Win 8 on an external HD

Question

I just installed Windows 8 on a LaCie SSD, following the instructions here: http://bleeptobleep.blogspot.fr/2013/02/mac-install-windows-7-or-8-on-external.h tml. All went well, and I can boot directly from the HD. However, Windows does not see any wireless network. When I click settings>networks, the icon for ethernet networks shows, but not the one for wireless. I spent four hours today talking to various MS techs, who were sympathetic and eliminated many possibilities before resulting to the tech support ploy of last result: blame it on some other product. They firs suggested that the issue was an outdated driver for my router, but couldn't explain why I couldn't see ANY wireless network, at starbucks or in my neighborhood. Therefore, they surmised, it was an outdated WLAN driver in my MacBook Pro.  I'm no network wiz, so I can't state with certainty this is bull, but I can't see how it could be so when I have no trouble when on OSX. Also never had any problem running Win7 in Fusion.
Any suggestions will be tried and appreciated.

Answer 1

Clay,
The short answer is that you are getting correct information from Microsoft's support technicians.  The longer explanatory answer follows:
The Windows Support Software, available as of this posting, does not include drivers intended for Windows 8.  No one on these forums can tell you when Apple will offer officially supported drivers for Windows 8: we are users of Apple products rather than representatives of Apple, Inc.  Apple generally does not make release timetables public knowledge until the release occurs.  Therefore, anything offered on these forums concerning the drivers will be mere surmise until the drivers are actually released by Apple (rumor is that this may occur with an Mac OS X update in the near future).  Until then, usability of a Boot Camp install of Windows 8 tends not to match that of Windows 7.  Also, VMWare Fusion is a virtual machine.  Usability of any operating system in a virtual machine seldom has anything to do with usability of the same operating system directly with the physical hardware (Windows 8 sitting atop VMWare Fusion sitting atop Mac OS X sitting atop hardware is different than Windows 8 sitting atop hardware).  Lastly, drivers written for Mac OS X are not written for Microsoft operating systems, Linux, or any other operating system than Mac OS X.  So, usability of hardware drivers in Mac OS X does not reflect on whether drivers exist for another operating system.  Frankly, the confusion here stems from Apple wearing the hardware manufacturer hat with regard to the various Mac computers they offer while wearing the operating system producer role with regard to the similarly named Mac OS X versions.  Apple primarily releases drivers for their hardware and their operating system.  They also, on occasion, add support for specific Windows versions with additional Windows specific drivers for the same hardware.  These updates are made to Boot Camp, which adds to the confusion as this is considered a part of Mac OS X.
Other than the driver question, I cannot remember whether official support exists for Boot Camp Windows installs to external disks.  The best place to look for this is on the support page for Boot Camp on Apple's site (I'm using my iPhone to post this and it has limits, otherwise I would have included a URL here).
While all of this may seem a bit rambling, I hope it helps clear up the main points asked about in the original post.  The only operatively helpful suggestion that can be made in this case is to routinely check for updates on Mac OS X until Boot Camp is updated for Windows 8.  If you decide to use Windows 8 in the meantime, please note that you are doing so at your own nonnegligible risk.