Format NTFS partition on APFS container?

I have the standard Samsung 1TB SSD drive in my MacBook Pro. I did install BootCamp on it. Now, I need more space on the Bootcamp partition but I don't seem to be able to do it. Somehow, my main drive (on the main container) is formatted as APFS (I don't recall I formatted it that way but maybe it came factory-formatted). I have 800GB assigned to my main OS X startup partition. I currently have 150GB to my Bootcamp partition. I would like to increase the Bootcamp partition to 200GB. However, Disk Utility under High Sierra is unable to change it. So, I got a Windows freeware called MinitTool Partition Wizard. When I'm booted in Windows 10 and try to expand my Bootcamp partition, the partition tool shows me only the Windows recovery partition as a possible source to take space and allocate to my Bootcamp partition. Basically, it doesn't see the available 50GB I set aside in Disk Utility. Is there any way I can add this 50GB to my Bootcamp partition, preferably without destroying it?

I tried Bootcamp Assistant. The strange thing is when I launch it, I get a message that a Windows partition cannot be created until I have the Bootcamp tool installed. But I did have them since I already have this Bootcamp partition! The only option I have in Bootcamp Assistant is to download the Windows support software, which I did but which didn't help.

Anybody can provide some possible solution?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, macOS High Sierra (10.13.2)

Posted on Dec 28, 2017 10:58 AM

21 replies

Dec 29, 2017 4:35 PM in response to Loner T

Yes, I seem to be in the same situation than before. Disk Utility cannot restore the Windows image. Which is kinda stupid. Then, when I launch Boot Camp Assistant and click Continue at the initial screen, it wants to consolidate all the internal disk to macOS. I know what is next because I tried it before. After I'll do that, Boot Camp Assistant will complain that it cannot resize the partition on the internal disk because it's not formatted as HFS+ (of course, it's not, it's the stupid Apple File System!).

I'll try to manually restore the image and see with your tools if I can make the Windows partition bootable. Otherwise, I will have (for the 3rd time) to initialize my internal hard disk and make sure that this time, the macOS partition is HFS+. I don't know why I didn't choose it but maybe the High Sierra installer would change it anyway, like it did when I first updated my system. I think the problem here is that the Boot Camp Assistant hasn't been updated for High Sierra, more specifically to deal with APFS container.

Loner T

Level 9

59,546 points

Dec 29, 2017 7:19 PM in response to NemesysSoftware

NemesysSoftware wrote:

I did purchase WinClone and I'm currently restoring the ** Boot Camp disk image onto the Boot Camp partition. It's still analyzing the source and it's been doing this for over half an hour now, with no visible progress. We'll see.

Winclone images are not the same as a **-created partition image. If you have purchased Winclone, you should ask their Tech Support if it will work or not.

NemesysSoftware wrote:

If everything fails, I can rebuild my Windows partition, I assume I would be able to also recover my personal files from the disk image. I could transfer it to a USB key if needed, so, not all is lost!

You should restore the copy of the ** image to a standalone disk, irrespective of the Winclone analysis/results. It will help speed up the overall recovery. The restore would also need either the Apple native NTFS driver, or a third-party NTFS driver so you can extract your personal non-OS files.

Dec 28, 2017 7:10 PM in response to Loner T

OK, thanks. However, that will have to wait this weekend, just cannot delete my Windows partition right now.

Thanks again! I will post my results when I'm done.

Dec 29, 2017 10:38 AM in response to Loner T

OK, but that still leaves me with a 150GB Windows partition, which is pretty much where I started...

Dec 30, 2017 11:46 AM in response to Loner T

Excellent idea! Thanks!

Dec 30, 2017 10:50 AM in response to Loner T

I was able to recover the Windows disk image to my Boot Camp partition with Winclone. Unfortunately, I couldn't boot from it. I had an ISO disk image of the Windows 10 installation DVD so I burnt it to a DVD and booted from it. I wasn't able to troubleshoot and repair my Boot Camp partition with it. When trying to re-install Windows, the tool reported that the disk was locked and it couldn't install. I think the install tool was still trying to install on the DVD and was not seeing my Boot Camp partition. So, I did some research about how I could fix the MBR using bootrec. Came onto this website https://neosmart.net/wiki/bootrec/. Out of hunch, I decided to follow the instructions in the section bootrec in Windows 8/10 doesn’t work. I did every single operation, then exited and rebooted. Held Option down to see bootable disks, saw my Boot Camp partition as before, selected it and bam! It worked!!!

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Format NTFS partition on APFS container?