JoeShmoe99
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Q: Error: "We couldn't create a new partition or locate and existing one" installing Windows 8.1 via Bootcamp

This error comes up when selecting a partition to Install Windows on. The partition is formatted NTFS.

 

Apple support said it might be because there are other USB devices plugged in but I get the same error even if the only USB is the Windows Install. Any other possible solutions?

 

Thanks,

JoeShmoe

MacBook Air, OS X Mavericks (10.9.4), Boot Camp 5.1.2

Posted on Sep 10, 2014 2:04 AM

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Q: Error: "We couldn't create a new partition or locate and existing one" installing Windows 8.1 via Bootcamp

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  • by BobTheFisherman,

    BobTheFisherman BobTheFisherman Sep 10, 2014 3:04 PM in response to JoeShmoe99
    Level 6 (15,654 points)
    Sep 10, 2014 3:04 PM in response to JoeShmoe99

    Read and follow the Boot Camp instructions located here: http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/

     

    You can not install Windows onto an already formatted drive. You have to follow the Boot Camp instructions.

  • by JoeShmoe99,

    JoeShmoe99 JoeShmoe99 Sep 10, 2014 4:29 PM in response to BobTheFisherman
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 10, 2014 4:29 PM in response to BobTheFisherman

    Thanks for the reply!

     

    Trying to install on the BootCamp-created partition tells me the partition isn't NTFS. I then try to format it with the Windows disk utility tool (which appears successful) but when I click Next I get the other error "We couldn't create a new partition or locate an existing one".

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Sep 10, 2014 5:09 PM in response to JoeShmoe99
    Level 7 (24,738 points)
    Safari
    Sep 10, 2014 5:09 PM in response to JoeShmoe99

    Can you post the output of the following OS X Terminal commands?

     

    1. diskutil list

    2. sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/<BootcampDisk> (where <BootcampDisk> should be replaced with disk0, disk1, disk2, based on the output from 1.)

    3. sudo fdisk dev/<BootcampDisk> (where <BootcampDisk> should be replaced with disk0, disk1, disk2, based on the output from 1.)

    4. If the disk has been formatted to NTFS already then the following command in addition to the first three

          sudo dd=if /dev/r[<BootcampDisk>] count=1 2>/dev/null | hexdump -C

    This disk here is named disk0s4, disk0s3, etc. Please notice the "r" in front of the disk which is using the raw disk and the specific slice on which bootcamp is installed.

  • by JoeShmoe99,

    JoeShmoe99 JoeShmoe99 Sep 10, 2014 11:07 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 10, 2014 11:07 PM in response to Loner T

    #Thank you for your help! Here they are but I think I might be doing #2 and #3 incorrectly:

     

    diskutil list

    /dev/disk0

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *251.0 GB   disk0

       1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1

       2:                  Apple_HFS ssd                     180.1 GB   disk0s2

       3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3

       4:       Microsoft Basic Data                         70.0 GB    disk0s4

     

    sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk4

     

    WARNING: Improper use of the sudo command could lead to data loss

    or the deletion of important system files. Please double-check your

    typing when using sudo. Type "man sudo" for more information.

     

    To proceed, enter your password, or type Ctrl-C to abort.

     

    Password:

    gpt show: unable to open device '/dev/disk4': No such file or directory

     

    sudo fdisk dev/disk4

    fdisk: dev/disk4: No such file or directory

     

    ##Am I doing 2 and 3 wrong?

    ##This one seemed to work cause it didn't give any response. I Checked that it was NTFS in the GUI Disk Utility

     

    sudo dd=if /dev/rdisk0s4 count=1 2>/dev/null | hexdump -C

     

    #Thanks, Chris!

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Sep 11, 2014 4:39 AM in response to JoeShmoe99
    Level 7 (24,738 points)
    Safari
    Sep 11, 2014 4:39 AM in response to JoeShmoe99

    Please try these again...

     

    2. sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

    3. sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

    4. I typed this incorrectly. . It should be sudo dd if=/dev/r[<BootcampDisk>] count=1 2>/dev/null | hexdump -C

  • by JoeShmoe99,

    JoeShmoe99 JoeShmoe99 Sep 11, 2014 5:14 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 11, 2014 5:14 AM in response to Loner T

    sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

    Password:

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=251000193024; sectorsize=512; blocks=490234752

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: Suspicious MBR at sector 0

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: Pri GPT at sector 1

    gpt show: /dev/disk0: Sec GPT at sector 490234751

          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  351836784      2  GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      352246424    1269536      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      353515960       1608       

      353517568  136716288      4  GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

      490233856        863       

      490234719         32         Sec GPT table

      490234751          1         Sec GPT header

     

    sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

    Disk: /dev/disk0    geometry: 30515/255/63 [490234752 sectors]

    Signature: 0xAA55

             Starting       Ending

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

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

    1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 -     409639] <Unknown ID>

    2: AF 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [    409640 -  351836784] HFS+      

    3: AB 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 352246424 -    1269536] Darwin Boot

    4: 07 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 353517568 -  136716288] HPFS/QNX/AUX

     

    sudo dd if=/dev/rdisk0s4 count=1 2>/dev/null | hexdump -C

    00000000  eb 52 90 4e 54 46 53 20  20 20 20 00 02 08 00 00  |.R.NTFS    .....|

    00000010  00 00 00 00 00 f8 00 00  3f 00 ff 00 00 40 12 15  |........?....@..|

    00000020  00 00 00 00 80 00 80 00  ff 1f 26 08 00 00 00 00  |..........&.....|

    00000030  00 00 0c 00 00 00 00 00  02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|

    00000040  f6 00 00 00 01 00 00 00  b9 4c 5e 52 60 5e 52 4e  |.........L^R`^RN|

    00000050  00 00 00 00 fa 33 c0 8e  d0 bc 00 7c fb 68 c0 07  |.....3.....|.h..|

    00000060  1f 1e 68 66 00 cb 88 16  0e 00 66 81 3e 03 00 4e  |..hf......f.>..N|

    00000070  54 46 53 75 15 b4 41 bb  aa 55 cd 13 72 0c 81 fb  |TFSu..A..U..r...|

    00000080  55 aa 75 06 f7 c1 01 00  75 03 e9 dd 00 1e 83 ec  |U.u.....u.......|

    00000090  18 68 1a 00 b4 48 8a 16  0e 00 8b f4 16 1f cd 13  |.h...H..........|

    000000a0  9f 83 c4 18 9e 58 1f 72  e1 3b 06 0b 00 75 db a3  |.....X.r.;...u..|

    000000b0  0f 00 c1 2e 0f 00 04 1e  5a 33 db b9 00 20 2b c8  |........Z3... +.|

    000000c0  66 ff 06 11 00 03 16 0f  00 8e c2 ff 06 16 00 e8  |f...............|

    000000d0  4b 00 2b c8 77 ef b8 00  bb cd 1a 66 23 c0 75 2d  |K.+.w......f#.u-|

    000000e0  66 81 fb 54 43 50 41 75  24 81 f9 02 01 72 1e 16  |f..TCPAu$....r..|

    000000f0  68 07 bb 16 68 70 0e 16  68 09 00 66 53 66 53 66  |h...hp..h..fSfSf|

    00000100  55 16 16 16 68 b8 01 66  61 0e 07 cd 1a 33 c0 bf  |U...h..fa....3..|

    00000110  28 10 b9 d8 0f fc f3 aa  e9 5f 01 90 90 66 60 1e  |(........_...f`.|

    00000120  06 66 a1 11 00 66 03 06  1c 00 1e 66 68 00 00 00  |.f...f.....fh...|

    00000130  00 66 50 06 53 68 01 00  68 10 00 b4 42 8a 16 0e  |.fP.Sh..h...B...|

    00000140  00 16 1f 8b f4 cd 13 66  59 5b 5a 66 59 66 59 1f  |.......fY[ZfYfY.|

    00000150  0f 82 16 00 66 ff 06 11  00 03 16 0f 00 8e c2 ff  |....f...........|

    00000160  0e 16 00 75 bc 07 1f 66  61 c3 a0 f8 01 e8 09 00  |...u...fa.......|

    00000170  a0 fb 01 e8 03 00 f4 eb  fd b4 01 8b f0 ac 3c 00  |..............<.|

    00000180  74 09 b4 0e bb 07 00 cd  10 eb f2 c3 0d 0a 41 20  |t.............A |

    00000190  64 69 73 6b 20 72 65 61  64 20 65 72 72 6f 72 20  |disk read error |

    000001a0  6f 63 63 75 72 72 65 64  00 0d 0a 42 4f 4f 54 4d  |occurred...BOOTM|

    000001b0  47 52 20 69 73 20 6d 69  73 73 69 6e 67 00 0d 0a  |GR is missing...|

    000001c0  42 4f 4f 54 4d 47 52 20  69 73 20 63 6f 6d 70 72  |BOOTMGR is compr|

    000001d0  65 73 73 65 64 00 0d 0a  50 72 65 73 73 20 43 74  |essed...Press Ct|

    000001e0  72 6c 2b 41 6c 74 2b 44  65 6c 20 74 6f 20 72 65  |rl+Alt+Del to re|

    000001f0  73 74 61 72 74 0d 0a 00  8c a9 be d6 00 00 55 aa  |start.........U.|

    00000200

     

    Thanks for your help!

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Sep 11, 2014 5:34 AM in response to JoeShmoe99
    Level 7 (24,738 points)
    Safari
    Sep 11, 2014 5:34 AM in response to JoeShmoe99

    The only difference that I have seen between what you have and pre-Windows installation Bootcamp partition is the id value of 0x'07'. It usually is 0x'0B' or 0x'0C'.

     

    The value can be edited as follows (please ensure you have OSX backups and a Recovery mechanism).

     

    sudo fdisk -e /dev/disk0

    setpid 4

    0C

    p

    w

    y

  • by JoeShmoe99,

    JoeShmoe99 JoeShmoe99 Sep 11, 2014 4:52 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 11, 2014 4:52 PM in response to Loner T

    did this work correcly?

     

     

     

    sudo fdisk -e /dev/disk0

     

    Password:

     

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

     

    Enter 'help' for information

     

     

     

    fdisk: 1> setpid 4

     

             Starting       Ending

     

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

     

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

     

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

     

    Partition id ('0' to disable)  [0 - FF]: [0] (? for help) 0C

     

    fdisk:*1> p

     

    Disk: /dev/disk0    geometry: 30515/255/63 [490234752 sectors]

     

    Offset: 0    Signature: 0xAA55

     

             Starting       Ending

     

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

     

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

     

    1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 -  490234751] <Unknown ID>

     

    2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused     

     

    3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused     

     

    4: 0C    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] Win95 FAT32L

     

    fdisk:*1> w

     

    Device could not be accessed exclusively.

     

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

     

    Writing MBR at offset 0.


    did this work correcly?

     

     

     

    sudo fdisk -e /dev/disk0

     

    Password:

     

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

     

    Enter 'help' for information

     

     

     

    fdisk: 1> setpid 4

     

             Starting       Ending

     

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

     

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

     

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

     

    Partition id ('0' to disable)  [0 - FF]: [0] (? for help) 0C

     

    fdisk:*1> p

     

    Disk: /dev/disk0    geometry: 30515/255/63 [490234752 sectors]

     

    Offset: 0    Signature: 0xAA55

     

             Starting       Ending

     

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

     

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

     

    1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 -  490234751] <Unknown ID>

     

    2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused     

     

    3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused     

     

    4: 0C    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] Win95 FAT32L

     

    fdisk:*1> w

     

    Device could not be accessed exclusively.

     

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

     

    Writing MBR at offset 0.

     

    i tried installing windows again after this still same problem

    thanks again,

    joeshmoe99

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Sep 11, 2014 6:18 PM in response to JoeShmoe99
    Level 7 (24,738 points)
    Safari
    Sep 11, 2014 6:18 PM in response to JoeShmoe99

    If you notice, there were four entries in your fdisk output, but now you are missing #2 and #3, so 4 is not very useful. Was the Bootcamp Assistant used to delete the Windows partition, which would have converted the entire disk to a 0x'EE' (and the size in GPT and MBR is the same as 490234752).

  • by JoeShmoe99,

    JoeShmoe99 JoeShmoe99 Sep 11, 2014 6:46 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 11, 2014 6:46 PM in response to Loner T

    This is beyond me haha I don't know what it all means. I've used Bootcamp Assistant to remove and recreate the Windows partition many times in all my attempts to get it working.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Sep 11, 2014 7:25 PM in response to JoeShmoe99
    Level 7 (24,738 points)
    Safari
    Sep 11, 2014 7:25 PM in response to JoeShmoe99

    This is what I suggest. Remove all external peripherals except keyboard, mouse. If you are using a USB and an ISO to install Windows, then USB is the only additional peripheral.

     

    1. Using Bootcamp Assistant, If the choice to remove Windows is available, click and enable, and remove. Run sudo disk /dev/disk0 and ensure a single entry of type 0x'EE' exists, everything else is zeroes.

     

    2. Using bootcamp assistant download drivers, partition disk. Run sudo disk /dev/disk0 and ensure there are 4 entries. The last one will be will be DOS/Win95/Windows.

     

    3. After partitioning completes, It will reboot and start the Windows installer. If screen goes black with a hanging cursor in the top left corner and does not proceed further after waiting for a reasonable time (say a minute or two), post back here.

     

    4. If the Installer starts, pick the Bootcamp partition, format to NTFS as necessary, and continue the Windows installation. If you get an error about partitions, please post back here. Also, please post the output of sudo fdisk /dev/disk0.

  • by JoeShmoe99,

    JoeShmoe99 JoeShmoe99 Sep 11, 2014 8:20 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 11, 2014 8:20 PM in response to Loner T

    Disk was a single partition before start.

    Before running bootcamp, got this:

     

    sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

    Password:

    Disk: /dev/disk0    geometry: 30515/255/63 [490234752 sectors]

    Signature: 0xAA55

             Starting       Ending

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

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

    1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 -  490234751] <Unknown ID>

    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

     

    After boot camp formats the drive it auto restarts so I interrupted the mac boot with the Option key and chose to boot back into OSX to check the fdisk; this is what I got:

     

    sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

    Password:

    Disk: /dev/disk0    geometry: 30515/255/63 [490234752 sectors]

    Signature: 0xAA55

             Starting       Ending

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

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

    1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 -     409639] <Unknown ID>

    2: AF 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [    409640 -  351836784] HFS+       

    3: AB 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 352246424 -    1269536] Darwin Boot

    4: 0B 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 353517568 -  136716288] Win95 FAT-32

     

    Restarted again. Mac boots right into Windows install. Windows first complains that the partition is not NTFS so I format it. Then trying to click next I get the original error "We couldn't create a new partition or locate an existing one". Then I tried many combinations of Refreshing, Deleting, Formatting and switching the Windows USB stick around to different ports with no success.

     

    Now the current fdisk is this:

     

    sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

    Disk: /dev/disk0    geometry: 30515/255/63 [490234752 sectors]

    Signature: 0xAA55

             Starting       Ending

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

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

    1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 -     409639] <Unknown ID>

    2: AF 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [    409640 -  351836784] HFS+       

    3: AB 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 352246424 -    1269536] Darwin Boot

    4: 07 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 353517568 -  136714240] HPFS/QNX/AUX

     

    Oy Vey!

     

    Thanks,

    Joe

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Sep 12, 2014 8:43 AM in response to JoeShmoe99
    Level 7 (24,738 points)
    Safari
    Sep 12, 2014 8:43 AM in response to JoeShmoe99

    The MBR looks good. To make it bootable,

     

    sudo fdisk -e /dev/disk0

    setpid 4

    07

    flag 4

    p

    w

    y

     

    Now reboot with the DVD in the Optical drive, hold the Alt key and choose the Windows partition from the internal disk (not the Optical drive). Do you get a prompt to prompt "Press any key to boot from CD/DVD..." . If yes, press the space bar and check if the Windows installer starts. If it does, choose the NTFS partition and install Windows.

     

    If you see any error messages or the NTFS partition is not available, post back here.

  • by JoeShmoe99,

    JoeShmoe99 JoeShmoe99 Sep 12, 2014 4:49 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 12, 2014 4:49 PM in response to Loner T

    I think it didn't work there was no option to boot from the internal partition, only the Windows USB (Windows is on a USB drive not an optical drive in case that matters).

     

    sudo fdisk -e /dev/disk0

    Password:

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

    Enter 'help' for information

    fdisk: 1> setpid 4

             Starting       Ending

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

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

    4: 07 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 353517568 -  136714240] HPFS/QNX/AUX

    Partition id ('0' to disable)  [0 - FF]: [7] (? for help) 07

    fdisk: 1> flag 4

    Partition 4 marked active.

    fdisk:*1> p

    Disk: /dev/disk0    geometry: 30515/255/63 [490234752 sectors]

    Offset: 0    Signature: 0xAA55

             Starting       Ending

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

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

    1: EE 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         1 -     409639] <Unknown ID>

    2: AF 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [    409640 -  351836784] HFS+       

    3: AB 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 352246424 -    1269536] Darwin Boot

    *4: 07 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [ 353517568 -  136714240] HPFS/QNX/AUX

    fdisk:*1> w

    Device could not be accessed exclusively.

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

    Writing MBR at offset 0.

    fdisk: 1>

      [Restored]

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