Bootcamp failed - I want to get rid of it. But, how?

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Level 1

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Bootcamp failed - I want to get rid of it. But, how?

Hi Folks,

I tried installing Bootcamp with Windows 7. The whole installation seemed hinky and following Apple's instructions left me stranded with nothing working. After trying some hacks I found on the internet, I finally got Windows 7 installation to start, but it told me the Bootcamp partition was not NTFS, so Windows couldn't be installed. I'm tired and just want to kick bootcamp to the curb and return the Bootcamp partition to Mac OS - a Windows capable laptop is cheap these days, so I'll just pick one up. Are there any reliable instructions on how to remove Bootcamp and recover the disk space?

I've got two Mac pros, a Mac Mini, an iPad, plus an iPod Touch, and a bunch of other apple accessories, however, Apple wants to charge me $29 to fix this crap over the phone. As a matter of principle, I'm not paying to get help fixing what their flaky software did. And, the Genius Bar is no longer available for software help. So, any help or a link to help would be great.

Thanks,

Rob

Posted on May 2, 2015 3:16 PM

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Answer 1

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robbehr Author

Level 1

4 points

May 2, 2015 3:52 PM in response to robbehr

Well, I used Boot Camp Assistant to successfully remove the Windows 7 partition and return the space to Mac OS. I know some people get Boot Camp to work, but there seem to be too many hacks and tricks needed to get things to show up in the boot menu or to get Windows to actually install. I've been hacking at this for hours and simply ran in a big circle made up of smaller circles - I'm back where I was, which is fine. In the past, I've used Parallels and Fusion, but they also have issues. I thought Boot Camp would be simple, straight-forward, and reliable, Oh, well...

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Answer 2

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

May 2, 2015 4:22 PM in response to robbehr

I finally got Windows 7 installation to start, but it told me the Bootcamp partition was not NTFS, so Windows couldn't be installed.

This is expected behavior. OSX cannot create an NTFS partition, so it creates a FAT partition, which is meant to be formatted as documented in

https://help.apple.com/bootcamp/mac/5.0/help/#/bcmp173b3bf2 .

I would highly recommend following How to install Windows using Boot Camp - Apple Support along with the previous link.

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Answer 3

robbehr Author

Level 1

4 points

May 2, 2015 5:03 PM in response to Loner T

Thanks! I was following the procedure you linked, but it stopped flat and returned to the OS 10 desktop. To start with, I bought a fresh USB drive and formatted it as FAT with no problem. However, when I tried the Windows install, I saw no format option for the disk partition on the internal drive - I looked, but saw nothing that would allow me to format the "bootcamp" partition - it was there with no way to format it. In any case, I'm worn out with trying and one wasted Saturday is enough. Again, thanks for your response. I appreciate your time and effort in responding.

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Answer 4

robbehr Author

Level 1

4 points

May 2, 2015 5:10 PM in response to Loner T

Just out of curiosity, does something during the installation convert or reformat the partition to NTFS, or is WIndows supposed to be installed to a FAT32 partition and be left that way?

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Answer 5

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

May 2, 2015 5:16 PM in response to robbehr

Once the Windows installer starts, you will see (this is from an older OS X version which has no recovery HD). You will either see Advanced Options or Format directly (varies by Windows versions).

At this point you select the Format or Advanced Options, as appropriate and you should see this screen. On this screen, you select the BOOTCAMP partition (nothing else) and click on Format. Once Format is complete, you click on Next and continue. Do not select New under any circumstances.