Boot Camp "no bootable device"

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Level 1

11 points

Boot Camp "no bootable device"

My bootcamp partition is not showing up in startup disk mode, when booting while holding the option key.

Though it does show up in Disk Utility and Startup Disk.

When selecting it in Startup Disk, it boots and I get the "no bootable device error".

I have tried a few of the other similar questions relating to this, and I've seen some using gdisk, but I am not familiar with that package (but I do have it installed) and don't want to go ahead fiddling with the MBR or GPT without the proper advice.

I've attached photos of the MBR and diskutil list in case this is helpful.

MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013), OS X El Capitan (10.11.5)

Posted on Jun 27, 2016 8:52 PM

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Answer 1

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jun 28, 2016 3:55 AM in response to MindFluid

From Gdisk, please post the output of the 'p'(rint) command. Were any third-party tools used to partition/resize Windows?

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Answer 2

MindFluid Author

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Jun 28, 2016 5:52 AM in response to Loner T

No, I didn't use any third party tools. Just used bootcamp and recently I had to restore OS X, while I restored my Mac partition just fine, it must have had an effect on my Windows partition which was originally working fine and showing up on the boot disk selector on start up.

Here is the gdisk print command output:

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Answer 3

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jun 28, 2016 6:04 AM in response to MindFluid

Please post the output of

sudo dd if=/dev/rdisk0s4 count=1 2>/dev/null | hexdump -C

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Answer 4

MindFluid Author

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Jun 28, 2016 7:24 AM in response to Loner T

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Answer 5

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jun 28, 2016 8:16 PM in response to MindFluid

Can you run SMC and NVRAM Reset and then try Alt/Option key to try and boot? What is the version of Windows?

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

How to Reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

Do you have any external storage or peripherals connected to your Mac? Do you have any third-party NTFS software?

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Answer 6

MindFluid Author

Level 1

11 points

Jun 28, 2016 7:51 PM in response to Loner T

None of those turned up results. I think I have to repair the hybrid MBR, but I'm just not sure how to do that for my particular Bootcamp as I'm not familiar with gdisk.

and no, I've disconnected all external storage and peripherals while testing these commands.

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Answer 7

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jun 28, 2016 8:16 PM in response to MindFluid

Can you use Re: Bootcamp booting clobbered by Yosemite upgrade as a reference for recreating the MBR using Gdisk? Please ask questions, before you execute these steps.

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Answer 8

MindFluid Author

Level 1

11 points

Jun 28, 2016 8:16 PM in response to Loner T

Thanks so much, Loner T.

I guess what I'm unsure/nervous about is steps 6-10. I'd hate to make a change with my limited knowledge about MBR (I am learning a lot, though).

For example, step 6: what numbers should I be entering in? Do I only enter '4' to repair my bootcamp partition, or should I number all my partitions?

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Answer 9

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jun 28, 2016 8:26 PM in response to MindFluid

Your MBR should be a 1:1 mapping between GPT and MBR. If you use 2 3 4, not just 4, it will give you the mapping, and if your OS X partition is JHFS+, Windows can read it.

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Answer 10

MindFluid Author

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11 points

Jun 28, 2016 8:37 PM in response to Loner T

Okay, and should I enter the answers from steps 7-10 exactly as your steps in the linked answer show?

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Answer 11

MindFluid Author

Level 1

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Jun 28, 2016 9:07 PM in response to Loner T

Also, why do you only set the bootflag for the windows partition?

and following your steps, this is the printed table

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Answer 12

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jun 29, 2016 3:24 AM in response to MindFluid

MindFluid wrote:

Okay, and should I enter the answers from steps 7-10 exactly as your steps in the linked answer show?

Yes, please.

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Answer 13

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jun 29, 2016 3:28 AM in response to MindFluid

Yes, this looks fine.

MindFluid wrote:

Also, why do you only set the bootflag for the windows partition?

The MBR is only used to support legacy BIOS booting. OS X uses EFI to boot. Hence there is no need for a BIOS boot flag for anything other than Windows. On 2015 and later Macs, because BIOS boot support has been deprecated, W7 and prior versions of Windows via Bootcamp are not supported. W7's EFI is fairly buggy. W8.1 and W10 do a much better job of EFI booting.

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Answer 14

MindFluid Author

Level 1

11 points

Jun 29, 2016 6:25 PM in response to Loner T

Success!

Thank you so much, Loner T.

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Answer 15

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jun 29, 2016 6:37 PM in response to MindFluid

Excellent. Please backup OS X, Windows and create a Windows System Restore point.

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