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2015 iMac Boot Camp not working giving "We couldn't create a new partition error..."

Trying to format a partition for Windows Bootcamp. Ran through the Sudo gdisk process but got an error saying it couldn't access rdisk1 at the end.


When trying to install on the windows side, I get the We "couldn't" create a new partition or locate an existing one... error


Read outs from terminal below.


Disk /dev/rdisk0: 236978176 sectors, 113.0 GiB

Logical sector size: 512 bytes

Disk identifier (GUID): A3A67371-BA13-49FC-B8E2-0E1A6EAE308D

Partition table holds up to 128 entries

First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 236978142

Partitions will be aligned on 8-sector boundaries

Total free space is 13 sectors (6.5 KiB)


Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name

1 40 409639 200.0 MiB EF00 EFI System Partition

2 409640 236715991 112.7 GiB AF05 Internal Drive

3 236715992 236978135 128.0 MiB AB00 Booter




-----




Recovery/transformation command (? for help): O


Disk size is 236978176 sectors (113.0 GiB)

MBR disk identifier: 0x00000000

MBR partitions:


Number Boot Start Sector End Sector Status Code

1 1 236978175 primary 0xEE



----

iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11.4)

Posted on Apr 14, 2016 11:48 AM

Reply
32 replies

Apr 14, 2016 11:54 AM in response to ccwoodside

1. You have a Fusion drive. You should be looking at disk1 which is your HDD. This is where Windows will typically end up. disk0 is the SSD part of the Fusion drive.

2. Please also see Boot Camp: "We couldn't create a new partition or locate an existing one" alert during Windows 8 install - Apple Support . Disconnect all external storage before you try to install Windows. You may also need to run SMC and NVRAM reset, before the next attempt.

Apr 14, 2016 12:09 PM in response to ccwoodside

Sorry that was a typo. The correct information is below. I have tried the install with only the boot USB installed. I haven't tried resetting the SMC and NVRAM yet. I'll try that now. Though does the information below help with any more information?


Also upon setting the partition numbers for hybridization (i only set a boot flag for part 4) it did tell me it couldn't write the thing in gdisk because it couldn't read rdisk1. Don't know if that helps.


Partition table scan:

MBR: protective

BSD: not present

APM: not present

GPT: present


Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.


Command (? for help): P

Disk /dev/disk1: 5860533168 sectors, 2.7 TiB

Logical sector size: 512 bytes

Disk identifier (GUID): AC39F17B-8E64-442F-B254-ABF8AE371DA6

Partition table holds up to 128 entries

First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 5860533134

Partitions will be aligned on 8-sector boundaries

Total free space is 2317 sectors (1.1 MiB)


Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name

1 40 409639 200.0 MiB EF00 EFI System Partition

2 409640 3906398855 1.8 TiB AF05 Internal Drive

3 3906398856 3907668615 620.0 MiB AB00 Recovery HD

4 3907670016 5860532223 931.2 GiB 0700 BOOTCAMP


Command (? for help): R


Recovery/transformation command (? for help): O


Disk size is 5860533168 sectors (2.7 TiB)

MBR disk identifier: 0x00000000

MBR partitions:


Number Boot Start Sector End Sector Status Code

1 1 4294967294 primary 0xEE


Recovery/transformation command (? for help):

Apr 14, 2016 12:47 PM in response to Loner T

Done. Here is the load out from the sudo gpt commands. and below it the load outs from gdisk. It's reverted to giving me the "Windows cannot be installed to this hard disk space. Windows must be installed to a partition formatted as NTFS" error


sudo -w -r show /dev/disk1

sudo: illegal option -- w

usage: sudo -h | -K | -k | -L | -V

usage: sudo -v [-AknS] [-g groupname|#gid] [-p prompt] [-u user name|#uid]

usage: sudo -l[l] [-AknS] [-g groupname|#gid] [-p prompt] [-U user name] [-u

user name|#uid] [-g groupname|#gid] [command]

usage: sudo [-AbEHknPS] [-C fd] [-g groupname|#gid] [-p prompt] [-u user

name|#uid] [-g groupname|#gid] [VAR=value] [-i|-s] [<command>]

usage: sudo -e [-AknS] [-C fd] [-g groupname|#gid] [-p prompt] [-u user

name|#uid] file ...

Christophers-iMac:~ christopherwoodside$ sudo fdisk /dev/ disk1

Password:

usage: fdisk [-ieu] [-f mbrboot] [-c cyl -h head -s sect] [-S size] [-r] [-a style] disk

-i: initialize disk with new MBR

-u: update MBR code, preserve partition table

-e: edit MBRs on disk interactively

-f: specify non-standard MBR template

-chs: specify disk geometry

-S: specify disk size

-r: read partition specs from stdin (implies -i)

-a: auto-partition with the given style

-d: dump partition table

-y: don't ask any questions

-t: test if disk is partitioned

`disk' is of the form /dev/rdisk0.

auto-partition styles:

boothfs 8Mb boot plus HFS+ root partition (default)

hfs Entire disk as one HFS+ partition

dos Entire disk as one DOS partition

raid Entire disk as one 0xAC partition

Christophers-iMac:~ christopherwoodside$




-----



Sudo gdisk /dev/rdisk1

GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 1.0.1


Warning: Devices opened with shared lock will not have their

partition table automatically reloaded!

NOTE: Write test failed with error number 1. It will be impossible to save

changes to this disk's partition table!

You may need to deactivate System Integrity Protection to use this program. See

https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-turn-off-the-rootless-in-OS-X-El-Capitan-10-11

for more information.


Partition table scan:

MBR: protective

BSD: not present

APM: not present

GPT: present


Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.


Command (? for help): P

Disk /dev/rdisk1: 5860533168 sectors, 2.7 TiB

Logical sector size: 512 bytes

Disk identifier (GUID): AC39F17B-8E64-442F-B254-ABF8AE371DA6

Partition table holds up to 128 entries

First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 5860533134

Partitions will be aligned on 8-sector boundaries

Total free space is 1805 sectors (902.5 KiB)


Number Start (sector) End (sector) Size Code Name

1 40 409639 200.0 MiB EF00 EFI System Partition

2 409640 3904445575 1.8 TiB AF05 Internal Drive

3 3904445576 3905715335 620.0 MiB AB00 Recovery HD

4 3905716224 5860532223 932.1 GiB 0700 BOOTCAMP


Command (? for help): R


Recovery/transformation command (? for help): O


Disk size is 5860533168 sectors (2.7 TiB)

MBR disk identifier: 0x00000000

MBR partitions:


Number Boot Start Sector End Sector Status Code

1 1 4294967294 primary 0xEE


Recovery/transformation command (? for help):

Apr 14, 2016 1:04 PM in response to Loner T

Sorry is this better?


sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk1

Password:

gpt show: /dev/disk1: mediasize=3000592982016; sectorsize=512; blocks=5860533168

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 5860533167

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 3904035936 2 GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

3904445576 1269760 3 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

3905715336 888

3905716224 1954816000 4 GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

5860532224 911

5860533135 32 Sec GPT table

5860533167 1 Sec GPT header

Christophers-iMac:~ christopherwoodside$

Apr 14, 2016 3:02 PM in response to ccwoodside

If it helps, this is the process I did on the first time. Which I pulled from (Reinstalling Windows though BOOTCAMP yields "We couldn't create a new partition or locate an existing one. Form more information, see setup log files")


  • Sudo gdisk /dev/rdisk0
  • P (Print list of parts)
  • R (Recover)
  • O (print current Hybrid MBR)
  • H (chooses Hybrid)
  • Partitions numbers to be hybridized: 2 3 4
  • Y (Good for GRUB question)
  • N (part 2 boot flag)
  • N (part 3 boot flag)
  • Y (part 4 boot flag make NTFS bootable partition)
  • O (print current Hybrid MBR)
  • W (Write the new MBR)
  • Y (Yes! write the new MBR)
  • Reboot

Apr 14, 2016 3:23 PM in response to Loner T

I just finished creating the partition using the BCA and resetting the SMC and the NVRAM. I listed the steps i just took below for the results above but if you think i need to do it again please let me know.


1. Recombined partition using BCA

2. Reset SMC and NVRAM

3. Used BCA to remake second partition

4. Windows gave "Not NTSF" error

5. Sent the read outs above.


Is there any way to generate the MBR outside of BCA if it's seemingly not doing it on it's own?

2015 iMac Boot Camp not working giving "We couldn't create a new partition error..."

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