Windows could not update the computer's boot configuration

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Level 1

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Windows could not update the computer's boot configuration

I just bought a Mac Pro (12GB RAM, Xeon quad core, 250GB SSD, Sierra) and one of the first things I've tried doing is installing Windows 10 on a 100GB partition using Boot Camp. When I did, I got the error, "Windows could not update the computer's boot configuration." I've tried looking at other solutions for this issue, but they have all been for older operating systems; even so, the solutions have been varied and I'm not sure which to try, or even how to try them. I don't want to mess anything up. Some of them suggested I install the software on a partition created manually, bypassing Boot Camp altogether. I wouldn't really know what I'd be doing if I had to resort to that, so I'd appreciate any guidance. Thanks!

Mac Pro, macOS Sierra (10.12.2), 12GB RAM, Xeon quad core, 250GB SSD

Posted on Jan 18, 2017 6:25 PM

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Answer 1

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Jan 21, 2017 8:47 PM in response to stephenrwn

It is definitely worth it, to clean re-install OS X. Before you go through the effort, as a last test, disconnect all external storage, remove the Microsoft directory, run SMC/NVRAM reset and retry the Windows installation.

if you are using a TB monitor, can you use a HDMI or VGA connection during this last test? The intent is to avoid the use of Thunderbolt during installation.

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Answer 2

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Jan 18, 2017 6:39 PM in response to stephenrwn

If it is a black cylinder then it is a 2013 model. If it is a tower then it is older. Please see How to identify Mac Pro models - Apple Support .

Use BC Assistant to remove the current partial Windows installation, disconnect all external storage and run

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

How to reset NVRAM on your Mac - Apple Support

and retry the Windows installation.

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Answer 3

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Jan 21, 2017 8:12 PM in response to stephenrwn

Does your US installer show two icons, Windows and EFI Boot? If yes, I assume you have been consistently choosing EFI Boot and not switching between the two. The following will need to use Windows icon. EFI Boot will generate errors.

You have either El Capitan or Sierra. You will need to disable SIP by booting into Local Recovery (using Command+R - not Internet Recovery) and click on Utilities -> Terminal and type

csrutil status

csrutil disable

csrutil status

Boot normally and check the output of csrutil status which should now be disabled. This is prerequisite for GPT Fdisk steps to work.

You will need to install GPT Fdisk (https://sourceforge.net/projects/gptfdisk/) and build a Hybrid MBR using the steps in Re: El Capitan has deleted my bootcamp windows partition .

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Answer 4

stephenrwn Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 18, 2017 6:33 PM in response to Loner T

Late 2013, I'm assuming. I don't know when it was built specifically; I'm the second owner. Is there any way to check, or does it matter?

I did have an external hard drive connected, but it never occurred to me that it could be interfering. Should I disconnect the hard drive and try again?

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Answer 5

stephenrwn Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 18, 2017 8:45 PM in response to Loner T

Yes, it is the cylindrical computer. I didn't know if you were requesting the specific year it was manufactured or just the model year. Anyways, I've tried what you suggested (twice, just to be sure) and I have only had the same result, sadly.

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Answer 6

stephenrwn Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 19, 2017 7:28 PM in response to Loner T

I have never reused the same partition, because Bootcamp requires me to remove the partition before I can run the installer again. If I boot into the windows partition after the failed installation, the installer doesn't appear; the screen just stays black and after a few seconds the computer shuts down. At any rate, I tried again, formatting the Bootcamp partition within the Windows installer this time. Still no success.

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Answer 7

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Jan 20, 2017 3:02 AM in response to stephenrwn

Your USB flash drive has a FAT32 file system, which cannot handle files larger than 4GB. We want to copy the contents of the ISO to the USB, not the ISO itself.

Double-click (or right-click) and open the ISO which should open a Finder window. Select all the files, and drag (or copy) them to the USB.

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Answer 8

stephenrwn Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 20, 2017 7:00 PM in response to Loner T

Okay, just tried it. When I came to the point of selecting the partition to install Windows on to, the installer told me that it cannot install onto the FAT32 partition, and that it must be formatted as NTFS. So I clicked the format button on the installer and the installation continued as normal, failing at the same point.

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Answer 9

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Jan 20, 2017 8:53 PM in response to stephenrwn

Can you verify the MD5sum of the ISO file? You can use the highlighted commands in Terminal. You must be in the directory/folder where the ISO file is located to use the commands as written.

This is what I have

ls -lgh Win10_1607_English_x64.iso

-rw-r--r--@ 1 staff 4.1G Jul 17 17:28 Win10_1607_English_x64.iso

openssl md5 Win10_1607_English_x64.iso

MD5(Win10_1607_English_x64.iso)= 88b98698600511dcd69596df92b242e5

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Answer 10

stephenrwn Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 21, 2017 5:20 PM in response to Loner T

total 1

drwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 512 Jan 19 19:55 EFI

/Volumes/EFI/EFI:

total 3

drwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 512 Dec 30 10:18 APPLE

drwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 512 Jan 20 03:14 Boot

drwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 512 Jan 20 03:05 Microsoft

/Volumes/EFI/EFI/APPLE:

total 2

drwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 512 Dec 30 10:18 EXTENSIONS

drwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 512 Jan 12 21:27 FIRMWARE

/Volumes/EFI/EFI/APPLE/EXTENSIONS:

total 30722

-rwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 15729264 Jan 20 19:59 Firmware.scap

/Volumes/EFI/EFI/APPLE/FIRMWARE:

total 16642

-rwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 8520304 Jan 12 21:27 MP61_0116_B21_LOCKED.scap

/Volumes/EFI/EFI/Boot:

total 2312

-rwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 1183584 Jul 16 2016 bootx64.efi

/Volumes/EFI/EFI/Microsoft:

total 2

drwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 512 Jan 21 02:53 Boot

drwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 512 Jan 20 03:14 Recovery

/Volumes/EFI/EFI/Microsoft/Boot:

total 32

-rwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 8192 Jan 21 02:53 BCD

-rwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 8192 Jan 21 02:53 BCD.LOG

-rwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 0 Jan 21 02:53 BCD.LOG1

-rwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 0 Jan 21 02:53 BCD.LOG2

/Volumes/EFI/EFI/Microsoft/Recovery:

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Answer 11

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Jan 21, 2017 6:19 PM in response to stephenrwn

Do the date/timestamps in Microsoft directory coincide with your last failed attempt? I suggest removing the Microsoft directory and all it's contents and sub-directories and then retrying your Windows installation.

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Answer 12

stephenrwn Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 21, 2017 6:52 PM in response to Loner T

Well they mostly have today's date, 2:53 AM, and the last attempt was last night, around 8 PM. Anyways, I removed the Microsoft directory and tried again, still to no avail. I checked the EFI again, and now they have tomorrow's date? Weird.

total 1

drwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 512 Jan 21 19:22 EFI

/Volumes/EFI/EFI:

total 3

drwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 512 Dec 30 10:18 APPLE

drwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 512 Jan 20 03:14 Boot

drwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 512 Jan 22 2017 Microsoft

/Volumes/EFI/EFI/APPLE:

total 2

drwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 512 Dec 30 10:18 EXTENSIONS

drwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 512 Jan 12 21:27 FIRMWARE

/Volumes/EFI/EFI/APPLE/EXTENSIONS:

total 30722

-rwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 15729264 Jan 21 19:44 Firmware.scap

/Volumes/EFI/EFI/APPLE/FIRMWARE:

total 16642

-rwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 8520304 Jan 12 21:27 MP61_0116_B21_LOCKED.scap

/Volumes/EFI/EFI/Boot:

total 2312

-rwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 1183584 Jul 16 2016 bootx64.efi

/Volumes/EFI/EFI/Microsoft:

total 2

drwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 512 Jan 22 2017 Boot

drwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 512 Jan 22 2017 Recovery

/Volumes/EFI/EFI/Microsoft/Boot:

total 32

-rwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 8192 Jan 22 2017 BCD

-rwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 8192 Jan 22 2017 BCD.LOG

-rwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 0 Jan 22 2017 BCD.LOG1

-rwxrwxrwx 1 mac staff 0 Jan 22 2017 BCD.LOG2

/Volumes/EFI/EFI/Microsoft/Recovery:

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Answer 13

stephenrwn Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 21, 2017 7:55 PM in response to Loner T

Disk: /dev/disk0 geometry: 30515/255/63 [490234752 sectors]

Signature: 0xAA55

Starting Ending

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

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

1: EE 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [ 1 - 490234751] <Unknown ID>

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

Macs-Mac-Pro:~ mac$

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Answer 14

stephenrwn Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 21, 2017 8:35 PM in response to Loner T

Okay. Before I do that (as this seems to be a fairly long process) it just occurred to me that doing a factory reset on my computer might help. My computer is secondhand, and I don't think the previous owner actually did a factory reset. Perhaps that's why I've been having problems in the first place. I just got the computer so I don't have any files to save or anything. Do you think it's worth trying? If not, I'll begin the GPT FDisk method tomorrow.

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Answer 15

stephenrwn Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 24, 2017 9:03 PM in response to Loner T

Well... It worked! Perhaps switching to HDMI fixed it? Anyways, I still might want to try reinstalling Sierra, because I probably should have done that when I first got the computer. It's been strangely slow considering how powerful the computer is. Windows 10 seems to be running smoothly though. One last question for you, then: Can I reinstall Sierra without messing up my Windows partition?

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