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
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.
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.
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".
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.
#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!
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
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!
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
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
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).
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.
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.
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
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.
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]
Looks good. Can you see the Bootcamp volume in the OSX Finder?
When you boot from the USB, it should bring up the installer and then you can select the Bootcamp volume (Disk0:4 Bootcamp).
Please post back if you see any errors.
Error: "We couldn't create a new partition or locate and existing one" installing Windows 8.1 via Bootcamp
