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"No bootable device --- insert boot disk and press any key" after setting up Bootcamp

Hi guys,

I am trying to install Windows 7 via Bootcamp but after setting up Bootcamp and restarting the computer I get the error message "No bootable device --- insert boot disk and press any key".

I use an iMac with a DIY Fusion Drive consisting of a 120 GB SSD and a 1 TB HDD.

Since Bootcamp can only be installed on the HDD I believe disk1 is the interesting one. Here is the output of sudo gpt -r -vv show disk1:

gpt show: disk1: mediasize=1000204886016; sectorsize=512; blocks=1953525168

gpt show: disk1: Suspicious MBR at sector 0

gpt show: disk1: Pri GPT at sector 1

gpt show: disk1: Sec GPT at sector 1953525167

start size index contents

0 1 MBR

1 1 Pri GPT header

2 32 Pri GPT table

34 6

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

409640 1709658208 2 GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

1710067848 1269536 3 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

1711337384 88

1711337472 242186240 4 GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

1953523712 1423

1953525135 32 Sec GPT table

1953525167 1 Sec GPT header

And the output of sudo fdisk /dev/disk1:

Disk: /dev/disk1 geometry: 121601/255/63 [1953525168 sectors]

Signature: 0xAA55

Starting Ending

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

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

1: EE 0 0 2 - 25 127 14 [ 1 - 409639] <Unknown ID>

2: AF 25 127 15 - 1023 254 63 [ 409640 - 1709658208] HFS+

*3: 07 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [1711337472 - 242186240] HPFS/QNX/AUX

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

Here is also the list of my disks:

/dev/disk0

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *120.0 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage 119.7 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 875.3 GB disk1s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk1s3

4: Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP 124.0 GB disk1s4

/dev/disk2

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: Apple_HFS FusionDrive *975.5 GB disk2

Logical Volume on disk0s2, disk1s2

FFA13FBC-2001-40B7-8BBB-BE6EECF8AC11

Unencrypted Fusion Drive

/dev/disk3

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GRMCPRXFRER_DE_DVD *3.2 GB disk3

I have gdisk installed and am ready to mess around. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

iMac (27-inch Mid 2010), Other OS

Posted on Sep 6, 2014 7:06 AM

41 replies

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

Sep 16, 2014 2:00 AM in response to Mazzerac

Mazzerac wrote:

Is Bootcamp not saving all the files properly on the USB drive??? (Or is your version of Bootcamp simply a different version than mine???)

I have two versions, W7 and W8.1. Let me rebuild the USB and try to post a listing. Windows disks do have tendency to be "unique" at times.

Sep 16, 2014 8:19 AM in response to Loner T

Okay, I got Windows installed on the MBP. Within the installation I could format the drive to NTFS like you said. I am now wondering if I could start the iMac in Target Disk Mode and format the drive from the MBP and then see if the iMac lets me boot from the DVD. Although I still think the problem is that the iMac refuses to boot from the external optical drive and not the partition being formatted a wrong way.

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

Sep 16, 2014 8:49 AM in response to jon.schneider

You need Windows to format the NTFS partition on the iMac. If you switch the iMac to Target disk mode, you may not be able to see the iMac drive in Windows on MBP while running Windows.

You may be able to see the drive on the OSX side, but OSX on the MBP cannot format a drive to NTFS, unless you use a third-party NTFS engine (like Paragon, Tuxera) which needs to support external disks which are visible in Target Disk mode from the iMac.

There is a Macports version of NTFS-3g (without a UI) that can be installed on the OSX side. It is free and can format the iMac volume to NTFS, but you will have to use a cli command.

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

Sep 16, 2014 9:52 AM in response to jon.schneider

Just ran a test.

1. Machine 1 - 15" rMBP 10.9.4/Bootcamp W7.

2. Machine 2 - 13" 2012 MBP 10.10/W8.1.

Machine 2 in Target Disk Mode.

1. Machine 1 running W7 connected to Machine 2 via TB-to-FW + FW800 cable. Machine 2 can ONLY see it's OSX partition, but not the TDM disk.

2. Machine 1 in OSX can see the TDM disk and the two partitions OSX and Bootcamp on Machine 2. But there is no format capability in OSX to change FAT to NTFS. 😟. You will need Machine 1 (your equivalent) to run a R/W NTFS driver (Tuxera, Paragon) AND it should support TDM.

Sep 16, 2014 12:39 PM in response to Loner T

Thank you, Loner T, for all your help. I gave up and bought WinClone. A few minutes later I had Windows running on the iMac as well.

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

Sep 16, 2014 12:46 PM in response to jon.schneider

Just for completeness, can you post the output of the four commands that we have used in this thread. It would help any future similar issues.

Sep 17, 2014 3:21 AM in response to Loner T

Of course, but this is now after cloning the Bootcamp partition from the MBP to the iMac:

Sequoia:~ Jon$ diskutil list

/dev/disk0

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *120.0 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage 119.7 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 849.3 GB disk1s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.1 MB disk1s3

4: Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP 150.0 GB disk1s4

/dev/disk2

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: Apple_HFS FusionDrive *963.2 GB disk2

Logical Volume on disk0s2, disk1s2

DEFBCEA5-F98B-490E-8B2C-7F1BFB40D910

Unencrypted Fusion Drive

Sequoia:~ Jon$ diskutil cs list

CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)

|

+-- Logical Volume Group 1147F128-BF4A-4BD1-A8AF-D8487B900DDB

=========================================================

Name: FusionDrive

Status: Online

Size: 969034940416 B (969.0 GB)

Free Space: 106496 B (106.5 KB)

|

+-< Physical Volume 6D7ABA69-1E4E-4005-8A99-803025EB2A4D

| ----------------------------------------------------

| Index: 0

| Disk: disk0s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 119690149888 B (119.7 GB)

|

+-< Physical Volume 11A5A95D-A9EF-4400-B20F-B7BFA113ACF7

| ----------------------------------------------------

| Index: 1

| Disk: disk1s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 849344790528 B (849.3 GB)

|

+-> Logical Volume Family 9103DD20-F790-407D-8A86-E22BEC91EFA6

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

Encryption Status: Unlocked

Encryption Type: None

Conversion Status: NoConversion

Conversion Direction: -none-

Has Encrypted Extents: No

Fully Secure: No

Passphrase Required: No

|

+-> Logical Volume DEFBCEA5-F98B-490E-8B2C-7F1BFB40D910

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

Disk: disk2

Status: Online

Size (Total): 963186655232 B (963.2 GB)

Conversion Progress: -none-

Revertible: No

LV Name: FusionDrive

Volume Name: FusionDrive

Content Hint: Apple_HFS

Sequoia:~ Jon$ sudo gpt -r -vv show disk1

Password:

gpt show: disk1: mediasize=1000204886016; sectorsize=512; blocks=1953525168

gpt show: disk1: Suspicious MBR at sector 0

gpt show: disk1: Pri GPT at sector 1

gpt show: disk1: Sec GPT at sector 1953525167

start size index contents

0 1 MBR

1 1 Pri GPT header

2 32 Pri GPT table

34 6

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

409640 1658876544 2 GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

1659286184 1269760 3 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

1660555944 1368

1660557312 292966400 4 GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

1953523712 1423

1953525135 32 Sec GPT table

1953525167 1 Sec GPT header

Sequoia:~ Jon$ sudo fdisk /dev/disk1

Disk: /dev/disk1 geometry: 121601/255/63 [1953525168 sectors]

Signature: 0xAA55

Starting Ending

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

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

1: EE 0 0 2 - 25 127 14 [ 1 - 409639] <Unknown ID>

2: AC 25 127 15 - 1023 200 59 [ 409640 - 1658876544] <Unknown ID>

3: AB 1023 200 60 - 1023 210 54 [1659286184 - 1269760] Darwin Boot

*4: 07 1023 232 37 - 1023 57 56 [1660557312 - 292966400] HPFS/QNX/AUX

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

Sep 17, 2014 3:30 AM in response to jon.schneider

Thanks for posting this. This is what I expected. Winclone saved you from fighting through installation issues, which is a bit easier. Glad to see it work. The MBR #2 has incorrect id, it should be 0x'AF', not 0x'AC', and should show up as HFS+. Leave it as is, because OSX does not need/use the MBR, but you should report this to TwoCanoes.

Did you consider putting the Windows installation on the SSD, rather than on the HDD?

Mazzerac

Level 1

5 points

Sep 17, 2014 5:31 PM in response to jon.schneider

Re jon.schneider's 3rd post on the first page): Exactly the same symptoms I'm experiencing.

Sep 17, 2014 11:28 PM in response to Loner T

No, I didn't. I didn't want to take away space on the SSD from OS X. And I thought Bootcamp could only be installed on the HDD when using a FusionDrive, so that was the plan all along. Now I just have to find a few more opportunities to use WinClone to make it worth the money.

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

Sep 18, 2014 5:14 AM in response to jon.schneider

Thanks, jon.schneider

I am planning to do a similar experiment, but put Windows on a part of the SSD. I think future issues of Windows boot ability will make good use of Winclone, and the ROI should be good. It is a new "toy" and the desire to use it often to learn more is a very natural instinct.

"No bootable device --- insert boot disk and press any key" after setting up Bootcamp