JoeShmoe99

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 Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Sep 12, 2014 5:19 PM in response to JoeShmoe99
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    Sep 12, 2014 5:19 PM in response to JoeShmoe99

    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.

  • by JoeShmoe99,

    JoeShmoe99 JoeShmoe99 Sep 12, 2014 11:35 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 12, 2014 11:35 PM in response to Loner T

    i can't see it in the finder but i can see it in disk utility. it shows up in the windows install but when i try to click next i get the original error.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Sep 13, 2014 5:11 AM in response to JoeShmoe99
    Level 7 (24,800 points)
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    Sep 13, 2014 5:11 AM in response to JoeShmoe99

    Are you using an EFI boot selection? BA seems to do the partitioning correctly. What year is the MBA?

     

    1. Using BA delete Bootcamp partition.

    2. Remove all peripherals except the USB stick.

    3. Recreate the USB, start W8.1 installation.

    4. Let it reboot (the last attempt at interruption can cause problems).

    5. Post a screen shot/image of the screen before you get the error. (You may have to use a camera/iPhone/iPod/iPad to take a photo. Please remove any personal information as you see fit).

  • by JoeShmoe99,

    JoeShmoe99 JoeShmoe99 Sep 13, 2014 7:04 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 13, 2014 7:04 PM in response to Loner T

    No EFI. Mid 2011 MBA.

     

    photo 1.JPGphoto 2.JPG

    After Format:

    photo 3.JPG

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Sep 13, 2014 8:08 PM in response to JoeShmoe99
    Level 7 (24,800 points)
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    Sep 13, 2014 8:08 PM in response to JoeShmoe99

    With the Disk0:4 Bootcamp highlighted, if you click on Format, does it let you format it? If yes, after formatting, do you still see the same error? If not, click on Next.

  • by JoeShmoe99,

    JoeShmoe99 JoeShmoe99 Sep 15, 2014 12:17 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 15, 2014 12:17 AM in response to Loner T

    Yes. The last picture is after I formatted it. The error comes when I try to click next. Going around in circles now!

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Sep 15, 2014 4:39 AM in response to JoeShmoe99
    Level 7 (24,800 points)
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    Sep 15, 2014 4:39 AM in response to JoeShmoe99

    Can you run the dd command, since the installation was retried? It should still return the "R.NTFS" for the rdisk0s4.

     

    Can you post the output of the four commands (diskutil, gpt, fdisk, dd) as text?

  • by JoeShmoe99,

    JoeShmoe99 JoeShmoe99 Sep 15, 2014 4:54 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 15, 2014 4:54 AM in response to Loner T

    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 Untitled                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/disk0

     

    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: /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  41 2f 63 b8 49 63 b8 8e  |........A/c.Ic..|

    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 52 11 16  68 09 00 66 53 66 53 66  |h...hR..h..fSfSf|

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

    00000110  0a 13 b9 f6 0c fc f3 aa  e9 fe 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 a1 f6 01 e8 09 00  |...u...fa.......|

    00000170  a1 fa 01 e8 03 00 f4 eb  fd 8b f0 ac 3c 00 74 09  |............<.t.|

    00000180  b4 0e bb 07 00 cd 10 eb  f2 c3 0d 0a 41 20 64 69  |............A di|

    00000190  73 6b 20 72 65 61 64 20  65 72 72 6f 72 20 6f 63  |sk read error oc|

    000001a0  63 75 72 72 65 64 00 0d  0a 42 4f 4f 54 4d 47 52  |curred...BOOTMGR|

    000001b0  20 69 73 20 63 6f 6d 70  72 65 73 73 65 64 00 0d  | is compressed..|

    000001c0  0a 50 72 65 73 73 20 43  74 72 6c 2b 41 6c 74 2b  |.Press Ctrl+Alt+|

    000001d0  44 65 6c 20 74 6f 20 72  65 73 74 61 72 74 0d 0a  |Del to restart..|

    000001e0  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00  |................|

    000001f0  00 00 00 00 00 00 8a 01  a7 01 bf 01 00 00 55 aa  |..............U.|

    00000200

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Sep 15, 2014 5:11 AM in response to JoeShmoe99
    Level 7 (24,800 points)
    Safari
    Sep 15, 2014 5:11 AM in response to JoeShmoe99

    Your Macintosh HD is called "untitled", which is bit strange, otherwise it looks good. The NTFS header also is correct.

     

    What Mac year/model do you have (your signature says MBA)?

  • by JoeShmoe99,

    JoeShmoe99 JoeShmoe99 Sep 18, 2014 9:02 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 18, 2014 9:02 AM in response to Loner T

    I took it to the Genius Bar today and they told me it was a Windows problem and sent me over to the Microsoft store. Then I spent an hour and a half at the Microsoft store while they tried to get it working then they told me they thought something was wrong with the SSD. Back at the Genius Bar they ran all kinds of tests on it and couldn't find anything wrong. The Microsoft store offered to take it in and do it for me for $50 but I said no. However I still can't figure it out so I might just take it back to them.

     

    It's a mid 2011 13" Macbook Air with factory upgrades

    256gb SSD

    4gb RAM

    1.8ghz i7

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Sep 18, 2014 9:17 AM in response to JoeShmoe99
    Level 7 (24,800 points)
    Safari
    Sep 18, 2014 9:17 AM in response to JoeShmoe99

    There is nothing wrong with your SSD, since it creates the Bootcamp partition and the MBR looks correct.

     

    Apart from the USB and the MBA, do you have any other disks connected during the installation?

  • by JoeShmoe99,

    JoeShmoe99 JoeShmoe99 Sep 18, 2014 7:37 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 18, 2014 7:37 PM in response to Loner T

    No it's the only disk. Maybe is there a way to install it over a network connection?

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Sep 18, 2014 8:20 PM in response to JoeShmoe99
    Level 7 (24,800 points)
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    Sep 18, 2014 8:20 PM in response to JoeShmoe99

    If you can execute a TM backup, then re-install OS X and restore, and then try to partition and install Windows.

  • by JoeShmoe99,

    JoeShmoe99 JoeShmoe99 Sep 18, 2014 8:25 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 18, 2014 8:25 PM in response to Loner T

    I've tried this with no luck :/

     

    On Thursday, September 18, 2014, Apple Support Communities Updates <

  • by JoeShmoe99,

    JoeShmoe99 JoeShmoe99 Sep 18, 2014 8:30 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 18, 2014 8:30 PM in response to Loner T

    I tried this a couple times already :/

     

    I just tried installing rEFInd and installing Windows through that and when I try to format the partition this way I get the message "Windows might need to create additional partitions.." and then it does. When I select the largest partition I still get the same error (We couldn't create an additional partition or locate an existing one)

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