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I have an iMac 3.4GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 with 1TB Fusion drive since early January this year. I have added 2 extra 4Gb of memory bringing it to 4x4.

I installed Windows 8 without any issue back then but it crashed recently and it was impossible to start it up so I decided to remove the partition and re-install it.

However, after 15 days and 15 hours spent on the phone with senior advisers, I am still stuck. Any help would be much appreciated.

Here are the steps I followed:

  1. create an iso image in Documents using Windows 8 dvd.
  2. create a partition using bootcamp (350Gb) plugging in a 1TB external hard drive
  3. Once in Windows set-up, I choose 'Drive 1 Partition 4 BOOTCAMP'. As expected, it can't go further as 'Windows must be installed to a partition formatted as NTFS'
  4. Instead of clicking 'Format' (which won't work), I press shift+F10 and end up in a terminal.
  5. Type DISKPART>list disk>select disk 1>list partition>select partition 4> format fs=NTFS label'Windows8' (I tried using the option 'quick' as well)
  6. Back to windows setup, I hit 'refresh'. The first time I tried it was saying 'We couldn't create a new partition or locate an existing one. For more information, see the Setup log files'. The second and subsequent times I tried I got 'Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is of GPT partition style'
  7. Back to OS X and Disk Utility, I can see 2 partitions in Internal Drive>Partition: MacintoshHD and Windows8 which is a 350Gb partition of format 'Windows NT File System (NTFS)'

Questions:

  1. Any idea what is going on?
  2. If GPT style partition is not the right partition style, what should be and how do I convert it into it?
  3. Is it an issue related to Fusion? There are many discussions out there around this issue but haven't found anything that worked for me. It seems Windows expect an MBR style partition but Fusion provides an hybrid MBR/EFI partition, No idea what it means so I am just repeating what I read.
  4. It also seems that having my external usb drive plugged in doesn't help. However, how can I unplug it while I am using it to install windows?

Thanks a lot for your help.

user423217
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  • How did you remove the partition? If the answer isn't 'bootcamp' that may be your issue. – Tetsujin Feb 27 '15 at 11:15
  • Yes I used bootcamp. The fusion drive has been recreated/fixed several time since then. – user423217 Feb 27 '15 at 11:16
  • step 4 - bootcamp should have finagled the partition for you already, with fake MBR/NTFS. That would be the part I'd investigate. Unless [something I've never tested] it won't work over USB, though idk why not. I've only ever done this to a second internal drive. BTW, bootcamp will ignore/work round the 'fusion' part of the drive anyway, as Windows doesn't understand it. – Tetsujin Feb 27 '15 at 11:23
  • as the usual 'Format' wasn't working I did step 4 as mentioned here: http://superuser.com/questions/481650/cant-use-bootcamp-partition-for-windows-8-installation I managed to install Windows the first time using the USB drive. But anyway, how can I use a second internal drive? Fusion allows me to have only two partitions so I can't split it in 3. Not sure how to follow your suggestion. – user423217 Feb 27 '15 at 11:34
  • it wasn't a suggestion, just how I did it - I'm on a Mac Pro so I've room for 6 drives in here. Not sure what to suggest next. – Tetsujin Feb 27 '15 at 11:38

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