Can't create Boot Camp partition on brand new 15-inch MBP w/ High Sierra (10.13.5) and APFS. Is there any official fix?

I've spent the better part of my laptop's first 3 days repeatedly attempting but failing to get Boot Camp Assistant to create a partition. I have 2 other Macs (late-2013 models, SSD and Fusion Drive) that I've successfully upgraded to 10.13.5 and installed Windows 10 via Boot Camp.


My new MBP is the 15-inch model with 16GB RAM and 1TB SDD. It doesn't have anything fancy running on it yet, and I've gone into my user account's Startup Items to disable any extraneous software from loading at the start. I've enabled FileVault, but have not yet enabled Time Machine.


Here are the steps in my process:


I've downloaded the latest Windows 10 ISO from here: Download Windows 10 Disc Image (ISO File)


Upon opening BCA, I specify the ISO. Then BCA downloads the latest Windows updates. And then it attempts to partition the drive. My MBP has a 1TB drive with 750GB free. I've attempted to create a Windows partition of sizes of 320GB, 200GB, 120GB, and 80GB. Each time, the partition phase fails with this message:


"Your disk could not be partitioned"

"An error occurred while partitioning the disk. Please run Disk Utility to check and fix the error"


After this error, I go into Disk Utility to mount and then delete the OSXRESERVED and BOOTCAMP partition, which restores my main volume to its full 1TB capacity. I then run First Aid, which finds no errors. And then I attempt the Boot Camp process again (without success).


I've come across these guides:


- Re: Bootcamp partitioning error in macOS 10.13

- Bootcamp Partitioning problem in High Sierra

- https://www.imore.com/cant-run-bootcamp-high-sierra-heres-fix


However, the help is a bit limited for me, since I don't have a free space problem, nor do I have the issue with Time Machine local snapshots (because I haven't yet enabled it). The only things I haven't tried are:


- Disabling FileVault

- Wiping out my HD, reformatting it as HFS+, and then reinstalling MacOS and then trying Boot Camp.


I'm going to try disabling FileVault. But both of these seem like extreme, undocumented measures, especially for a brand new computer and OS. I've been looking around for more info or official documentation and haven't found much. So I just want to know if it is the case that APFS + High Sierra 10.13.5 + FileVault is officially broken when it comes to Boot Camp?

MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017), macOS High Sierra (10.13.5), null

Posted on Jun 29, 2018 12:47 AM

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Posted on Jun 29, 2018 3:00 PM

DanInNY wrote:


/dev/disk0 (internal):


#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER


0: GUID_partition_scheme 1.0 TB disk0


1: EFI EFI 314.6 MB
disk0s1


2: Apple_APFS Container disk1 1.0 TB disk0s2


3: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB
disk0s3


/dev/disk1 (synthesized):


#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER


0: APFS Container Scheme - +1.0 TB disk1

Physical Store disk0s2


1: APFS Volume Macintosh HD 287.3 GB
disk1s1


2: APFS Volume Preboot 22.6 MB disk1s2


3: APFS Volume Recovery 518.1 MB
disk1s3


4: APFS Volume VM 1.1 GB disk1s4

On an APFS system, the highlighted partition (disk0s3) does not belong, since you have a Recovery volume in the APFS container. This is a known bug in Sierra when you Remove/Restore a Windows partition. You will need to convert it to Free Space, or we can reformat it as FAT32 and have BCA remove it.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 29, 2018 3:00 PM in response to DanInNY

DanInNY wrote:


/dev/disk0 (internal):


#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER


0: GUID_partition_scheme 1.0 TB disk0


1: EFI EFI 314.6 MB
disk0s1


2: Apple_APFS Container disk1 1.0 TB disk0s2


3: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB
disk0s3


/dev/disk1 (synthesized):


#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER


0: APFS Container Scheme - +1.0 TB disk1

Physical Store disk0s2


1: APFS Volume Macintosh HD 287.3 GB
disk1s1


2: APFS Volume Preboot 22.6 MB disk1s2


3: APFS Volume Recovery 518.1 MB
disk1s3


4: APFS Volume VM 1.1 GB disk1s4

On an APFS system, the highlighted partition (disk0s3) does not belong, since you have a Recovery volume in the APFS container. This is a known bug in Sierra when you Remove/Restore a Windows partition. You will need to convert it to Free Space, or we can reformat it as FAT32 and have BCA remove it.

Jul 11, 2018 6:32 AM in response to DanInNY

DanInNY wrote:

do you have any idea what the cause is? Does it stem from an initial failed attempted at installing Boot Camp (hence the need to erase disk0s3 with diskutil)?

Before High Sierra/APFS, BC Assistant used to move disk0s3 (Recovery HD) and then create a BC/Windows partition. Under APFS the Recovery HD is now a separate volume, so there is no move required. BCA, under some specific scenarios, thinks it needs to recreate a Recovery HD, without paying attention to the APFS Recovery volume, hence you get this. Once this has been created, the next run of BCA fails, because BCA sees an APFS volume, but does not expect the separate Boot volume. We erased/removed it and then allowed BCA to perform normal APFS partitioning.


You can see the current working layout if you look at the output of diskutil list.

Jun 29, 2018 11:54 AM in response to Loner T

/dev/disk0 (internal):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme 1.0 TB disk0

1: EFI EFI 314.6 MB
disk0s1

2: Apple_APFS Container disk1 1.0 TB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Boot OS X 134.2 MB
disk0s3


/dev/disk1 (synthesized):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: APFS Container Scheme - +1.0 TB disk1

Physical Store disk0s2

1: APFS Volume Macintosh HD 287.3 GB
disk1s1

2: APFS Volume Preboot 22.6 MB disk1s2

3: APFS Volume Recovery 518.1 MB
disk1s3

4: APFS Volume VM 1.1 GB disk1s4

Jun 29, 2018 7:45 PM in response to Loner T

Things seem to be OK:

** Checking volume.

** Checking the container superblock.

** Checking the EFI jumpstart record.

** Checking the space manager.

** Checking the object map.

** Checking the APFS volume superblock.

** Checking the object map.

** Checking the fsroot tree.

** Checking the snapshot metadata tree.

** Checking the extent ref tree.

** Checking the snapshots.

** Checking the APFS volume superblock.

** Checking the object map.

** Checking the fsroot tree.

** Checking the snapshot metadata tree.

** Checking the extent ref tree.

** Checking the snapshots.

** Checking the APFS volume superblock.

** Checking the object map.

** Checking the fsroot tree.

** Checking the snapshot metadata tree.

** Checking the extent ref tree.

** Checking the snapshots.

** Checking the APFS volume superblock.

** Checking the object map.

** Checking the fsroot tree.

** Checking the snapshot metadata tree.

** Checking the extent ref tree.

** Checking the snapshots.

** Verifying allocated space.

** The volume /dev/rdisk1 appears to be OK.

Jun 29, 2018 3:54 PM in response to DanInNY

FWIW, I've disabled FileVault (and waited for it to fully decrypt) and still got the same partition error.


I've also been able to independently create a FAT partition using Disk Utility and then install Windows 10 using a USB boot drive, i.e. the method that the old version of BCA allowed. However, none of the laptop's input devices work (including the keyboard, trackpad, and wifi). And I also get an error message saying to the effect that this version of Windows is not compatible with this version of Boot Camp, or vice versa.

Jun 29, 2018 5:43 PM in response to DanInNY

Also, `diskutil repairDisk disk0` finds no problems:


$diskutil repairDisk disk0

Repairing the partition map might erase disk0s1, proceed? (y/N) y

Started partition map repair on disk0

Checking prerequisites

Checking the partition list

Adjusting partition map to fit whole disk as required

Checking for an EFI system partition

Checking the EFI system partition's size

Checking the EFI system partition's file system

Checking the EFI system partition's folder content

Checking all HFS data partition loader spaces

Checking booter partitions

Checking booter partition disk0s3

Verifying file system

Volume is already unmounted

Performing fsck_hfs -fn -x /dev/rdisk0s3

Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume

Checking extents overflow file

Checking catalog file

Checking multi-linked files

Checking catalog hierarchy

Checking extended attributes file

Checking volume bitmap

Checking volume information

The volume Boot OS X appears to be OK

File system check exit code is 0

Restoring the original state found as unmounted

Reviewing boot support loaders

Checking Core Storage Physical Volume partitions

The partition map appears to be OK

Finished partition map repair on disk0

Jul 10, 2018 11:06 AM in response to Loner T

Just wanted to say that your answer solved my problem! This was also after I re-encrypted my drive with FileVault (because I had more or less given up).


This is what happened when I ran your suggested command of


diskutil eraseVolume fat32 BOOTCAMP disk0s3


I got the following output and apparent error message:


Started erase on disk0s3 Boot OS X

Unmounting disk

Erasing

newfs_msdos: 32416 clusters too few clusters for FAT32, need 65525

4096 bytes per physical sector

Mounting disk

Could not mount disk0s4 after erase

Error: -69832: File system formatter failed

However, I continued with your instructions to run BCA and was able to successfully create a 250GB partition and install Windows 10 on it. Thank you!

Since you seem to be the resident expert on this (you seem to have replied to every BCA question in this forum), do you have any idea what the cause is? Does it stem from an initial failed attempted at installing Boot Camp (hence the need to erase disk0s3 with diskutil)?

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Can't create Boot Camp partition on brand new 15-inch MBP w/ High Sierra (10.13.5) and APFS. Is there any official fix?

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