m_CD
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Q: issue: bootcamp - windows 8 - fusion drive


Hi

 

I have an iMac 3.4GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 with 1TB Fusion drive since early January this year. I have added 2 extra 4Gb of memory bringing it to 4x4.

I installed Windows 8 without any issue back then but it crashed recently and it was impossible to start it up so I decided to remove the partition and re-install it.

 

However, after 15 days and 15 hours spent on the phone with senior advisers, I am still stuck. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

Here are the steps I followed:

  1. create an iso image in Documents using Windows 8 dvd.
  2. create a partition using bootcamp (350Gb) plugging in a 1TB external hard drive
  3. Once in Windows set-up, I choose 'Drive 1 Partition 4 BOOTCAMP'. As expected, it can't go further as 'Windows must be installed to a partition formatted as NTFS'
  4. Instead of clicking 'Format' (which won't work), I press shift+F10 and end up in a terminal.
  5. Type DISKPART>list disk>select disk 1>list partition>select partition 4> format fs=NTFS label 'Windows8'  (I tried using the option 'quick' as well)
  6. Back to windows setup, I hit 'refresh'. The first time I tried it was saying 'We couldn't create a new partition or locate an existing one. For more information, see the Setup log files'. The second and subsequent times I tried I got 'Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is of GPT partition style'
  7. Back to OS X and Disk Utility, I can see 2 parttions in Internal Drive>Partition: MacintoshHD and Windows8 which is a 350Gb partition of format 'Windows NT File System (NTFS)'

 

Questions:

  1. Any idea what is going on? The partition seems to be in the correct format (NTFS)!
  2. If GPT style partition is not the right partition style, what style should it be and how do I convert it into it?
  3. Is it an issue related to Fusion? There are many discussions out there around this issue but haven't found anything that worked for me. It seems Windows expect an MBR style partition but Fusion provides an hybrid MBR/EFI partition, No idea what it means so I am just repeting what I read.
  4. It also seems that having my external usb drive plugged in doesn't help. However, how can I unplug it while I am using it to install windows?

 

Thanks a lot for your help.

iMac, null

Posted on Feb 27, 2015 2:11 AM

by Loner T,Solvedanswer
Loner T Loner T
Level 7 (24,738 points)
Safari
A:

Excellent.

 

The USB3 external HD causes BCA problems. This is where it failed with proper partitioning (missing MBR). The GPT Fdisk recreated the Hybrid MBR, as the Windows GPT entry already existed (BCA should not have done this step either, but it uses asynchronous dm callbacks, leaving the setup in a mixed state).

 

 

The SMC and PRAM reset is done to tell the Mac to remove any entries that are incomplete. Here is an entry for the completed BC installation

nvram -p | grep -i bootcamp

BootCampHD %02%01%0c%00%d0A%03%0a%00%00%00%00%01%01%06%00%02%1f%03%12%0a%00%00%00%00%00%00 %00%7f%ff%04%00

The Apple Bootmanager interprets this string-value and has data that it can use.

 

The NTFS-to-FAT change was done to tell BCA that the partition was ready for use. 0x07 (aka NTFS) is the final state. The NVRAM and this MBR entry are used by BCA.

Posted on Mar 3, 2015 3:15 PM

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Q: issue: bootcamp - windows 8 - fusion drive

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  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Mar 3, 2015 3:09 AM in response to m_CD
    Level 7 (24,738 points)
    Safari
    Mar 3, 2015 3:09 AM in response to m_CD

    m_CD wrote:

     

    How do I change that? By re-running the commands in the above picture, doing the following?

     

    1. sudo gdisk /dev/disk1
    2. P
    3. R
    4. H
    5. 2 3 4
    6. Y
    7. af af05
    8. N
    9. ab00
    10. N
    11. 0c
    12. Y
    13. p
    14. W
    15. Y

    Reboot

     

    I'll post a screenshot (if it appears again ) when I get home.

     

    Thanks

    Updated version.

  • by m_CD,

    m_CD m_CD Mar 3, 2015 10:34 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 3, 2015 10:34 AM in response to Loner T

    Hi Loner T

    So I tried exactly as you said (at least, I think so) and got:

     

    Last login: Tue Mar  3 18:07:39 on ttys000

    charles-pc:~ Charles$ sudo gdisk /dev/disk1

    GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 0.8.10

     

    Warning: Devices opened with shared lock will not have their

    partition table automatically reloaded!

    Partition table scan:

      MBR: hybrid

      BSD: not present

      APM: not present

      GPT: present

     

    Found valid GPT with hybrid MBR; using GPT.

     

    Command (? for help): P

    Disk /dev/disk1: 1953525168 sectors, 931.5 GiB

    Logical sector size: 512 bytes

    Disk identifier (GUID): 00009009-148E-477E-8A0E-4F581BB1031D

    Partition table holds up to 128 entries

    First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 1953525134

    Partitions will be aligned on 8-sector boundaries

    Total free space is 2573 sectors (1.3 MiB)

     

    Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name

       1              40          409639   200.0 MiB   EF00  EFI System Partition

       2          409640      1248195463   595.0 GiB   AF05  Internal Drive

       3      1248195464      1249465223   620.0 MiB   AB00  Recovery HD

       4      1249466368      1953523711   335.7 GiB   0700  BOOTCAMP

     

    Command (? for help): R

     

    Recovery/transformation command (? for help): H

     

    WARNING! Hybrid MBRs are flaky and dangerous! If you decide not to use one,

    just hit the Enter key at the below prompt and your MBR partition table will

    be untouched.

     

    Type from one to three GPT partition numbers, separated by spaces, to be

    added to the hybrid MBR, in sequence: 2 3 4

    Place EFI GPT (0xEE) partition first in MBR (good for GRUB)? (Y/N): Y

     

    Creating entry for GPT partition #2 (MBR partition #2)

    Enter an MBR hex code (default AF): af05

    Set the bootable flag? (Y/N): N

     

    Creating entry for GPT partition #3 (MBR partition #3)

    Enter an MBR hex code (default AB): ab00

    Set the bootable flag? (Y/N): N

     

    Creating entry for GPT partition #4 (MBR partition #4)

    Enter an MBR hex code (default 07): 0c

    Set the bootable flag? (Y/N): Y

     

    Recovery/transformation command (? for help): P

    Disk /dev/disk1: 1953525168 sectors, 931.5 GiB

    Logical sector size: 512 bytes

    Disk identifier (GUID): 00009009-148E-477E-8A0E-4F581BB1031D

    Partition table holds up to 128 entries

    First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 1953525134

    Partitions will be aligned on 8-sector boundaries

    Total free space is 2573 sectors (1.3 MiB)

     

    Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name

       1              40          409639   200.0 MiB   EF00  EFI System Partition

       2          409640      1248195463   595.0 GiB   AF05  Internal Drive

       3      1248195464      1249465223   620.0 MiB   AB00  Recovery HD

       4      1249466368      1953523711   335.7 GiB   0700  BOOTCAMP

     

    Recovery/transformation command (? for help): W

     

    Final checks complete. About to write GPT data. THIS WILL OVERWRITE EXISTING

    PARTITIONS!!

     

    Do you want to proceed? (Y/N): Y

    OK; writing new GUID partition table (GPT) to /dev/disk1.

    Warning: Devices opened with shared lock will not have their

    partition table automatically reloaded!

    Warning: The kernel may continue to use old or deleted partitions.

    You should reboot or remove the drive.

    The operation has completed successfully.

    charles-pc:~ Charles$

     

    Then I switched the computer off, started again and hold 'option'. I then selected the windows boot (not EFI).

    Ended up in the windows set up as usual and got the same error. Please see below. I hit 'format' (while I checked in Disk Utility before-hand and the partition is of format NTFS). The same error appeared.

    FullSizeRender.jpg

    Shouldn't it be a 'Primary' rather than a 'System' ?

     

    Anticipating your question (maybe), here is what I get when I run the usual command lines:

     

    Last login: Tue Mar  3 18:20:20 on console

    charles-pc:~ Charles$ 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                         638.9 GB   disk1s2

       3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.1 MB   disk1s3

       4:       Microsoft Basic Data                         360.5 GB   disk1s4

    /dev/disk2

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           *754.0 GB   disk2

                                     Logical Volume on disk0s2, disk1s2

                                     5AF6F133-EDD1-4A59-98D9-6398F79F408D

                                     Unencrypted Fusion Drive

    /dev/disk3

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *15.6 GB    disk3

       1:                 DOS_FAT_32 WININSTALL              15.6 GB    disk3s1

    charles-pc:~ Charles$ sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk1

    Password:

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: mediasize=1000204886016; sectorsize=512; blocks=1953525168

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: Suspicious MBR at sector 0

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: Pri GPT at sector 1

    gpt show: /dev/disk1: Sec GPT at sector 1953525167

           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  1247785824      2  GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      1248195464     1269760      3  GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

      1249465224        1144        

      1249466368   704057344      4  GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

      1953523712        1423        

      1953525135          32         Sec GPT table

      1953525167           1         Sec GPT header

    charles-pc:~ Charles$ sudo fdisk /dev/disk1

    Disk: /dev/disk1 geometry: 121601/255/63 [1953525168 sectors]

    Signature: 0xAA55

             Starting       Ending

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

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

    1: EE    0   0   2 -   25 127  14 [         1 -     409639] <Unknown ID>

    2: AF   25 127  15 - 1023 254  63 [    409640 - 1247785824] HFS+       

    3: AB 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [1248195464 -    1269760] Darwin Boot

    *4: 07 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [1249466368 -  704057344] HPFS/QNX/AUX

    charles-pc:~ Charles$ sudo dd if=/dev/rdisk1s4 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 58 79 4a  |........?....XyJ|

    00000020  00 00 00 00 80 00 80 00  ff 0f f7 29 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  66 aa 81 e0 e1 81 e0 b4  |........f.......|

    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

    charles-pc:~ Charles$

     

    Any idea what could be wrong? Is 'Suspicious MBR at sector 0' expected?

    Thank you!!

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Mar 3, 2015 11:39 AM in response to m_CD
    Level 7 (24,738 points)
    Safari
    Mar 3, 2015 11:39 AM in response to m_CD

    You have entered the following information...

    Creating entry for GPT partition #4 (MBR partition #4)

    Enter an MBR hex code (default 07): 0c

    Set the bootable flag? (Y/N): Y

    yet you end up with

    *4: 07 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [1249466368 -  704057344] HPFS/QNX/AUX

     

    Can you run a SMC Reset and PRAM reset?

     

    Also, instead of using Option key, can you use BCA and choose only the last option 'Install...' and test?

  • by m_CD,

    m_CD m_CD Mar 3, 2015 12:01 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 3, 2015 12:01 PM in response to Loner T

    In which order shall I do these?

     

    If I go to BCA now, the last option is 'Remove Windows 7 or later version'

     

    Could you please confirm:

     

    SMC RESET

     

    • Shut down the computer.
    • Unplug the computer's power cord from both the wall and computer.
    • Wait 15 seconds.
    • Attach the computers power cable.
    • Wait another 5 seconds and press the power button to turn on the computer.

    PRAM RESET

    • Shut down the computer.
    • Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
    • Turn on the computer.
    • Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
    • Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
    • Release the keys.

     

    Thanks

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Mar 3, 2015 12:04 PM in response to m_CD
    Level 7 (24,738 points)
    Safari
    Mar 3, 2015 12:04 PM in response to m_CD

    1. SMC Reset

    2. PRAM Reset

  • by m_CD,

    m_CD m_CD Mar 3, 2015 12:17 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 3, 2015 12:17 PM in response to Loner T

    done!

     

    I still see 'Remove Windows 7 or later version' as the last option of BCA.


    What should I do? Try booting from 'Windows' or should I do something else (like removing the partition and start everything from scratch using gpt etc.)?

     

    Thanks a lot for your help ... it goes far beyond 'much appreciated'

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Mar 3, 2015 12:25 PM in response to m_CD
    Level 7 (24,738 points)
    Safari
    Mar 3, 2015 12:25 PM in response to m_CD

    Before you start all over again, try the following steps. These change the MBR to be FAT rather than NTFS. Ignore the i386 boot warning.

     

    sudo fdisk -e /dev/disk0

    p

    setpid 4

    0C

    p

    w

    y

     

    Reboto and test.

  • by m_CD,

    m_CD m_CD Mar 3, 2015 12:32 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 3, 2015 12:32 PM in response to Loner T

    disk1 you meant?

     

    test by booting to 'windows'?

     

    sorry for all these questions ... I am so used to mess this computer up ...

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Mar 3, 2015 12:41 PM in response to m_CD
    Level 7 (24,738 points)
    Safari
    Mar 3, 2015 12:41 PM in response to m_CD

    Yes, disk1, not disk0.

    Test booting both OSX and Windows.

  • by m_CD,

    m_CD m_CD Mar 3, 2015 12:43 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 3, 2015 12:43 PM in response to Loner T

    Trying now ... I didn't hit 'format' and it went through! Installation has started, I hope it won't fail.

    I'll keep you posted!

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Mar 3, 2015 12:45 PM in response to m_CD
    Level 7 (24,738 points)
    Safari
    Mar 3, 2015 12:45 PM in response to m_CD

    Very nice.

  • by m_CD,

    m_CD m_CD Mar 3, 2015 3:02 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 3, 2015 3:02 PM in response to Loner T

    It worked! I managed to boot into windows and do some stuffs so I can quite safely say at the issue is solved!

     

    Thanks a lot! I am amazed by your responsiveness and kindness.

     

    Bottom line, what was the issue? I will surely contact Apple support so that the next person getting this issue won't spend 2 weeks trying to solve it.

     

    If I understood correctly (maybe what I am saying doesn't make any sense):

    - I used a USB3 external hard drive instead of USB2 flash drive

    - Bootcamp failed to create an MBR partition

    - we forced the creation of such a partition by using GPT FDisk

    - we reset the SMC and PRAM (but I am not sure why)

    - then we change the format to FAT as the NTFS partition wasn't recognised

  • by Loner T,Solvedanswer

    Loner T Loner T Mar 3, 2015 3:15 PM in response to m_CD
    Level 7 (24,738 points)
    Safari
    Mar 3, 2015 3:15 PM in response to m_CD

    Excellent.

     

    The USB3 external HD causes BCA problems. This is where it failed with proper partitioning (missing MBR). The GPT Fdisk recreated the Hybrid MBR, as the Windows GPT entry already existed (BCA should not have done this step either, but it uses asynchronous dm callbacks, leaving the setup in a mixed state).

     

     

    The SMC and PRAM reset is done to tell the Mac to remove any entries that are incomplete. Here is an entry for the completed BC installation

    nvram -p | grep -i bootcamp

    BootCampHD %02%01%0c%00%d0A%03%0a%00%00%00%00%01%01%06%00%02%1f%03%12%0a%00%00%00%00%00%00 %00%7f%ff%04%00

    The Apple Bootmanager interprets this string-value and has data that it can use.

     

    The NTFS-to-FAT change was done to tell BCA that the partition was ready for use. 0x07 (aka NTFS) is the final state. The NVRAM and this MBR entry are used by BCA.

  • by TomK21,

    TomK21 TomK21 Jul 19, 2015 7:42 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 19, 2015 7:42 PM in response to Loner T

    First and foremost, Loner, your voluntary support here has been nothing short of phenomenal.  My problem mirrors almost exactly between this and another bootcamp thread you were heavily involved in:  Bootcamp worked great for a while, had to erase for whatever reason, second time through, run into the dreaded "we couldn't create a new partition or locate an existing one"

     

    I've finally built up the courage to download gdisk and try my hand at your solution.  One question before getting started (I realize this is an old thread) -- whenever, in my troubleshooting, I've needed to reboot to try installing again, and have held "alt/option" and selected the "Windows" usb option ... i get a blank screen -- the only way out of this appears to be hitting Esc a few times (which reboots the machine) or force-hard-booting the machine myself (this happens as well if i select the EFI boot option).

     

    I'm fearful after trying your gdisk commands and having to boot, i will run into this issue.  I will report back if that is the case, but have decided to write here in case this is a familiar problem that you may know a way around.

     

    Thank you for all your efforts in this!  I have a late 2014 Mac mini 2TB fusion drive.  Had Win 10 flawlessly installed via bootcamp for weeks, wanted to run an updated build & so wiped my current bootcamp and the problems began.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jul 19, 2015 7:54 PM in response to TomK21
    Level 7 (24,738 points)
    Safari
    Jul 19, 2015 7:54 PM in response to TomK21

    1. May I suggest a new thread to avoid confusion between older solved discussions and a new problem. It avoids future confusion. Find answers and ask new questions should help in starting a new discussion.

    2. Please post the output of the following Terminal commands on the new discussion..

     

    diskutil list

    diskutil cs list

    sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

    sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

    sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk1

    sudo fdisk /dev/disk1

     

    The "sudo" commands will prompt for your password, and it will not be echoed back. You may also see a warning about improper use of "sudo" and potential data loss due to "abuse" of the command.

     

    3. Please disconnect any external storage USB/FW/TB.

    4. Please use a USB2 flash drive, because the current Windows installers do not have a USB3 driver.

    5. If you have any USB hubs, you should disconnect them, prior to installation. You can connect them after the BC drivers are fully installed.

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