Information about FAT32 format...
Hello everyone,
(I'm sorry if I type any mistake, English is not my native language - French is)
I had the same issue about my Bootable USB drive that couldn't be created by BootCamp. My bar stayed stucked like everybody here, and I ended up with an error messages. Then I started to
think and I made some
researches... I din't found any solution yet, but I may have founded the
real problem :
If you're installing any version of
Windows (7/8) with an
ISO file :
1) You'll note that the "
install.wim" file located in "
source>install.wim" (in your Window ISO file) is probably
over 4 gigabytes. Ok. If it's not, don't bother reading the rest.
2) But : When creating a Bootable USB Drive with BootCamp Assistant, the software will automatically format your drive in a
FAT32 format. Ok.
3) Then, I just learned that this very format,
FAT32, have a
file-size limit of
4 Gigabytes. Meaning it can't copy or receive
any file
over this limit.
As an example : After formating your (X) Gygabyte drive into a FAT32, try to paste any file superior than 4 gb in it. Even if your drive is perfectly empty and is 1TO big, you won't be able to do it. You'll be prompted "Not enough space in the disk" or something. I searched, there is no way around this limit.
No-way-around. It was designed like this... And sadly, FAT32 is the
only Bootable format for MAC.
More explanations here :
http://www.winability.com/why-cant-i-copy-large-files-over-4gb-to-my-usb-flash-drive/
So I said to myself : "Hey, maybe that's why I'm getting this error message, because the format does simply
not take this "
install.wim" file, (
witch is the heavier file in any ISO) - (4,56 Gygabytes in my case)"..."The bar gets stuck halfay because it's a long file to copy, and then my software figure that he won't be able to copy it because of this size limit, so BAM, error message "An error occurred while copying Windows files". Duh, Apple
, Duh.
Your BootCamp Assistant works
just fine, it's just the format he use that ruin the hole process. He is copying the ISO files into your USB Drive, and as it is formated in FAT32, if you happend to have a file superior than 4Gb, you'll get an error.
Still, I have no idea why it works for some and not for others.
So what do you think people ? Did I found something "pretty obvious when you see it" or completely useless ?