Bootcamp Blocks Mac HD Visibility

Hello fellow members,

I am new to this forum and new to be a Mac user, so for that saying I am making an attempt to install Windows 10 with Bootcamp because I still use some Win software.
It was working great up until recently.

When I'm in macOS Sierra my Time Machine stopped to back up, Disk Utility doesn't work (stuck at loading disks) and any new software I try to install doesn't see Mac HD as destination. And the only way I could fix it is by wiping a Bootcamp partition.

Now I am trying to partition it again and install it. But it gives the same issue. There must be a way. I've battled this a long time and I am running out of options and there's nothing specific I could find in Google search.

I would appreciate any input in to this.

Thank you

Welcome to our forums.

I suspect the Boot Camp Assistant is "seeing" more than one partition on your Macintosh HD and because of that will refuse to go ahead with the installation. It might be best to make a clone backup of your macOS Sierra first and then wipe the drive from Recovery. Make sure all partitions are removed and reinstall macOS Sierra. You can then restore your data from the clone backup. After doing that, try to use the Boot Camp Assistant once more.

For clone software we recommend Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper.

Thank you for your reply.

I will try it and come back with result.

Okay. @chscag Thank you for your advice. I did internet recovery that allowed me to wipe internal HD and make it as one partition. Actually for some kind of reason I couldn't just delete it so I had to break down Fusion drive, delete logic partition and then put it back together which did the job. Time Machine restored all my settings.

Now I have another question if you don't mind. Why when I am starting to run BOOTCAMP attaching Win10.iso after restart it installs Win 8.1 instead?

Thank you for your help so far!

Now I have another question if you don't mind. Why when I am starting to run BOOTCAMP attaching Win10.iso after restart it installs Win 8.1 instead?

Click to expand...

I believe the Microsoft iso that you have is the Windows 8.1 one with a free upgrade to Windows 10. However, I don't think you can use that iso any longer to install Windows 10 without purchasing another license.

Thank you.

So I completely wiped Macintosh HD and installed OSX then I got all my data. I partitioned disk with bootcamp. Installed Windows 10, done all updates. I am coming back to Sierra and the same thing happens - Time Machine cannot do the backup, Machintosh HD is not recognizable by apps, Disk Utility hangs.

So there must be something I can do within the system instead of wiping down everything? Obviously it proved that it doesn't work. I cannot believe there's nobody else encountered this. I cannot find anything on internet.

Thank you

here are Apple's steps for installing winOS with Bootcamp. Make sure your Mac model can handle your winOS version you are attempting to install.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201468

You never mentioned what model and year Mac you are using?

Thank you Ferrar,

I know how to install Windows with Bootcamp. It works perfect. Thank you. Here's what's happening

Everything works perfect in Win10. But when I switch back to Mac OS Sierra 3 things happens:
- Time Machine doesn't back up Mac partition in Sierra OS
- Disk Utility stuck on "Loading Disks" in Sierra OS
- Macintosh HD partition is invisible to any programs or apps while running Sierra

So the 3rd is the answer to why those things are happening. It can be seen in Finder and on desktop though. I can browse it manually but apps don't see it. Keep in mind that the only way everything works is in Safe Mode.

Things I have done:
- Updated whatever is possible
- Reset whatever is possible to reset on Mac during start up
- cmd + R repair on start up
- Hardware troubleshoot
- Wiped the whole thing down - this was suggested when I've been told that BootCamp might see extra partitions that are registered and this was the only solution
- Breaking down logical drive and putting it back together
- Manually reinstalling Windows support soft after all the Windows updates in bootcamp because I red that Win Update messes with BC files after update.

So everything above failed. The only way it works when I don't have partition of bootcamp installed. But ther must be something. It feels like there's a simple solution to this like change a registry record or fix logical drive. But I think I am hitting a wall here.

I am using 5K iMac 2015 with fusion drive.

Fusion drive has been a Bootcamp killer.

What that means? There's no fix?