User profile for user: BarbetB
BarbetB Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Win7 does not recognize hybrid mbr

Hi,


I want to install Win7 on my late-2009 imac (os x sierra) on a 4tb hdd. Of course boot camp does not work with such large disks.


I made the following partitions:

diskutil list

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *4.0 TB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_HFS OsX-HD 1.5 TB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3

4: Microsoft Basic Data Windows 536.9 GB disk0s4

5: Apple_HFS 2.0 TB disk0s5


I created via gdisk a protective MBR

sudo gdisk /dev/disk0

Partition table scan:

MBR: protective

BSD: not present

APM: not present

GPT: present


Disk size is 7814037168 sectors (3.6 TiB)

MBR disk identifier: 0x00000000

MBR partitions:


Number Boot Start Sector End Sector Status Code

1 1 4294967294 primary 0xEE



But still windows 7 install dvd keeps telling me:

Windows cannot be installed on this disk. The selected disk is of the GPT partition style.


The windows partition is NTFS.


Maybe I should add the 4th windows partition to a hybrid mbr with gdisk? Does anyone have a walkthrough for that under OS 10.11 or later? Since the recovery partition is standard under Sierra, all the walkthrough on working with gdisk don't work for me (they can work with up to 3 partitions, I need a 4th partition).


Regards,


Rick

iMac, macOS Sierra (10.12.1), iMac (27-inch, eind 2009)

Posted on Nov 13, 2016 3:25 AM

Reply
9 replies
User profile for user: Loner T
Loner T
User level: Level 9
59,536 points

Nov 13, 2016 3:00 PM in response to BarbetB

You need to create a partition on the first 2TB of the disk, and the partition cannot be larger than 2TB. This needs to be done via Disk Utility. Once you have create the partition, GPT Fdisk can be used to create a Hybrid MBR using the GPT entries.


The other option is to install Windows first, on a clean disk, at the beginning of the disk, and then install/restore OS X to the later half of the disk.

Reply
User profile for user: BarbetB
BarbetB Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Nov 13, 2016 6:34 AM in response to Loner T

Thanks for this swift reply, does this <2tb partition needs to be before the EFI partition? Because that cannot be done under Sierra in disk utility (since apply removed to feature to show hidden partitions).


What partitions should I add to the hybrid-MBR, only the windows partition? I understood that the sum of all MBR partitions cannot be larger than 2,2TB.


I also understood that beside 1 main partition windows likes to create another partition, or can it use the EFI partition?


Thanks so much!


Regards,


Rick

Reply
User profile for user: Loner T
Loner T
User level: Level 9
59,536 points

Nov 13, 2016 3:00 PM in response to BarbetB

If you run the following two commands from OS X Terminal, you can still see information...


diskutil list

sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0


Your layout will look like


GPT1 = EFI

GPT2 = Windows ( <= 2TB)

GPT3 = OSX (Start where Windows ends, and use the remainder of the disk).

GPT4 = Recovery HD


MBR will have a 1:1 relationship with GPT. GPT2 = MBR2 will be marked bootable.

Reply
User profile for user: BarbetB
BarbetB Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Nov 13, 2016 12:40 PM in response to Loner T

Hi,


I repartitioned my HDD. But strange thing happened: in disk utility and in paragon harddisk manager the structure is correct, however in gdisk it is correct in terms of start and end sector, but not in partition number:


Disk /dev/disk0: 7814037168 sectors, 3.6 TiB

Logical sector size: 512 bytes

Disk identifier (GUID): 1195151E-C88D-4C24-86CC-BD5399262A6B

Partition table holds up to 128 entries

First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 7814037134

Partitions will be aligned on 8-sector boundaries

Total free space is 8053 sectors (3.9 MiB)


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

1 40 409639 200.0 MiB EF00 EFI System Partition

2 3889930240 7812763607 1.8 TiB AF00 Naamloos 1

3 7812763648 7814033183 619.9 MiB AB00

4 413696 3889930239 1.8 TiB 0700 Basic data partition


I did manage to add the partition to the MBR. Rebooting now into windows install dvd, thumbs up!

Reply
User profile for user: Loner T
Loner T
User level: Level 9
59,536 points

Nov 13, 2016 4:40 PM in response to BarbetB

Excellent. To correct the GPT, you can create a blank new GPT and order the entries using the start address, which will also order the underlying disk slices.


Please be aware that using GPT Fdisk to create a new GPT also wipes the MBR and creates a new protective MBR, which you will need to update to a Hybrid MBR. Upgrade to newer versions or release of any OS X minor versions may cause problems, so please backup your important data on a daily basis.


Please remember to back up OS X, Windows and create a Windows System restore point.

Reply
User profile for user: BarbetB
BarbetB Author
User level: Level 1
8 points

Nov 18, 2016 12:31 PM in response to Loner T

Hi

Unfortunately I 've to come back to you. I want to rebuild my GPT table. But look at the current table output. It look quite messed up, or is that just me? There seems to be empty space between partitions, and partition 4 (windows partition) seems to be second? Can you give me a strategy how to solve this? Especially my Windows 7 seems to startup particularly slow. It takes a while before the windows 7 startup kicks in after starting the iMac. My thought is that it is searching for the right partition, would that make sense?

Regards,

Rick

sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

Password:

gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=4000787030016; sectorsize=512; blocks=7814037168

gpt show: /dev/disk0: Suspicious MBR at sector 0

gpt show: /dev/disk0: Pri GPT at sector 1

gpt show: /dev/disk0: Sec GPT at sector 7814037167

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 4056

413696 3889516544 4 GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

3889930240 3922833368 2 GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

7812763608 40

7812763648 1269536 3 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

7814033184 3951

7814037135 32 Sec GPT table

7814037167 1 Sec GPT header

gdisk partitions output:


Disk /dev/disk0: 7814037168 sectors, 3.6 TiB

Logical sector size: 512 bytes

Disk identifier (GUID): 1195151E-C88D-4C24-86CC-BD5399262A6B

Partition table holds up to 128 entries

First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 7814037134

Partitions will be aligned on 8-sector boundaries

Total free space is 8053 sectors (3.9 MiB)


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

1 40 409639 200.0 MiB EF00 EFI System Partition

2 3889930240 7812763607 1.8 TiB AF00 Naamloos 1

3 7812763648 7814033183 619.9 MiB AB00

4 413696 3889930239 1.8 TiB 0700 Basic data partition

Reply

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Win7 does not recognize hybrid mbr

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.
Learn more Sign up