Moonraker
Level 1 (9 points)
Windows Software

Q: Issue trying to clean install Windows 10 on Fusion Drive. el Capitan.

Issue: Trying a clean install of Windows 10 via Boot Camp Assistant on an iMac 27 inch (Late2013) with 10.11.4 results in the installation taking hours (over 8 hours) and then unable to install Boot Camp updates. Basically installation taking much longer than normal and unable to install the Apple software updates or create normally booting Windows 10 Boot Camp.

 

Background: After slowdown issues after upgrading to 10.11.4 (with Bootcamp upgraded Windows 10) which had previously worked fine for 10 months, to the point of a hour to boot to OS X, I decided to do a clean install of my iMac with 3TB Fusion Drive.

 

As I was unable to remove the Boot Camp partition via BCA due to it taking forever to even load, I used Internet Recovery and reinitialised the Fusion Drive. This then required me to repair the Fusion Drive partition via DU 'fix' option which appeared to work fine. And reinstalled OS X 10.11.4 which works fine now (no delays etc.)

 

On trying to use BCA to create a new Boot Camp partition and a clean Windows 10 install, after downloading a W10 disk image direct from Microsoft (Win10_1511_1_English_x64), BCA downloading the software updates and selecting the desired partition, it commenced reboot and initialise the install. However the whole process was very slow, each stage taking much longer than usual, to progress. Leaving it for hours still left a blank screen or one with a rotating circle.

 

I tried with another USB 3 stick and also a USB 2 stick but neither made a difference.

 

On the last attempt I left it running over night and after 8-9 hours it eventually reached the Windows 10 desk top and the Apple Bootcamp Update launching to load the updates. However it just hung and even after 2 hours nothing had happened. Rebooting and trying again was the same.

 

After this I tried creating a Windows 8.0 install via BCA however it just gives a GPT error when trying to select the drive (due to el Capitan I assume?)

 

After four days of efforts I am at a lose as to how to get the Windows 10 onto the Boot Camp partition. I am unable even to install W8 and upgrade due to GPT error.

 

Any help or suggestions how to proceed with diagnosing/resolving the issue would be appreciated.

 

Details:

System: iMac (27-inch, Late 2013), 3,4 GHz Intel Core i5, 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M 4096 MB, OS X 10.11.4.

  • Nothing other than keyboard and mouse attached via USB ports, along with the BCA USB stick. No other devices attached.
  • Reset NVRAM, SMC and ran Disk Utility a number of times. No issue reported.  Ran NVRAM reset before each attempt.
  • Ran EtreCheck report which appeared OK.
  • Ran Diagnostic check which returned no issue.

One detail I noticed after fixing the Fusion Drive there are now two Macintosh HD images when using option boot. Only one previously. The are named 'Macintosh HD' and 'Macintosh HD2'. I remember there being three at one time in Yosemite but that was fixed in an update.

Also, there appears to be no Recovery partition. Cmd+R launches Internet Recovery.

 

Distil results (Boot Camp partition removed):

 

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *121.3 GB   disk0

   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1

   2:          Apple_CoreStorage Internal Drive          121.0 GB   disk0s2

   3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk0s3

/dev/disk2 (internal, physical):

   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *3.0 TB     disk2

   1:                        EFI NO NAME                 209.7 MB   disk2s1

   2:          Apple_CoreStorage Internal Drive          3.0 TB     disk2s2

   3:                 Apple_Boot Boot OS X               134.2 MB   disk2s4

/dev/disk3 (internal, virtual):

   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

   0:                  Apple_HFS Macintosh HD           +3.1 TB     disk3

                                 Logical Volume on disk0s2, disk2s2

                                 7BE1F343-ACBE-4144-BF86-C838BE1E49D4

                                 Unencrypted Fusion Drive

imac---simon:~ simon$ diskutil cs list

CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)

|

+-- Logical Volume Group CA0B8D0A-6315-4E85-B313-52AB509473F2

    =========================================================

    Name:         Internal Drive

    Status:       Online

    Size:         3121237860352 B (3.1 TB)

    Free Space:   0 B (0 B)

    |

    +-< Physical Volume 5E75EE74-EE1F-4FCB-A0C5-9ED5517FEB93

    |   ----------------------------------------------------

    |   Index:    0

    |   Disk:     disk0s2

    |   Status:   Online

    |   Size:     120988852224 B (121.0 GB)

    |

    +-< Physical Volume 91D639D6-634E-47C1-AFE5-616CE12E71E0

    |   ----------------------------------------------------

    |   Index:    1

    |   Disk:     disk2s2

    |   Status:   Online

    |   Size:     3000249008128 B (3.0 TB)

    |

    +-> Logical Volume Family EE9934AC-F3CB-4101-ADB6-576F4371B4B9

        ----------------------------------------------------------

        Encryption Type:         None

        |

        +-> Logical Volume 7BE1F343-ACBE-4144-BF86-C838BE1E49D4

            ---------------------------------------------------

            Disk:                  disk3

            Status:                Online

            Size (Total):          3106705375232 B (3.1 TB)

            Revertible:            No

            LV Name:               Macintosh HD

            Volume Name:           Macintosh HD

            Content Hint:          Apple_HFS

            LVG Type:              Fusion, Sparse

iMac (27-inch, Late 2013), OS X El Capitan (10.11.4), null

Posted on Apr 28, 2016 8:39 AM

by Loner T,Solvedanswer
Loner T Loner T
Level 7 (23,493 points)
Safari
A:

You are using the incorrect version. We did it a few pages back (page 3) - Re: Issue trying to clean install Windows 10 on Fusion Drive. el Capitan.

Posted on May 5, 2016 6:01 PM

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Moonraker

Q: Issue trying to clean install Windows 10 on Fusion Drive. el Capitan.

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  • by Moonraker,

    Moonraker Moonraker May 19, 2016 7:39 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Windows Software
    May 19, 2016 7:39 AM in response to Loner T

    It's been a while since trying this as I wanted to be sure it was working correctly.

     

    Basically created the new PC partition in FAT32; reinitialised it as NTFS in Windows via Bootcamp. The process worked fine this time after changing the respective details.

     

    On trying to use the partition in Windows it was still very slow in read/ write so copying etc was slow. Similar to the delays in trying to install Windows.

     

    After some days testing things out I decided to reinitialise again but this time run a full (not Quick Format) which ran for two days. After rebooting this time all worked correctly. I imagine the -r had marked and disabled the bad sectors etc.

     

    Consequently read/ write is as expected and works for the applications I have installed to it.

     

    I wont be using it for anything sensitive as I imagine the HD is slowly failing but more curious to see how it goes. Currently it remains OK for this non critical/ testing.

     

    In the meantime I am able to use both OS via the SSD without issue and will organise a replacement HD when I can afford it. Sadly the construction technics used really preclude me from replacing the HD myself as I have done on all my iMacs back to 1997 24 inch which is annoying and a shame but not worth the risk to damage this one.

     

    I wanted to once again thank you for all your help and patience in this. It always looked like some HD failure but despite the length of time involved, I am happier we tried everything else possible. It is very much appreciated and I have much respect for the work and effort you do here to help others.

     

    I will mark it resolved now.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T May 19, 2016 10:13 AM in response to Moonraker
    Level 7 (23,493 points)
    Safari
    May 19, 2016 10:13 AM in response to Moonraker

    One of the reasons I prefer Mini and MBPs is due to the ease with which I can open/replace faulty hardware. iFixit helps a lot. iMacs are a bear to work on, and the newer ones are worse offenders than the older ones. Can I suggest a good backup strategy and vigilance to avoid catastrophic data loss?

     

    Very glad to see some semblance of order has been restored. Thanks for your willingness to test and investigate these. It helps me in my learning process.

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