Rick / Sharkdog
Level 1 (4 points)
Windows Software

Q: Trying to install Windows 10 on Early 2013 Retina MacBook Pro

Hello!

 

As the title implies, I'm having some trouble installing Windows 10 on a 15" MacBook Pro Retina (Early 2013).

I'm at wits end right now, so I turn to you guys, hopefully someone can point me in the right direction!

 

I started with creating the USB installer from Boot Camp Assistant, this seems to go off without a hitch (having done this multiple times, sometimes it fails, but then if I try again it will do one that doesn't fail).

 

I've created partitions through the Boot Camp Assistant, and also without (I read about making an exfat partition, so I tried that), but both to no avail.

When Boot Camp Assistant finished making the partition it tries to reboot into it and gives me a "No bootable drive, press any key to restart" type error. Keys don't work, so I force shut down the laptop and restart it holding Option to select the USB installer and go from there.

 

The USB installer boots without a hitch and gets me into the Windows 10 installer. When it comes to selecting a partition, I select the Boot Camp (or self made) partition and Format it. At this point it still won't let me install on the partition because: "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk has an MBR partition table. On EFI systems, Windows can only be installed to GPT disks."

 

Having read a little bit, I found the gdisk Terminal utility and ran through that. Initially it wouldn't write, so I booted into recovery to unlock it, and then it seemed to go off without a hitch.

 

When I then boot back into the Windows 10 USB installer, it seems to install the OS without issue onto the selected partition. Yay! Right? Not really..

 

As soon as Windows 10 tries to boot up (at this point, from the partition, since it installed) it immediately starts crashing. Basically getting an error like such: "System thread exception not handled igdkmd64.sys"

 

Again, reading around a bit taught me that it seems to be some sort of (graphics?) driver error. Some of the solutions I saw seemed to assume that you can already boot into Windows 10 and have a few minutes before it starts crashing. I don't seem to have that luxury.

 

That's basically the spot I'm stuck at. I've run through this loop multiple times (with the different partitions, multiple times with each method) and seem to be stuck here.

 

Hoping someone can provide some insight!

Posted on May 29, 2016 5:32 PM

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Rick / Sharkdog

Q: Trying to install Windows 10 on Early 2013 Retina MacBook Pro

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  • by Rick / Sharkdog,

    Rick / Sharkdog Rick / Sharkdog May 30, 2016 1:53 AM in response to Rick / Sharkdog
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Windows Software
    May 30, 2016 1:53 AM in response to Rick / Sharkdog

    I forgot to add, I'm running OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 Public Beta 1 (this was also happening on 10.11.5), with Boot Camp Assistant version 6.0.1.

     

    The version of Windows 10 I'm installing is Windows 10 Home 64 Bit.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T May 30, 2016 9:15 AM in response to Rick / Sharkdog
    Level 7 (23,633 points)
    Safari
    May 30, 2016 9:15 AM in response to Rick / Sharkdog

    Use BCA to remove the current installation, let BCA create the partition. On your model, BCA, by default creates a legacy BIOS/Hybrid MBR partition to allow legacy OSes to be installed. Your Mac is a UEFI Mac and supports both EFI and BIOS installs, which is where it gets confusing. EFI mode requires GPT and fails when using MBR. BIOS mode requires a MBR and will fail on a GPT disk without a Hybrid MBR.

     

    After you remove the BC Partition, boot from the USB, and pick either EFI or Windows icon, but be aware of the partitioning requirements. EFI is faster than BIOS mode. Do not use a hub. Disconnect from any physical network connection before you choose the partition. It is FAT32, and is converted to NTFS by Windows installer. Please see https://help.apple.com/bootcamp/mac/5.0/help/ for further details.

     

    W10 has Forced Updates, which need to be disabled. Please see Windows 10 crashing, but not sure why. for details.

  • by Rick / Sharkdog,

    Rick / Sharkdog Rick / Sharkdog May 30, 2016 10:52 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Windows Software
    May 30, 2016 10:52 AM in response to Loner T

    Thanks for your help, Loner T!

     

    I ran the gdisk utility before I made the partition, and it showed 'found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT'

     

    After running BCA to make the partition, it automatically reboots and gives me the 'non system disk, press any key to reboot' screen.

     

    I reboot again, and forgot to hold Option. It then tries the same and said 'No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key'

     

    Rebooted again into OS X, figured I would check the gdisk utility again.

    Now shows 'Found valid GPT with hybrid MBR; using GPT.' Disk Utility also shows the BOOTCAMP partition to be FAT. So far so good right?

     

    Reboot again and hold option. Boot into the USB (you mention there being a Windows icon and EFI option, I only get EFI Boot as an option next to OS X and Recovery).

     

    Boot into the USB EFI Windows installer, and Windows setup loads. I enter the product code and select Windows 10 Home.

    I'm then presented with the 'Where do you want to install Windows?' Screen and select the proper partition (in this case Drive 0 Partition 4 BOOTCAMP) and click Format to convert it to NTFS.

    After it does that it still presents me with 'Windows can't be installed on drive 0 partition 4,' when prompting for more details it again reads 'Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk has an MBR partition table. On EFI systems, Windows can only be installed to GPT disks.'

     

    Back in OS X, Disk Utility now shows the BOOTCAMP partition (now named Untitled) as NTFS, and the gdisk utility also still shows 'Found valid GPT with hybrid MBR; using GPT.'

     

    All the pieces seem to be there, but it still won't install

     

    I'm not connected to any physical network connection, and not using a USB hub.

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T May 30, 2016 11:39 AM in response to Rick / Sharkdog
    Level 7 (23,633 points)
    Safari
    May 30, 2016 11:39 AM in response to Rick / Sharkdog

    Your USB installer must be a USB2 flash drive. A USB HDD will not work. BCA is defaulting to a Hybrid MBR configuration and expects to use the legacy installation.

     

    Remove the current BCA-created partition using BCA (only). Disconnect all external storage, reset SMC and NVRAM, and then connect a USB2 flash drive directly to the Mac and create a USB installer and try to install W10.

     

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

    How to Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

  • by Rick / Sharkdog,

    Rick / Sharkdog Rick / Sharkdog May 30, 2016 1:28 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Windows Software
    May 30, 2016 1:28 PM in response to Loner T

    I'm using a USB2 flash drive. I'll try to find another one and see if that works and report back!

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T May 30, 2016 1:36 PM in response to Rick / Sharkdog
    Level 7 (23,633 points)
    Safari
    May 30, 2016 1:36 PM in response to Rick / Sharkdog

    Can you check your USB on the OS X side? It should be under USB3.0 High-speed bus or USB2.0 High-speed bus or USB2.0 bus. It should look similar to this.

     

    Bootcamp-Wininstall-USB.png

  • by Rick / Sharkdog,

    Rick / Sharkdog Rick / Sharkdog May 30, 2016 1:40 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Windows Software
    May 30, 2016 1:40 PM in response to Loner T

    Hot off the screenshot press!

    Screen Shot 2016-05-30 at 22.38.37.png

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T May 30, 2016 1:55 PM in response to Rick / Sharkdog
    Level 7 (23,633 points)
    Safari
    May 30, 2016 1:55 PM in response to Rick / Sharkdog

    Generic USBs can have boot-ability issues? If you can find a SanDisk, Lexar, Toshiba or Sony, you will likely have fewer issues.

  • by Rick / Sharkdog,

    Rick / Sharkdog Rick / Sharkdog Jun 1, 2016 4:45 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Windows Software
    Jun 1, 2016 4:45 PM in response to Loner T

    Hi there!

     

    I've purchased a new SanDisk USB flash drive (as shown in the image attached), but I'm still running into the same problem.

     

    Before I started again, I reset my SMC and NVRAM.

     

    I then booted the computer and ran BCA. The Windows install bootable usb drive is created fine, then BCA restarts into the newly created partition (that it created) and gives me the 'no bootable device' error. Then I restart and select the EFI bootable USB drive manually and enter Windows setup, where it tells me I can't install on the selected partition (after Formatting it) because "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk has an MBR partition table. On EFI systems, Windows can only be installed to GPT disks."


    Screen Shot 2016-06-01 at 17.31.30.png

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jun 1, 2016 4:58 PM in response to Rick / Sharkdog
    Level 7 (23,633 points)
    Safari
    Jun 1, 2016 4:58 PM in response to Rick / Sharkdog

    If you reboot your Mac with the USB connected and hold the Alt/Option key, what are the available icons from the USB Disk? Does it show a Windows and EFI Boot icon, both?

  • by Rick / Sharkdog,

    Rick / Sharkdog Rick / Sharkdog Jun 1, 2016 5:00 PM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Windows Software
    Jun 1, 2016 5:00 PM in response to Loner T

    Only an EFI Boot option (next to the usual OSX and OSX Recovery).

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jun 1, 2016 6:09 PM in response to Rick / Sharkdog
    Level 7 (23,633 points)
    Safari
    Jun 1, 2016 6:09 PM in response to Rick / Sharkdog

    Can you connect the USB and run the following two commands

     

    diskutil list

    sudo fdisk /dev/diskN (please pick N from the previous command's output which points to the USB. Do not use the slice part of the diskN).

  • by Rick / Sharkdog,

    Rick / Sharkdog Rick / Sharkdog Jun 2, 2016 4:15 AM in response to Loner T
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Windows Software
    Jun 2, 2016 4:15 AM in response to Loner T

    I ran the commands you suggested.

    Partition #4 is the currently empty partition that Windows Setup formatted but then couldn't do anything with. I haven't had BCA remove it yet since my last try.

    Here are the results:


    Bluesummers:~ sharkdog$ diskutil list

    /dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *500.3 GB   disk0

       1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1

       2:                  Apple_HFS Bluesummers             449.4 GB   disk0s2

       3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3

       4:       Microsoft Basic Data                         50.0 GB    disk0s4

    /dev/disk1 (external, physical):

       #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER

       0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *62.5 GB    disk1

       1:                 DOS_FAT_32 WININSTALL              62.5 GB    disk1s1

    Bluesummers:~ sharkdog$ sudo fdisk /dev/disk1

    Password:

    Disk: /dev/disk1 geometry: 7600/255/63 [122107136 sectors]

    Signature: 0xAA55

             Starting       Ending

    #: id  cyl  hd sec -  cyl  hd sec [     start -       size]

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

    *1: 0B 1023 254  63 - 1023 254  63 [         2 -  122107134] Win95 FAT-32

    2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused     

    3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused     

    4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused    

  • by Loner T,

    Loner T Loner T Jun 2, 2016 5:50 AM in response to Rick / Sharkdog
    Level 7 (23,633 points)
    Safari
    Jun 2, 2016 5:50 AM in response to Rick / Sharkdog

    This looks clean. Can you post the first level directory of the USB from Finder?

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