Noman84

Q: Two Thunderbolt Displays not working under Windows 7

I just got the two Thunderbolt Displays I had preordered delivered and I was shocked to find out that both of them can not work together under Win 7 on my MBP.

 

My Set up :

 

Macbook Pro - 15" i7 - 2011 - with Thunderbolt Port

Two brand new Thunderbolt Displays - One (Display 1) connected directly to the MBP and the other (Display 2) daisy-chained to Display 1.

 

Mac OS X fully updated, Windows 7 running on BootCamp, also fully updated.

 

With this set up ... all three screens work with Os X ... Under Windows 7, MBP Display works and Display 1 works, but Display 2 shows a blank black screen.

 

Surprisingly All three FaceTime HD cameras are deteceted and working. All ports on both displays work and Speakers on Display 1 and Display 2 work ... but no image on Display 2.

 

Any help appriciated ... I'll be returning these beauties if they can't work on Win 7 because I work on Windows most of the time

 

I've tried a bunch of stuff already ... Including trying to get windows device manager to detect the displays etc. and to scan for hardware changes.

 

Apple states on the product page that dual thunderbolt displays are supported on all 15" and 17" MBPs - they don't say anything about dual dusplays not working on Windows 7 and working on OsX ?

 

http://www.apple.com/displays/

http://images.apple.com/displays/images/overview_hero2.jpg

 

I would like to add that I when I updated OsX it installed the following as well:

- Thunderbolt firmware update

- Thunderbolt Display Software

- Thunderbolt Display Firmware Update

 

... and now when I try and update OsX says that software is up to date, which means all latest firmware updates made available by apple have been installed.

Apple Thunderbolt Display

Posted on Sep 21, 2011 2:41 AM

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Q: Two Thunderbolt Displays not working under Windows 7

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  • by microrad,

    microrad microrad Nov 27, 2011 2:46 AM in response to Noman84
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    Nov 27, 2011 2:46 AM in response to Noman84

    YES~ I have the same problem... one 17 new macbook pro + 2 thunderbolt display, the second display is black blank, if some one use windows 7, please notify don't buy the second external thunderbolt display now, now it is my stock, black just like mirror, I am try mac os and parellel program now.

  • by ciumeo,

    ciumeo ciumeo Aug 7, 2012 7:10 AM in response to Noman84
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 7, 2012 7:10 AM in response to Noman84

    Very interested on the subject as i was thinking of buying two extra monitors to play iracing on my iMac27 via bootcamp... Looked everywhere, couldn't find much light. Any news from you guys?

  • by mickey3,

    mickey3 mickey3 Aug 7, 2012 8:22 AM in response to ciumeo
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 7, 2012 8:22 AM in response to ciumeo

    this is working now. My iMac 27 has an external thunderbolt and an external hdmi monitor using thunderbolt adapter and all three monitors work in both lion and windows 7

  • by ciumeo,

    ciumeo ciumeo Aug 7, 2012 9:13 AM in response to mickey3
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    Aug 7, 2012 9:13 AM in response to mickey3

    I should give it a try if i can find some monitors to test... Would other plug types work, other than the hdmi?

  • by opoliak,

    opoliak opoliak Sep 19, 2012 3:31 PM in response to Noman84
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    Sep 19, 2012 3:31 PM in response to Noman84

    Has anyone had luck getting multiple Thunderbolt displays to work with Bootcamp? I have had the same issue as everyone else and after investigation discovered that Apple had not written a driver for Bootcamp to recognize the dual TBD config. I have since written to Apple requesting this support but no response has been received.

    Come on Apple.............Please make this work!

  • by Remoteportal,

    Remoteportal Remoteportal Apr 2, 2013 1:43 PM in response to Noman84
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    Apr 2, 2013 1:43 PM in response to Noman84

    I've read that Parallels will solve the problem.

  • by mstormo,

    mstormo mstormo May 10, 2013 9:42 AM in response to opoliak
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    May 10, 2013 9:42 AM in response to opoliak

    Why do you need two Thunderbolt screens??

     

    Use 1 Thunderbolt display (for USB hub and LAN connection), and then use 1 Cinema display as the 2nd screen. You can chain the USB ports, but not the displays, so you do have 1 extra connection to the MBP, but that's fine.

    Windows 7 will (natively) drive this setup without problems.

  • by aggieben,

    aggieben aggieben Aug 2, 2013 3:25 PM in response to Remoteportal
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    Aug 2, 2013 3:25 PM in response to Remoteportal

    Parallels doesn't solve the problem at all.  It just avoids it.  The problem is that if you boot into Windows, you can't drive two thunderbolt displays.  Parallels avoids it by letting you boot into OSX and running windows in a VM.  You get to use your two displays that way, but at a pretty steep price. Parallels works ok, but it's nothing like native performance.

     

    I sorely wish Apple would update the Bootcamp drivers for this scenario.  It's been a problem for at least two years, by my reckoning.

  • by mstormo,

    mstormo mstormo Aug 2, 2013 6:49 PM in response to aggieben
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    Aug 2, 2013 6:49 PM in response to aggieben

    Again, you don't really need two Thunderbolt displays, you need one to act as the "docking station", giving you an ethernet plug, then you can "fill up" the rest of your needs with Cinema displays.

     

    Windows can run multiple Cinema displays natively on the MacBook Pros, so 1xThunderbolt Display + 1xCinema Display works just fine.

  • by Trader83,

    Trader83 Trader83 Sep 13, 2013 2:08 PM in response to Noman84
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 13, 2013 2:08 PM in response to Noman84

    Would there be a compromise in navigation speed or display quality if the daisy chain + cinema display set-up is used? Would it work also for iMac?

     

    Thanks

  • by troyfromacton,

    troyfromacton troyfromacton Oct 31, 2013 7:44 AM in response to mickey3
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    Oct 31, 2013 7:44 AM in response to mickey3

    Bought a new MBP and TBD one month ago. Running parallels as vm. TBD display ports have never worked properly. Second display and second MBP, same result. When I start up there is no power to the USB posts. Apple USB keyboard will not be recognized. Apple has been supportive but after 4 trips to Genius desk, about 40 hours of AppleCare and Joint venture support we still have no solution. Problem seems to have become worse. I was able to unplug and replug keyboard repeatedly to get it to work in the TBD. Now it will not work at all. Losing money daily with this problem and may need to go back to PC regrettably.

  • by Rick N,

    Rick N Rick N Nov 12, 2013 10:03 AM in response to Noman84
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    Nov 12, 2013 10:03 AM in response to Noman84

    I have the MBP Retina 15, w Apple Thunderbolt 27 Monitor and Apple LED 27 Monitor.  Everything works fine if you have a thunderbolt peripheral (Disk drive etc.) between Monitor 1 and Monitor 2.  Don't ask me why, I couldnt tell you.  It just works.  Bootcamp side, same deal, it wouldnt work till I put a TB peripheral between the two.  Now works like a champ.

  • by Noman84,

    Noman84 Noman84 Nov 12, 2013 8:54 PM in response to Rick N
    Level 1 (1 points)
    Nov 12, 2013 8:54 PM in response to Rick N

    Rick,

     

    Thank you for the update.

     

    What's the difference between your LED 27" and Thunderbolt 27", do they both have thunderbolt connectors or one is with the Displayport connector ?

     

    Also, what thunderbolt peripherial (Disk Drive) are you using ? Brand and model ?

     

    I desperately want to get mine working in the same way under bootcamp. I have two thunderbolt displays daisy chained.

  • by Rick N,

    Rick N Rick N Nov 13, 2013 6:21 AM in response to Noman84
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 13, 2013 6:21 AM in response to Noman84

    Thunderbolt Monitor has Thunderbolt port it must be closest to MBP.  LED Monitor has displayport only must be last on chain. Disk Drive is Pegasus R4 w 4 4TB Drives.  Also MUST use Macdrive Pro as it is only Windows program to recognize Apple RAID on Pegasus.  For whatever reason did not work when monitors daisy chained directly together w/o Disk Drive in between (one screen always blanked out irrespective of where placed in chain).

     

    FYI: Also worked w Belkin Thunderbolt Dock in between monitors.  Have not yet tried TB Monitor then Belkin then Pegasus then LED.  Will attempt this weekend and let you know.  Also, running Mavericks on Mac side and Widows 8 with Classic Shell on Bootcamp side w/ Nvidia update if that makes any difference.  Don't know the tech behind it, just trail and error.

     

    Rick

  • by TomDC1,

    TomDC1 TomDC1 Nov 18, 2013 7:51 AM in response to Noman84
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    Nov 18, 2013 7:51 AM in response to Noman84

    Just resolved this isseue. This is actually a problem with the NVIDIA driver, NOT Windows like some have suggested. If you goto your display settings, you will notice that the second thunderbolt screen (or third display, including your laptop monitor) is grayed out. This is due to it being disabled by the NVIDIA driver. To resolve this issue, simply:

     

    1. Right click on the desktop
    2. open NVIDIA Control Palnel
    3. Click "Set up multiple displays" (under Display)
    4. Ensure that all displays have check boxes in them
    5. Hit apply
    6. Job done.

     

    The third display will now be available to configure via the usual Windows display options.

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