Boot Camp Assistant leaves me at a gray apple screen

I am working with a 2008 Mac Pro 3.1 w/ 1TB hard drive, a Lite-On iHAS dvd optical drive. My operating system is Yosemite. I am trying to install a Windows 7 partition, but Boot Camp Assistant is not being cooperative. Here's my process for installing it with BootCamp:
1. Created Windows 7 x64 install disk from downloaded .iso file (en_windows_7_....iso) — Maybe I am using the wrong installer?
2. Open Boot Camp Assistant, went through the motions of downloading the drivers onto a separate external thumb drive, then partitioning hard drive to have WINDOWS partition.
3. Boot Camp Assistant mentioned something to me about there being an extra bootable drive on an external drive (the thumb drive, I believe) and it wanted to disable that.
4. I disabled it.
5. Yosemite restarts.
6. The gray loading screen pops up with Apple logo.
7. Frozen for more than 10 min, at which point I believe something has erred.
If anybody can help me resolve this issue, it would be much appreciated! I'll be paying close attention to e-mail in order to provide quick responses to this thread.
Thanks!
Mac Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10), Early 2008 Model

I have read that I should try buying a second hard drive for Windows. Confirm or refute. It seems highly unnecessary.
I have also tried going to the manual boot screen–holding alt at boot time. same results occur as above.

Similar Messages

Boot Camp Assistant installing Windows 7 option is grayed out. Help!

I have a late 2009 27" iMac, to which i clean installed the Yosemite OS (been updating the OS since Snow leopard that came with). I had Widows 7 installed since i bought it, but now whit this clean update the Boot Camp Assistant shows the option to "Install or remove Windows 7 or later version" grayed out and I'm unable to select it at all.
So far I've tried downloading the windows drivers from the Boot Camp Assistant to a DOS formatted flash drive, downloading them from the apple support page and also some files (also from apple) specific to my computer. Non of which have any file or program to instal or run to alleviate this problem.
As I see it, there may be one of two things causing the problem.
First: I saw somewhere on the apple support page that do to the model on my computer I need Boot Camp 4 and I have Boot Camp Assistant 5.1.2 (Maybe if I could instal this older version, but how?)
Second: When I clean install the OS I partitioned the disk into 3 parts, (system, Windows, and Projects) and that may conflict whit Boot Camp Assistant somehow?
Please Help Me

Anubis87 wrote:
Second: When I clean install the OS I partitioned the disk into 3 parts, (system, Windows, and Projects) and that may conflict whit Boot Camp Assistant somehow?
Please post the output of the following commands.
diskutil list
diskutil cs list
sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0
sudo fdisk /dev/disk0
The last two commands will prompt for your password. These are run from OSX Terminal.
Your current disk layout is unsupported. The standard layout is EFI/ESP, OSX, Recovery HD, Windows. Every software upgrade is a problem waiting to happen in your current configuration. Snow Leopard (without a Recovery HD) is the last OS which can support an additional 'shared' partition. Once Recovery HD came into the picture, this ability was lost.

Can't get past gray screen after Boot Camp Assistant

So last night I decided it was time to start experimenting with Boot Camp and Windows XP Pro. I fired up Boot Camp Assistant and allocated a 32gb partition of my HD for the XP install. When prompted, I put in the XP Pro CD and restarted. It booted into the XP install utility, but when asking about which partition to use, instead of the 32gb partition, all I saw was a 131gb partition. Thinking that it was my OS X partition, I decided to cancel out of the install and do some more investigating. When it restarted, all I got was a blank gray screen, no spinning gear, no logos, nothing. When rebooting while holding down a mouse button, I was able to eject the Windows XP cd. Here's what I've tried so far:
CDs: Leopard, Original OS X Disk 1, Windows XP, None
Keys: none
Result: Gray screen
Keys: option
Result: Gray screen with mouse pointer that initially is moveable, but then freezes
Keys: c
Result: Gray screen
Keys: d
Result: Gray Screen
Keys: shift
Result: Gray Screen
Keys: command + r + p
Result: Gray Screen
Holding power button
Result: Long tone while starting up, then gray screen.
What can I do?? I'm thinking that Boot Camp fried my HD partition data, but I can't seem to access any of the boot disks or any sort of disk utilities

I did. I took it into the Apple store and they replaced my hard drive. It was under warranty, so it wasn't a problem. I got them to give me my old hard drive back, which I hooked up to an external SATA enclosure. My mac recognized it, but said it wasn't initialized. I downloaded Data Rescue II and it recovered all of my software. I'm now using it as a Time Machine disk.
After further research, I found out the my main problem was that I used Windows XP SP1. You NEED to use SP2, otherwise, this problem will occur. I figured I could just upgrade later, but nope, you need a native SP2 disk.
If your Mac isn't under warranty, try this post:
http://phail.net/2008/04/10/bootcamp-windows-xp-sp1-epic-phail/
and his solution:
http://phail.net/2008/04/13/bootcampsp1-white-screen-of-death-a-solution/
In short, you need another Leopard computer. I bet if you print out the instructions and take them to the Apple store with you, the Genius Bar will help you, they've always been super helpful/nice with me.
Good luck!!

Boot Camp Assistant fails to copy windows installation files

I have been struggling to get Windows 8 installed on a brand new Macbook Pro Retina. It seemed simple enough to just run Boot Camp 5 with a 16GB flash drive in the USB port and a Windows 8 Professional ISO sitting on the desktop with the intent of creating a bootable USB drive, but it's not working for me. After selecting the path to the ISO file, boot camp proceeds to format the flash drive, create the WININSTALL partition, and attempt to copy the contents of the ISO to it, but it fails.
The error message isn't all that helpful, but the console logs seem to indicate that there is some sort of problem remounting the flash drive after formatting:
5/15/13 2:05:05.609 AM fseventsd[40]: could not open <</Volumes/WININSTALL/.fseventsd/fseventsd-uuid>> (No such file or directory) 5/15/13 2:05:05.609 AM fseventsd[40]: log dir: /Volumes/WININSTALL/.fseventsd getting new uuid: FD5D8B3E-A08E-4710-8925-CAA898FA70C3 5/15/13 2:05:05.679 AM fseventsd[40]: Events arrived for /Volumes/WININSTALL after an unmount request! Re-initializing. 5/15/13 2:05:05.679 AM fseventsd[40]: creating a dls for /Volumes/WININSTALL but it already has one... 5/15/13 2:05:07.176 AM diskmanagementd[857]: mount blocked by dissenter PID=857 (/usr/sbin/diskmanagementd) status=0xf8da0003 log=kDAReturnBadArgument message=(null)
I have tried rebooting, removing and re-inserting the flash drive, mounting, umounting, and reformatting. Boot Camp always winds up in the same place.
Any hints as to what might be going wrong?

Thanks for the note. But neither link lists our MacBook Pro mid 2014.
And how can I use Boot Camp Assistant to write the Windows.iso to USB-stick because it forces the download of support software (it is selected and grayed out).
The following page recommends using BCA for the MBP mid 2014.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204048
I guess I could write the Windows.iso to USB using Windows (in fact I already did and it boots the MBP) and then try if the aforementioned software packages (which one?) contain necessary drivers for our MBP.
But I'd rather do it the recommended way letting the Boot Camp Assistant do the dirty work.

Boot camp assistant probelms (insufficient space)

I have a MacBook 1,1 (Core Duo NOT Core 2 Duo) running MacOS 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard). Because it's a Core Duo machine I can't install Lion. So I'm in the curious position of needing to run Windows on my Mac in order to use iCloud. I have a Vista install disk and 17.7 GB free on my hard disk. Boot Camp Assistant (BCA) won't run, saying that I need at least 10 GB of free space. Reading some other comments I gather that BCA is actually going to insist on some other unspecified number (some say at least 20GB). Someone else suggested booting from my Snow Leopard install disk and running Disk Utility to repair the disk and disk permissions. I did that, and BCA still says no go.
It looks like I need to either upgrade to a larger hard disk (questionable choice given the age of the machine) or just create more space on the one that I have.
Interested in any advice from the Boot Camp wizards out there.

Vista really needs more like 40GB .
Mac OS X needs 20% / 20GB+ to function properly.
10GB was only for XP and even then it was crowded and SP3 needed 4-5GB free space.
Windows can be run in a VM other than games and 3D though not great given what you have, more RAM and more processor cores to share the work load)
So you really need iCloud? have yet to, there were too many issues last fall and couldn't see needing it, when there are also other ways to upload and store, share and sync data (music from Apple iTunes does or can lock you in, into iTunes and whatever else they deem "necessary").
Save and wait, then buy a newer Mac, and look in the Apple Store Specials for some good buys too.
17.7GB won't buy you lunch, won't leave OS X with enough to function, and Vista SP2 update will eat through 12GB of temp free space to apply. the core code for Vista is probably 16-20GB, page file 2GB?

Kernel panic when using boot camp assistant

OS X 10.5.2 all updates. 65GB of free space.
Installed Boot Camp Assistant from the OSX DVD that came with my MacBook(10.5)
After installation of Boot Camp Assistant ran software update (no updates needed)
Launch Boot Camp and after sliding the amount to use for the Windows Partition (15GB,20GB,25GB equal, doesnt matter the size I've tried them all) it will prepare for partition.
Then kernel panic (dimmed screen with text on grey stating must restart computer)
Once restarted the HDD has loss the space from the Boot Camp partition. I have run the Disk Utilities from the DVD to repair the disc.
This has happened each and every time (5x).
What is needed to use boot camp without causing os x to crash?
I've also.. at each kernel panic sent the report to apple.

All,
I believe I have discovered a solution for this problem. It at least helped me out. And no, it didn't involve buying iDefrag. This solution is totally free, but it involves a bit of work. It also involves iDefrag. Confused? Read on:
The problem is that the partition literally involves chopping off a contiguous block of free space at the END of your existing partition. I was clued onto this by trying to resize the partition with Disk Utility (which also failed with a kernel panic). The problem I was having was simply that, since I had all but filled my hard drive before this, I had data for files spread all over my hard drive.
So what was I to do? There's no way to view where a file is physically on the disk. The iDefrag utility would do what I need, but cost $34. Then it hit me: what if I could defragment my hard drive manually? All I would need is an interface that shows me the physical layout of the data on the hard disk so I'd know which files I would need to either delete (or duplicate and delete). I correctly hypothesized that the DEMO of iDefrag would do this for me.
So I began, identifying the last file before contiguous white space began. The goal being to carve out a good chunk of "white" empty blocks on the right-hand side. For those wondering about the Header file at the very end of the disk, don't worry. It doesn't seem to matter. For example, I see a huge file. The blocks take up half the screen. I select it and open the Info window and see that it's a digital video file from iMovie. The info window has a selectable file path. I copy it, switch to the finder and hit "Apple-Shift-G", paste the file path and hit enter and I am taken there. I find the file and do one of three things:
1. If it's a file I want or need to keep, but it's a file I created, then I just duplicate it with Ctrl-D. Delete the original, rename the copy to the original name and empty the trash.
2. If it's a file I want or need to keep, but the SYSTEM generated it, I'll need to enter my password as I duplicate it. Enter the password again as you delete the original. You will need to use terminal and the "sudo mv" command to rename the file to the original name (Sorry). Empty the trash.
3. If it's a file I don't need, either created by me or the system, delete it and empty the trash.
"But wait", you might ask. "Steps 1 and 2 appear to do nothing! If you copy the file and rename it to be the same name as the original, nothing is being accomplished!" It might seem like nothing at first, but the FILE SYSTEM created the new file at the EARLIEST possible contiguous free disk space. If you're like me, you freed up a bunch of disk space to make this Boot Camp thing possible. This is evidenced by the white "holes" earlier in the disk (earlier as in "more to the left"). The copy of your file used the earlier white space. Deleting the original turns the blocks white!
Often your processes will create a lot of little files around the same place. For example, a World of Warcraft update might create a lot of little files at the same time. If you get to a point on the disk where it seems like a lot of files in the /Library/Application Support/ folder were created, just copy and paste the least common denominator. If you buy music once in a while, it might be your entire Music Folder that could be worth duplicating! No need to do it file-by-file. The important thing is that files to the right of the bar get moved more to the left of the bar, leaving with you CONTIGUOUS FREE SPACE at the END of your disk.
Finally, after doing this for about an hour, I wanted to see how big a partition I could create. Originally I'd been trying to create a 20 GB partition. From my estimates, if I had tried to create a 9 GB partition, I'd have been just fine the whole time. But that's not enough to play Bioshock! When I finished I took out the ruler and measured the bar on my screen.
The whole bar was 289 milimeters. The contiguous white space ended at 239 milimeters. That's 50 milimeters of continuous space. That's 20.9% of my disk capacity of 93.4 gigs. That, my friends, is 19.54 gigs. I created an 18 GB parition and voila, it worked fine!
I hope this helps some people. It's definitely a wallet-saving venture at the expense of sanity, but there is a way to do this without spending money. Also, while I call this a sort of "manual defragmentation process", it's a bit of a misnomer. While it is freeing up the blocks at the end of the drive, it is possible (or likely) that this process will seriously fragment your drive. After doing this, it may be worth the investment to buy iDefrag so they can really get your file system in order. But at least this'll get Boot Camp running.
Regards,
Tristan
www.theblowmedown.com

Does Boot Camp Assistant Partition It in GUID or MBR?

Hi. Does Boot Camp Assistant partition using GUID or MBR? Does it initially format it with FAT32, leave it blank or format it with NTFS for the Windows installer to be able to detect it? How's the Windows installer able to see the Boot Camp partition made by the Assistant? Thank you in advance. Gbu.

Microsoft recommends GPT for 2TB and larger volumes.
MBR can't boot from a volume larger than 1.9TB.
Windows 7 can see GPT just find, but not HFS+, and AppleHFS and MNT are buggy.
Disk Utility can create a drive that uses MBR.
GPT has support for sub-tables and for Master Boot Record.
Apple's implementation of MBR might be on the weak side.
Windows 7 wants to actually have and boot from the 100MB system partition.
Apple, Intel, Microsoft, Sun etc are members of EFI Group and Unified EFI is supported on Windows Vista SP1 64-bit and later 64-bit versions, but Apple's is more proprietary and differs, but is the sole reason really for Apple's excluding and including which Macs are "supported" (which really isn't true) running Windows 64-bit (Vista/7) - that they have to have EFI64 or UEFI 2.x.
The external drive is likely something else, as you could format a drive to GPT and NTFS and have it work fine.
The best way to 'clean' a drive of all partition tables and volumes is with Windows and something like WD Lifeguard or similar tool.
As for hybrid, while some Macs can now boot by default to 64-bit kernel mode, I prefer the "from the ground up" of Windows 7 64-bit which still supports and runs 32-bit apps, but of course mandates 64-bit drivers in places.
Your Apple disks not only have GPT, but have to have other partitions like EFI (128MB) after any HFS partition. GPT does have an MBR - see the Apple tech note #2166.
Windows and GPT FAQ
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/storage/GPT_FAQ.mspx
*Secrets of GPT* http://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#technotes/tn2006/tn2166.html
Table 1: GPT Summary
Block Description
0 Protective MBR
1 Partition Table Header (primary)
2 through 2+b-1 Partition Entry Array (primary)
2+b through n-2-b partition data
n-2-b+1 through n-2 Partition Entry Array (backup)
n-1 Partition Table Header (backup)
The protective MBR is an MBR that defines a single partition entry that covers the entire area of the disk used by GPT structures and partitions. It is designed to prevent GPT-unaware programs from accidentally modifying a GPT disk. A GPT-unaware program sees the GPT disk as an MBR disk with a single, unknown partition. In a way, this is like the HFS wrapper around an HFS Plus disk.

Trying to install Windows 8.1 from an ISO, but boot camp assistant doesn't seem to recognize

Hi there,
I have a 2011 Macbook pro, 15", 2.2 GHz Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM. I'm wanting to install windows 8.1 using boot camp assistant, and downloaded windows 8.1 from dreamspark (Microsoft store for students). I have downloaded all of the windows support software onto a USB, and there is a folder sitting on my desktop containing the .ISO for windows 8.1. However, when i try to run boot camp assistant, it says that the installer disc could not be found, and does not give me an option to install from a selectable .ISO. Can anyone help me with this? Is it something obvious I'm missing? Thanks!
Connor

For Macs with built-in Optical drives, you will need to burn the ISO to Optical media and use the Optical drive.

I'm trying to install Windows XP on my Leopard 10.5.8 using Boot Camp Assistant but when it restarts it says I should insert a bootable disk even though I didn't remove the installer from the drive. What should I do?

More info: I'm using an external CD drive because the built-in one doesn't work for some reason.
Also I went back and deleted the partition (also using Boot Camp Assistant) and just gave up on installing XP, but now every time I turn on my macbook I have to press the Option key to mount the Mac HD. If I don't, it returns to the black screen that says I have to insert the bootable disk and press any key. How do I stop this problem? I've already verified the disk and permissions, plus repaired it. It's still the same.

Go into your system preferences and click the startup disk icon then select your Mac HD.

I'm trying to install Windows 7 on my MacBook with Boot Camp Assistant

I'm trying to use Boot Camp assistant to install Windows 7. I have a disk, I've done everything right, but for some reason, whenever I click Install on the final Boot Camp prompt, it only gets as far as the Windows is loading files... part after it reboots to the Windows hard drive. I've tried everything, but it still won't work. Im using a 13" MacBook Pro with Retina. It has the latest software version (OS X 10.9.1) and I have a USB with Windows Support Software. The disk is Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.
I've been trying for the last two days, and I really need help!
Thanks.

I solved my own problem. I just kept trying, and eventually it worked!

Boot Camp Assistant quit unexpectedly when creating partition

Dear Sir
I am using an Imac 21.5" (Late 2012) version of imac.
Thought of installing win7 to my system but i am hit with this error as Boot Camp Assistant quit unexpectedly when i clicked next after selecting the partition for windows,
Full error message is" Click Reopen to open the application again. Click Report to see more detailed information and send a report to Apple."
PLease advice.
Thanks.
Process:         Boot Camp Assistant [1101]
Path:            /Applications/Utilities/Boot Camp Assistant.app/Contents/MacOS/Boot Camp Assistant
Identifier:      com.apple.bootcampassistant
Version:         5.0.2 (462)
Build Info:      BootCampAssistant-5030000000000000~1
Code Type:       X86-64 (Native)
Parent Process: launchd [130]
User ID:         501
Date/Time:       2013-03-31 17:36:25.075 +0800
OS Version:      Mac OS X 10.8.3 (12D78)
Report Version: 10
Interval Since Last Report:          1835 sec
Crashes Since Last Report:           13
Per-App Interval Since Last Report: 607 sec
Per-App Crashes Since Last Report:   13
Anonymous UUID:                      4DB7CAAB-CFA8-6F8C-1EFB-CEF8C8FF222F
Crashed Thread: 0 Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)
Exception Codes: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x000000000000003c
VM Regions Near 0x3c:
-->
    __TEXT                 00000001053b4000-00000001053da000 [ 152K] r-x/rwx SM=COW /Applications/Utilities/Boot Camp Assistant.app/Contents/MacOS/Boot Camp Assistant
Application Specific Information:
Performing @selector(continueButtonClicked:) from sender NSButton 0x7fbdd9a25780

Same thing for me too. I have "downloaded the latest Windows support software from Apple" and put it on my USB stick.
Only if I try to disconnect the USB drive I get this message:
The installer disc could not be found.
Insert your Windows installer disc and wait a few seconds for the disc to be recognized.
Then if I connect the USB stick again, I get this message again:
Boot Camp Assistant quit unexpectedly.
Any tips on how to solve this would be greatly appreciated!

I have just purchased a new iMac OS Xlion version 10.7.3 and I'd like to install Windows. I have a disc for XP but the Boot Camp Assistant manual only refers to Windows 7. Please does anyone know if it will it work with XP.?

I have just purchased a new iMac OS Xlion version 10.7.3 and I'd like to install Windows. I have a disc for XP but the Boot Camp Assistant manual only refers to Windows 7. Please does anyone know if it will it work with XP.?

Get a Virtual Macine software program, Parallels, VMware Fusion or VirtualBox, and install XP in a virtual machine.
You can't install XP in a Boot Camp Partition with Lion or Mt Lion, only Win 7.

Boot Camp Assistant "Windows 7 Installer disc could not be found"

I'm attempting to Boot Camp a partition on my MacBook Pro Retina (13", early 2013) and it's not working. I purchased a Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit DVD and i'm accessing it through the optical drive on my desktop iMac. So far so good; MBP shows the disc on its desktop through remote disc sharing. The USB drive with downloaded Windows drivers is in place.
However, Boot Camp Assistant won't recognize the Windows 7 DVD, even though it's right on the desktop (remotely). There is a dialog box and it says "Installer disc could not be found .. wait a few seconds"
And that's it. Nothing further happens.
Help! I hate Windows! Why am I doing this??

Lightwave wrote:
Thank you! I bought Windows 7 on a physical DVD (it's the Home Premium 64bit disc). Hope that was the right thing to do?
Yes.
So let me get this straight. I can either use this DVD directly on a superdrive plugged in to MBP, or else burn a copy to the USB stick.
MBP will not install from an external SuperDrive due to Windows installer limitations, because it has no driver for the SuperDrive.
How exactly do I do the latter since my own DVD reader right now is by remote disc on my iMac?
Create an ISO using the following procedure on the iMac and then copy it over the network to the MBP or create an ISO by attaching the SuperDrive to the MBP. Use Bootcamp Assistant to point to this ISO when creating the USB for installation.
From Disk Utility 12.x: Duplicate a disk, CD, or DVD
Step 7 will give you an ISO, that you can then copy to the MBP.
Duplicate a CD-RW or DVD-RW
Disk Utility can’t create usable copies of discs with an incompatible format or discs that are copy-protected. (These include most commercial movie DVDs and audio CDs and some software and data discs.) To copy music from an audio CD to another CD, use iTunes, not Disk Utility.
To burn a disc, you need an optical drive in your computer or connected directly to your computer. You can’t burn a disc using a remote optical drive.
Open Disk Utility, in the Utilities folder in Launchpad.
Insert the CD or DVD disc in the optical drive, and select it in the list at the left.
Choose File > New > “Disk Image from [disc name].”
Type a name for the disk image.
Choose an option from the Image Format pop-up menu.
Choose “compressed” to create a smaller disk image.
Choose “read-only” to create a disk image that’s quicker to create and open.
Click Save.
After Disk Utility creates the disk image, eject the original CD or DVD.
Select the disk image in the list at the left, and choose Images > Burn.
When the Burn Disc dialog appears, insert a blank CD or DVD, and then click Burn.
You can continue using the disk image to create as many duplicate discs as you need.

I need help with boot camp. "Back up the disk and use Disk Utility to format it as a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume. Restore your information to the disk and try using Boot Camp Assistant again."

This message appears every time I try to partition my disk:
"Back up the disk and use Disk Utility to format it as a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume. Restore your information to the disk and try using Boot Camp Assistant again."
I verified my Macintosh HD disk on Disk utility and then tried to repair it, but I am unable to click the repair button.
It says it's not available because the startup disk is selected.
I don't know what to do or how to go about both these problems.
Please, any suggestions?

This message appears every time I try to partition my disk:
"Back up the disk and use Disk Utility to format it as a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume. Restore your information to the disk and try using Boot Camp Assistant again."
I verified my Macintosh HD disk on Disk utility and then tried to repair it, but I am unable to click the repair button.
It says it's not available because the startup disk is selected.
I don't know what to do or how to go about both these problems.
Please, any suggestions?

Boot camp assistant no longer registers my windows partition.

I recently decided to wipe my macbook pro (aluminum) and reinstall OS X on it. Using my leopard install disk, I erased the drive. I had a windows partition running at the time, but I decided no to erase that as well. Unfortunately it seems as thought the disk couldn't install snow leopard from scratch, so I installed tiger (my leopard disk wasn't working) and upgraded from there. This worked, and now I've got snow leopard up and running, the only issue is that boot camp assistant doesn't register my hard drive as being partitioned, so I cant remove or add partitions, though I can still boot into XP.
I want to remove and resize the partition, should I use disk utility to erase it? Or is there an alternate solution?
Thanks
-Will

Well, I just noticed the restore button at the bottom corner of boot camp assistant. Seems to have solved the problem XD.

Boot Camp Assistant leaves me at a gray apple screen

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