Can't partition startup disk in Mavericks for Boot Camp

Question

I recently upgraded my computer to Mavericks (I believe I have the latest version, 10.9) and I've been trying for 2 days now to install Windows via Boot Camp on my computer, but it always fails at the Partitioning step.

I have tried multiple different things, such as…

• Partitioning via Disk Utility
• Going into the Recovery HD and trying to repair the HD
• /fsck/sbin -fy in Single-User mode
• I have used a Mountain Lion USB install to use the Disk Utility there

…but I keep ending up with the same errors:

• Partition map is broken
• Verification of the file system failed

When I try to repair it using Recovery HD I keep getting "Live file system repair is not supported" and there is basically no way for me to partition, unless I want to downgrade to another version of OS X which I don't feel like doing. Any ideas?

Answer 1

This indicates that the partition map on the drive is corrupt and needs to be repaired.

1. Backup all your data (possibly with a disk image of your startup disk partition) and boot into a separate disk (not Recovery HD).

2. Select your drive in Disk Utility, and choose the Partition tab.

   

3. Change Partition Layout to 1 Partition or 2 Partitions. This will erase the entire disk, replacing the corrupt partition map with a new one.

4. Click Apply.

Answer 2

I solved this without erasing my harddrive by just booting into single-user mode and repairing the actual Macintosh HD Partition, instead of the whole harddrive.