Ackmo

Q: Avoiding BC Problems When Upgrading OS X?

Greetings,

 

I am currently running Mavericks with a Windows 7 Boot Camp partition.  I'd like to upgrade to El Capitan (skipping Yosemite) but I have seen many, way too many, threads and posts where folks' Windows partitions end up corrupted by the upgrade.  I don't think I've ever seen a thread where someone said, "Well, the upgrade went fine for me..."

 

Is the Boot Camp corruption issue that common?  Or are most folks able to upgrade a Boot Camp-ed system to Yosemite or El Capitan without any problems and any corruption is actually a rare occurrence?

 

Fortunately there are some here who are able to assist when/if things go bad. (Help us Loner T Kenobi! You're our only hope!) But are there any steps one can take to avoid, or at least minimize, the corruption risk?  I do have backups of both my Mac and Windows partitions.

 

Thanx!

iMac (27-inch, Late 2012), OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Dec 14, 2015 7:30 PM

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Q: Avoiding BC Problems When Upgrading OS X?

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  • by Loner T,Solvedanswer

    Loner T Loner T Dec 14, 2015 7:46 PM in response to Ackmo
    Level 7 (24,115 points)
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    Dec 14, 2015 7:46 PM in response to Ackmo

    1. If you have resized/repartitioned your disk after Windows was installed, in most cases, you will run into issues and end up with Testdisk and GPT Fdisk to fix issues.

    2. W7 to W10 upgrade has driver challenges. It can cause some devices to not work properly. A clean install of W10, once the upgrade is possible, as your Mac hardware is registered with Microsoft to allow repeated installations.

    3. W7 should be activated prior to the W10 upgrade. The upgrade is much easier if using an in-place upgrade the first time, without any BCA involvement.

    4. Create a Windows 7 System Restore point before starting the upgrade. You have 30 days to go back to W7.

    5. If you have added disk(s), by replacing optical drives, it will cause failures.

    6. Ensure that your specific Mac model is on the list of Macs in Use Windows 10 on your Mac with Boot Camp - Apple Support (the late 2012 iMac in your signature line is supported). You are a step ahead with backups. A clone of your disk is also helpful, to recover from extreme failures, if they do occur.

    7. If you can, install OS X on an external disk, if it becomes necessary to boot your Mac from an external boot disk (How to install OS X on an external drive connected to your Mac - Apple Support ).

    8. Run the following two steps before you start the upgrade for safety.

         Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) on your Mac - Apple Support

         How to Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

  • by Ackmo,

    Ackmo Ackmo Dec 15, 2015 1:45 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Dec 15, 2015 1:45 PM in response to Loner T

    Thanks for the suggestions!  Fortunately, I haven't modified my Windows partition so I should be good there.  Also, I am only upgrading OS X right now.  Although I will probably upgrade to Windows 10 eventually, I will very likely have a new Mac by then and will re-install boot camp from scratch.

     

    Anyway, I'll give the OS X upgrade a shot and hopefully be able to say, "Well, the upgrade went fine for me..."

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Dec 15, 2015 3:28 PM in response to Ackmo
    Level 7 (24,115 points)
    Safari
    Dec 15, 2015 3:28 PM in response to Ackmo

    Please post back if you run into any issues.

  • by Ackmo,

    Ackmo Ackmo Dec 15, 2015 7:41 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Dec 15, 2015 7:41 PM in response to Loner T

    Okay, I have successfully upgraded OS X to El Capitan and am posting this from my still working Windows partition so I guess I can say, "Well, the upgrade went fine for me..."

     

     

     

    Thanks, Loner T, for being willing to help out in case I had any problems.  Fortunately, there were none.  (At least, none so far! Knock on wood.)

     

    Actually, there was one odd thing.  In OS X Startup Disk preferences, I could see both my Mac and Windows partitions but was unable to select either.  Not sure why.  Probably no big deal because I typically boot into Windows by holding down the option key when rebooting.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Dec 16, 2015 4:59 AM in response to Ackmo
    Level 7 (24,115 points)
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    Dec 16, 2015 4:59 AM in response to Ackmo

    Ackmo wrote:

     

    Okay, I have successfully upgraded OS X to El Capitan and am posting this from my still working Windows partition so I guess I can say, "Well, the upgrade went fine for me..."

    Very nice.

     

    Actually, there was one odd thing.  In OS X Startup Disk preferences, I could see both my Mac and Windows partitions but was unable to select either.  Not sure why.  Probably no big deal because I typically boot into Windows by holding down the option key when rebooting.

    This is expected behavior in El Capitan. There is now a lock icon and requires your password to unlock and change the Startup Disk.

     

    ELC-Bootcamp.png

     

    If this is not the issues, please provide a screen shot or error message.