Bootcamp Partition Missing after Resize

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Level 1

8 points

Bootcamp Partition Missing after Resize

Hi

I was trying to follow online tutorials for non-destructively resizing my Win7 bootcamp from running out of space.

After using disk utility to shrink down the MacOS, however, the bootcamp partition is still there in disk utility and Finder, but when I restarted, pressing ALT into the booting selection, the windows system was missing and has been that way ever since..

From the disk utility, it looks like this↓

Could anybody help me out of this without deleting the windows?

System is OS X El Capitan 10.11.6

Thanks a lot!

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)

Posted on Dec 2, 2016 7:04 AM

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Answer 1

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Dec 2, 2016 8:34 AM in response to gaor12

Since you have a hybrid MBR, resizing will cause further issues if a tool is used form Windows side. It is better to resize the underlying GPT partition first. You will need to convert RESIZE to Free Space first. Please see this link as an example. It also requires rebuilding the MBR and running Startup Repair.

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Answer 2

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Dec 2, 2016 8:12 AM in response to gaor12

What is the year/model of your Mac? Do you want to add RESIZE to Bootcamp?

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Answer 3

gaor12 Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 2, 2016 8:12 AM in response to Loner T

Year/model: MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012),

and yes, I was planning to boot into win7 system and use softwares like Partition Wizard to add RESIZE to Bootcamp

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Answer 4

gaor12 Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 2, 2016 8:46 AM in response to Loner T

Hi, thanks for the prompt aid, there's quite a lot of professional knowledge to take in here,

I checked the link, so in general, I would need a win7 installation DVD/flash drive for the startup repair?

Would I need to be first able to boot into win7 again to resize the GPT partition (the win7 is still operable from the Parallels Desktop), or is should this be done with Disk utility?

RESIZE is currently FAT32 format, what would a free space look like?

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Answer 5

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Dec 2, 2016 9:06 AM in response to gaor12

To convert RESIZE to Free Space, run the following command only once otherwise you will lose data. This is because Free Space does not have a disk slice associated with it. It is a one-way operation.

diskutil eraseVolume free free disk0s4

This will return an error because no disk slice will re-appear.

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Answer 6

gaor12 Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 14, 2016 4:25 PM in response to Loner T

Hi, sorry about the delay, I've been held up by exams for a quite while, hope you are still there!

I am backing up the data again and is ABOUT to run the command you provided above.

What would be the next step?

Thanks.

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Answer 7

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Dec 14, 2016 4:43 PM in response to gaor12

Assuming your diskutil list output still looks the same, please run and post the output

diskutil list

diskutil eraseVolume free free disk0s4

diskutil list

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Answer 8

gaor12 Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 15, 2016 7:34 AM in response to Loner T

Thanks, here's the output:

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Answer 9

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Dec 15, 2016 8:22 AM in response to gaor12

Can you post the output of

sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

This will show us the 'gap'.

You can use GParted as shown in this link and then Repair your Windows installation using the Windows installer or bootrec.exe to expand the Windows partition.

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Answer 10

gaor12 Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 16, 2016 2:15 PM in response to Loner T

Sure, here's the result.

A slight problem though, I currently got no access towards a disk drive, but have plenty of flash drives, would that work?

Would I need both Win7 and GParted CD to proceed,

and will the fact that my win7 is operable under parallels desktop be of any help?

Cheers!

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Answer 11

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Dec 17, 2016 7:12 AM in response to gaor12

You can use a GParted live USB. You will also need to repair W7 after you have extended the partition using GParted.

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Answer 12

gaor12 Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 17, 2016 7:16 AM in response to Loner T

Thank you very much for the professional advice, I've made substantial progress after these steps, now the win7 is again bootable after startup repair, and the system size is expanded smoothly.

Another small issue remains however, that I've been unable to setup a virtual machine in Parallels Desktop via Import from Bootcamp option, and the win7 system is not visible in Mac-Preferences-Startup disk option.

http://kb.parallels.com/cn/11244

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