"We couldn't create a new partition or locate an existing one. Form more information, see setup log files"

Ok so back in August 2014 I succuesfully used bootcamp to install Windows 10 Tech preview. It worked great until March of this year when Windows issued an update (Which I had no control over). After this update the R9 4GB graphics card driver stopped working. I contacted Apple/AMD/Microsoft but was unable to fix this problem.

So, I uninstalled Windows 10 through bootcamp and restored the drive to a single partition. I purchased windows 8.1 and downloaded Windows Enterprise edition (as this comes as an ISO file) and started the process again with Bootcamp. Everything works great until I get to the installation of windows.

I did the same as last time (formatted the Bootcamp partition) and tried to continue the installation. I now get the following message:

I have tried a complete reinstall of the system twice (back to factory settings) but still the same issue. I have also tried using Windows 10 Tech preview but still the same issue. (I only have my remote drive with the ISO file connected to the mac and have tried with a USB stick)

Any ideas would be much appreciated! Thanks

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014), iOS 8.3, Core I7 - 16GB RAM - AMD R9 M295X

Posted on Apr 30, 2015 2:58 AM

53 replies

May 5, 2015 6:31 AM in response to Jeremy@Creative

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/564376040

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

May 5, 2015 7:05 AM in response to Jeremy@Creative

Are you allowed to click on Format and click Next? I assume there is no other storage except the internal disk and the USB.

May 5, 2015 8:33 AM in response to Loner T

It allows me to click on and run format but when i click on the formatted partition (Originally called BOOTCAMP) and click next to install, I get the above error message. Its not a USB, I use a 500GB external HDD but same difference.

Sure Ive mentioned this in previous posts but I successfully used BOOTCAMP September of last year to install Windows Tech preview 10 and it worked great until Microsoft brought out an updated build in March that stopped the graphics card from being supported.

It just doesn't make sense to me that if it worked last time around and Ive completly reinstalled the system that it hasn't worked since. No hardware changes, nothing!

I still have an open case with Apple engineers who still (3 weeks later) haven't come up with a solution.

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

May 5, 2015 9:04 AM in response to Jeremy@Creative

Jeremy@Creative wrote:

Its not a USB, I use a 500GB external HDD but same difference.

This makes a significant difference to your problem. Can you replace this with a 8+ GB USB2.0 Flash disk and test again? Do not use a USB3 device, because there are no USB3 drivers on Windows installation media. The hardware on Macs will support both USB2 and USB3 devices, but until and unless BC drivers are installed, USB3 devices will not work.

May 5, 2015 9:17 AM in response to Loner T

I don't have one but I can get one. I will report back once I've tried this (Need to buy one online as presumably all the stores will stock is USB 3. Great, Il give that a go...

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

May 5, 2015 9:23 AM in response to Jeremy@Creative

I have had 100% success with http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=san disk+usb2.0+flash+drive&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Asandisk+usb2.0+flash+drive.

May 5, 2015 9:45 AM in response to Loner T

Great, thank you . Il report back....

May 7, 2015 5:54 AM in response to Jeremy@Creative

OK so I received my Sandisk 16GB USB 2 today. Started the process again with great optimism! Unfortunately, back to square 1;

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

May 7, 2015 6:09 AM in response to Jeremy@Creative

Why is there a 460GB+ Wininstall? The Wininstall should be on the USB2 - 16GB Sandisk. Remove all other external storage and peripherals except KVM and USB2.

May 7, 2015 7:15 AM in response to Loner T

Sorry, that was just the original picture I posted. There was only the USB2 drive attached

May 7, 2015 7:16 AM in response to Jeremy@Creative

The Wininstall was on the USB 2 drive

May 7, 2015 7:22 AM in response to Jeremy@Creative

I just got the same error message as above but using the USB 2 drive (No extra storage devices attached)

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

May 7, 2015 9:17 AM in response to Jeremy@Creative

1. Can you post a screen shot of the error when using the USB2?

2. Can you post the output of

sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk1

sudo fdisk /dev/disk1

May 7, 2015 11:20 AM in response to Loner T

OK so screenshot:

Output; (Before uninstalling Windows via BOOTCAMP)

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

gpt show: /dev/disk1: PMBR 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 PMBR

1 1 Pri GPT header

2 32 Pri GPT table

34 6

40 409600 1 GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B

409640 1364973632 2 GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

1365383272 1269536 3 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

1366652808 120

1366652928 586870784 4 GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

1953523712 1423

1953525135 32 Sec GPT table

1953525167 1 Sec GPT header

Jeremys-iMac:~ jeremygaster$ 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 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [ 1 - 1953525167] <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

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

May 7, 2015 11:40 AM in response to Jeremy@Creative

1. Just curious, if you scroll down, in that window, what are the entries you see.

2. You have a MS Data entry (GPT4), but no Hybrid MBR. Do you want to try and create one and try the installation again?

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"We couldn't create a new partition or locate an existing one. Form more information, see setup log files"