I'm trying to install Windows 8 with Bootcamp on my Macbook Pro. Sadly it won't let me get past the disk partition choice (even after formatting the Bootcamp-drive).
It says:
Windows can't be installed on this storage device. The chosen harddisk contains a MBR-partition-table. Windows can only be installed on GPT-harddisks on EFI-systems. freely translated
What is going wrong here?
Here's a photo:
I was having a similar problem, the first time I got the same MBR error, rebooted and started getting a generic error to check the install logs.
What fixed this for me was to format the partition using diskpart, opened a command prompt on the "select partition screen" and formatted the partition. I formatted it on NTFS and after that it allowed me to select the partition and installed successfully there.
Here my steps:
Execute the following commands:
diskpart
select disk 0 (assuming 0 is the disk where you created the bootcamp partition)
select partition 4 (assuming 4 is your bootcamp partition)
format fs=NTFS label="Windows 8" (I didn’t use QUICK)
exit
exit
This solution doesn't seem to work when booting from the bootcamp created USB. I managed to make it work by buying a USB SuperDrive and booting from the Windows disk (not EFI). Worked like magic after that. Also quick format works too - will save you 2 hours on a 1TB disk.
I also was looking for solution to this issue and find it by understand the roots of problem. Bootcamp utility creates hybrid-MBR table and this prevents Windows 8 to be installed. Now when Win 8 installer have EFI boot mode, we actually don't need Bootcamp utility at all.
I removed Bootcamp partition with Bootcamp utility - this reverts partition table to GUID. Then I go to Disk Utility and manually divide Mac OS partition in two parts to add space (not formatted) for windows installation. After that, when I rebooted with Alt-Option button, I was able to choose EFI Boot option on inserted DVD disk and successfully install Windows by create appropriate partition on space that I prepare with Disk Utility. At this point reboot with the Alt-Option button and select the Windows DVD. (Not EFI) This time when you see the partitions it will be select-able as the installation disk. During installation Windows rebooted 2 times and I use Alt-Option button just to be sure that proper disk was booted.
My solution; NOT TESTED ON a FUSION DRIVE MAC 1. go to disk utility and partition your HDD into 2,
then delete the empty partition leaving you with free space(unallocated space),
after which continue as normal on the windows install process but this time the empty partition will show up, select it and there should be no install problem.
download bootcamp drivers and install them in windows to make it functional
NB The partition will be called "EFI boot" y default instead of Windows and the logo may be different from bootcamps but it still will work the same*
Have fun :)
Hope this works for you guys as it did with me.
Turn off your Mac, then connect the USB drive to your USB port, then hold the options button on the keyboard. After doing so, you will see Macintosh HD, Windows, and EFI. Boot into EFI and continue the installation as usual. You should be able to format the drive and then install Windows.
I was stuck with this challenge last night as well. After 10 hours, I finally have resolved this. As it turns out, not all OSX are the same. For example, I have Macbook Pro Retina, iMac, and Mac Pro. ClaitonLovatoJr's solution works on Macbook Pro Retina but not iMac or Mac Pro.
Here is why:
iMac (2014) and Mac Pro (2014) have different types of hard-drive. So far I haven't gotten Mac Pro to work, because it has the most particular type of hard-drive, perhaps Windows simply does not support. But again, I haven't tried for very long.
On iMac, here is how you can get Windows 8.1 (Professional) to install.
Since late 2012, iMac have fusion drive, which means its hard-drive is combined with SSD and traditional hard-drive. As a result, Apple has an interesting way to manage it. I am not going to the details. In short, EFI would not work with the hardware, so we must go through Apple's Boot Camp.
The first thing to do is to find a USB flash drive. Many people including me failed because we try to use SD card. This won't work because SD card is too advance for what we are doing. It will load the install program, but after loading it becomes all Windows, and then it will fail the installation. So what we need is an old fashion flash drive. I tried using SD card adapter, it failed too. It might have something to do with the type of adapter I have. But to be safe, we should USE FLASH DRIVE.
Then we will create an installation stick with Boot Camp Assistant. Be sure to use the latest 5.1 version. And we must check downloading from Apple, because it will give you drivers you need to complete the installation. If downloading failed for some reason, we can download the files here:
And then manually place the files to the installation disk.
I suggest not to check install just yet, in case you need to manually place the file.
Now we can finally use Boot Camp Assistant to install Windows. We must use it because Boot Camp is the only application that can create usable disk space for the installation. Disk Utility or other type of applications will not work. Apple has a very specific design for the hybrid EFI-MBR system for iMac's fusion drive.
Then the computer should restart, and very likely to stuck in black screen. Don't panic, this is because there is a bug in Apple's Boot Camp loading system. The wait time is too short, if you have many devices connected it will not load correctly. We can power off the computer by holding the power button and then power up while holding option key.
Now we cannot choose EFI-Windows when booting up, we must choose Windows. EFI is faster and more advance, but we cannot use it.
Now we should be able to boot into the installation interface, a very lowres one. If you see a highres interface it means it went to the EFI. Power down and try again. If you don't see the lowres interface, something went wrong. Boot into OSX and remove Windows through Boot Camp Assistant (actually just to kill the new partition), and then redo everything.
If you are in lowres interface, it's not all done yet. You still need to format the new partition, either just by clicking on format or using command center. Now you should be able to install!
After installation we can set up Windows, but it will die and reboot. Don't panic, because iMac is not design for Windows. Windows thought it had some hardware failure. And then we will be able to login after rebooting, but it will stuck for a long period of time - like 20 to 30 minutes. This is because it needs to download and set up some drivers for the odd environment it encountered. Finally, we will see pop up to encourage us to install Boot Camp on Windows. We don't have to. We can always use option key went starting the computer. But it's up to you.
When shutting down Windows sometime it will fail and give you errors, this is because Windows ultimately does not work with Apple's driver very well (fusion drive or other hardware). No worry, just power down by holding the power button.
Hopefully this help! :)
I also got caught in a loop of errors between EFI being formatted incorrectly as NTFS instead of FAT32 as well as an error that said I had an MBR table. I have the latest 13 MacBook Pro with force touch trackpad.
I succeeded eventually by following this tutorial, which installs Windows from the MacBook Pro's native EFI and requires diskpart commands. I actually followed the steps starting from the steps where you install Windows, so I didn't even wipe my disk or OS X clean (I was lucky or something)!
Additionally, I left unallocated space for Windows before beginning and I used gdisk to create/fix my disc's protective MBR before I followed the tutorial above, starting from the instructions to where you install Windows. Windows 8.1 booted and installed on my MacBook Pro without a problem and I did not have the black screen problem so I didn't need to follow the remainder of the tutorial to fix the black screen.
I found gdisk / creating the protective MBR tip from another forum on this site with the same error as the OP.
I installed the boot camp drivers from the USB bootcamp had made when I tried and failed to use boot camp assistant.
Everything works elegantly down to the Intel Iris graphics on multiple screens and I do agree that Windows looks great with a retina display. Almost better than OS X if Windows wasn't as simple to navigate as OS X.
I have been a decade or two and then some Apple Mac user/fan and the last time I used Windows on my own computer was when it was Windows 95. I decided to install Windows on a whim, and after losing many a night, I resolved to accomplish the installation because I hate it when I can't complete my whims, and I wasn't going to lose my evenings for naught. So I was pleasantly surprised that this worked for me on the first attempt! Thus I had to share as I experienced the same errors as OP.
A tip I would offer before attempting is to definitely backup your drive (I lucked out) and to calculate your Windows partition size accurately in MB beforehand so that you use your entire disk and give diskpart the appropriate size so you don't end up with free space that your Windows partition could have enjoyed.
The solution of Dan worked for me partially (Though I installed Windows 8.1).
1) Created Boot Camp install USB Stick 2) Continued but had the GPT Error as screenshot depicts in original question 3) Back into Mac restarted Boot Camp, removed the partition. 4) Disk Utility to manually create a partition 5) Shutdown and Alt-Option start 5) Selected the EFI Boot and was able to choose partition 4 and all went well.
Boot camp was part of the game as after the installation of windows boot camp installed loads of own drivers which I think is a good thing.
So i figured it out after hours of tinkering but couldnt have done it without this forum so thanks.
Tried to bootcamp windows 8 on my buddies mid 2010 imac desktop with a broken disk drive. I kept on getting the MBR GPT conflict error. i tried several times to install windows using bootcamp but eventually ditched it because it just wouldnt work.
With no disk drive to boot a cd, and for some reason no option to make a bootable thumb drive on bootcamp, i had to use my 2013 macbook air to make one.
After deleting the original bootcamp partition i used disk utility to add a new partition to the existing hd desigated as "free space," not mac os journaled or exfat. Then i restarted and booted into installing windows via the bootable flash drive i made with my macbook air.
In the windows install, i used shift+f10 to bring up the command prompt then typed these commands to format the partition to ntfs.
diskpart select disk 0 select partition 5 (on my comp the bootcamp partitions number from was 5 not 4 because of the flash drive, just make sure you select the right partition...) format fs=NTFS label="Windows 8" exit exit
Refresh the window showing all the drives and it should now allow you to pick the partition you just formatted and install windows. Install any bootcamp software you may need once you boot into windows.
A side note... my buddy actually found a usb superdrive, which i used to try and install via a windows install dvd, but it would not detect the disc in the drive when the computer restarts and first boots into windows. I was going to try to figure out how to change the boot order to boot from the usb superdrive, but i was able to get it working with the bootable thumb drive.
