Install Bootcamp on Mac Mini late 2014 Yosemite Fails?

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Install Bootcamp on Mac Mini late 2014 Yosemite Fails?

Trying to install bootcamp with Win 8.1 pro on a Mac Mini (Late 2014) under Yosemite and get to the screen on Win 8 side which says 'Where do you want to install Windows?' and I choose the "Drive 0 Partition 4: BOOTCAMP" and the next button never becomes enabled.

There is a message saying "Windows can't be installed on drive 0 partition 4" and an addition message box which says "Windows cannot be installed to this hard disk space. Windows must be installed to a partition formatted as NTFS".

At this point I'm dead in the water -- cannot proceed.

Formatting the drive doesnt work and just screws up the whole process.

I've redone this quite a few times and end up in the same situation everytime.

I also tried with Win7 install I had but that failed completely and it never really proceeded after rebooting from Mac side.

Any ideas?

Is bootcamp busted on Yosemite? I dont easily have another machine I can try it on.

Is bootcamp busted on Mac Mini? Has anyone tried bootcamp on new late 2014 Mac Mini?

Thanks

James

Mac mini, OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Posted on Oct 30, 2014 3:45 PM

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Answer 1

jamessnives Author

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Oct 30, 2014 3:47 PM in response to jamessnives

Note sure why the image isnt showing in original message. Here is the image again...

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Answer 2

pposs

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Oct 31, 2014 6:23 AM in response to jamessnives

I have the same kind of issues. Takes an hours to prepare the USB drive and then fail at reboot. I don't even get to the screens you see. I've try tired three different 64 Windows 7 ISO's and one Windows 8. Probably tired ten time now. The last run I could recover back to OSX, ended up using a rescue disk.

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Answer 3

jamessnives Author

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Nov 2, 2014 2:46 PM in response to pposs

Thanks -- seems to be a mess -- I guess I'm just going to have to wait for an update and hope that fixes the issue.

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Answer 4

StevenAR

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Nov 2, 2014 7:02 PM in response to jamessnives

Hi,

You don't say what sort of drive you have. In particular if it's a fusion drive. I just ask because 837.2 GB for the Bootcamp partition seems rather large. There was at one time trouble with Bootcamp and 3TB fusion with Mavericks, though I think it was resolved.

Anyway, according to Apple's help (https://help.apple.com/bootcamp/mac/5.0/help/), I would have expected you to have mentioned clicking "Format" at the stage you show in the image.

Steve

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Answer 5

jamessnives Author

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Nov 2, 2014 7:11 PM in response to StevenAR

Hi Steve

Its not a fusion drive. The full spec is

2.6GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 (Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz)

16GB 1600MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM

1TB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm

Intel Iris Graphics

I wanted the size of the drive large as I'm going to use it for just a small amount of Mac work and a very large amount of Windows work.

I did actually click format during a number of the attempts I've tried. It generally formatted and left me no better advanced. Generally it would removed the word BOOTCAMP from the drive. I've even tried deleting the partition and reestablishing in -- that doesnt help either.

My latest attempt has seen that the whole bootcamp partitioning structure is truly busted. When I go back to the Mac and enter bootcamp assistant it says I cannot do anything now and tells me the partitions cannot be changed. Now I'm really not in a great position.

James

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Answer 6

phervas

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9 points

Nov 4, 2014 1:45 PM in response to jamessnives

I have an issue with a new Mac Mini 2014 when trying to install Windows 7. No matter what I try, I only get a black screen so I can't do anything. (Mac mini 2014, 256GB SSD, 8GB Ram, Core i5)

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Answer 7

jamessnives Author

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Nov 4, 2014 1:50 PM in response to phervas

Hi

We found the same thing. The process started but a reboot basically froze the whole process.

In the end I changed the O/S and tried with Win 8.1. That got as far as described above.

I subsequently read somewhere that apple might be dropping support for bootcamp for win7 but I'd have prefered Win7 as 8 is just a pain.

In any case neither seems to work.

Here's hoping they are busy fixing this cause its just useless right now

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Answer 8

phervas

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Nov 4, 2014 2:40 PM in response to jamessnives

I don't want to install Windows 8 either. The weird thing is a couple times it has shown the very first screen from the Windoes 7 install where you have to choose your keyboard language, but the Mac would be frozen and unresponsive. I have no idea why or how I have gotten there a couple times (after trying dozens of times).

* frustrated *

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Answer 9

pposs

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5 points

Nov 5, 2014 8:38 AM in response to phervas

I was able to install windows 7 after a lot of work. I ended up swapping the HHD with a SSD and loading mountain lion on it. I then had to edit the bootcamp file info.plist to allow for my windows 32/64 bit disk to work. in the end I ungraded to Yosemite and now I have a working Window 7 Ult 64 Bit and Yosemite. I spent days on this trying different things and suggestion. This is the only thing that worked for me.

The good news is I now have a fast Mini with SSD and the original HHD as a backup.

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Answer 10

phervas

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Nov 6, 2014 6:23 AM in response to pposs

I have now tried to install Windows 7 from CD, didn't work. Tried the USB install with the bootcamp App and didn't work. This morning tried with a Windows 8 CD and the same problem !! All I get is a black screen so I can't do anything. This is absurd. Bought 2 Mac Minis 2014 for work and I need the BootCamp partition for some tasks. They came with SSD HD so I can't swap disks or anything.

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Answer 11

Nov 6, 2014 6:48 AM in response to jamessnives

What you have to do is click on Drive 0 partition 4 the click format accept the warning when it has finished click back on that partition (the name will have changed Boot camp no longer mentioned in name) i will well should then install. Having installed windows from boot camp manny times this is what has to happen. Apple however fails to mention this small but important essential step anywhere Good luck with you instalation

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