"Infinite Loop" of Problems

If the USB is connected, do you see files on it? If yes, then you have a file system on it.

If you Option+Click on the Download/Install icon, are you allowed to download the version you need?

Excellent. Please post back if you run into other issues.

Bill Strohm wrote:

"If you have the FAT partition manually created, connect the Kingston USB2, reboot and hold Alt/Option. Do you see any selections from the USB2 Flash drive?"

The FAT partition was created in Boot Camp Assistant, but for the rest of it, rebooting and holding Option (there is no Alt) shows the options "Windows" (I presume the USB2 drive) and "MBA SSD" (the internal 480 GB SSD). But I believe this Options window is all strictly Mac OS. Although Mac OS sees the USB2 drive as a boot choice, selecting it is what does what I described above. The Options window disappears, and the MBA restarts but gives only a very dark screen with no activity shown on the USB2 drive's LED. The computer is "on," the correct boot device is picked, but nothing happens.

Can you run a SMC and NVRAM Reset and test the Option method to check if the Windows Installer comes up?

Bill Strohm wrote:

Are you suggesting I should use Disk Utility to partition the drive like Boot Camp Assistant does, but without using Boot Camp Assistant? I can do that, but the problem seems centered on missing USB2 controller firmware, or something similar. Is there a USB2 controller on the flash drive (or in the Windows installer firmware)?

The Windows Installer has a USB2 driver. It does not have a USB3 driver. If your flash drive is a USB3 (not a USB2) it will not work.

Bill Strohm wrote:

"Your issues with the 'lagginess' are related to when the radio(s) are powered during boot." You lost me there. No "radio(s)" here. I do have a Bose sound system on my Hackintosh, but nothing on the MacBook Air except its internal speakers. I did not use the term "lagginess." "Delay" would be more descriptive of what I see. Cursor doesn't respond for 1-2 seconds, then suddenly does That is a USB connection from the motherboard to the keyboard/mouse on my Hackintosh, but I don't know about the internal connection protocol on the trackpad.

The 'delay' is related to the drivers for the internal devices loading.

Bill Strohm wrote:

I am still mystified as to why the WININSTALL USB flash drive worked once (on the OEM 128 GB NVMe SSD) but only once, and never again. And never at all on the new 480 GB NVMe SSD. It seems like the WININSTALL flash drive with the ISO installer from Microsoft is just not starting the installer. That should be the "setup.exe" app, right? Is there any way to force that app to run when the Mac OS has selected and restarted on the WININSTALL flash drive?

Does a Shift+F10 bring up a CMD Window?

Bill Strohm wrote:

"The 'delay' is related to the drivers for the internal devices loading." Exactly. I am wondering if the time required for internal devices to load is more than the time the Windows installer can wait. In other words, the installer may expect USB communication with the computer instantaneously upon reboot, and if that doesn't happen, the installer goes dormant.

The Installer waits indefinitely. If there is no display, there is an issue with one or more of the drivers. As a test, can you re-install the old SSD and retry the installer?

Bill Strohm wrote:

"Does a Shift+F10 bring up a CMD Window?" Not on my Hackintosh. Do you mean after booting the MacBook Air on the installer? I'll try and check tomorrow.

Yes, when you are sitting on the light black screen.

Bill Strohm wrote:

"Does a Shift+F10 bring up a CMD Window?" No, nothing happens... since I am using the Sandisk 16 GB USB2 flash drive, there is no LED indicator, but I presume if I had the Kingston in there, I would see no activity as before. Any other ways to get a "CMD window?"

No.

Bill Strohm wrote:

"As a test, can you re-install the old SSD and retry the installer?" I will not do that. Why do you think it might make a difference? I do not want a 128 GB storage device on this MBA. Even if the Windows installation did work, I would decline to keep Windows on it. Not enough space for either OS (plus apps), IMHO.

If the 480GB SSD came from OWC, this is something you need to get OWC to support. If you can, post the output of

diskutil info /

There several known issues with an OWC SSD. See Windows Boot Camp Installer Stuck as an example. Also, the 128GB SSD worked, while this one does not. You can always install macOS on an SD Card and dedicate 128GB to Windows.

Here is an example from my Mac. There do not seem to be any issues with the USB disks, that is seen with these commands.

diskutil list

/dev/disk0 (internal, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: GUID_partition_scheme *1.0 TB disk0

1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk0s1

2: Apple_HFS Macintosh HD 743.7 GB disk0s2

3: Apple_Boot Recovery HD 650.0 MB disk0s3

4: Microsoft Reserved 134.2 MB disk0s4

5: Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP 255.4 GB disk0s5

6: Windows Recovery 471.9 MB disk0s6

/dev/disk1 (external, physical):

#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER

0: FDisk_partition_scheme *16.0 GB disk1

1: DOS_FAT_32 WININSTALL 16.0 GB disk1s1

diskutil info disk1

Device Identifier: disk1

Device Node: /dev/disk1

Whole: Yes

Part of Whole: disk1

Device / Media Name: Cruzer Glide

Volume Name: Not applicable (no file system)

Mounted: Not applicable (no file system)

File System: None

Content (IOContent): FDisk_partition_scheme

OS Can Be Installed: No

Media Type: Generic

Protocol: USB

SMART Status: Not Supported

Disk Size: 16.0 GB (16008609792 Bytes) (exactly 31266816 512-Byte-Units)

Device Block Size: 512 Bytes

Read-Only Media: No

Read-Only Volume: Not applicable (no file system)

Device Location: External

Removable Media: Removable

Media Removal: Software-Activated

Virtual: No

OS 9 Drivers: No

Low Level Format: Not supported

diskutil info disk1s1

Device Identifier: disk1s1

Device Node: /dev/disk1s1

Whole: No

Part of Whole: disk1

Volume Name: WININSTALL

Mounted: Yes

Mount Point: /Volumes/WININSTALL

Partition Type: DOS_FAT_32

File System Personality: MS-DOS FAT32

Type (Bundle): msdos

Name (User Visible): MS-DOS (FAT32)

OS Can Be Installed: No

Media Type: Generic

Protocol: USB

SMART Status: Not Supported

Volume UUID: DBA7F6B3-9EE0-336D-A709-32726A46A6C1

Disk Size: 16.0 GB (16008608768 Bytes) (exactly 31266814 512-Byte-Units)

Device Block Size: 512 Bytes

Volume Total Space: 16.0 GB (15992971264 Bytes) (exactly 31236272 512-Byte-Units)

Volume Used Space: 6.7 GB (6671745024 Bytes) (exactly 13030752 512-Byte-Units) (41.7%)

Volume Available Space: 9.3 GB (9321226240 Bytes) (exactly 18205520 512-Byte-Units) (58.3%)

Allocation Block Size: 8192 Bytes

Read-Only Media: No

Read-Only Volume: No

Device Location: External

Removable Media: Removable

Media Removal: Software-Activated

For each of the USBs, can you post the output of

sudo fdisk /dev/diskN

where N points to the USB.

Here is an example from my Mac and the Wininstall USB.

sudo fdisk /dev/disk1

Password:

Disk: /dev/disk1 geometry: 1946/255/63 [31266816 sectors]

Signature: 0xAA55

Starting Ending

#: id cyl hd sec - cyl hd sec [ start - size]

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

*1: 0B 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [ 2 - 31266814] Win95 FAT-32

2: 00 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 [ 0 - 0] unused

3: 00 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 [ 0 - 0] unused

4: 00 0 0 0 - 0 0 0 [ 0 - 0] unused

Bill Strohm wrote:

And here is an example of my WININSTALL "sudo fdisk /dev/disk2" Terminal result:

This looks fine. I assume you have verified that both USBs have the same output.

Bill Strohm wrote:

Why is the used space on your WININSTALL USB disk 6.7 GB when on mine it is 4.75 GB?

I have additional files of about 2GB on the same disk, which are unrelated to WININSTALL.