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[Guide] Solving Media Kit reports not enough space on device for requested operation error!

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Hello,


This is a guide which I decided to make after solving the problem "Media Kit reports not enough space on device for requested operation" on my laptop.


Problem:
Try to format a partition for installing Mac on your laptop, but it reports the above problem.
Tried Deleting the partition and creating a new one, but the same error.
Tried formatting it in a different format, like exFat, Fat32, but the same error.
Tried reformatting an already created Mac OS Extended Volume(Journaled).
Tried formatting/reformatting/partitioning using Terminal but no success.
Tried formatting using Gparted but no success.


Cause:
The main cause of this error is because your EFI partition is below 200mb, Mac needs an EFI partition of at least 200mb(as said by RehabMan) to perform any Disk Utility function.


How did this happened?:
For me, this happened because I created partition using Windows, and first installed Windows 8 UEFI, and Windows 8 creates an EFI Partition of 100mb.


Solution:
The solution is simple, all we have to do is shrink any partition by 200mb or more.
Then, create a new EFI partition, and then add Microsoft Boot files.


What all will work after applying this solution?:
You could format and partition using Disk Utility.
Boot into Windows.
Boot into Mac OS.
Dual Boot both OS. (I am dual booting using Clover).


In the following procedure, I had my windows working, in case,if you can't boot your windows or have problem related to booting, probably the same solution can be applied, as it creates a new bootloader.


Steps:
1) The first thing is make a backup of your current EFI Partition, to do so, follow the steps below:


a) Open CMD using Admin rights.
b) Type the following code:


Code:
Diskpart


Code:
List Disk


Type the number of your HDD where windows is installed
Code:
Sel disk 0


Code:
List Vol


In my case, the EFI partition was volume 4 , under Label, "EFI" or "SYSTEM" would be named, it is in Fat32 format and around 100mb, select the volume according to what's shown in your system
Code:
Sel Vol 4


Code:
assign letter=z


Now you can see a new partition with letter Z in your windows explorer, but when you try to open it you will have an error. To solve this error, do the following:


Open Task Manager, Go to Details (In windows 8), select "explorer.exe" and end task.


Then go to File > New Task, and type "explorer.exe" and Check "Create this task with administrative privileges".


Now you can open the Z partition.


Make a Backup by copying all the files to a drive which can be accessible later. Certain files may show an error while copying, this can be resolve by applying the above procedure from a startup repair disk.


2)Now again Switch back to CMD - Diskpart. Now we have to shrink a partition by 200mb or more, if you already have unallocated space then no need to follow this step, skip it. In my case, I shrink my C: drive by 400 mb. To do so:


Select your C: partition, Volume 1 in my case.
Code:
Sel Vol 1


C:(Windows) Partition will get shrink by 400mb.
Code:
shrink desired=400




3) Now that we have 400mb of unallocated space, all we have to do is create a new EFI Partition.
To do so, type:


I made my efi partition of 400mb, minimum is 200mb to enable Disk Utility to perform functions.
Code:
create partition efi size=400


Now you have successfully created a new efi partition.
Code:
format quick fs=fat32 label="System"




4) All you have to do now is create bootloader, there are two methods,


i) Either copy the Backup files back into this drive by again selecting this volume and assigning a letter then reopening windows explorer with admin privileges.


ii) Create new bootloader using bootrec command, I recommend doing so using windows repair tool, type the following command:


C: is my windows drive, and I assigned letter V to my newly created EFI partition.
Code:
bcdboot c:\windows /s v: /f ALL


5) That's it, you have successfully created a new EFI Partition.


6) Now when you will restart, upon boot selection there will be two "Windows Boot Manager" , try booting in with both the Boot Options, if you face any error booting, just boot in windows repair and click "Start-up Repair" or if that does not work then try System Restore.
System Restore worked for me.


7) If everything is good, you could delete the older EFI Partition of 100 mb, by assigning letter then formatting it.


8) Now boot in Mac Installation Disc. TaDa! you can now successfully format your partition.
 
...
Cause:
The main cause of this error is because your EFI partition is below 300mb, Mac needs an EFI partition of at least 300mb to perform any Disk Utility function.

Threshold is actually 200MB.

Documented here: http://www.tonymacx86.com/multi-booting/133940-mavericks-windows-8-same-drive-without-erasing.html

ii) Create new bootloader using bootrec command, I recommend doing so using windows repair tool, type the following command:


C: is my windows drive, and I assigned letter V to my newly created EFI partition.
Code:
bcdboot c:\windows /s v: /f ALL


Code:
bootrec.exe /fixboot

All you need is BCDBOOT. BOOTREC is for legacy boot.

6) Now when you will restart, upon boot selection there will be two "Windows Boot Manager" , try booting in with both the Boot Options, if you face any error booting, just boot in windows repair and click "Start-up Repair" or if that does not work then try System Restore.
System Restore worked for me.

You can also edit your boot entries in your BIOS (if it provides a mechanism), in a UEFI shell, or with efibootmgr in Linux. Some also report success with EasyUEFI, but I've found it to be very buggy (maybe it's gotten better).
 
Edited.

Threshold is actually 200MB.Documented here: http://www.tonymacx86.com/multi-booting/133940-mavericks-windows-8-same-drive-without-erasing.htmlAll you need is BCDBOOT. BOOTREC is for legacy boot.You can also edit your boot entries in your BIOS (if it provides a mechanism), in a UEFI shell, or with efibootmgr in Linux. Some also report success with EasyUEFI, but I've found it to be very buggy (maybe it's gotten better).

I suggested using Startup Repair, for those who are having problem booting using the new created EFI partition, one can edit boot entries directly from the bios, or using the method as suggested by you.
 
Hello,


This is a guide which I decided to make after solving the problem "Media Kit reports not enough space on device for requested operation" on my laptop.


Problem:
Try to format a partition for installing Mac on your laptop, but it reports the above problem.
Tried Deleting the partition and creating a new one, but the same error.
Tried formatting it in a different format, like exFat, Fat32, but the same error.
Tried reformatting an already created Mac OS Extended Volume(Journaled).
Tried formatting/reformatting/partitioning using Terminal but no success.
Tried formatting using Gparted but no success.


Cause:
The main cause of this error is because your EFI partition is below 200mb, Mac needs an EFI partition of at least 200mb(as said by RehabMan) to perform any Disk Utility function.


How did this happened?:
For me, this happened because I created partition using Windows, and first installed Windows 8 UEFI, and Windows 8 creates an EFI Partition of 100mb.


Solution:
The solution is simple, all we have to do is shrink any partition by 200mb or more.
Then, create a new EFI partition, and then add Microsoft Boot files.


What all will work after applying this solution?:
You could format and partition using Disk Utility.
Boot into Windows.
Boot into Mac OS.
Dual Boot both OS. (I am dual booting using Clover).


In the following procedure, I had my windows working, in case,if you can't boot your windows or have problem related to booting, probably the same solution can be applied, as it creates a new bootloader.


Steps:
1) The first thing is make a backup of your current EFI Partition, to do so, follow the steps below:


a) Open CMD using Admin rights.
b) Type the following code:


Code:
Diskpart


Code:
List Disk


Type the number of your HDD where windows is installed
Code:
Sel disk 0


Code:
List Vol


In my case, the EFI partition was volume 4 , under Label, "EFI" or "SYSTEM" would be named, it is in Fat32 format and around 100mb, select the volume according to what's shown in your system
Code:
Sel Vol 4


Code:
assign letter=z


Now you can see a new partition with letter Z in your windows explorer, but when you try to open it you will have an error. To solve this error, do the following:


Open Task Manager, Go to Details (In windows 8), select "explorer.exe" and end task.


Then go to File > New Task, and type "explorer.exe" and Check "Create this task with administrative privileges".


Now you can open the Z partition.


Make a Backup by copying all the files to a drive which can be accessible later. Certain files may show an error while copying, this can be resolve by applying the above procedure from a startup repair disk.


2)Now again Switch back to CMD - Diskpart. Now we have to shrink a partition by 200mb or more, if you already have unallocated space then no need to follow this step, skip it. In my case, I shrink my C: drive by 400 mb. To do so:


Select your C: partition, Volume 1 in my case.
Code:
Sel Vol 1


C:(Windows) Partition will get shrink by 400mb.
Code:
shrink desired=400




3) Now that we have 400mb of unallocated space, all we have to do is create a new EFI Partition.
To do so, type:


I made my efi partition of 400mb, minimum is 200mb to enable Disk Utility to perform functions.
Code:
create partition efi size=400


Now you have successfully created a new efi partition.
Code:
format quick fs=fat32 label="System"




4) All you have to do now is create bootloader, there are two methods,


i) Either copy the Backup files back into this drive by again selecting this volume and assigning a letter then reopening windows explorer with admin privileges.


ii) Create new bootloader using bootrec command, I recommend doing so using windows repair tool, type the following command:


C: is my windows drive, and I assigned letter V to my newly created EFI partition.
Code:
bcdboot c:\windows /s v: /f ALL


5) That's it, you have successfully created a new EFI Partition.


6) Now when you will restart, upon boot selection there will be two "Windows Boot Manager" , try booting in with both the Boot Options, if you face any error booting, just boot in windows repair and click "Start-up Repair" or if that does not work then try System Restore.
System Restore worked for me.


7) If everything is good, you could delete the older EFI Partition of 100 mb, by assigning letter then formatting it.


8) Now boot in Mac Installation Disc. TaDa! you can now successfully format your partition.

At step one after i reassign the drive letter, it doesnt work. When i try to open it to make a copy of the files it says that I dont have permission to access this folder, im using windows 8.1
 
At step one after i reassign the drive letter, it doesnt work. When i try to open it to make a copy of the files it says that I dont have permission to access this folder, im using windows 8.1

If you're trying to copy files into EFI with Windows Explorer, you must run explorer.exe elevated (with admin privs). You can google to find out how... Or you can copy via xcopy/robocopy/copy with an elevated CMD.exe.
 
Hello everyone,
Glad to be here !

I am trying to install Sierra on a Multi-boot setup but facing the same error.

I'll fill in details first.

System specs :
ASUS Z170-Pro Gaming
Intel i5-6500K
Corsair LPX 2600Mhz DDR4 8Gb RAM

Current partitions:
UEFI + GPT
400 Mb Recovery partition
100 Mb EFI (problem area)
16 Mb MSR
80 Gb WINDOWS
30 Gb Linux Mint
50 Gb Mac (reserved space)
200 Gb Storage
105 Gb Data

Problem :
Can't install Sierra due to above error.

Possible solution :
Using Gparted I can shrink Recovery partition by 100 Mb (has over 150 Mb free) and add to EFI and delete MSR partition altogether. Good idea?
(Caveat is Gparted gave some warning about 'possible' booting issue if Recovery partition is resized)
OT* Does MultiBeast El Capitan work on Sierra? *OT
Kindly advise me.

Thank you !
 
Last edited:
Hello everyone,
Glad to be here !

I am trying to install Sierra on a Multi-boot setup but facing the same error.

I'll fill in details first.

System specs :
ASUS Z170-Pro Gaming
Intel i5-6500K
Corsair LPX 2600Mhz DDR4 8Gb RAM

Current partitions:
UEFI + GPT
400 Mb Recovery partition
100 Mb EFI (problem area)
16 Mb MSR
80 Gb WINDOWS
30 Gb Linux Mint
50 Gb Mac (reserved space)
200 Gb Storage
105 Gb Data

Problem :
Can't install Sierra due to above error.

Possible solution :
Using Gparted I can shrink Recovery partition by 100 Mb (has over 150 Mb free) and add to EFI and delete MSR partition altogether. Good idea?
(Caveat is Gparted gave some warning about 'possible' booting issue if Recovery partition is resized)
OT* Does MultiBeast El Capitan work on Sierra? *OT
Kindly advise me.

Thank you !

You need to get rid of the MSR partition. EFI must be 200mb+.
 
Thank you for reply
So is my solution right? How much possible that I may hose my system by it?

If you make a mistake, you may have to rebuild your EFI content.
 
I successfully created a multi-boot EFI system (beta 4) in an easier manner though I had to format my hard drive :)

Thanks for help !
 
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