MacBook Air - USB Superdrive - Bootcamp Windows

Question

MacBook Air - USB Superdrive - Bootcamp Windows

Hi

I have a client with a MacBook Air running Window's XP SP3 under Boot Camp say's that the external Apple USB Superdrive does not work within the Boot Camp/Window's environment.

Can anyone confirm if Apple's USB Superdrive is supported within Window's.

I have found Apple KB article HT2298 ( http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2298) that says....

MacBook Air requires a USB optical drive for the installation of Microsoft Windows Vista (32-bit version only) or Microsoft Windows XP SP2 or later. The Remote Disc sharing software included with your MacBook Air cannot be used to install Microsoft Windows. Connect your external USB optical drive directly to the USB port on the MacBook Air before you start the Boot Camp Assistant.

Would this not imply that Apple's USB Superdrive should work within Window's considering it is needed in order to install Window's in the first place.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

iMac 24" - 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Feb 17, 2009 6:21 AM

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Answer 1

Fortuny

Level 7

21,461 points

Feb 17, 2009 8:59 PM in response to Anton Marcelline

Hi Anton,

Windows can be picky with CD/DVD-Drives in general.
Maybe this procedure can help your client:
http://www.instant-registry-fixes.org/how-can-i-fix-code-39-error/

Your client should ensure that the USB-Superdrive is connected and on before he boots into Windows.

Since I don't have a MBA I cannot confirm the genral useage of the USB-Superdrive in Windows.

Regards

Stefan

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Answer 2

Feb 18, 2009 5:11 PM in response to Fortuny

Hi Stefan

Thanks for the reply but the problem is that Apple Superdrive does not ship with Windows drivers. If Apple does supply a driver then it will be part of their Boot Camp driver. However this comes as one fat executable file and contains drivers for all sorts of things on the MacBook Air like the keyboard, graphics card, USB ports, etc. Because of this I can't see anyway of using the Windows Device Manager to manually install the driver for the Superdrive as it is contained within the fat executable. I don't feel confident editing things in the Windows registry as described in the link you sent me and it also says that after doing so you would need to reinstall any other software that accesses the CD/DVD rom, which I should imagine is a lot of things.

I am going to ask the client to download the very latest Boot Camp drivers in hope that Apple has added support there, although its not listed as a feature.

The thing that I find confusing is that Apple recommends that Windows is installed from a Superdrive on a MacBook Air instead of using DVD/CD rom sharing from another computer. For Windows to install in that method surely it would restart from the Windows install CD and load a Windows Kernel via the Superdrive. Would this not imply that Superdrive is supported under Window's?

Anyway again many thanks for your suggestions.

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Answer 3

Fortuny

Level 7

21,461 points

Feb 18, 2009 8:36 PM in response to Anton Marcelline

Hi Anton,

for the most parts Windows does not need additional drivers to access USB-devices as it contains a generic driver.

If this is also true for the USB-Superdrive is beyond my knowledge.

Stefan

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Answer 4

Mar 2, 2009 7:04 AM in response to Fortuny

Sorted. Had a call from my client and since they applied the Boot Camp Update 2.1 it now supports the Apple USB Superdrive within Windows.

http://support.apple.com/downloads/BootCamp_Update_2_1_for_WindowsXP

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