partition is disk0s1

b). in Terminal run this command:

mkdir /Volumes/efi

c). in Terminal run this command: (Make sure your EFI disk is not a different number, in my case its disk0s1, adjust it accordingly)

sudo mount -t msdos /dev/disk0s1 /Volumes/efi

3) Then you need to go back to your Mac OS, open disk utility and drag the partition to its full size.

4) Verify your HD, click repair, then verify it for errors again.

5) Launch BootCamp assistant and select the options that you need selected. I suggest you select all 3 to make sure you have a correct Windows 8 USB Stick with the appropriate drivers.

6) After the USB creation is completed and the bootcamp drivers downloaded, you will be prompted to select the size of your bootcamp partition, select it according to your needs.

7) The Assistant will prompt you for your password then it will restart.

8) When the chime sound plays, IMMEDIATELY press and hold ALT+CMD+P+R, (this will reset the PRAM), keep them pressed until the computer reboots, when the chime tone plays again press and hold the option key then select your Windows EFI (orange) icon.

9) Follow the Windows installation wizard select the bootcamp partition for installation and you should have no problems.

Remember Bootcamp will only create a proper USB for windows 8, not 7 and not 8.1!

Good Luck!

Blammo72

Level 1

5 points

Feb 10, 2014 9:44 AM in response to Community User

I tried every fix posted here still no luck :-(

I think I resetted my PRAM so often my MacPro thinks I am sick and I entered my stupid win8.1 serial soooo many times that I dont even need to look it up anymore... but always the same stupid error...

I can only hope apple will release a firmware update... so with other words I am out of luck... Great support for this overpriced piece of **** with bad GFX cards.... sniff

whije02

Level 1

0 points

Apr 21, 2014 11:14 AM in response to jesush1234

jesush1234 You saved me!

I have been dealing with this issue for a few days now.

And your simple steps on Feb 3rd just worked the very first time I tried them. (I did have to delete the BOOTCAMP partition using the WIndows Advance option but after that I just clicked next 100% install. Once it restarted I held down the Option to ensure it was going to boot on the EFI option on the disk each time it had to restart.)

I just wanted to send my thanks! I tried everything.

The EFI boot options can be confusing especially if you had tried mulitple different times.

Thanks you... thank you... thanks you!

whije02

Level 1

0 points

Apr 21, 2014 3:22 PM in response to whije02

Update 1

So I have an Early 2011 MBP.

I had an issue after loading the bootcamp drivers on windows 8.1 after the successful update.

When I ran the bootcamp setup on windows my screen went black.

I didn't know of any way to fix it really other than a reinstall. (as all other attempts failed)

I tried repeating the same steps as listed above however, the install fails again.

The only thing I can think that has changed is I downloaded the bootcamp drivers on the same install usb drive after the fact.

Now I can not get windows to install.

I am going to try to make a bootable USB again without the bootcamp software and retest with the same method as above.

Hope it works.

May 25, 2014 9:01 AM in response to Community User

I was having huge huge problem installing windows on mac pro (late 2013) cylinder. So I tried many solutions for that.

If you follow the normal steps it comes up with the error “Windows could not update the computer’s boot configuration”

Here is the exact detailed instructions on how to install windows 8 in bootcamp on the new late 2013 mac pro.

You have to start the installation from scratch to make sure your doing everything correctly.

1) You need to make sure sure your HD is back to 1 single partition, if you can’t delete the 2 partitions in disk utility created by Bootcamp and the Windows Installer, you need to boot from your installation USB and delete them from there.

2) I suggest you delete all the folders inside your EFI partition EXCEPT the apple folder and everything inside it.

a). in Terminal run this command:

diskutil list

In my case, the volume identifier of the EFI partition is disk0s1

b). in Terminal run this command:

mkdir /Volumes/efi

c). in Terminal run this command: (Make sure your EFI disk is not a different number, in my case its disk0s1, adjust it accordingly)

sudo mount -t msdos /dev/disk0s1 /Volumes/efi

3) Then you need to go back to your Mac OS, open disk utility and drag the partition to its full size.

4) Verify your HD, click repair, then verify it for errors again.

5) Launch BootCamp assistant and select the options that you need selected. I suggest you select all 3 to make sure you have a correct Windows 8 USB Stick with the appropriate drivers.

6) After the USB creation is completed and the bootcamp drivers downloaded, you will be prompted to select the size of your bootcamp partition, select it according to your needs.

7) The Assistant will prompt you for your password then it will restart.

8) When the chime sound plays, IMMEDIATELY press and hold ALT+CMD+P+R, (this will reset the PRAM), keep them pressed until the computer reboots, when the chime tone plays again press and hold the option key then select your Windows EFI (orange) icon.

9) Follow the Windows installation wizard select the bootcamp partition for installation and you should have no problems.

Remember Bootcamp will only create a proper USB for windows 8, not 7 and not 8.1!

Good Luck!

Jul 8, 2014 3:19 PM in response to Community User

I followed this entire post and came up with nothing... I played around some and decide I was going to delete the partitions except the EFI, the main Mac Os. Yes that is right I had to delete the mac recovery partition as well. I didn't think it would work. But it did. I was able after 7 hours to install 8.1.

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