Graphics Switching in Windows 7 - Macbook Pro 2011

This is the most frustrating issue I have come across.

I have twice now been able to get the Intel HD3000 active under EFI windows 8, and twice it has stopped working as soon as I try and get other device drivers running. This is a work in progress, brief post in case someone else wants to play as well. Assumes GPT disk, and macosx installed or recovered.

Install win 8 EFI (must use WinPE4 method, manually configuring boot. Win8 installer fails here every time)

Rename igd*.sys Intel HD3000 to stop blue screen. (either via macosx with NTFS write, or winpe4 USB)

I have had an external monitor connected.

Disable Intel HD3000.

Installed rEFInd and EFI shell.

In the EFI shell, I have issued combinations of these PCI register and I/Oport commands:

mm 0001013E 8 -pci (this is the PCI-PCI bridge, enables VGA)

mm 00020004 7 -pci (this is my SandyBridge HD3000, sets bus master)

mm 728 1 -io (as per metatechbe posts)

mm 710 1 -io

mm 740 2 -io

also tried

mm 00020050 2 -pci

mm 00020054 0b -w 1 -pci

Then exit EFI shell, then boot win8 EFI from rEFInd menu entry.

Rename the intel igd*.sys file back to original, and then enable the HD3000.

If it works, the screen goes black, thena few seconds later the display will come back and Intel HD3000 is Working Properly.

Rebooting you need to re-enter the EFI shell commands either via the EFI shell or an EFI .nsh script.

Get back into windows using Basic Display Driver

If I ever work out how to make this work properly I will do a how to, for now I will pull out some more hair and reboot the MBP another 100 times.

😐

I got here searching and hoping if apple will allow automatic graphics switching in windows bootcamp. I'm not expecting it. But your reply is hilarious! Apple did not create this machine for you to use Windows or use Windows OS to its fullest. Would Windows do the same?

Maybe you are not reading the Apple BootCamp support website and you were consumed by "Automatic Graphics Switching" Just saying...

TrackPadIsMagic is kinda right. Microsoft wouldn't create computers that can run Mac (I'm excluding hackintosh's here because, well those are hacked and not native)

Something I was thinking around page 2 or 3 of this thread is the fact that they are probably running in BIOS mode and, from what I understand, the GPU's and other devices are being exposed via EFI so theres that.

Another though Was that Apple doesn't have to technically support Windows natively at all. They at least give us this much. I will admit GPU switching would be nice and that's how I found this. I was curious if or how windows handles the gpu switching.

Some of the people complaining about using Windows 90+% of the time and blaming Apple for not supporting Windows..... DUH! They have their own operating system and the are going to support that obviously. Don't expect other operating systems to be 100% working. You don't complain that Dell or HP doesn't support linux or Mac. Kinda like you can't expect linux to always work on any particular hardware configuration. If you wanted windows, buy a freaking non-Apple laptop.

Anyways just my little 2 cents. I am really hoping for the GPU switching. Subscribing.

Not sure what you're on about.

The reason using OSX on a normal PC is difficult is because apple doesn't want you using OSX on anything other then their own hardware. It's the way they designed the OS, nothing to do with Microsoft.

Also Microsoft don't make the hardware inside your PC......so your point of Microsoft not supporting the OS is pretty much moot.

Yes apple don't have to support Windows but this thread alone has gathered almost 60,000 views so its pretty clear people want support for GPU switching but apple just don't seem to care.

When I read up that windows would be supported via boot camp I didn't know apple would do silly little things like this. If I did I probably would have bought a windows PC instead. I thought I'd get the "best of both worlds" but that's clearly not the case here.

i want this feautre too i dont use OSX at all complely unisntalled it and installed windows 8 everything works great accept for that i cant use both video cards which is annoying.....

and i dont wanna hear it lol i got the mac cause i like the design i could care less about OSX

Spikyface wrote:

snip

When I read up that windows would be supported via boot camp I didn't know apple would do silly little things like this. If I did I probably would have bought a windows PC instead. I thought I'd get the "best of both worlds" but that's clearly not the case here.

You are correct, Boot Camp as a method of running Windows is inferior to a cheap PC to run it on, and is on the way to failure most of the time. (I hope you have a good strategy for backing up Windows on your Mac)

I suggest everyone who wants the Intel chipset enabled in Windows (and maybe AHCI) emails Apple their concerns here:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbookpro.html

If they have enough comments about it, maybe, just maybe someone will listen. 😠

@deefective, I was wondering if you ever did get this working?

@rafbone, short answer: No.

After endless reboots, and only getting the Intel HD3000 active and visible a total of three times in EFI windows 8, I came to the conclusion that if you have all of the PCIe devices enabled in windows, you cannot get the Intel VGA going.

If you install few/no other drivers, it is possible to get the Intel initalised and operating intermittantly.

I gave up, and went back to bootcamp. Funnily enough, bootup to desktop is quicker in bootcamp, and at least I get one VGA working.

If I even buy another MBP, it will be a 13" with no dedicated VGA - problem solved.

@Deefective,

Such a shame..

Not so sure what you mean by at least you get one VGA working? Does the latest bootcamp use intel graphics?

Thanks.

I buy Macbook Pro 9.1 for Windows only. I think it`s the best hardware on the market.

But I was very disappointed to learn that in Windows I can not use integrated graphics.

Is that a joke, Apple? Give my regards to your marketing department! Die slowly!

There are no words any more ...

Grub4dos is unavailavle to download.so please any one here can provide link to download.i am having mbp 2012 mid with nvidia drivers.cant switch to intel hd 4000

Hello, I have a MBP mid 2012 which I put 16G of ram into. I run bootcamp for steam and Guild Wars 2. I have GW2 installed on both OSX and Win8. I had noticed while in Win8 that I wasn't switching GPUs. Because I output my video to at 1080p monitor I decided to run a dual screen setup. Gaming on the bigger screen with timers on the MBP screen. Immediately I noticed a difference in display quality, I was able to increase the video setting for my game all while getting more frames. When in Bootcamp my computer has Intel 4000 1G, and Nvidia 650m 4G.

Hi everyone.

So are there any news regarding this issue? As I see on my macbook pro late 2013 there are still no intel iris 5200 available in windows. I decided to switch to windows on macbook mainly because of some other EFI issues I do not like in mac os like the interruption of the sleep mode via USB - I have an USB hub connected and it seems to wake up macbook every minute from the sleep mode when the lid is closed. So I was hoping windows will work perfectly but then I discovered this issue. Any updates?

After the whole day working in windows I thought I can cook something on my mbp! Terrible!!!