Can't get Windows to run on 2017 MacBook Pro

Hello everyone! I’m here for your help on Boot Camp and Windows on Mac.

First, I must say I have been a Boot Camp user for almost eight years. I’ve used it all this time on an older Mac, a MacBook Pro (17-inch, Mid 2010 — MacBookPro6,1). My problems started when I tried using Boot Camp on my new machine, a MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017 — MacBookPro14,3), with Touch Bar.

I have 2 TB of PCIe internal SSD, and I would like to use it split into three independent partitions, as follows:

• 1600 GB APFS: macOS I (with FileVault on) - main macOS partition
• 200 GB APFS: macOS II (with FileVault off) - secondary macOS partition
• 200 GB NTFS: Windows 10

Note: each macOS volume should be nested in a separate container, as to prevent sharing information between the two.

My main use for this is to have two, completely independent macOS installations, one of which protected by FileVault, the other not, as well as a native installation of Windows (so we are not talking about virtual machines here).

I have disgracefully failed in absolutely all my attempts to set my machine for dual boot macOS High Sierra and Windows 10. I will describe below the four different approaches I have tried so far. Each approach has been tried several times, being the most recent one with my main partition running macOS High Sierra 10.13.5 (17F77).

First approach:

I tried manually creating the three partitions with Disk Utility as described above. I can boot from a bootable USB flash drive and clean install macOS High Sierra on both APFS partitions (one with FileVault turned on, the other off). What I can’t manage to do, however, is to boot from a bootable USB flash drive created with Microsoft Windows 10 Media Creation Tool. This genuine Microsoft tool creates a bootable USB flash drive that can be used to install Windows 10 in other machines, without internet access.

The Windows 10 installation USB drive boots normally on other machines (including the 2010 MacBook Pro). When starting the new MacBook Pro with Option pressed I can see the USB device, but one I select it and ht Return I will not load, immediately showing the Apple logo instead of the expected Windows logo and the system will boot on the predefined Startup Disk.

From what I have read over the internet, it is due to the USB drive created with Microsoft Windows 10 Media Creation Tool not being blessed by the system.

Dead end.

Second approach:

I tried manually creating only the two macOS partitions, each macOS volume in a separated container:

• 1800 GB APFS: macOS I (with FileVault on) - main macOS partition
• 200 GB APFS: macOS II (with FileVault off) - secondary macOS partition

Then I proceeded to Boot Camp Assistant.app. When I try to partition my main macOS it says the volume can’t be partitioned.

Dead end.

Third approach:

On the same scenery described in the Second approach, I tried creating an external USB HDD to run Windows To Go. As it is widely known on the internet, you can create such a drive with a Windows 10 ISO and a software tools on the sorts of Rufus (https://rufus.akeo.ie). The external USB HDD, now loaded with Windows 10, shows up as “EFI Boot” when turning the machine on while pressing Option. When I select this volume, though, it will immediately boot on the predefined macOS Startup Disk. It completely ignores the USB volume, as it is not blessed.

The same external USB HDD drive, which was ignored by the 2017 MacBook Pro will boot nicely on the 2010 MacBook Pro. I can conclude there is nothing wrong with the drive creation, but only with how certain machines accept or deny it.

Another dead end.

Fourth approach:

Starting off from a single macOS partition (2 TB, APFS, FileVault on) I used Boot Camp Assistant.app to create a 200 GB Windows partition. So far, it was the only way I was able to see the Windows logo on my screen. It successfully installs Windows 10 and I am able to reboot several times in Windows, as it installs Boot Camp drivers, updates Windows 10, updates Boot Camp on Apple Software Update, etc.

However, if I ever restart on macOS, I can no longer boot my system from the Windows volume. I will still show when I turn the machine on while pressing Option, but as soon as I select it with the arrow keys and hit Return, it will boot the macOS partition.

Observations:

• In every one of the four approaches, I started up the MacBook in Single User Mode and ran (/is in/fsck -fy), with no effect on the final outcome.
• I have Tuxera NTFS version 2018 installed on my main macOS partition and I don’t know whether it could be a source of problems. It shouldn’t be, as I am not accessing the Windows volume from the macOS Finder with Tuxera.

Conclusions:

• It is not possible to create a Boot Camp partition when the internal SSD is already partitioned into different containers.
• After successfully creating a Boot Camp partition, using it and updating Windows, it is impossible to boot from it again I ever boot back on macOS. Then Windows is completely lost.
• So far, there was no way I could natively run Windows on my Mac in Dual Boot. (Virtual machines are not an option)

Does anybody have any idea why this happens or if there is a solution? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.