Cannot See Boot Camp Partition From OS 10

Question

Level 1

8 points

Cannot See Boot Camp Partition From OS 10

My 2017 iMac (OS 10.12.6) has some Boot Camp related problems.

I can see and select Boot Camp partition when I do option restart (if and only if Magic Keyboard is plugged in). Windows 10 runs without any problems.

However, when running OS 10:

- Cannot see Boot Camp from preferences when selecting startup disk.

- Cannot see Boot Camp mounted on desktop

- Cannot see Boot Camp in finder from OS X

- Can see Boot Camp in Disk Utility but it is grayed out and I cannot run first aid or mount

- When I look at my internal SSD using disk utility, it shows 4 partitions

Mac HD 830 GB

Boot Camp 160.37 GB

Free space 8.65 GB

Windows Recovery 865.1 MB

- I cannot see Boot Camp from Winclone 6.04 Standard window

Some background details:

Before setting up Boot Camp, I purchased and installed Paragon NTFS for Mac 15.

I then ran Boot Camp Assistant and received the following error message:

"Windows cannot locate the disk and partition specified in the unattend answer file's <imageInstall> setting. Make sure that the setting references a valid partition and restart the installation."

I clicked OK -> message was: "No changes saved"

Screen went black, then OSX restarted

Started Boot Camp Assistant

Successfully restored disk to single volume (only option offered)

I tried again and got exactly the same results.

I had 2 USB HDDs connected but not mounted.

I disconnected all USB HDDs and hubs.

I ran Boot Camp Assistant and it worked.

I installed Windows 10 and it runs without any problems.

I am not sure if the problems listed at the top existed at that time, but I suspect that they did.

Option restart allowed me to select the startup drive if and only if my Magic Keyboard is plugged in. Initially, I did not know that plugging in the keyboard allowed the option restart feature to work, so option restart did not usually work and I was concerned that the computer was not working properly.

I read about problems caused by Paragon.

I purchased App Cleaner Pro and removed Paragon.

I disconnected all USB and restarted. Using Boot Camp Assistant, I removed the Boot Camp partition then reinstalled Boot Camp and Windows 10. This got me to my present state, with the problems listed above.

I opened a case with Apple Support on July 8, 21 days ago. I tried the following procedures with no change in problem status:

Reset SMC

Reset NVRAM

Replaced Magic Keyboard

Reinstalled OS 10.12.6 (without erasing disk)

Ran disk repair multiple times

- 1 problem found and repaired.

- No impact on problems listed above

Apple requested that I record data to be examined by engineering. I did this.

- Sent to Apple on 7/17 (11 days ago)

- No one can tell me anything about the results of the data examination

- I assume that they are stumped or on vacation (I cannot find out which)

iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017), macOS Sierra (10.12.6)

Posted on Jul 29, 2017 10:33 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jul 29, 2017 12:45 PM in response to CSM_101

CSM_101 wrote:

However, when running OS 10:

- Cannot see Boot Camp from preferences when selecting startup disk.

- Cannot see Boot Camp mounted on desktop

- Cannot see Boot Camp in finder from OS X

Your 'App Cleaner Pro' is not a very useful tool. You must use the Paragon uninstaller. The remnants of Paragon interfere with System Preferences -> Startup Disks.

CSM_101 wrote:

- Can see Boot Camp in Disk Utility but it is grayed out and I cannot run first aid or mount

- When I look at my internal SSD using disk utility, it shows 4 partitions

Mac HD 830 GB

Boot Camp 160.37 GB

Free space 8.65 GB

Windows Recovery 865.1 MB

You can run First Aid only on the macOS partition. NTFS cannot be repaired from the macOS side. Windows Recovery indicates that there is an issue with your installation or it failed and Windows Recovery Console was installed.

CSM_101 wrote:

- I cannot see Boot Camp from Winclone 6.04 Standard window

Remove Paragon correctly, and then check again. Winclone should see it when there is only the standard Apple NTFS driver on the macOS side.

CSM_101 wrote:

Some background details:

Before setting up Boot Camp, I purchased and installed Paragon NTFS for Mac 15.

I then ran Boot Camp Assistant and received the following error message:

"Windows cannot locate the disk and partition specified in the unattend answer file's <imageInstall> setting. Make sure that the setting references a valid partition and restart the installation."

I clicked OK -> message was: "No changes saved"

Screen went black, then OSX restarted

Started Boot Camp Assistant

Successfully restored disk to single volume (only option offered)

I tried again and got exactly the same results.

I had 2 USB HDDs connected but not mounted.

I disconnected all USB HDDs and hubs.

I ran Boot Camp Assistant and it worked.

This is normal and expected behavior when any external storage, except a USB Installer may be needed by BC Assistant. On a 2017 Mac, it is not needed. OSXRESERVED is used instead of the USB installer.

CSM_101 wrote:

I opened a case with Apple Support on July 8, 21 days ago. I tried the following procedures with no change in problem status:

Reset SMC

Reset NVRAM

Replaced Magic Keyboard

Reinstalled OS 10.12.6 (without erasing disk)

Ran disk repair multiple times

- 1 problem found and repaired.

- No impact on problems listed above

Apple requested that I record data to be examined by engineering. I did this.

- Sent to Apple on 7/17 (11 days ago)

- No one can tell me anything about the results of the data examination

- I assume that they are stumped or on vacation (I cannot find out which)

Apple cannot or will not diagnose any non-standard issues related to third-party tools. Try the suggested steps and post any further issues.

Be aware that Apple no longer supports Windows' ability to have read-only access to macOS in BC 6.1 and higher.

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Answer 2

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jul 29, 2017 3:29 PM in response to CSM_101

Give the current partition layout..

To expand OSX, it requires
- reverting the CS volume to HFS+
- losing Local Recovery temporarily
- absorbing the disk space into macOS, close to 204912640 address
- rebuilding the macOS CS volume
The Windows RE will need to stay as is, and it is not that large either.

Let me know if you want to do the first part.

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Answer 3

CSM_101 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 29, 2017 12:59 PM in response to Loner T

I ran Paragon uninstaller. I can now see the Boot Camp partition on the desktop, in finder, in preferences > startup disk, and from Winclone. Wonderful!

I still have the partition problem of course:

When I look at my internal SSD using disk utility, it shows 4 partitions

Mac HD 830 GB

Boot Camp 160.37 GB

Free space 8.65 GB

Windows Recovery 865.1 MB

Should I worry about the “Free space” and “Windows Recovery” partitions? If so, do you have any suggestions on how to get rid of them? I suppose that I could backup “Mac HD” and “Boot Camp”, then erase my SSD, then reinstall. Is there a simpler solution?

Thanks for the extremely useful reply! You were much more help in 12 minutes than Apple Support has been in 21 days.

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Answer 4

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jul 29, 2017 1:19 PM in response to CSM_101

Can you post the output of

sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

You will be prompted for your password which will not be echoed back to you.

CSM_101 wrote:

Thanks for the extremely useful reply! You were much more help in 12 minutes than Apple Support has been in 21 days.

Call Apple Tech Support and send them a link to this discussion. 😉

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Answer 5

CSM_101 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 29, 2017 1:28 PM in response to Loner T

gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=1000555581440; sectorsize=4096; blocks=244276265

gpt show: /dev/disk0: PMBR at sector 0

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

gpt show: /dev/disk0: Sec GPT at sector 244276264

start size index contents

0 1 PMBR

1 1 Pri GPT header

2 4 Pri GPT table

6 76800 1 GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B

76806 202723816 2 GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

202800622 158692 3 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

202959314 1953326

204912640 39152037 4 GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

244064677 91

244064768 211200 5 GPT part - DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC

244275968 292

244276260 4 Sec GPT table

244276264 1 Sec GPT header

I will send a link to Apple Tech Support

Reply

Answer 6

CSM_101 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 29, 2017 2:24 PM in response to Loner T

CDC-iMac:~ CDC$ diskutil list

/dev/disk0 (internal):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme 1.0 TB disk0

1: EFI EFI 314.6 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_CoreStorage Macintosh HD 830.4 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3

4: Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP 160.4 GB disk0s4

5: Windows Recovery 865.1 MB disk0s5

/dev/disk1 (internal, virtual):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD +830.0 GB disk1

Logical Volume on disk0s2

53B34372-4556-4524-A7EA-644F7108CF4B

Unencrypted

/dev/disk2 (external, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *5.0 TB disk2

1: EFI EFI 314.6 MB disk2s1

2: Apple_HFS d2USB3T5_1data 1000.0 GB disk2s2

3: Apple_HFS d2USB3T5_1backup 4.0 TB disk2s3

CDC-iMac:~ CDC$

CDC-iMac:~ CDC$ diskutil cs list

CoreStorage logical volume groups (1 found)

|

+-- Logical Volume Group E60DE46C-4CD2-4BD3-AEF8-4F4B01266821

=========================================================

Name: Macintosh HD

Status: Online

Size: 830356750336 B (830.4 GB)

Free Space: 0 B (0 B)

|

+-< Physical Volume 0B09BDE5-5A41-4994-816D-0FE39BA479E5

| ----------------------------------------------------

| Index: 0

| Disk: disk0s2

| Status: Online

| Size: 830356750336 B (830.4 GB)

|

+-> Logical Volume Family D50F2C94-4441-4FE2-BCA3-B26E0594AD59

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

Encryption Type: None

|

+-> Logical Volume 53B34372-4556-4524-A7EA-644F7108CF4B

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

Disk: disk1

Status: Online

Size (Total): 830004428800 B (830.0 GB)

Revertible: Yes (no decryption required)

LV Name: Macintosh HD

Volume Name: Macintosh HD

Content Hint: Apple_HFS

CDC-iMac:~ CDC$

Reply

Answer 7

CSM_101 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 29, 2017 4:43 PM in response to Loner T

I would like to do the first part. It is very generous of you to help me like this.

If this will take a lot of your time, I can ask Apple support for help. This seems like something that they should be able to handle.

Is there any risk that this will destroy data on SSD?

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Answer 8

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jul 29, 2017 6:19 PM in response to CSM_101

Run the following commands in Terminal. The order of the disk slices is critical in the second command.

diskutil cs revert 53B34372-4556-4524-A7EA-644F7108CF4B

diskutil mergePartitions jhfs+ "Macintosh HD" disk0s2 disk0s3

diskutil resizeVolume disk0s2 R

Post the output of

sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

for verification.

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Answer 9

CSM_101 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 29, 2017 6:31 PM in response to Loner T

CDC-iMac:~ CDC$ diskutil cs revert 53B34372-4556-4524-A7EA-644F7108CF4B

Started CoreStorage operation on disk1 Macintosh HD

Switching partition from Core Storage type to original type

Reclaiming space formerly used by Core Storage metadata

Even though the disk is now fully reverted, you should reboot soon to re-mount your reverted disk from the actual original partition

Removing Physical Volume

Destroying Logical Volume Group

Remounting former Physical Volume as normal disk

Core Storage LV UUID: 53B34372-4556-4524-A7EA-644F7108CF4B

Core Storage disk: disk0s2

Finished CoreStorage operation on disk1 Macintosh HD

CDC-iMac:~ CDC$ diskutil mergePartitions jhfs+ "Macintosh HD" disk0s2 disk0s3

The chosen disk does not support resizing.

Do you wish to format instead? (y/N)

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Answer 10

CSM_101 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 29, 2017 6:40 PM in response to Loner T

I rebooted and:

Last login: Sat Jul 29 18:38:15 on console

CDC-iMac:~ CDC$ diskutil mergePartitions jhfs+ "Macintosh HD" disk0s2 disk0s3

Merging partitions into a new partition

Start partition: disk0s2 Macintosh HD

Finish partition: disk0s3 Recovery HD

Started partitioning on disk0

Merging partitions

Waiting for partitions to activate

Growing disk

Finished partitioning on disk0

/dev/disk0 (internal):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme 1.0 TB disk0

1: EFI EFI 314.6 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 838.9 GB disk0s2

3: Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP 160.4 GB disk0s4

4: Windows Recovery 865.1 MB disk0s5

CDC-iMac:~ CDC$

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Answer 11

CSM_101 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 29, 2017 6:51 PM in response to Loner T

CDC-iMac:~ CDC$ sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

Password:

gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=1000555581440; sectorsize=4096; blocks=244276265

gpt show: /dev/disk0: PMBR at sector 0

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

gpt show: /dev/disk0: Sec GPT at sector 244276264

start size index contents

0 1 PMBR

1 1 Pri GPT header

2 4 Pri GPT table

6 76800 1 GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B

76806 204803066 2 GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

204879872 32768

204912640 39152037 3 GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

244064677 91

244064768 211200 4 GPT part - DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC

244275968 292

244276260 4 Sec GPT table

244276264 1 Sec GPT header

CDC-iMac:~ CDC$

Reply

Answer 12

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jul 29, 2017 6:59 PM in response to CSM_101

Before...

6 76800 1 GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B

76806 202723816 2 GPT part - 53746F72-6167-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

202800622 158692 3 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

202959314 1953326

204912640 39152037 4 GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

244064677 91

244064768 211200 5 GPT part - DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC

After... (GPT2 + GPT3 - alignment) is now macOS

CSM_101 wrote:

6 76800 1 GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B

76806 204803066 2 GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

204879872 32768

204912640 39152037 3 GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

244064677 91

244064768 211200 4 GPT part - DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC

Now you can re-install macOS. I recommend a backup of macOS and Windows, before you do that.

Reply

Answer 13

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jul 29, 2017 7:21 PM in response to CSM_101

Command+R (Local Recovery) will not work since we absorbed Local Recovery into Macintosh HD. Did you get Sierra through the App Store? If yes, you can download the latest Sierra installer and run it which will shrink the macOS partition by about 620MB, and make room for Recovery HD.

The other option is to install Sierra (or an older shipping version of macOS) via Internet Recovery on an external disk, upgrade it to 10.12.6, and then use it's Local Recovery to re-install and rebuild the Local Recovery. This requires a bit more work, but it will give you an external bootable macOS 10.12.6 in the bargain.

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Answer 14

CSM_101 Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 29, 2017 7:45 PM in response to Loner T

I got Sierra with my new iMac, which I purchased directly from Apple about a month ago. I just finished downloading a copy from the App store.

Should I simply install by clicking continue when it asks me to set up the installation of macOS Sierra?

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Answer 15

Loner T

Level 9

59,471 points

Jul 29, 2017 8:40 PM in response to CSM_101

Can you post the output of

diskutil list

sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

If you want to convert the HFS+ to CS, verify that disk0s2 is macOS and then use the following command

diskutil cs convert disk0s2

It can take a little bit and requires a reboot after the conversion completes in the background.

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