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Installed Windows 7 x64 but missing Drivers

Hi there,


Just installed Windows 7 x64 on my 2011 MacMini via BootCamp. It installed quickly and no errors came up but now that Windows booted up, Device manager does not recognize the Wifi / Ethernet / Sound etc. controllers. I definitely did select 'Install Windows Supporting Software' in BootCamp. How do I get the drivers for Windows?


Thanks. 😕

Mac mini, Windows 7

Posted on Mar 6, 2012 6:05 AM

Reply
27 replies

Mar 6, 2012 7:19 AM in response to solo9999

solo9999 wrote:


Hi Bob,


As I mentioned in my original post, I definitely did select 'Install Windows Supporting Software' in BootCamp. I followed all instructions as described. Still no drivers though.

During that selection you had to choose between saving the drivers to a dvd or to an external drive, which did you choose?

Mar 6, 2012 7:29 AM in response to solo9999

It isn't clear to me either.


Boot Camp Assistant - save the drivers to USB etc (partition also, and start the install)


After Windows is installed either stop from doing more Windows updates or wait until done, is up to you.


THEN take the USB and run setup for Apple drivers.


Some devices like autio have to get Cirrus (or RealTek) AFTER installing Apple drivers.


I find "boot camp" to be used and over used to refer to too many things.


Windows on Mac

Drivers

partition tool

download apple drivers

control panel in Windows to change default OS, brightness and other items


you run Windows. natively.


hence, you really can't install software in Boot Camp.

You aren't running Boot Camp.

You have a number of Apple serivdes running in/under Windows though like Apple Timeservices, keyboard and others.


it is normal to have some devices and wifi/internet is a "sometimes" even with Apple driver.

In which you might try to locate and install those individually.


Whether it is best to allow Windows to do all its updates first, or interrupt and install Apple's, whether that even makes any difference....


You can always check in Programs control panel and repair-reinstal, or reinstall with admin or elevated privileges. Or compatibility mode.


I wish there were 4 subsections: mini have their own unique needs, iMac definitely and macbook like, and one for oothers (mac pro tower)


Or, that every Mac-Mini owner would add keyword "mini" and you can find the last 10 threads related to and posted by others. Should help.

Mar 6, 2012 7:34 AM in response to The hatter

The thing is, I can't do any updates because both network adapters (wired / wifi) are not availabe due to lack of drivers.


Can I download either driver somewhere or boot into MacOS and use BootCamp to setup the driver package onto a USB drive?


Finally, is there a way to actually run Windows without having to use any Apple software as 'lining' e.g. installing a new blank HDD and installing Windows for a flash drive?


Thanks for you help & patience all, still learning. 🙂

Mar 6, 2012 7:57 AM in response to solo9999

Catch-22 on the "no network" issue


windows then would not be able to download anything during install (kown fixes and such to make the install go better)


yes download while running OS X and place on FAT USB


During Windows there is the option - usually for disk drives - F6 - to load drivers


From Device Manager you can try Update driver which you can also browse and point to the folder with Apple driver or the ones you downloaded.


You should though with Lion 10.7.3 run or rerun Boot Camp Assistant and download the current full set of support software.


and here: http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp

Mar 6, 2012 9:50 AM in response to solo9999

Same problem here. Have tried the above. It will NOT download in Bootcamp to flash drive formatted FAT nor to a DVD. Have tried using Snow Leopard disk. Have downloaded 3.2 and 3.3 bootcamp updates. Nothing works.


I have Macbook Pro running Lion.


This is the most frustrating problem ever.


Just need network adapter drivers. . . but how to get???

Mar 6, 2012 10:06 AM in response to k.kyle

k.kyle wrote:


Same problem here. Have tried the above. It will NOT download in Bootcamp to flash drive formatted FAT nor to a DVD. Have tried using Snow Leopard disk. Have downloaded 3.2 and 3.3 bootcamp updates. Nothing works.


I have Macbook Pro running Lion.


This is the most frustrating problem ever.


Just need network adapter drivers. . . but how to get???

It is slow and erratic, but it does work so be patient.

Mar 7, 2012 1:31 PM in response to k.kyle

k.kyle, Lion uses Boot Camp 4, so the 3.x updates won't work. The only way to get the drivers is to wait for the download through Boot Camp.


OR, here's a direct link... 🙂

http://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/54/00/041-0694/sq2RLp7XVNQzRG8qdpsq9sj4 pHsgXkgPYg/BootCampESD.pkg


solo9999, you mentioned that " is it possible that the drivers are on the USB stick that BootCamp created?" If Boot Camp had you create a disk or USB drive, then yes, those are your "Support Files". Pop that USB drive in, and run the "Setup" application.


I did the Support Files install BEFORE allowing Windows to do its updates, and I haven't had any problems.

Mar 8, 2012 6:09 AM in response to capaho

Hi capaho,


This is exactly what I did last night. I am not sure why it didn't install by itself but after I ran the setup.exe all drivers installed and I am now typing this message from a perfectly well running Windows 7 on the mac mini 🙂

Everything runs well with the exception of startup and program lanching being a tad slow but that will improve with the additional 4 GB of RAM coming in + an SSD swap (I am quite sure the HDD is the bottleneck currently).


Thanks all for the help!

Installed Windows 7 x64 but missing Drivers

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