Can't see Windows partition on boot

[Andy-V]

Hi there

Windows is installed and does work fine, but the only way I can access it is if it's set to the default boot drive. If I set the default to OS X, then press option on boot, only the "Macintosh HD" can be seen.

As I said, the windows partition appears on my desktop aswell as in the menu for "startup disk" in preferences, but just not on boot.

Thanks,
Andy

[luffx]

Did you use BootCamp to create the partition, or did you bash it?

[Andy-V]

Yeah I used bootcamp for the whole process.

[luffx]

tell me a bit more about your situation...

What model Mac? Version of OSX? Version of Windows?

Partitioning one drive or installing windows on a separate disk? How big is the Windows partition? What filesystem did you choose?

[hankolerd]

Weird...it would be risky, but you might try putting windows as your startup disk, boot into windows, and then restart, and use option to get back to OS X and then see if using option on reboot let's you see it....I can't remember since it has been over a year, but it seems like this might have happened to me when I installed XP Pro...:apple:

[Andy-V]

tell me a bit more about your situation...

What model Mac? Version of OSX? Version of Windows?

Partitioning one drive or installing windows on a separate disk? How big is the Windows partition? What filesystem did you choose?

MacBook 2.0ghz model, latest revision with OS X 10.5. Using a 10gb partition on the main hard drive which was created using bootcamp. The file system is FAT.

@hankolerd - Yeah, I tried booting from both OS's with each one as the default

Andy

[luffx]

What version of Windows did you install?

[Andy-V]

Windows XP Pro SP2

[kym480]

Same here for me.
Can run Leopard and Windows by restarting by setting default boot disk, but when I restart holding <option>, only the Mac OSX partition is visible.

Windows partition does display on mac desktop.

Am running a new 2.2 GHz macbook, windows xp sp2 on a FAT32 formatted partition.

[Andy-V]

Turns out this seems to effect the new macbooks with a FAT 32 partition. Works fine as NTFS file system.

So yeah, seems to be a bug with all new macbooks if you use FAT 32 for your windows partition.

[Neverland]

acknoledged... i've recognized the same bug.

New SR Macbook 2,2 white + Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard + Windows XP Pro SP2, and a 15 GB FAT32 partition - whole process done by BootCamp (installed from the OS X DVD)

hope this bug gets solved with .1

[D4F]

Same issue here.

[Ufdah]

I can confirm, same problem here.

Black MacBook 2.2, Fat32 Windows MCE 2005

[subwarm]

Same here for me.
Can run Leopard and Windows by restarting by setting default boot disk, but when I restart holding <option>, only the Mac OSX partition is visible.

Windows partition does display on mac desktop.

Am running a new 2.2 GHz macbook, windows xp sp2 on a FAT32 formatted partition.

Same exact issue here, anyone find a workaround? All I want is to see that freakin' icon at startup!

Apple Discussions Thread on the subject:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1219469&tstart=15

MacBook 2.2ghz, 250gig hd, 10.5.1
Installed Windows XP Pro, Service Pack 2
Partitioned with FAT, 20gigs

[solmaker]

Same issue here for new Santa Rosa MacBook 2.2 GHz using WinXP Home SP2 and a FAT32 Boot Camp partition. In my case I originally had a NTFS Boot Camp partition, which DID show up in the Option boot menu, but I reformatted it as FAT32 and reinstalled Windows and Boot Camp drivers. Even though I believe I did everything correctly, I was concerned that my reinstall caused this problem. But now that I've read this long list of similar posters who have the same problem without a reinstall... I feel better.

You might feel better to know that I tried EVERYTHING short of removing the Boot Camp partition and starting from scratch to fix this problem, and nothing worked. So don't bother reinstalling Boot Camp drivers, resetting PRAM, running Disk Utility, doing CHKDSK /F, booting from the installer DVD, etc., etc. ... it won't work.

BTW, I have one other small Boot Camp bug on my system, which I saw one other person report on the web: Fn + Delete does NOT do a forward delete in Boot Camp as its supposed to do. Neither does Fn + Up/Down do PgUp/Dn, but Fn + Return DOES do Insert, so this isn't a bad Fn key. For my peace of mind, I'd appreciate other people checking and seeing if Fn + Delete works for them on Santa Rosa MacBooks in Boot Camp.

Stephen

[audiomixer]

Just got the new macbook and installed bootcamp after updating all software first. I used fat32 for the partition. I too have the option key issue on startup. Spent 45 minutes on the phone with apple tech and they are aware of the issue with the macbook but do not have a "bug" number for it or at least they would not give it to me. They did tell me that they have an internal paper on the subject and that they call it an "expected" behavior for the new macbook and that there is no hardware issue. It took me 10 minutes of pressing to get them to converse with a tech specialist on whether they were even addressing the issue or not. Its not a big deal but just an annoyance since my MBpro does this correctly. I did get them to give me a case number at least.
I'd give them a call and press them on it because it is a bug.

[agpetz]

Same issue, new macbook 2.2 with leopard, installed xp with bootcamp, no option to boot at log in. I'm curious though, if you go to Disk Utility, for the windows partition and get info, should it be bootable? Mine is not.

[audiomixer]

my macbook pro also shows the windows partition as "bootable: no" but it is working correctly when using the option key. It is the new macbook that has the issue and apple knows about it. I even have a case number for it for my macbook.

[agpetz]

my macbook pro also shows the windows partition as "bootable: no" but it is working correctly when using the option key. It is the new macbook that has the issue and apple knows about it. I even have a case number for it for my macbook.

New mac user here. What kind of time line can we expect? Will they issue a statement on it, or just post the fix in an update whenever they fix it?

[thewallbanger]

Same issue here on a 2.2 ghz SR whitebook. Just installed Boot Camp + Windows XP SP2 + 20 GB FAT.

Question to everyone else.. Was Boot Camp Assistant missing from your installed applications folder when you bought your SR Macbook? Most new owners needed to insert the OS X Boot Up disc to add Boot Camp.

Source: http://forums.macnn.com/66/macbook-and-ibook/352913/new-macbook-leopard-pre-installed-no/

[agpetz]

Same issue here on a 2.2 ghz SR whitebook. Just installed Boot Camp + Windows XP SP2 + 20 GB FAT.

Question to everyone else.. Was Boot Camp Assistant missing from your installed applications folder when you bought your SR Macbook? Most new owners needed to insert the OS X Boot Up disc to add Boot Camp.

Source: http://forums.macnn.com/66/macbook-and-ibook/352913/new-macbook-leopard-pre-installed-no/

No, mine was in the Utilities folder, I had done a re-install of Leopard though when I first got my macbook.

[audiomixer]

My Bootcamp assistant was present in my new macbook. As far as to when apple will fix this issue? Who knows, maybe 10.5.2 whenever that comes out?

[tianuk3]

I've got the same problem as everyone else (2.2ghz blackbook FAT32 formatted) :-( Come on Apple get your act together! Also does anyone know how I can right click in XP?

[agpetz]

I've got the same problem as everyone else (2.2ghz blackbook FAT32 formatted) :-( Come on Apple get your act together! Also does anyone know how I can right click in XP?

The bootcamp set up guide has shortcuts for when using windows. I think right clicking is done by putting 2 fingers on the track pad and then clicking.

[tianuk3]

any updates on this problem?

[ktbills]

I gave up and reformatted my boot camp partition from FAT32 to NTFS. Now on an option startup both the Mac HD and the Boot camp partition appear and can be selected.

A few other posts have reported similar results but you do lose the ability to write to the boot camp partition from OS X, though you can still read it.

[solmaker]

Thanks, Apple! This problem was fixed by the excellent MacBook EFI Firmware Update released April 8, 2008. Now Option boot shows both my Mac partition and my Windows FAT32 partition.

[rdav]

I have had similar problems with boot camp on a MacBook Pro. Gave up and erased the Windows-XP partition. When I try to rebuild the partition with Boot Camp Assistant, there is an error message, items not removed. Do I have to reformat the entire Mac HD and restore everything from Time Machine before creating a Windows partition? Disk Utility will not permit formating while logged in, so how do I do this? Thanks...

[diggyz]

Anytime there is an issue with not being able to boot from a partition, the master boot record has been changed or damaged. This can easily happen by using disk utility to change partition size, adding partitions, or any other action that would change the basic structure of the data on the disk without keeping the MBR intact. Mac OS has difficulty keeping that intact when there is an NTFS partition active.

One quick fix that can rewrite the MBR is a simple program called TestDisk. This utility can scan the drive and find what kinds of partition tables that are active. If it doesnt find the partitions due to dataloss, you can manually select the partition type. Mac, PC, etc. it gives many options. The link is here along with documentation.
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk

The quickest way to fix a mac in my experience with this software, is to use another apple machine over firewire. Boot the computer with the broken MBR into target disk mode (hold T during boot,) then run TestDisk with administrative rights on the second machine. (unix sudo in terminal) TestDisk does run from other operating systems and can fix a mac no problem, and I have tested this. From there you can simply follow the guides in the documentation or follow the on screen instructions.