User profile for user: Renaud DERRIEN
Renaud DERRIEN Author
User level: Level 1
2 points

el capitan's boot camp assistant unable to install windows 10

My config : a new macbook air 11" (MacBook Air 7,2) preloaded with OS X Yosemite (10.9.x), soon updated to El Capitan "GM" then El Capitan (15A284).

Problem : unable to install Windows 10 due to numerous bugs and problems.


The new "Boot Camp Assistant" of OS X El Capitan offer to prepare a somewhat nice temporary Windows 10 installation partitions (OSX RESERVED?) to streamline the windows 10 installation. But it doesn't work! When Windows 10 installer starts it claims "a missing driver is needed to continue", driver that is nowhere to be found. (as I read elsewhere on the net, it happens that the SSD driver found in the last Bootcamp ESD is at fault).


The problem is :

- I can't install WIN10 as is recommended by Apple

- I can't easily or "legitimately" alter the "OS X RESERVED" partition before windows 10 installation (the time is short between end of download and reboot).

- This "OS X RESERVED" partition is erased automatically (which were nice if win10 install had worked) AND "BootCamp Assistant" restart all the process each time (ssd partition - win10 iso lookup and file copy - download drivers…) - It take roughly 30min each time (this download is oddly sssloooow).


AND - I can't create a USB drive which would work for sure!


(PS - Since I downloaded 2 times the Win10 iso directly from Microsoft, I haven't a single doubt of this file integrity).


My question : who else encounter this problem? And is there a known solution?

MacBook Air, OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Oct 3, 2015 9:29 AM

Reply
Question marked as ⚠️ Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: Loner T
Loner T
User level: Level 9
59,526 points

Posted on Oct 3, 2015 4:18 PM

Renaud DERRIEN wrote:


For the user who replied (and later pulled his/her reply) :

It cannot be a windows10 download error since the SHA1 of the file match! (Okay for this release it is rather hard to find official SHA1 number but if I suffered from download errors it would be surprising to find the same SHA hash for other users...

Can you post which edition of W10 you downloaded and its MD5 and SHA1? I can download the same and verify if we get the same download. Why is Microsoft not willing to publish MD5/SHA1 on the software download website is rather bizarre .


lesson 1 : apparently "Bootcamp assistant" should make an USB Thumbdrive (or the fact that apple let install windows 10 without it is not known everywhere).

From Use Windows 10 on your Mac with Boot Camp - Apple Support, The following is an in-place upgrade set of instructions (steps 4-7).


Upgrading from 64-bit versions of Windows

You can upgrade existing 64-bit installations of Windows 7, or 8.1 to Windows 10. You need at least 10 GB of free space on your Windows partition. If you have Windows 8.0, update to Windows 8.1 before upgrading to Windows 10.

  1. Use the list at the end of this article to make sure you have a Mac that supports Windows 10.
  2. Start your Mac from OS X.
  3. When your Mac desktop appears, choose App Store from the Apple menu. Click the Updates tab in the App Store window to check for software updates. Make sure OS X and your Mac firmware are up to date.
  4. Start your Mac from the version of Windows you currently have installed.
  5. Open Apple Software Update for Windows and install available updates, including the FaceTime Camera Update.
  6. Use the Windows installer to upgrade Windows.
  7. After installation is complete, open Apple Software Update for Windows again and install available updates to make sure the Windows Support Software (drivers) for Boot Camp are up to date. As part of driver installation, your Mac might restart one or more times.

After driver installation is complete, log in to Windows to begin using Windows 10 on your Mac.


lesson 2 : it could be a problem with CoreStorage.

No. Please see Re: Windows 10 upgrade fail 80073B92-20009 Fusion Drive iMac .


And I read somewhere It could be a problem with the way the SSD drive is connected to the mainboard : for TWO models (macbook12" and macbookair11") apple discarded classic SATA for a more modern nvme (non volatile memory express), a flavor of PCI-Express.

Somewhere in the process windows "forget" where it has stored the boot drive (which contains installation files and drivers) - probably because windows install mount a some point boot.wim as a base for windows installation (in the process it somehow forget where this boot.wim came from...

Is this not a Windows Installer issue?

View in context
29 replies
Sort By: 
User profile for user: Renaud DERRIEN
Renaud DERRIEN Author
User level: Level 1
2 points

Oct 16, 2015 2:49 PM in response to Loner T

An update after some time (and a long chat with an Apple support tech + a long and rather angry talk with two Applecare techs... + some pics sent to an Apple Engineer).


The problem doesn't directly come from the Win10 iso (I checked a number of time).

It come from some flaw in the new BCA process : the Win10 installation partition made by the BCA (OSXRESERVED - disk0s3 - temporary and erased at the following restart of El Capitan) is unable to properly function (somehow the AppleSSD is at some point not loaded correctly by the Win10 installer- You must give a proper driver from a external drive during the installation process - in my experience the driver found in the WindowsSupport.dmg worked).

It is funny that the windows installer lose the ability to read from the SSD drive when it booted from it.

It is unclear if the OSXRESERVED partition was made to be copied on a USB drive at some point (It didn't fully worked for me : I had to start from the internal drive (disk0) and load a driver from an external drive (disk1)

So it's not very clear if the responsibility is from MS (broken installer) or Apple (broken driver or partition scheme or else?).


But I find much more problematic that the "new BCA behavior" is not well documented on the website AND at Applecare. The news that BCA doesn't require an USB thumb drive anymore surfaced on a number of websites... But it appears to be not very well known by Apple technicians themselves. The lower Apple techs I talk to denied it (but a manager sort of admitted it after a while).

I had to SHOW them via VNC that the BCA never created an USB drive (even if I plugged one before or during the process...) nor give me the option to do it manually. The process was automatic from start to finish (Partition > Copy windows10.iso files in a hidden OSXRESERVED partition > Download drivers> Copy Drivers > Restart )... As a matter of fact they made me send some screenshots to document the problem...


You say that manually creating a partition with Disk Utility AND use of WindowsSupport.dmg drivers is the official method. But in fact it is not. I also had to show to the Apple technician the Windows10 installation pages on the apple website.

for a fresh install of Win10 on a fresh installed El Capitan :

- they encourage to download an iso directly from microsoft (the person I talked sort of denied it - ah ah ah)

- they encourage to use BCA.

- on the english pages they say "you may be required to use a USB flash drive" / on the french one they say "you'l have to use a USB flash drive". (apparently the french speaking technicians are prompted to follow outdated manuals just because it's not yet translated...)

Reply
User profile for user: Fredrik Averpil
Fredrik Averpil
User level: Level 1
7 points

Nov 4, 2015 1:31 AM in response to cumhuryalcin

I've got the same issue. I'm getting the "media driver missing" when attempting to install Windows 10 64-bit on my Macbook Air 11" (early-2015) using Boot Camp Assistant.


I suspect this problem stems from the PCIe SSD which sits in the early-2015 Macbook Air machines.

Reply
User profile for user: Fredrik Averpil
Fredrik Averpil
User level: Level 1
7 points

Nov 4, 2015 4:17 AM in response to Fredrik Averpil

Ok, solved it. Perhaps we were having different issues but here's what I did...


On my Macbook Air 11" (early-2015) I can download the drivers from the Boot Camp Assistant's file menu and then copy the drivers onto an USB stick. When installing Windows 10 through the Boot Camp Assistant, I get a message about some "media driver missing", and I can manually choose to search the WindowsSupport/$WinPEDriver$/AppleSSD64 folder on the USB stick. This causes the installation to proceed and I'm now running Windows 10 on my Macbook Air 11" (early-2015).

Reply
User profile for user: mbayt
mbayt
User level: Level 1
0 points

Nov 9, 2015 10:28 AM in response to Fredrik Averpil

Hi Fredrik,

I'm really close to getting Windows 10 to work on my Macbook Air 11" (early-2015 with el Capitan). I tried to do what you have suggested, but every time I try to access the USB stick during the installation process to manually install drivers it either wants me to format the USB or it does not let me access it even though it shows up as on option on the branch for manual selection. Do you have any suggestions on how to fix this? Also, did you download the drivers from the Action tab (on the Apple bar - near top left of the screen) in Bootcamp Assistant?

Thank you,

mbayt

Reply
User profile for user: WojtasWWW
WojtasWWW
User level: Level 1
4 points

Apr 1, 2016 10:31 AM in response to cumhuryalcin

Hi,


Could write here exact names and location of catalogues you've moved to USB Stick (and what was deleted there) ?

I've tried few combination but I failed - nor BCA couldn't find installation disk with W10 after the procedure nor later during install of W10 it couldn't find the driver...


Wojtek

Reply

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

el capitan's boot camp assistant unable to install windows 10

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.
Learn more Sign up