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Bootcamp startup "missing operating system"

@ Loner T

I am using an Apricorn Velocity x2 for the RAID.

drives 2 & 3 of disk 0 were used to create the RAID.

MacPro:~ jeff$ diskutil list

/dev/disk0 (external, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *500.0 GB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Microsoft Basic Data WIN 250.0 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_HFS macOS 249.1 GB disk0s3

4: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s4

/dev/disk1 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *128.0 GB disk1

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk1s1

2: Apple_HFS Mavericks 127.2 GB disk1s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk1s3

/dev/disk2 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *64.0 GB disk2

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk2s1

2: Apple_HFS ElCap Backup 63.2 GB disk2s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk2s3

/dev/disk3 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: Apple_partition_scheme *2.0 TB disk3

1: Apple_partition_map 32.3 KB disk3s1

2: Apple_HFS Stash 2.0 TB disk3s3

/dev/disk4 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: FDisk_partition_scheme *500.1 GB disk4

1: Windows_NTFS Storage 500.1 GB disk4s1

MacPro:~ jeff$ diskutil cs list

No CoreStorage logical volume groups found

MacPro:~ jeff$ sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

Password:

gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=499950813184; sectorsize=512; blocks=976466432

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 976466431

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 2008

411648 488232960 2 GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

488644608 486552248 3 GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

975196856 1269536 4 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

976466392 7

976466399 32 Sec GPT table

976466431 1 Sec GPT header

MacPro:~ jeff$ sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

Disk: /dev/disk0 geometry: 60782/255/63 [976466432 sectors]

Signature: 0xAA55

Starting Ending

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

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

1: EE 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [ 1 - 409639] <Unknown ID>

*2: 0C 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [ 411648 - 488232960] Win95 FAT32L

3: AF 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [ 488644608 - 486552248] HFS+

4: AB 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [ 975196856 - 1269536] Darwin Boot

MacPro:~ jeff$

Sorry for the lack of column alignment

Posted on Nov 19, 2016 7:59 AM

55 replies

Nov 23, 2016 2:15 PM in response to Jeff Robertson

Got a different message on startup this time, however. Now it says "Error loading operating system" instead of the one about the BOOTMGR.

Loner T

Level 9

59,477 points

Nov 23, 2016 2:20 PM in response to Jeff Robertson

Now you can try bootrec.exe and run /fixboot and /fixmbr and test.

Nov 23, 2016 5:34 PM in response to Loner T

That worked! It is booting again!

Although, now it comes up with a boot manager menu since it now believes I have more than one installation! This is perhaps due to have more than one BCD file in the same folder? I am sure it will be easy enough to remove the Vista reference and stick with Windows 7 as the default. I *never* had Vista installed by the way.

Another problem is Windows is saying my copy is not genuine! I am now beginning to wonder if it was a Microsoft update that messed things up.

Loner T

Level 9

59,477 points

Nov 23, 2016 5:39 PM in response to Jeff Robertson

If your hardware has not changed, once you boot into W7, re-run the Activate Windows.

Nov 23, 2016 7:20 PM in response to Loner T

Yeah, no hardware changes. I can see how all of the boot trouble could have upset Windows enough to suspect something though. 🙂 I have made it genuine again.

So do you know how I can get rid of the Vista boot menu entry? In order versions of Windows, editing the boot.ini file would allow you to easily remedy something like this. I have already relocated all of the other BCD files.

Loner T

Level 9

59,477 points

Nov 23, 2016 7:46 PM in response to Jeff Robertson

You can either use bcdedit /v to find the entry and delete it or use msconfig. I suggest using bcdedit. Please also see this example of using bcdedit to remove an unwanted entry.

Nov 24, 2016 7:30 AM in response to Loner T

That did the trick! I also remembered the Windows Startup/Recovery item in the System Control Panel. I could chosen just to remove the menu's 30 second countdown and that would have just sent it straight into Win 7 but removing the entry is best.

Thank you for all your help! I hope you do not mind some more questions.

If I originally prepped this RAID volume for Windows and it created an EFI partition, why are all the boot files in c:\boot? I never saw how it was all working previous to my problem because this is all invisible by default. I never pay much attention to any of this since it is low level. You mentioned that you have a BIOS installation in your setup. Aren't all Intel Macs supposed to be EFI-bootable on GPT disks? The fact that we were talking about Master Boot Records should not even apply in this scenario, right? How is it that my Windows setup now works without any data on the EFI partition?

Do you have any theories on how this problem occurred in the first place? Again, the files that were missing/damaged (when they were working) are hidden so I could not have accidentally deleted anything.

Loner T

Level 9

59,477 points

Nov 24, 2016 7:38 AM in response to Jeff Robertson

There are two versions of EFI,

1. EFI 1.x has been in use on Macs for a long time (after Macs switched to Intel CPUs)

2. EFI 2.x (aka UEFI) is a unification of the EFI 1.x and deprecation of the BIOS (and emulation using CSM-BIOS layer)

Macs have supported the CSM-BIOS layer till late 2013 models and hence can support a Hybrid MBR overlay supporting Windows (XP, Vista, 7, 8.x, 10). 2015 and later models have started removing the CSM-BIOS layer, which means Windows (XP, Vista, 7) cannot be properly supported. The Fdisk output shows the Hybrid MBR. In such an installation, the EFI parts and the Boot parts are also in C:.

Please also see the following links

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh824898.aspx

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh825686.aspx

The most likely damage scenario is when OS X upgrades touch the EFI partition and/or modify the (hybrid) MBR.

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

Nov 24, 2016 7:42 AM in response to Loner T

Good info and advice! Thank you!

Loner T

Level 9

59,477 points

Nov 26, 2016 4:33 PM in response to Jeff Robertson

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

Bootcamp startup "missing operating system"