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BootCamp Windows won't boot after turning on disk encryption

Hello everyone, I'm in a desperate situation and I need your help. Here's my sitatuaion.

I have 13-inch MacBook Pro (Early 2011). I put an SSD in it as my main drive and I also put an additional drive (HDD) in the optibay in place of my superdrive. The structure I had was this:

1) My entire SSD was my OS X disk.

2) My optibay HDD had three partitions: a) Time Machine backup partition, b) Extra partition (for stuff like media), c) Windows partition with Windows 7 installed.

Had that setup for a long time and everything was working fine, my SSD was being backed up to the Time Machine partition on the HDD in my optibay.

Then, I decided to turn the File Vault 2 on. First I did it for the SSD with my OS X on it. Everything went well and I could still boot into my Windows 7. Then, I decided to encrypt my Time Machine backup (because what's the point of encrypting the main system disk if you don't encrypt the backup as well?) - here too everything went fine.

That is, until I needed to boot into Windows. I restarted my Mac, held down the Option key, the chooser thingy came up but there was no Windows to choose from. I happened to me once before (but in a different scenario, no disk encryption involved), so I knew I may still be able to boot into it.

I popped in my USB thumbdrive with rEFIt on it, selected it and it gave my the option to boot into the Windows partition. Only this time this did not work, I got an error message telling my there's no bootable device or something like that.

I'm confident turning the disk encryption for the Time Machine partition (which is on the same HDD as my Windows partition) screwed things up here.

The only question is: can I still fix it, boot into Windows, without having to install it from scratch? What I want is to have the disk encryption turned on for both my main SSD where I have my OS X installed AND the Time Machine partition which is on the HDD in the optibay and also have a Windows partition on it, but still be able to boot into Windows.

I'm running 10.11.13 El Capitan.

Can you help me in any way? Here's my diskutil cs list:

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *128.0 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage Macintosh SSD 127.2 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3

/dev/disk1 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.1 GB disk1

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage Time Machine 150.0 GB disk1s2

3: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB disk1s3

4: Apple_HFS Extra 300.0 GB disk1s4

5: Microsoft Basic Data Windows 49.5 GB disk1s5

/dev/disk2 (internal, virtual):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: Apple_HFS Macintosh SSD +126.8 GB disk2

Logical Volume on disk0s2

406F3A62-89AE-4F91-BEEF-B8CE0B16C8EF

Unlocked Encrypted

/dev/disk4 (internal, virtual):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: Apple_HFS Time Machine +149.6 GB disk4

Logical Volume on disk1s2

0567D276-3738-4776-9CC5-B69F922B0A0C

Unlocked Encrypted

MacBook Pro (13-inch Early 2011), OS X El Capitan (10.11.3)

Posted on Feb 12, 2016 11:10 AM

Best reply

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Posted on Feb 13, 2016 6:27 AM

Your problem is unrelated to FileVault2. Your issue should have started when Apple_HFS Extra was created. Please post the output of

sudo fdisk /dev/disk1

If you have an issue with your Mac, you can potentially lose both the SSD and TM Backup. It is not an optimal setup. A TM should be physically separate from your Mac, so you can restore the TM Backup to a new Mac, if necessary.

Also, since you have removed the Optical drive, re-installing Windows on your 2011 model is a very rough road to travel.

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30 replies

Roziek Author

Level 1

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Feb 14, 2016 10:16 AM in response to Loner T

I think that's exactly what I need, and that about the same I had to do just days ago to fix my problem 🙂. I was not aware of GPT fdisk's existence before that; but it looks like it's going to be a very helpful tool to me. Thank you for all your time and help.

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Feb 14, 2016 10:50 AM in response to Roziek

When you create a FAT partition on an internal disk, most versions of Disk Utility will create an MBR which corresponds to it. Do you have a missing MBR when you create a FAT partition on either of you internal disks? Please do not test on a working Mac with Bootcamp, because it will cause problems.

Roziek Author

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Feb 14, 2016 3:48 PM in response to Loner T

Yes, I do have a missing MBR in those situations, if memory serves.

It works fine I create only one additional partition, so that I end up with a disk split in two partitions; one for OS X, one for Windows. If I ave three (probably the same if you have 3+), then the hybrid MBR is missing.

BUT, like I mentioned before - this is NOT the case if I do it from Snow Leopard. In Snow Leopard, even when I have two partitions already and create a third one, a FAT32 partition for Windows, it creates hybrid MBR just fine. But this is a PAIN, going back to such old version, and only so it can create a proper MBR for me. Such a waste of time.

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Feb 14, 2016 3:56 PM in response to Roziek

Snow Leopard has no concept of a Recovery HD, so a MBR with two FAT partitions can still be created because it is still within the four (4) entry MBR limit.

Any OS X version that has Recovery HD, will not create a MBR when you create two FAT partitions. If you create them sequentially, you can check after the first one, and then check after the second one. The second one will not work.

Roziek Author

Level 1

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Feb 14, 2016 4:11 PM in response to Loner T

Oh, yeah, I totally forgot about the Recovery partition. I'm aware of its existence and I use it quite often for numerous things, but in my mind it was never a proper partition, so I dismissed it. Well, mystery solved 🙂.

Btw, I never created two FAT partitions, why would I? Time Machine and Extra are both HFS+, only Windows was FAT. But that still exceeds the MBR limit, when having Recovery HD. And as you mentioned, Snow Leopard doesn't have it, Lion was first to get the Recovery partition, if I remember correctly. And so Snow Leopard was able to do what I needed.

Stil, I hope I'll be able to achieve that using GPT fdisk.

P.S. The sad thing is, having such old Mac I'm fortunate I can still go back as far as Snow Leopard (10.6.8 minimum, I think), but any newer Machine doesn;t have that ability, and so it loses the potential to get a setup like mine. That's why I'm still holding on to it, just put an SSD few years back and maxed out RAM. I love having second HDD in my laptop.

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Feb 14, 2016 4:33 PM in response to Roziek

GPT Fdisk is the correct method once you have partitions created. The MBR is still limited to four entries, though, so you need to be careful on what is mapped. For example you can have EFI as MBR1, all the remainder GPT entries (except Windows) as MBR2, and MBR3 can be the Windows entry. This also implies that you cannot see the MBR2 entries, if Windows is installed on MBR3.

Roziek Author

Level 1

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Feb 15, 2016 5:25 AM in response to Loner T

So I assume that's why I don't see any of my partitions anymore when I'm booted into Windows. That, or it's because of the encryption turned on.

Also, since that hybrid MBR is limited only to four partitions, how come do I have five at the moment, after getting it work with GPT fdisk?

Currently, this is how diskutl list looks for that HDD:

diskutil list /dev/disk1

/dev/disk1 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.1 GB disk1

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage Time Machine 150.0 GB disk1s2

3: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB disk1s3

4: Apple_HFS Extra 300.0 GB disk1s4

5: Microsoft Basic Data Windows 49.5 GB disk1s5

And here's its gpt -r -vvv show:

sudo gpt -r -vvv show /dev/disk1

gpt show: /dev/disk1: mediasize=500107862016; sectorsize=512; blocks=976773168

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

gpt show: /dev/disk1: MBR part: type=7, start=879836008, size=96674976

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

gpt show: /dev/disk1: GPT partition: type=C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B, start=40, size=409600

gpt show: /dev/disk1: GPT partition: type=53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC, start=409640, size=292964576

gpt show: /dev/disk1: GPT partition: type=426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC, start=293374216, size=262144

gpt show: /dev/disk1: GPT partition: type=48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC, start=293636360, size=585937504

gpt show: /dev/disk1: GPT partition: type=EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7, start=879836008, size=96674976

gpt show: /dev/disk1: Sec GPT at sector 976773167

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 292964576 2 GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

293374216 262144 3 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

293636360 585937504 4 GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

879573864 262144

879836008 96674976 5 GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

976510984 262151

976773135 32 Sec GPT table

976773167 1 Sec GPT header

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Feb 15, 2016 7:52 AM in response to Roziek

Windows does not have any Apple-provided drivers for reading/CoreStorage volumes (whether created by Fusion drives or FileVault encryption).

Roziek Author

Level 1

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Feb 15, 2016 9:47 AM in response to Loner T

Oh, I see.

So, in theory, if someone just install a clean OS X (anything Lion and up) and have a BootCamp Windows also, they won't see their OS X drives when booted into Windows? Because if I'm correct, when you install OS X Lion+ it creates a CS volume right there.

I'm asking, because I never had a chance to test it; the first thing I always do after a clean OS X install is immediately revert cs, specifically so I have no problems messing around with different partitions setup etc. So I'm guessing that's why I was able to see my OS X drives when booted to Windows.

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Feb 15, 2016 11:55 AM in response to Roziek

Yosemite is the first one I am aware of that defaulted to CS and converted JHFS+. Previous versions would use CS for FV2. If they are revertible, then they can be made visible. The Windows driver from Apple only supports J/HFS+.

Roziek Author

Level 1

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Feb 15, 2016 12:51 PM in response to Loner T

Got it. Anyway, going back to my previous post, how come do I have hybrid MBR working if it can only handle four partitions, and I seem to have five?

diskutil list /dev/disk1

/dev/disk1 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.1 GB disk1

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage Time Machine 150.0 GB disk1s2

3: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB disk1s3

4: Apple_HFS Extra 300.0 GB disk1s4

5: Microsoft Basic Data Windows 49.5 GB disk1s5

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Feb 15, 2016 2:48 PM in response to Roziek

Please see Re: [Help] Can't boot to windows (8.1) after resizing partition as an example. This would map

GPT1 = MBR1

GPT2+3 = MBR2

GPT4 = MBR3

GPT5 = MBR4

The only issues that arises with this configuration is that Windows, if installed on MBR4, will not be able to see OS X in GPT2. If GPT5 is just for storage as in your case, it should be fine.

Roziek Author

Level 1

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Feb 15, 2016 8:06 PM in response to Loner T

I see. Yeah, that's exactly right, I don't need to be able to access any of the other partitions when I'm booted into Windows 🙂. Thanks for all your help, you cleared a lot of things up for me!

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Feb 15, 2016 8:10 PM in response to Roziek

Please post back if you run into any issues.

Roziek Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 15, 2016 8:31 PM in response to Loner T

Will certainly do.

BootCamp Windows won't boot after turning on disk encryption