Install Windows 8.1 on rMBP

Hi All,
Probably a simple question, however I seem to be struggling with this!
I'm trying to install Windows 8.1 on my Retina Macbook Pro, however I'm unsure if i need to buy Windows 7 first? Or can I just get a Windows 8.1 student disk or what? Im currently a student at university, so am valid to buy a student edition (I assume). I have a portable cd drive, and am looking to get a disc edition and not the downloadable one. Any help would be brilliant!
Would also be installing it via Bootcamp if possible?
The system i'm running is the Macbook Pro Retina, early 2013 3Ghz i7, with 8GB RAM. I assume it will run windows 8.1 fine.
Thanks.
Daniel Sheard

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1461

Similar Messages

Installing Windows 7/8 on RMBP

Hello,
I have the rMBP 15", I am quite new to Macs as well. I want/need to run Windows on my computer to use software such as Access 2010, and other office software which is incompatible with Mac OS.
I have read of, and researched slightly Parallels, which supposedly runs Windows virtually, and also about BootCamp which partitions my drive to boot into Windows.
Which is better? Why? Which is easier? Why?
Also I have the ability to d/l Win 8 or Win 7. Suggestions? Win 8 to stay updated? Win 7 to stay functionally classic? 32 Bit/64Bit? SP 1/2?
I keep hearing that I need a disc to boot Windows, I have no internal optical drive, should I d/l the software to an external hard drive?
Please Help, and remember my computer handicap is high.
Thanks!

I use Parallels for many reasons - most notably, I suppose, is that I can switch OS's on the fly and can copy and paste from a Mac app to a Windows app with ease, 'share' folders with both, the list goes on and one...
You need a 64-bit versions of Windows 7 or 8 to really get the full benefit of Parallels and Windows... and Windows 8 isn't currently supported under Boot Camp, so if you want it, you're going to have to use Parallels, anyway.
Good luck,
Clinton

Fresh Install of Windows 8.1 on rMBP mid 2012

Seeing how there are issues about bootcamp and windows 8.1, anyone know if a fresh install of Windows 8.1 (non-pro) will work on a rMBP mid 2012 model using the usual bootcamp instructions? Or will I have to do a workaround to get it installed?

That is what I fear. I've heard issues about installing windows 8.1 directly (though most seem to be about the 2013 MBPs, unsure of my model), and considering it's impossible for me to get a copy of windows 8 and upgrade through the store (the optimal solution) now, I'm left with installing 8.1 right from the get-go. Anyone else have success/experience going through the 8.1 route on 2012 MBPs?

Can't install Boot Camp Windows 7 on new rMBP

I purchased a new rMBP and I am trying to install Windows 7 on it with a full install windows 7 disk.
I have a usb superdrive with the windows disk in it. I have downloaded the windows files to a usb flash drive through the boot camp assistant process. Once I select the partition I get a message "Boot Camp needs to update the usb drive before installing windows 7." I press continue, and it does the partition then attempts to reboot, but all I get is a black screen on the reboot process.
I have read throuh numerous posts here but I am not sure any problems/solutions are the same as mine.
I think it may have something to do with the usb flash drive and usb superdrive with the windows disk in conflicting each other.
Any ideas would be appreciated.
Thank you

Hey Bob,
I found this thread because I had gotten the same error message about updating the usb drive, although my dvd drive is internal. I tried your advice anyway about removing the usb.
Boot camp assistant proceeded to format my hd and then restarted my computer. (btw, I am running a mid 2010 Macbook with Mavericks. I have bootcamp 4 on a flash drive because that's the version required for my model of Macbook.)
I was able to boot from the Windows 7 32-bit installation dvd, bun I got stuck shortly thereafter. The first screen had me pick my language. Next. Windows 7 logo with 'install now' button. Also two links "what to know before installing windows" and "repair your computer". I read that I should have had as option to format the drive but there was none. If I press 'install now' I get the following error message: "a required cd/dvd drive device driver is missing. if you have a driver floppy disk,cd, dvd, or usb flash drive, please insert it now. note: if the installation media is in the cd/dvd drive, you can safely remove it for this step."
there's a browse button, rescan, and grayed-out next button. this.is where I'm stuck. i also tried the same thing with the bootcamp usb plugged in but it didnt detect any drivers on there either.
ive scoured google for these error messages and seen many suggestions, but none of them has worked for me.. any help would be much appreciated.

Error 0x80300024 when installing Windows 7

I have a problem with my MacBook Pro Mid 2012: I used Windows 7 on my HDD and a SSD via USB. Then I went to an Apple Authorised Service Provider and replaced the optical drive with the HDD and the SSD is now there, where the "normal" hard drives are.
No matter what I do, I get error 0x80300024 if I want to install Windows 7 on the HDD, which replaces the optical drive. It works on the SSD, however. I replaced the SSD with another HDD and it works too, so I think that Windows is only bootable on the primary SATA connector, but not on the secondary, where the optical drive was. I tried using the Master Boot Record as well as FAT or just made the hard drive empty. Still the same issue. Windows says that the controller is not activated in the BIOS, but there isn't any BIOS on the Mac, at least no BIOS settings.
Interestingly, it works if I unplug the SSD, so that just my HDD is connected. So I guess Windows has difficulties by recognising two SATA controllers. So I can install Windows 7, but the problem is that "no bootable drive" is found if I connect the SSD again. So Windows is not only uninstallable, it is not bootable too.
Now I would have to options: install Windows 7 on the 120GB SSD, which wouldn't be enough for OS X plus Windows or switch the HDD to the primary SATA connector and the SSD to the other one. This would cost 60 Euros again and I can't believe that there is no other solution.
Did anyone else experiences the same issue or has a solution for me? I just want to install Windows 7 on the HDD and it was working on my old 2009 MacBook Pro, but now it's not working and if I search on Google I just get solutions for the Mac Pro (there it was the RAID, which caused this issue). Others, like Mac mini users, who are using two hard drives, solved this by formatting (FAT32, Master Boot Record and/or just emptying everything and selecting "empty space"). This didn't work for me

For my MBP late 2011, I had a SSD in both the main and optibay spaces.
I installed windows on the optibay SSD drive and was able to boot via option key. I had to first create a mbr partition on the optibay SSD. I then had to open up the MBP and move the optibay SSD to the main slot and reinstall my DVD drive. I then installed windows 7 via CD and eventually bootcamp drivers. After install, I removed DVD drive and moved optibay SSD back to optibay and reinstalled main SSD drive with mac osX.
now I have a rMBP and bootcamp is an even different beast. see macrumor post:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1414769
The rMBP needs a FAT partition to be able to install to a thunderbolt drive. Now my prediction is that the 2012 MBP may have similar requirements in order to install and boot from optibay HDD.
You can try to test via my method.
MW
rMBP 2.7ghz, 512gb SSD

Problem installing Windows (7, 8.0, 8.1) on BOOTCAMP - Mavericks

Hallo guys,
First I want to say thanks a lot to Christopher Murphy, because one and a half years ago I was having problems the same like the 1st post on that topic and with the instructions from Christopher I was able to get back my BOOTCAMP with Windows 7. Now I think that the commands from the 1st post changed something that is making my current problem appear. All was working like a charm till few days ago when I was get a decision to update to Mavericks.
Previously I was with Mountain Lion 10.8 and with Windows 7 on Bootcamp. The hardware is iMac Late 2010 27'' with 1Tb SATA HDD.
Few days ago I have deleted the BOOTCAMP partition and resized the disk to only 1 partition (with Bootcamp wizzard). Then I made a boot usb stick with Mavericks and then started the installation of Mavericks from my USB Stick. I have deleted all partitions and created a new one when the installation asked me to choose a partition. So everything was fine and Mavericks is ok and working great. Now the problematic part.
I have created a Bootable USB Stick with Windows 8.1 first. I used some windows program to made it which I was using before and never had a problems on normal Computers (PC, not Apple) to boot and installing that windows from the same USB Flash Stick and the same Windows 8.1 and so on. I started Bootcamp Wizzard on my new Mavericks and than I notice that I have only 2 options there:
1. Download drivers
2. Install windows 7 or later version
I have already the bootcamp software support drivers downloaded before and I have leave only the second tick checked.
I tried to press Continue, but the Wizzard told me that it doesn't recognize a Windows DVD and cannot continue. Asked me to insert a Windows DVD and to continue.
Now it's time to say that my DVD device is not working and I cannot use it.
So I was thinking that the problem is coming from my USB Stick and tried few other programs to make a bootable usb stick with windows. That doesn't help.
I started to read and googling the internet. I tried few options from some guys with a close problems. Reset with Options+CMD+P+R, to format USB Stick fully etc. Then I found that if I install daemon tools and mount a Windows 8.1 ISO the Bootcamp Assistant will continue on the next step and will build the BOOTCAMP partition. I made that and restarted the computer with the USB Stick plugged in. I got a message that there're no system disk and to insert one and to press any key to continue (or something like this). Then I made a hard restart and tried to hold the ALT (Option) key after the startup chime. I got the list of bootable devices, but the usb stick wasn't there Only Mavericks partition and HD Recovery one. Tried few more things with no luck.
Then I found a topic where a few guys explaining how to get the 1st option on Bootcamp Wizzard (Create a Windows 7 or later version install disk). I changed the plist file in Bootcamp Assistant, then signed the app with xcode tools and yahoo, I got that option enabled.
I made again a bootable usb stick with windows 8.1 from ISO with the Bootcamp Assistant 1st option. Then when I restarted the Mac keeping the ALT pressed it was a surprise that the USB stick with windows 8.1 showed up. I started Windows 8.1 setup, entered the serial number and then I selected the BOOTCAMP partition and the Next button wasn't active and error message was written that:
"Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk has an MBR partition table. On EFI systems, Windows can only be installed to GPT disks."
I tried format, delete partition, create new etc with no luck. Then I tried to recreate the bootcamp partition with Disk Utility, but with ExtFAT format and again no luck. I found another topic on internet where some guys are talking that only Windows 7 can be installed in that way on Mavericks BOOTCAMP. I don't know that this is true or not, but I tried with Windows 8.1, Windows 8.0 and now I'm going to get a Windows 7 from a friend these days, but I don't think that it will work.
Is there someone who can help me out somehow or to tell me some tips or opinions what to do next?
Here are few infos:
Julians-iMac:~ julianstefanov$ df -h
Filesystem      Size   Used Avail Capacity iused     ifree %iused Mounted on
/dev/disk0s2   558Gi   53Gi 505Gi    10% 13861731 132462763    9%   /
devfs          191Ki 191Ki    0Bi   100%      661         0 100%   /dev
map -hosts       0Bi    0Bi    0Bi   100%        0         0 100%   /net
map auto_home    0Bi    0Bi    0Bi   100%        0         0 100%   /home
/dev/disk0s4   372Gi 2.7Mi 372Gi     1%        0         0 100%   /Volumes/BOOTCAMP
Julians-iMac:~ julianstefanov$
Julians-iMac:~ julianstefanov$ diskutil list
/dev/disk0
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:      GUID_partition_scheme                        *1.0 TB     disk0
   1:                        EFI EFI                     209.7 MB   disk0s1
   2:                  Apple_HFS iMac                    599.3 GB   disk0s2
   3:                 Apple_Boot Recovery HD             650.0 MB   disk0s3
   4:       Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP                400.0 GB   disk0s4
Julians-iMac:~ julianstefanov$
Julians-iMac:~ julianstefanov$ diskutil cs list
No CoreStorage logical volume groups found
Julians-iMac:~ julianstefanov$
Julians-iMac:~ julianstefanov$ sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0
gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=1000204886016; sectorsize=512; blocks=1953525168
gpt show: /dev/disk0: Suspicious MBR at sector 0
gpt show: /dev/disk0: Pri GPT at sector 1
gpt show: /dev/disk0: Sec GPT at sector 1953525167
       start        size index contents
           0           1         MBR
           1           1         Pri GPT header
           2          32         Pri GPT table
          34           6
          40      409600      1 GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
      409640 1170595968      2 GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
1171005608     1269536      3 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
1172275144          56
1172275200   781248512      4 GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7
1953523712        1423
1953525135          32         Sec GPT table
1953525167           1         Sec GPT header
Julians-iMac:~ julianstefanov$
Julians-iMac:~ julianstefanov$ sudo fdisk /dev/disk0
Disk: /dev/disk0 geometry: 121601/255/63 [1953525168 sectors]
Signature: 0xAA55
         Starting       Ending
#: id cyl hd sec - cyl hd sec [     start -       size]
1: EE 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [         1 -     409639] <Unknown ID>
2: AF 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [    409640 - 1170595968] HFS+
3: AB 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [1171005608 -    1269536] Darwin Boot
4: 0B 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [1172275200 - 781248512] Win95 FAT-32
Julians-iMac:~ julianstefanov$
Julians-iMac:~ julianstefanov$ sudo dd if=/dev/rdisk0 count=1 2>/dev/null | hexdump -C
00000000 33 c0 8e d0 bc 00 7c 8e c0 8e d8 be 00 7c bf 00 |3.....|......|..|
00000010 06 b9 00 02 fc f3 a4 50 68 1c 06 cb fb b9 04 00 |.......Ph.......|
00000020 bd be 07 80 7e 00 00 7c 0b 0f 85 0e 01 83 c5 10 |....~..|........|
00000030 e2 f1 cd 18 88 56 00 55 c6 46 11 05 c6 46 10 00 |.....V.U.F...F..|
00000040 b4 41 bb aa 55 cd 13 5d 72 0f 81 fb 55 aa 75 09 |.A..U..]r...U.u.|
00000050 f7 c1 01 00 74 03 fe 46 10 66 60 80 7e 10 00 74 |....t..F.f`.~..t|
00000060 26 66 68 00 00 00 00 66 ff 76 08 68 00 00 68 00 |&fh....f.v.h..h.|
00000070 7c 68 01 00 68 10 00 b4 42 8a 56 00 8b f4 cd 13 ||h..h...B.V.....|
00000080 9f 83 c4 10 9e eb 14 b8 01 02 bb 00 7c 8a 56 00 |............|.V.|
00000090 8a 76 01 8a 4e 02 8a 6e 03 cd 13 66 61 73 1c fe |.v..N..n...fas..|
000000a0 4e 11 75 0c 80 7e 00 80 0f 84 8a 00 b2 80 eb 84 |N.u..~..........|
000000b0 55 32 e4 8a 56 00 cd 13 5d eb 9e 81 3e fe 7d 55 |U2..V...]...>.}U|
000000c0 aa 75 6e ff 76 00 e8 8d 00 75 17 fa b0 d1 e6 64 |.un.v....u.....d|
000000d0 e8 83 00 b0 df e6 60 e8 7c 00 b0 ff e6 64 e8 75 |......`.|....d.u|
000000e0 00 fb b8 00 bb cd 1a 66 23 c0 75 3b 66 81 fb 54 |.......f#.u;f..T|
000000f0 43 50 41 75 32 81 f9 02 01 72 2c 66 68 07 bb 00 |CPAu2....r,fh...|
00000100 00 66 68 00 02 00 00 66 68 08 00 00 00 66 53 66 |.fh....fh....fSf|
00000110 53 66 55 66 68 00 00 00 00 66 68 00 7c 00 00 66 |SfUfh....fh.|..f|
00000120 61 68 00 00 07 cd 1a 5a 32 f6 ea 00 7c 00 00 cd |ah.....Z2...|...|
00000130 18 a0 b7 07 eb 08 a0 b6 07 eb 03 a0 b5 07 32 e4 |..............2.|
00000140 05 00 07 8b f0 ac 3c 00 74 09 bb 07 00 b4 0e cd |......<.t.......|
00000150 10 eb f2 f4 eb fd 2b c9 e4 64 eb 00 24 02 e0 f8 |......+..d..$...|
00000160 24 02 c3 49 6e 76 61 6c 69 64 20 70 61 72 74 69 |$..Invalid parti|
00000170 74 69 6f 6e 20 74 61 62 6c 65 00 45 72 72 6f 72 |tion table.Error|
00000180 20 6c 6f 61 64 69 6e 67 20 6f 70 65 72 61 74 69 | loading operati|
00000190 6e 67 20 73 79 73 74 65 6d 00 4d 69 73 73 69 6e |ng system.Missin|
000001a0 67 20 6f 70 65 72 61 74 69 6e 67 20 73 79 73 74 |g operating syst|
000001b0 65 6d 00 00 00 63 7b 9a af 3c b0 3c 00 00 00 fe |em...c{..<.<....|
000001c0 ff ff ee fe ff ff 01 00 00 00 27 40 06 00 00 fe |..........'@....|
000001d0 ff ff af fe ff ff 28 40 06 00 80 e0 c5 45 00 fe |......(@.....E..|
000001e0 ff ff ab fe ff ff a8 20 cc 45 20 5f 13 00 00 fe |....... .E _....|
000001f0 ff ff 0b fe ff ff 00 80 df 45 00 e8 90 2e 55 aa |.........E....U.|
00000200
Julians-iMac:~ julianstefanov$
Thanks in advance!
Julian

Looks perfect with the Free Space. You can verify this by running sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0.
If you try the EFI boot, please pick this Free Space slot, and it will get split into a 128MB MSR and the remainder as NTFS, if the installer finishes successfully. You may be able to install, but a preUEFI model cannot use the MSR to boot the main Windows partition, but a UEFI compliant machine can.
On a Late 2013 15" rMBP (which is UEFI compliant), this is what Bootcamp on GPT looks like. (Notice GPT#4 - MSR and GPT#5 - NTFS).
gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=500277790720; sectorsize=512; blocks=977105060
gpt show: /dev/disk0: PMBR at sector 0
gpt show: /dev/disk0: Pri GPT at sector 1
gpt show: /dev/disk0: Sec GPT at sector 977105059
      start       size index contents
          0          1         PMBR
          1          1         Pri GPT header
          2         32         Pri GPT table
         34          6
         40     409600      1 GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11D2-BA4B-00A0C93EC93B
     409640 487712920      2 GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
488122560    1269536      3 GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC
489392096         32
489392128     262144      4 GPT part - E3C9E316-0B5C-4DB8-817D-F92DF00215AE
489654272 487450624      5 GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7
977104896        131
977105027         32         Sec GPT table
977105059          1         Sec GPT header
sudo fdisk /dev/disk0
Disk: /dev/disk0 geometry: 60821/255/63 [977105060 sectors]
Signature: 0xAA55
         Starting       Ending
#: id cyl hd sec - cyl hd sec [     start -       size]
1: EE 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [         1 - 977105059] <Unknown ID>
2: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
3: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused
4: 00    0   0   0 -    0   0   0 [         0 -          0] unused

How to install Windows 8.1 on Haswell MBP

How do you get Windows 8.1 to do a clean install on a Haswell based rMBP?

The simplest answer to this problem is to manually install Windows using Microsoft tools. I have a brand-new MBPr, 15", 512gb flash, 16gb, with the nVidia discrete graphics, running Mac OS X 10.9 (build
13A3017). Here's what I did (you'll need two USB flash drives for this procedure):
1) Obtain the Windows 8.1 ISO from MSDN or other source;
2) Obtain the free Microsoft Windows 7 USB tool: http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/html/pbPage.Help_Win7_usbdvd_dwnTool
NOTE: Although it indicates Windows 7, it works with any version of Win7 or Win8, including Win8.1. Follow the instructions to create your Windows 8.1 bootable USB drive.
3) In Mac OS X, run the boot camp assistant to create the USB flash installation drive per normal, including partitioning the disk for Boot Camp, etc. Just go through the motions as if you're going to install via Boot Camp, including downloading the Windows Support files.
4) When done with that, the Mac will reboot in order to start the Boot Camp installation... you will need to swap out the USB drives at this point, removing the Boot Camp USB and inserting the "Win7 USB"-created boot drive. Don't worry if you miss the boot cycle, you can just reboot holding the option key and be sure to select the Windows boot device (orange).
5) Now the Windows installation will begin using Microsoft Windows instead of Boot Camp method, and complete normally using the partition you created in Step 3. Several reboots later (be sure to hold option every time it reboots so you can select the new Windows boot device (not the orange one anymore) you will have Windows installed.
6) Go through the motions creating your Windows account, etc, and when you get to the desktop, insert the Boot Camp USB and navigate to the BootCamp folder. Here are the setup files with drivers, etc. Just click "setup.exe" to run your BootCamp support installation.
7) Done.

Cannot install Windows 7 with bootcamp

Ok, I am getting really frustrated at this point with bootcamp. I have previously installed win7 on this same computer I'm working with, I reformatted the drive and uninstalled windows with bootcamp, the reason I did this was because I needed more space on my windows drive. I have followed all of bootcamp's directions and I keep getting stuck on the same spot. After creating a win7 install usb stick (with the same oem copy of win7 I used last time), downloading the drivers, and getting thru the partioning steps, the computer reboots into windows install. I see "disk 0 partition 4: bootcamp" after clicking format (to get it to be formatted to ntfs) I click next, then I keep getting the following error. "Setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing system partition. See the Setup log files for more information."
I have tried installing with bootcamp a few different times, even with a different copy of windows 7 and keep getting stuck here. I have installed it just fine before, I dont know why this is happening now. I am on a 15" 2012 rMBP 500gb model

Hi All-
I know this post is dated slightly but I wanted to chime in with some Bootcamp help on the newer vintage MBP laptops.
Just to throw it out there - nearly every Mac I purchase gets hardware hacked the minute it comes out of the box. RAM/SSD upgrades are usually the first on the agenda. The SSD/drive upgrades can tend to muck-up the process of using Apple's standard BootCamp tools for loading Windows.
Here is a very simple way to accomplish the same things that BootCamp does only the right way so Windows will be happy alongside OS X.
1. Download your Windows ISO (stop making DVDs!) and make a USB bootable stick. You can do this in a number of ways - on the OS X side use Disk Utility, on the Windows side use the Microsoft Store USB download/create tool. Just make sure you have a -known- good working USB bootable Windows 7 install media (or Windows 8)
2. Once you've done this you will want to get the WindowsSupport folder for your model of Mac, so launch BootCamp, un-check the top and bottom options so that only the Download Support Files option is selected, indicate that you would like to copy to an external drive. Tell it to place the folder either on your Desktop or in your Library somewhere. Let it do its thing and then copy those files onto your newly created USB Windows 7/8 install media. Now you have the Windows installation media as well as the Apple BootCamp drivers for Windows all on one single USB.
3. Partitioning - instead of using the flawed BootCamp software to do this, we'll use Disk Utility in OS X. Launch Disk Utility and highlight your primary hard drive. Click the 'Partition' button at the top. Now click the '+' button to add a partition, name it WINDOWS or something so you can identify it easily later. Use the slider to create the size of partition you would like for Windows - this will auto-resize your OS X partition. On the right-hand side of the Disk Utility window use the drop-down to change partition type from Mac OS X Journaled to MS-FAT. Once you have done all of that use the Apply button to let it do its thing and re-size/create partitions. This takes about 3 minutes tops.
4. Install Windows! - Be sure your Windows 7/8 USB bootable install media is inserted in a USB slot on the system. Once you have completed the re-partitioning action, simply shut down your machine, and restart it holding the Option (Alt) button. The alt button will cause the system to eventually show you a choice of bootable disks. The USB disk will be easily identified because it will have an orange colored icon with the USB symbol on it. Click this to boot from the USB Windows 7/8 install media.
5. Windows Installer - the Windows installer will launch after a period of time, use the 'Next' button and accept the license terms and you will be brought to a window to select the destination for the Windows install. You should automatically see the WINDOWS (or whatever you named it) partition that was created during step 3. Highlight this partition and the 'next' button should un-grey and become available, if it does, click it and the Windows installation will proceed. If the 'next' button does not un-grey you will want to highlight the partition and select 'Format', once that completes it will un-grey the 'next' button and the install will proceed.
6. Once the installation is done it will need to reboot a few times (normal Windows install procedure at this point). You will need to hold down the 'alt' key during each reboot and now select the 'WINDOWS' hard disk partition (not the USB one) from the boot menu to continue going through the motions of Windows installation.
7. BootCamp Driver Install - once you have finished all of the reboots and motions of Windows installation you will want to boot into Windows, and once at the desktop make sure your USB install media that was used previously is inserted into the system. Go to My Computer, find the USB drive, open it, and navigate to the WindowsSupport folder that was saved during step 2. There will be an application called Setup , double-click this and choose 'Allow' during any security warnings. Click 'next' once the installer loads and it will automatically install every Mac device driver needed on the Windows side.
7 steps and approximately 45-minutes later you should be sitting with a fresh installation of Windows on a bootcamped partition.
Hope this helps somebody out - it took me quite some time and research to figure out the "cleanest" method for bypassing the flakey BootCamp application for installing Windows.

Installing Windows to 3.5" 1TB HDD

I know this has been asked before, but I must ask again. I have a new rMBP and do not have space to waste on the internal SSD for a Boot Camp partition. I have a 1TB Western Digital Black 7200 RPM Drive that I would really like to install Windows 8 on. Ideally, I'd like to do it over USB 3.0, as I will not need very high I/O out of my computer (no gaming or anything too data-intensive). If that is not possible or is highly inconvenient, then I don't mind connecting over Thunderbolt either. Have any of you ever done this? And if so, I'd really appreciate to hear the general outline of your procedure so I can do it right. Thanks!

1. Install Windows on SSD.
2. Use Winclone (currently USD 29.99) to make a backup.
3. Restore Windows to the external HDD.
4. Free-up SSD disk space.
(I have no financial affiliation with Winclone).
Please also look at How to run Boot Camp on External Hard Drive?

Cannot install windows 8.1 on imac 5k - apple support says "Correct, that machine can't install windows" Boot camp fail

I have a brand new imac 5k, with 4ghz i7, 295x GPU, 3.1TB fusion drive. Bought the machine so I could dual boot - I need windows for VR Dev work.
I've spent the last week and a half on tech support calls with Apple Senior Tech agents, and Microsoft agents as well, and today have been told that indeed this machine cannot run windows 8.1. Apparently Apple engineering knows about the issue, but says the problem is microsoft's. Ugh.
The latest iteration of the issue comes when installing 8.1 onto an external thunderbolt SSD (without even using boot camp) - I go through the EFI installer, convert the drive to GPT, format it as ntfs, but when I select the partition to install onto, the installer says it can't find the partition it just created. Smuh?
I've also tried the install through boot camp. This installation actually worked twice, but the install was unstable. After booting back into osX, then returning to Windows, the windows install went corrupt and couldn't be repaired. Subsequent attempts to install windows yielded a flurry of different errors, including "windows doesn't support GPT in this mode" or "the disk is locked, please unlock the disk" or "MBR must be converted to GPT" (where once I converted to GPT, the drive could no longer be found, despite the operation completing successfully.)
At any rate, it's a huge mess. I'd happily return the machine for a different config, but the company I bought it from will only swap it for a similar model -- so I've spent a pile on a machine that does not function as advertised; apple says "too bad, talk to Microsoft." Microsoft says "too bad, we've never seen this, this is an apple issue."
Has anyone out there gotten windows up and running on an iMac5k with fusion drive? If so, did you have to go through a crazy maze to make it work?
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
MC

Michael Conelly wrote:
After much gnashing of teeth, and a half dozen support calls, I'd all but given up. I finally seem to have solved this though - sort of - by installing windows 8.1 on boot camp on an older iMac, then cloning the bootcamp disk to an external thunderbolt drive via Winclone. That worked seamlessly, sticking to winclone's instructions, and I can boot via EFI to Windows 8.1 on the new iMac. So far so good.
I usually install W8.1 via EFI by using DU and a Free Space partition. The 3TB Fusion is first split into the underlying SSD/HDD physicals. OSX and Windows OSes are installed on SSD via EFI (no BCA). The OSX part and half the HDD are then used to create a new CS volume. The other HDD half becomes NTFS for non-Windows OS files. The Hybrid MBR method is completely unsatisfactory with the 3TB Fusion drive.
How is the TB/Winclone image for performance of the OS (since pagefile.sys is also on the TB)?

Install Windows 8.1 Pro on Mac Mini Late 2014

I'm trying to install Bootcamp on my Mac Mini. Windows reports that it cannot install or create a partition on the drive after formatting the BOOTCAMP partition as NTFS.
This is my setup:
1. Mac Mini Late 2014 with 2TB Fusion Drive.
2. Windows 8.1 Pro x64 full version ISO downloaded from Microsoft Store.
3. Sandisk Extreme Flash Drive (I have tried both 16GB and 64GB).
4. Bootcamp partition = 500GB.
5. Other USB devices plugged in: Corded USB Mouse and Apple Extended Keyboard (both of which are required to enter the serial number and navigate the installer window).
6. No additional storage devices of any kind are connected aside from the internal Fusion drive and the installer drive.
7. Booting from the EFI portion of the Bootcamp created Windows installer.
I have read that I should try using a USB 2 flash drive rather than a USB 3 flash drive, so I will try that next. I fail to understand how this could make any difference.
If you have any other tips, please let me know.
I have installed or helped other people install bootcamp many times over the course of the past 2 years. Every single time it has caused endless headaches and literally weeks of wasted time.
I have read endless posts on what is causing these problems. I will consider summarising these for anyone else having the same problems. Everyone has their theory so far about this Bootcamp nightmare, but so far there doesn't appear to be any one magic solution.
Apple's inability to address the issue suggests that the problem may be with the Windows installer. Perhaps Microsoft is deliberately causing this?
I suspect the two most likely causes of these issues are the downloaded ISO or the Thumb Drive.
If you have any better idea, please let me know.
On another topic, how to I rename the NTFS partition back to BOOTCAMP? All options to rename this partition are greyed out in Disk Utility...
Cheers,
Paul

Paul@Sydney wrote:
7. Booting from the EFI portion of the Bootcamp created Windows installer.
The FAT32/NTFS partition is usually not adequate for an EFI install. You can delete the BCA-created partition and create a Disk Utility partition which is formatted as Free Space. This will be split into an MSR and MSD. Fusion drives create problems, especially if the BC partition lies outside the traditional MBR 2TB boundary.
Before you delete the BCA-created partition, please post the output of
diskutil list
diskutil cs list
sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0
sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk1
I have read that I should try using a USB 2 flash drive rather than a USB 3 flash drive, so I will try that next. I fail to understand how this could make any difference.
Windows installers up to W8.1 do not have USB3 drivers. These are installed after Windows is installed and BC drivers are in place.
Apple's inability to address the issue suggests that the problem may be with the Windows installer. Perhaps Microsoft is deliberately causing this?
The requirements are pretty strict when installing Windows. Any deviations cause headaches and grief.
I suspect the two most likely causes of these issues are the downloaded ISO or the Thumb Drive.
The USB is usually the issue.
On another topic, how to I rename the NTFS partition back to BOOTCAMP? All options to rename this partition are greyed out in Disk Utility...
After Windows is fully installed and BC drivers are in place, log into Windows, right click on it and rename it on the Windows side. It cannot be renamed on the OSX side with diskutil renameVolume. Here is an example sequence. You cannot rename volume during the installation process.

How do I install Windows 8 on Mountain Lion (mac mini) 2010 Server using bootcamp with out Optical Drive?

I have a 2010 Mac Mini server running 10.8.4 (12E55). I just bought a brand new copy of Windows 8 from micrsoft. I have tried using boot camp and it will not recognize a burned DVD in my remote optical drive on my laptop running windows 7 or my macbook running Lion 10.7.5. I have had Microsoft on both of my computers remoted in for about 8 hours and they tried just about everything that I've tried.
Microsofts tech support has made me a bootable DVD and a bootable Flash Drive through remote desktop (awsome good job microsoft tech support). I have even tried formatting my mac mini's second 500GB hard drive to FAT32 using this whole disc as my windows partition. I know that when I go to install windows 8 it is going to reformat the drive to NTFS but all the articles that I've found, say this is what you have to do to get the drive formatted properly to get the ball rolling and get windows will fix it when it goes to install by reformatting to NTFS.
Ok so right now I have my second 500GB hdd on my mac mini formatted to FAT32 and I have tried to reboot holding my option key like I do on my mac book. If I want to boot to a different hdd on my macbook all I do is hold the OPTION key during start up and you get prompted to choose one of the bootable disc that is on your computer. Well if I put my USB drive which is bootable on my macbook into my macbook and do this right now its not showing up.
Now I just put the DVD that they made me in my macbook and it shows up as bootable disc. But the USB doesn't. (1 hour later) I just got microsft to remake the USB drive and am going to try that again so ta ta for now and I'll come back on to post to tell you if it works.

mikkel-kj wrote:
These apps paralells and fusion and virtualbox, are they in Mac App Store? And when I have the app installed what then, now it ain't only bootcamp what shall I do now to install windows 8?
Mikkel
Parallels, Fusion, and VirtualBox are available from their respective sites. Read their installation instructions which explain how to install Windows.

How do I install windows from USB on Macbook pro 3,1

How do I install windows from USB on Macbook pro 3,1 ?
My Superdrive is far from super anymore, So I managed to make an extern drive with both Snow Leopard Partition, Lion Partition (Since I thought Boot Camp 4,1 would bypass my problem), and Time Machine partition, Since I got 1. USB drive that works.
- My general issue is that Boot camp Refuse to see the USB drive - (Many "how to"´s though show how they install windows perfectly through the USB port, but they use airbooks!, and somehow the Macbook will not ?)
I fix that issue with >> rEFIt <<, that suddenly makes it possible for the Mac to see the USB drive, and partitions.
Which was very strange since I could use an extern HD with the whole installation to start up wipe the whole disk, and then use my extern drive with partitions to install Snow Leopard and get everything as before with timemachine. Very smart with timemachine, but very lucky that I have a extern drive that runs the whole system and that I made the partitionsdrive before. DVD-drives are the past!
Point: So the original system could see the Snow Leopard installation USB disk, but boot camp cannot find the USB drive ?????????
After rEFIt I booted and then I got this error:
Starting bootmgr.efi
Error: Unsupported while loading bootmgr.efi
I read it could be a problem with the Windows software, so I purchased an extern DVD drive, Used Disk Utility to make an image (.DMG), then used another program to convert the .dmg to .ISO.
Then downloaded a trialversion of vmWare fusion, and installed windows from the iso. Everything worked brilliant, except and that is why I want to use boot camp, Running windows in another program while running the mac system is a little hacky and slow.
Point: Nothing is wrong with the windows software, and windows runs fine.
I then downloaded the Windows DVD / USB Tool, reformatted a USB drive as Master Boot Partition, MS-Dos Fat partition, then after lots of struggling got Vmware, windows to recognise the USB drive. And installed the windows software on the USB drive, as all the walkthroughs recommend.
Then I tried for "fun"! to just install windows form the extern USB drive, and with rEFIt it will see the drive and start to do something, but then when it starts to boot, the screen just turns into black and nothing happens, and you can see the drive does NOTHING. (I think it is because I only have 1 USB drive and the Extern DVD drive does not get enough power, but again the mac refuse to see the USB drive unless it is a Snow Leopard installation USB-drive!
Well trying to install Windows Ultimate 64 Bit, which worked great in vmware, because that program installed from the .ISO file that I had on the desktop, but trying with Boot Camp did not get anywhere, what kind of **** program is this boot camp anyway!?, but then I try the new USB disk with windows made from windows, thorugh rEFIt, it sees the disk and then starts and then I get this ERROR:
rEFIt - Booting Legacy OS
Starting legacy loader
Using load option ´USB´
Error: Not found returned from legacy loader
Error: Not found from LocateDevicePath
(x 9 times)
Error: Load Error while (re)opening our installation volume
The firmware refused to boot from the selected volume. Note that external hard drives are not well-supported by Apple´s firmware for legacy OS booting
(Hey Apple please send out a updated firmware that fix this issue?!)
So how do I do it ? - or is the only option to fix the partition running the system from the extern disk. Format the whole drive in 2 from the "bottom" and install windows and then afterwards install Mac on the other partition ? Or just run windows on the mac and forget about mac software ? What a stupid solution...

There are strings in the pliist file to add other Macs so that you can use some USB-DVD drives.
This is 5 page thread, so a little more 'meat' to it:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3410900?start=60&tstart=0
And on PC booting Windows from a USB DVD to do the install is usually a piece of cake, sometimes you just need to specify that USB in the BIOS boot order and sometimes select via F12 (or another Fkey) and that is it.
What you have here seems to be everything and everyone is excluded unless there is a mac-model device ID string that specifies yes. An unnecessary hurdle.

I am trying to install windows 8 at my macbook air boot camp

I am trying to install windows 8 at my macbook air boot camp but Boot Camp Assistant i showing an error that the disk cannot be portioned because some files cannot be moved. Back up the disc and use disk utility to format it was a single Mac OS Extended (journaled) volume. Restore your information to the disk and try using Boot Camp Assistant Again.
I had already installed teh first time Windows on my MacBook Air and Mac Book Pro. Actually I had more issues to install on the pro than Air.
But my Macbook Air had an issue on November 2013, 3 weeks after buying it and Apple gave me a new MacBook Air but they only transferred the information on my mac and the windows partion was lost according to them, they could copy it in to my new MacBook Air. Now that I am trying to install my windows I can not access to the aprtion section and get the error message from above.
What can I do to to install it? I am using a 32GB USB and OEM Windows 8 at USB External Drive. The same I used before. I dont know understand what changed if I did it before?
Please advise..

I think there's some remmants left over from when Apple transferred stuff over. We can try a quick fix, but if that doesn't work, I think the only option is to clean install OSX and then install Windows.
open disk utility, confirm that you only have 1 partition (mac journaled)
restart and PRAM reset
open disk utility and repair permissions twice
restart boot camp assistant
Does it work?
If not, I would boot holding command+R, choose disk utility from the menu and completely erase your HD (formatting it as mac journaled again). Then, install OSX on this HD. Once OSX is installed, don't copy your files over from the backup yet. Instead, start boot camp assistant and see if you can get Windows installed. You can copy back your other files after we get Windows installed.

I installed windows 7 recently and also Adobre reader XI, and now I cannot open any of my previously created pdfs. Every time I get the message: Error opening the file. Access denied. What is going on?

Recently I had to install windows 7 in my notebook because XP doesn't have more support. Before installing I backed up all my files to my external HD. Now that I instaleed windows 7 and also installed Acrobat Reader XI, I just cannot open any of my pdf files created prior to installing windows 7.
Looking for help online, I found the solution of security and giving me access as an administrator to all my files, but it still keeps the same...
Can some one please help me out?? I really need to work on many of this files ASAP.
Thank you all in advance for you attention,
Best,
Henrique

Can you start Adobe Reader?

Install Windows 8.1 on rMBP

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