Boot Camp on Aura 4TB SSD

Question

Level 1

8 points

Boot Camp on Aura 4TB SSD

Greetings all

I am trying to install Windows 10 using Boot Camp Assistant on a Late 2013 Mac Pro with a 4TB SSD from OWC.

My OS is macOS 10.12.6.

When I try to click continue at the first prompt/screen in Boot Camp Assistant, I get the message shown in the image below. While I have seen posts with this issue happening on older systems that could not handle EFI boot, I am not sure why it is happening on my system which is supposed to be able to handle that.

Mac Pro, macOS Sierra (10.12.6), 4 TB OWC Aura SSD

Posted on Feb 12, 2018 6:24 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Mar 6, 2018 7:23 PM in response to warnerdm

If macOS is fully installed, create a backup using Time Machine (or a tool of your choice). Create the USB Installer using a USB2 flash drive of 8+GB. High Sierra has an issue with copying files larger than 2GB. Create a Free Space partition of 200GB, and use the USB installer to boot from and hold Alt/Option. Select EFI Boot from the USB and choose the 200GB partition as a destination. Let the Windows installer format it as necessary.

If you see any errors, please post back. A screen shot of the exact error message will be very helpful.

Reply

Answer 2

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Mar 6, 2018 3:12 PM in response to warnerdm

Please see OWC Dual Boot Enabler .

Your 2013 MP supports both legacy BIOS and EFI boots. The default is legacy BIOS which does not work properly on a disk larger than 2TB, unless it is partitioned appropriately.

Reply

Answer 3

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Mar 6, 2018 5:50 PM in response to warnerdm

If you plan to install Windows (especially W7) in BIOS mode, you can manually partition the drive using Disk Utility and use the first 2TB to create a FAT partition first, of the size you want Windows to be. W7 EFI is buggy and not recommended.

If you plan to install W8.1/W10, I recommend EFI which allows the partition to be anywhere on the drive as long as it is a Free Space chunk. It will be split into an MSR (128MB) and a MSD (NTFS) for Windows. This requires one additional step using GPT Fdisk (https://sourceforge.net/projects/gptfdisk/) and removing the MBR, if any, using Re: Bootcamp installation completely messed up, unusable as a reference.

In either case, a 2013 Mac allows the creation of a Bootable USB2 Flash drive as an installer, as shown, using the first two options. If you have a different BCA UI, then see Build your own Windows 10 Bootcamp USB Installer .

Please ask questions, if you are uncomfortable with any of the steps or recommendations.

Reply

Answer 4

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Mar 6, 2018 7:54 PM in response to warnerdm

Sierra is a much better choice, otherwise there are newer issues with High Sierra and APFS.

You do not need to re-install Sierra or erase your internal disk. See the second screen shot in How to choose between APFS and Mac OS Extended when formatting a disk for Mac - Apple Support. You can look at the drop down list, which should have a Free Space option. Choose the size you need, and partition the drive.

Post the output of

diskutil list

for verification.

The USB Installer I referenced is for Windows, which you can let the BC Assistant build or manually build it, depending on whether the UI lets you choose to build one. The link using UNetbootin is similar to this, but this is a bit simpler.

Reply

Answer 5

warnerdm Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 6, 2018 6:16 PM in response to Loner T

Thanks Loner T.

I have no idea how to dictate where on a disk (first 2TB) a partition goes. Maybe since I won't be trying W7 it won't matter.

I plan to install W10. I don't see any way to do this through Boot Camp and, as you have indicated, my 4TB drive prevents Boot Camp from even working.

Not sure if the steps outlined at this site are the way to go.

http://fgimian.github.io/blog/2016/03/12/installing-windows-10-on-a-mac-without- bootcamp/

If so, or not, I need Boot Camp Support Software that I can't get to thru Boot Camp on my machine. So I need to download it I guess.

Apple has a download for W7/W8 but not W10. Boot Camp Support Software 5.1.5722. Will it still work? If not, where do I get something that will if I can't get it through Boot Camp download?

Thanks again.

Reply

Answer 6

warnerdm Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 6, 2018 7:39 PM in response to Loner T

Loner T I've actually already got a USB installer for macOS. That is how I got it on this drive. It is a fresh install with nothing else installed yet other than software updates I checked for in the App store. And I am using Sierra, not High Sierra because my govt agency where I work (this is a work computer) does not support it or want it installed.

So you are saying that I should reinstall on a new partition of 200GB? Not sure how to make a Free Space partition but am googling it. From what I can see I just resize the existing macOS partition to 200GB in terminal.

When I booted holding option to get boot options I was only given my Install macOS Sierra usb as a choice. Is installing now.

Reply

Answer 7

warnerdm Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 6, 2018 8:28 PM in response to Loner T

Loner T

Here is the output from diskutil list.

I wanted only 200GB for macOS and the rest for W10. I think this is correct.

Last login: Tue Mar 6 23:22:20 on ttys000

dmwarners-Mac-Pro:~ dmwarner$ diskutil list

/dev/disk0 (external, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *3.8 TB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 200.0 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s4

dmwarners-Mac-Pro:~ dmwarner$

Reply

Answer 8

warnerdm Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 6, 2018 9:26 PM in response to Loner T

Well I thought it was going so well.

Machine boots from W10 usb and starts to install W10.

After the point where I select the partition I want to use and click next, it dies with W10 BSOD.

Seem to have gotten past it by NOT selecting a wifi network. Still installing.

Reply

Answer 9

warnerdm Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 7, 2018 5:30 AM in response to Loner T

Thanks a ton Loner T. You are an amazing help to a lot of people here.

I got W10 installed and now have a functional install of this and Sierra on a 4TB drive.

Although working on a Mac where I work really stinks because nobody else does and there is virtually no support (WIndows envt., US govt.), I have now salvaged this machine so that I can use it as a W10 desktop.

Reply