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oakcapy

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 27, 2010
4
0
Hi,

I always get this error when I try to boot up to my Windows on Bootcamp:

No bootable device -- insert boot disk and press any key

I installed Windows 7 through Bootcamp and I got everything installed perfectly!
I partitioned my Mac's hard drive into 3 before the Windows installation:
-Mac OS
-Data For Windows
-System for Windows itself

It all worked fine and i could drag and drop anything into that Data Hard drive through Windows very easily. However, when I came back to my Mac OS and partitioned my Mac Hard Drive into 2 parts(Which makes 4 partition now) and tried booting back up to my Windows, it gave me that error.
I then decided to re-partition it like before which was Mac, Data and Windows.
Booted it back to Windows and it gives me the same error again! :(

I have an attached Picture showing how my partitions look now.
Does anyone know how to fix it?

I think it's because what my Windows is booting from is the Data Hard Drive but not my Windows 7 Hard Drive with the OS on it. Is there a way to change it's place or to tell it which Hard Drive to boot from?

Thanks!
Oakcapy =D
 

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LiquidSpikes

macrumors regular
Jul 6, 2007
102
18
Everett, WA
Hello oakcapy!

Welcome to the macrumors forums! :D

You are correct its pulling the wrong partitions,

If you want to split the data partition again into 2 again you can. :)

Now once to have the partitions they way you want them you need to rebuild the "Boot Configuration Data" or BCD. Windows 7 doesnt use the boot.ini and ntldr like older versions of windows the BCD replaces that.


To do this you need to boot from your windows 7 install media,
click the repair your computer link in the lower left hand side of the screen.
then in the System Recovery Options dialog box, click Command Prompt.

Once at the command prompt you can type in the following
bootrec.exe /ScanOs
Then...if everything looks good
bootrec.exe /RebuildBcd

then you should be able to boot windows :)

I suggest you read http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927392/en-us

Welcome again to macrumors :D
 

balamw

Moderator emeritus
Aug 16, 2005
19,366
979
New England
Just note that there may be an added layer of complexity here given that the Mac is using GPT and Windows may be using a fake MBR table Mac OS creates for it. (W764 may be using GPT directly, but all other versions are using MBR).

Your GPT and MBR partition tables may be out of sync, so you might also want to try gptsync from rEFIt or gdisk (GPT fdisk) to make sure the two partition tables are in sync and what you think they should be.

B
 

LiquidSpikes

macrumors regular
Jul 6, 2007
102
18
Everett, WA
Just note that there may be an added layer of complexity here given that the Mac is using GPT and Windows may be using a fake MBR table Mac OS creates for it. (W764 may be using GPT directly, but all other versions are using MBR).

Your GPT and MBR partition tables may be out of sync, so you might also want to try gptsync from rEFIt or gdisk (GPT fdisk) to make sure the two partition tables are in sync and what you think they should be.

B

Ohh... valid point...Yes thats true I kinda forgot about the gpt mbr sync... actually I would try rEFIt first before any of the bootrec.exe stuff... I love rEFIt... :)

Thanks balamw
 

Consultant

macrumors G5
Jun 27, 2007
13,314
34
You can only have 3 total partitions including bootcamp.

As the limitation with windows / bootcamp is 3 usable partitions (there's a fourth hidden partition that is used, do not delete it).

Anyway, you need to revert the partitioning. Or you can look for multi-book solutions but that's complicated.
 

balamw

Moderator emeritus
Aug 16, 2005
19,366
979
New England
You can only have 3 total partitions including bootcamp.

That's part of what I was alluding to.

This limitation comes in because of the 4 primary partition limit of MBR.

EFI + OS X + Boot Camp + one more adds up to 4.

Presuming you don't want to access two or more of the partitions from MBR you could probably tweak the partition table to combine two GPT partitions in one MBR.

B
 

oakcapy

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 27, 2010
4
0
Hi,

I tried rEfit and it work Perfectly! :D

Thank you for the help!
Oakcapy
 
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