[iMore Question]

I have a brand new custom build iMac with Retina display with the 3TB Fusion drive option. I have several Windows based programs which I need to run so I planned to install Bootcamp. When I run the bootcamp utility it allows me to partition the drive as usual. I chose only 500gb for the bootcamp partition leaving 2.5TB for MacOS.

Using the utilty I then format the drive NTFS then hit continue.

I then get the following error "Bootcamp cannot install Windows to this drive" and that's it. No explanation, no troubleshooting options, nothing.

I called Apple tech support and they were not helpful, saying they cannot offer support for windows. I replied, I don't need windows support; i need help with bootcamp. After a half hour I hung up frustrated.

After searching the problem online, it seems my problem is this. Windows must be installed within the first 2.2 TB of disk space on the second partition and my problem is that the fusion drive, while showing as one drive, is actually two with the 125 gb ssd. So, the bootcamp partition is actually the third partition. Is that correct?

One workaround I read about was to create two partitions and install bootcamp and windows on the second one, but that means the remainder of the third partition would not be treated as a fusion drive. Is that true?

All of this is what I've read and could be false too. Bottom line is I need a way to install bootcamp with windows on my Mac.

Please help. Thanks for this great site. These forums are terrific.

Colin Wood

[nikkisharif]

Hopefully someone that's familiar with this process will chime in. If not, you can always contact Apple or make a genius appointment.