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Level 1

5 points

"Non-system disk Press any key to reboot"- Trying to install Win 7 on Mac Mini

Hello. I'm trying to install Windows 7 on a new-model Mac Mini ('Late 2012'), which I just bought from Apple. [Specs: 1 TB Fusion drive, 2.6 GHz intel Core i7, 16 GB RAM, OS X Mavericks (latest), Graphics: Intel HD graphics 4000, Screen: LG Flatron 24"].

After following instructions on Bootcamp, I tried installing it through my external USB Apple Superdrive (DVD), but for some reason as soon as the system finishes getting things ready and reboots to begin installing Windows 7, I get a black screen with an error message as follows: "No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key". Pressing the keys on my keyboard does nothing (even though it's a wired model, not a wireless one.) I'm forced to do a hard shutdown using the power button and hold down the Option key in order to get the system to show the Mac HD where OS X is. It also shows the Windows DVD as another option, but when I select it and the system boots, I just get the same error message again. So I go back to a hard shutdown and reboot to go into OS X again.

Not sure what to do, I did some online research and in one post in the Frequently Asked Questions for Bootcamp, it says for installing Win 7 and Win 8, the computer won't work with external USB drives (*totally nuts in my opinion - Apple has to fix this stuff if they want to entice Windows users into buying their sleek, quiet hardware). Instead, the post recommends creating a Windows 7 ISO file from my Windows 7 DVD and putting it on a USB thumbdrive that Bootcamp is going to use to put all the Apple/Windows drivers on for the installation process. I'm also told I have to unplug my Superdrive (no explanation given for why). So I do all this and get Bootcamp Assistant running again. Unfortunately, as soon as the system reboots after going through all the usual preparation steps, I get another black screen with a new error message: "Non-system disk Press any key to reboot". So I'm at a loss for what to do next.

(I've also have an iMac that I bought more than a year ago that I also put Windows 7 on, with no problems that time. Go figure.)

If anyone here has an good answer for how to proceed, I need to know. Thanks in advance!

Mac mini (Late 2012), OS X Mavericks (10.9.4)

Posted on Sep 14, 2014 11:20 PM

84 replies

Mazzerac Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 17, 2014 10:32 PM in response to Mazzerac

(20 min later)

Windows 7 successfully installed, and the Apple-supplied Windows drivers installed successfully too. Wireless trackpad works along with the wired peripherals (though the trackpad only started working at the very end).

Thanks for all your tireless help, Loner T! It looks like one of your suggestions (I'm not sure which one yet, heh) made the difference. Whether it was the change of USB drive or a fresh Win7 ISO or the change of USB port or a combination of these, it finally worked, and thanks!

Loner T

Level 9

59,477 points

Sep 18, 2014 4:24 AM in response to Mazzerac

Thanks for posting back. Congratulations on a job well done!

It is the USB drive. I have used a 16GB Sandisk Cruzer for all my Bootcamp installs. It has a 100% track record on machines that support ISO+USB method.

Other brands like PNY, NONAME, Lexar have caused problems. There is a log of the Windows Installer. Since you have a successful installation, it may have been over-written and the failed stuff may be gone (or the partitions being rebuilt may also have caused them to be lost). If you can, remove personal information from these two logs, zip them, and put them in dropbox or similar service. It would help figuring out why it gave you issues earlier.

From the OS X side, in the Bootcamp volume, you can see the Windows Installer log. Please check if you can.

1. cd /Volumes/BOOTCAMP/Windows/Panther

2. Look at setupact.log and setuperr.log

Mazzerac Author

Level 1

5 points

Sep 19, 2014 1:29 AM in response to Loner T

Looking at the location you specified, there are no such files there (not in 'Panther' anyway). Instead, I found them in the main Bootcamp/Windows folder.

When I use Terminal to access setupact.log, there's so much stuff in the Messages section it would take days to go through it all. I'm assuming you're interested in stuff over the last few days when I've been trying to install Windows 7, but even so I'm not sure where all the relevant parts are. Then there's other stuff like the Diagnostic and Usage Messages, System Diagnostic reports, with too many more log files listed there as well. I've never used any of this sort of stuff and I'm no coder so a lot of it is Greek to me, sorry.

When I looked at the other file, setuperr.log, it's basically the kind of thing. It doesn't help that I've since been installing some Windows 7 software over the past day so all that's included in the mess of all the logs as well.

Interestingly enough, the logs show breaks where the computer was booted each time, shown by a grayed line with the term 'bootleg: BOOT_TIME"...

There are also some interesting lines in places like:

sessionlogoutd: DEAD_PROCESS: 99 console

loginwindow: ERROR | -[APPLICATION HARDKILL:] ...

com.apple.kextd: Error reconsidering volume /Volumes/WININSTALL

come.apple.kextd: Error reconsidering volume /Volumes/BOOTCAMP

This is just before the next boot where the install of Windows finally works, I think.

To do the logs in a more expansive way, I would need to save a relevant excerpt and put it in a MediaFire link or something. I suppose I could record one or two of the previous failed Win7 install attempts using the boot breaks as a convenient time-guide. I'll have to look at it when I have some time.

Loner T

Level 9

59,477 points

Sep 19, 2014 4:37 AM in response to Mazzerac

The log directory was changed between W7 and W8. One option, instead of you sifting through it, is to compress them via zip/gzip, and putting them in a free Dropbox (2GB limit) folder and post a link here. Once I have them downloaded, I can let you know to delete them.

nicimini

Level 1

0 points

Jan 20, 2015 11:04 AM in response to Mazzerac

i too have had a lengthy and frustrating time trying to install windows 7 on my mac mini and am encouraged to hear you've cracked it. bravo!

to summarize your final routine that worked, are the essential steps as follows.

buy 16 gb sandisk (i've been using two 8gb sandisks, neither did the job)

make iso file from windows cd in optical drive plugged into mac mini (i made mine in my old imac, both on windows xp side and mac os side)

unplug drive

run bootcamp as normal.

if you get the chance to reply i'd be very grateful

Loner T

Level 9

59,477 points

Jan 20, 2015 11:11 AM in response to nicimini

Make sure your USB flash drives are USB2, not USB3, and there are no hubs between the USB and the Mac. The ISO, when created using a 16x burn, is prone to errors, so a 2x/4x burn may be a better option for creating the physical DVD. Mini's without an Optical drive can use an Apple SuperDrive.

nicimini

Level 1

0 points

Jan 20, 2015 1:00 PM in response to Loner T

thank you so much for the quick reply. i just got back from going out to get a 16gb stick..... before seeing your post... and got a usb 3. shop's now closed so i'll give it whirl anyway and most likely go get another one in the morning.

Loner T

Level 9

59,477 points

Jan 20, 2015 1:02 PM in response to nicimini

I have had 100% success with a USB2 SanDisk Cruzer USB stick. 😉

nicimini

Level 1

0 points

Jan 20, 2015 1:11 PM in response to Loner T

i've got two 8gb sandisk cruzer usb2. do you think it be worth trying one of those again? all my previous failed attempts have used those sticks and there always seems to be plenty of space left on them, and the iso file itself is only 3.2gb. what would it be about usb3 that the mini or w7 wouldn't like? (just curious)

Loner T

Level 9

59,477 points

Jan 20, 2015 1:17 PM in response to nicimini

A 8GB USB2 should also work. Plug it in directly in the back of the Mini. Do not use any hubs. Use a USB2 Keyboard/Mouse, if available, BT can be unreliable.

W7 has no USB3 drivers and hence does not work.

What year is your Mini?

nicimini

Level 1

0 points

Jan 20, 2015 1:43 PM in response to Loner T

2014. it's no 2. took the first one into a genius bar as suggested by apple support. they said it was "unusually formatted?" and swapped it for another. they seemed unable to do anything with it. will try the 8gb stick. the 16gb usb3 has been been loading the iso for well over 2 hours now and appears stuck at about 60% of the way through. will pull the plug and try a smaller one.

Loner T

Level 9

59,477 points

Jan 20, 2015 2:16 PM in response to nicimini

It is a pain now to get BC Driver software from Apple servers, which did not have such issues till last year.

"Unusually formatted" is probably Apple-speak for gibberish. 😁. Do you have a Fusion drive in the Mini?

You can post the output of the following commands from OS X Terminal before you start formatting for recording purposes. (Enter your password for the "sudo" commands).

diskutil list

diskutil cs list

sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

tarouf

Level 1

0 points

Jan 20, 2015 2:32 PM in response to Loner T

Hi Loner,

I saw many of your post about partition and boot camp.

May you have a look here ? Your help will be grateful

2 days new MBP / Partition error & Filevault freeze

THx a lot

nicimini

Level 1

0 points

Jan 21, 2015 12:27 AM in response to Loner T

the 8gb stick took ages to load. left it overnight. tried it this morning and it booted to black screen. had to remove stick and zap pram to get yosemite to boot.

here's the terminal results

Last login: Wed Jan 21 08:09:20 on console

minic:~ minic$ diskutil list

/dev/disk0

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *121.3 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage 121.0 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 331.3 GB disk1s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk1s3

4: Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP 668.0 GB disk1s4

/dev/disk2

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD *446.5 GB disk2

Logical Volume on disk0s2, disk1s2

06674975-87B3-47F4-A77F-D778AC0AE116

Unencrypted Fusion Drive

minic:~ minic$ diskutil cs list

CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)

+-- Logical Volume Group E5679389-004F-483A-9EA6-A817BDF88F4B

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

Name: Macintosh HD

Status: Online

Size: 452333920256 B (452.3 GB)

Free Space: 114688 B (114.7 KB)

+-< Physical Volume BA168C26-2BAA-4F04-90B9-8CDCE4D22456

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

| Index: 0

| Disk: disk0s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 120988852224 B (121.0 GB)

+-< Physical Volume 5E890DC7-BF52-4FB3-982E-C04886278E63

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

| Index: 1

| Disk: disk1s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 331345068032 B (331.3 GB)

+-> Logical Volume Family 42582462-B030-4CC2-977A-16DC40BA8069

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

Encryption Status: Unlocked

Encryption Type: None

Conversion Status: NoConversion

Conversion Direction: -none-

Has Encrypted Extents: No

Fully Secure: No

Passphrase Required: No

+-> Logical Volume 06674975-87B3-47F4-A77F-D778AC0AE116

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

Disk: disk2

Status: Online

Size (Total): 446478548992 B (446.5 GB)

Conversion Progress: -none-

Revertible: No

LV Name: Macintosh HD

Volume Name: Macintosh HD

Content Hint: Apple_HFS

minic:~ minic$ sudo gpt -w -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: illegal option -- w

usage: gpt [-rv] [-p nparts] command [options] device ...

minic:~ minic$ sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

Disk: /dev/disk0 geometry: 14751/255/63 [236978176 sectors]

Signature: 0xAA55

Starting Ending

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

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

1: EE 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [ 1 - 236978175] <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

minic:~ minic$

you are very patient, thanks.

Loner T

Level 9

59,477 points

Jan 21, 2015 3:46 AM in response to nicimini

BCA did not create a Hybrid MBR on the 1TB Fusion drive (that is what you have a - 120GB SSD/1TB HDD in a fusion setup).

Please post the output of sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk1.

"Non-system disk Press any key to reboot"- Trying to install Win 7 on Mac Mini