projectRelentless

Q: How to install Windows 8 on Mid 09 Macbook Pro (10.8.3)

So i loved the new Windows 8, and even had it installed before bootcamp supported windows 8 on my new iMac, i waited to buy a bigger hard drive and more ram for my mid 09 Macbook Pro.  The day i bought the new hardware, Apple released 10.8.3, and an updated bootcamp to support Windows 8!  Yay!  I got my install disc out (iso file burned to DVD), opened up bootcamp assistant, only to get an error saying apple dropped support for my mid 09 Macbook Pro and Windows 8.  Making the install impossible through bootcamp.  Do not fret, i have the solution, and EVERYTHING works perfectly.  Here we go.

 

  • Gather your Windows 8 install disc AND a Windows 7 install disc (you can surely find one by searching the net, use your old one, or borrow a colleagues... we are licensing Windows 8, NOT 7, this is just for my trick to fool bootcamp assistant and no i do not condone piracy)
  • Inside BootCamp Assistant, the driver download may hang,it did for me, twice..could be heavy usage due to the popular new update...so i recommend downloading it faster, and manually here http://support.apple.com/downloads/#macoscomponents  and get 4.1.4586  yes this is for windows 7, ALSO while you are there, download the windows 8 support pack 5.0.5033, as we will need that later as well.  As a matter of fact, DO IT THIS WAY and dont bother
  • That being said and done, in BootCamp Assistant (OSX), only check off Install Windows 7, leaving the download support software unchecked
  • Partition your hard drive as youd like, this splits up your storage space however you like, keep in mind which OS you plan to run the most, and obviously give that one more room, i.e you do all your Photoshop work, and app development in OSX, and only use Windows for office stuff, you'd want to give yourself more room on the OSX side.  I however bought a huge new internal drive to split them basically in half, as i use them both frequently.
  • This step is where the trick comes.  OSX 10.8.3 / BootCamp will advise you there is no support for Windows 8..only 7 with your Mid 09 Macbook Pro if you have put your Windows 8 disc in, upsetting you as it did me...possibly bringing you to this post, thats not FAIR is it?  Your 09 MacBook Pro is still JUST AS GOOD as a lot of PC's running Windows 8, why they excluded this model i have no idea...im sure they had reasons, but i dont care at the moment..lol
  • INSTEAD place a Windows 7 install disc in, and click next.  BootCamp Assistant will now partition your drive, make the windows side bootable and restart your  MBP.
  • Let it do its thing, and eventually you will land at the Windows 7 installation interface.  We don't really want that, we want Windows 8 right? 
  • Click the "x" to close the installation for Windows 7, it threatens your MBP will restart, and allow it to do so.
  • **IMPORTANT**  Once you hear the beloved Mac chime, quickly press and hold the "option" key.
  • This brings you to an area where you can select a startup disk.  At this point, lets get rid of the trick.  Hit your eject button and get rid of the Windows 7 install disc, we are done with it now.
  • You now, well in my case anyway, should only see your Mac HD, and the Recovery Disk. 
  • Insert your Windows 8 install disc
  • Now WAIT.  Eventually, you should see a new DVD looking icon that says Windows pop up next to the MacHD and Recovery Disk.  (depending on what you called your iso, it may something else...not sure, but you cant miss the new entry)
  • This is where a wired mouse will be needed, or use tab/space/enter to navigate to the new Windows Disc icon and launch it.
  • You are now in Windows 8's installation interface, cool!
  • Follow the steps until it asks you where you want to install it.  You should see a partition about equal to what you set earlier in BootCamp Assistant, and it SHOULD say Bootcamp right on it.  Select this partition.  (mine was the last one, the fourth i believe)
  • OH NO, it says you cant install it to that partition, this is normal.  You need to highlight/select this partition, and click format.  I cant remember, but i think you have to click "options" to get to a the spot where you can format it.  Pretty straight forward.  Safety check, obviously make sure you have the Bootcamp partition selected, dont format your Mac OSX partition!
  • After the quick format is done, Windows 8 installer will then allow you to click "next" and from there the magic happens.
  • Go through the whole Windows 8 install, and setup how you would like, this takes awhile, and im not covering that, as its a hand in hand walkthrough like any other install.
  • Once your inside your new Windows 8, you'll see a bunch of things not working, like tap to click on your trackpad, no on screen displays for brigtness, volume, and possibly other stuff.  Not cool right? 
  • Grab your USB stick, or Burnt disc that you applied the bootcamp support downloads to in the begining of this tutorial.
  • FIRST open the Windows 7 Bootcamp install, 4.1.4586, open the folder and find setup.exe and run it (we are in windows 8 now)
  • It takes a while, but Apple's BootCamp will install a bunch of drivers, etc, and eventually restart your MBP, which is cool, let it do it.
  • Upon finishing, lets go back to the USB/Burnt Disc where all your support software was saved, and lets get the newly support BootCamp 5.0.5033 opened up.
  • Big Thanks to a post by ErikVanD i seen on this forum for the next step.
  • If you want, try and click setup in this latest BootCamp support set, and you will get another sad error claiming x64 is not supported, something awful to that nature.  Awww man, this far, only to get let down.  Nope.  We are going to fix that.  And this is where ErikVanD's post pointed me to what we do next.
  • It was said to navigate in the BootCamp 5.0.5033 folder to something of the effect of BootCamp/Drivers/Apple and run the MSI file "BootCamp"  (MSI file will say Windows Installer in its description, and not necessarily MSI for anyone not too savy with Windows) **note - NOT .bootcamp (notice the period in the front) and it should work and install the new Windows 8 support for your MBP...but in my case it didn't, which is why im posting how i fixed this.  Your setup may somehow be different, but mine gave me an error say it "needs elevated permissions to run, use setup.exe instead.  We tried that remember!  And it gave us the x64 not supported error.  Oh man!  Blabbing aside, this file needs to be ran as an administrator, which yeah your the only user, but Windows is funny like that.  Normally youd just right click, and select run as administrator, but out the box, that option isnt there when you right click, only install, repair, open with etc.  Here's the next trick, you need to add a registry file to enable running as an administrator, dont be afraid, this is an old trick, and really easy. 
  • Open notepad in Windows, and create a new doc, call it Add_MSI_run_as_administrator.reg
  • Paste this following code into the new doc
  • Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 
    HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Msi.Package\Shell\runas] "HasLUAShield"=""  [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Msi.Package\shell\runas\Command] @=hex(2):22,00,25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,\    00,25,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,6d,00,\   73,00,69,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,63,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00,65,00,22,00,20,00,2f,\   00,69,00,20,00,22,00,25,00,31,00,22,00,20,00,25,00,2a,00,00,00
  • Or download the file already made from my company server at http://www.theprojectdev.com/public/pub.html  **i put this there as a courtesy to help others like me, its just a complete reg file, so either create your own through copy and pasting above or download it.  Either way, put it on your desktop.
  • Now double click the new registry file, and allow/ok it to do its thing. 
  • Once done, you can discard the file from your desktop, or keep, your choice.
  • Guess What!?  Now we can do the impossible!  Lets revisit that solution from before by going to the newest BootCamp 5.0.5033, and navigate to BootCamp/drivers/Apple and select that tricky BootCamp MSI file that wouldnt allow us to run, this time RIGHT CLICK it.  Because of our new registry entry we placed, we now have an option to "Run as Administrator"  Click that option.
  • WooHoo!  We have done what coudnt be done, BootCamp will now walk you through the installer, and add all the great support for Windows 8 on your mid 09 Macbook Pro that they for some reason neglected!
  • After the update, you will endure yet another restart.  From there, most likely using a wired mouse still, navigate to the system tray icon on the bottom right corner of the screen (little up arrow) and click it.  It will pop up a little menu, showing system processes/stuff running, click the gray squared diamond (this is bootcamp) and it will bring up the newest BootCamp control panel.  From here, you can nav to trackpad/touchpad and set tap to click (finally) and gestures, etc.  This control panel has lots of good stuff to make a MBP user feel comfortable in Windows 8.  There you go!  You did it!

 

 

I really, sincerely hope this helps someone, as it really made my day to get this resolved.  I want to add that all On Screen Displays will work (your volume/brightness etc)  they keyboard backlighting, and so much more, it really works great.  I upgraded my hard drive to 1tb, and installed 8gb of PNY RAM from best buy ($40) and it runs Windows 8, AND OSX fantastically.

 

My company http://www.theprojectdev.com designs and develops mobile apps (iOS and Android) and web design and development, so im a heavy user of both OS's, and this setup is just the best thing that has happened to me in a portable sense. Runs so so so fast!  Enjoy everyone! 

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Mar 17, 2013 8:28 PM

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Q: How to install Windows 8 on Mid 09 Macbook Pro (10.8.3)

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  • by Rahul Francis,

    Rahul Francis Rahul Francis Dec 4, 2013 6:22 PM in response to projectRelentless
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 4, 2013 6:22 PM in response to projectRelentless

    Just a quick update (Dec 2013)

     

    This still works for Windows 8.1! You no longer need to right click for run as administrator (just click once, then go to manage, then click run as administrator!)

     

    In addition, for Boot Camp 4 you have to click once on setup.exe, then Manage, then Troubleshoot Compatibility. Keep "troubleshooting" it and check it worked on previous operating systems. You can then press Windows 7 and it will run. Otherwise, it will give you an error saying "This software is only supported on Windows 7"

  • by piggynuts,

    piggynuts piggynuts Dec 8, 2013 6:04 PM in response to R_Lex
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 8, 2013 6:04 PM in response to R_Lex

    @ Aplet,

     

    thanks for posting, however, it did not work.  Your answer was incomplete, as the file copied to the desktop is not being read by bootcamp, and thus does not change the program.

     

    CORRECT WAY TO MODIFY THE BOOTCAMP FOLDER... some steps are probably unncessary, but this is how i got it to work, takes 15 minutes:

     

    Finder>Applications>Utilities> right click on Bootcamp> Show package contents> Contents> Info.plist

    Right click and Get info on Info.plist and click the lock at the bottom of the info page and enter your password.

     

    Add the user "Everyone" AND your own user account (obviously admin account) Read and Write permissions to the Plist file AND to the Contents folder itself or you won't be able to add anything new to the folder. 

     

    Open Plist and erase the 5-5 Macbook pro line towards the bottom, or whatever Macbook you're trying to install Windows 8 or 8.1 on.

     

    Save the file to the desktop and rename it info.plist

     

    Send the New info.plist to the contents folder, and Authorize permissions. It will time out and not completely overwrite the file, even though you have granted permissions, I gave it about 5 minutes.  Force restart the PC. 

     

    Try again, and it will timeout, I force restarted after about 5 minutes again.

     

    On second reboot, OPEN Bootcamp assistant, info.plist will be dark grey and should have a file size of zero KB since we've tried to over-write it twice, it now contains no data.  

     

    Close Bootcamp and immediately delete the original info.plist, it will say the file is in use, click OK. 

     

    Rename your new info.plist to info2.plist and place it in the Contents folder

     

    Now you can rename it to info.plist.

     

    Reboot, open bootcamp, problem solved.  

     

    If you have a second Mac, an easy work around would be to Target disk mode the one you want to install windows 8 as an external hard drive, then navigating to the folder and over writing info.plist with the modified one without having to do all these tricks. 

     

    Screen Shot 2013-12-08 at 5.42.13 PM.png

     

    Here is a photo of my success: Screen Shot 2013-12-08 at 5.52.45 PM.png

    If installing from a USB flash drive you can also modify which ones are compatible by editing the Pre-USB section in  the Plist, and adding the <string>MacbookPro5,5</string> to it.

  • by piggynuts,

    piggynuts piggynuts Dec 8, 2013 6:13 PM in response to piggynuts
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 8, 2013 6:13 PM in response to piggynuts

    I wanted to add that the post above from me is a guide of how to hack bootcamp so you can install Windows 8 on the 2009 MB Pro without doing all the silly work arounds mentioned in the beginning of this guide. 

     

    Once 8 is installed, you run the 4.5 boot camp drivers, reboot, then run the 5 bootcamp drivers as mentioned by projectreckless. 

  • by piggynuts,

    piggynuts piggynuts Dec 8, 2013 7:00 PM in response to piggynuts
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 8, 2013 7:00 PM in response to piggynuts

    You actually need to remove the PRE from the USB section, so it only says USB supported etc.  Once you delete the PRE and restart bootcamp, youll be able to install from the flash drive. 

  • by Karyta,

    Karyta Karyta Dec 9, 2013 7:01 AM in response to piggynuts
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 9, 2013 7:01 AM in response to piggynuts

    I found this video very useful, since what was listed here didn't work for me.  I think it is becuse of Mavericks.

     

    It is modifying boot camp assistant with terminal.

     

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQE2vbpYwRs

  • by adzski,

    adzski adzski Dec 20, 2013 1:29 AM in response to Karyta
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 20, 2013 1:29 AM in response to Karyta

    Hi ,

     

    does anyone have a win driver package for the pci express interface on a mid 09 macbook pro?

     

    This didnt work in bootcamp win 7 and now not in bootcamp win 8 but weirdly does ework in bootcamp win xp.

     

    I get a code 12 message,

     

    thanks

  • by Mikey Nach,

    Mikey Nach Mikey Nach Dec 22, 2013 4:56 PM in response to projectRelentless
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 22, 2013 4:56 PM in response to projectRelentless

    When I get to the step where you right click 'bootcamp.msi' and open it as an administrator it gives me an error message saying "This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action."  I double  checked and the .msi file is set to open with windows installer.

     

    When I open the file normally it works fine, however that procedes to give the "needs special priveledges message". When I open it as an administrator it gives me the "file not associated with program message". Can anyone help me fix this? Thanks.

  • by lee juwon,

    lee juwon lee juwon Dec 23, 2013 5:25 AM in response to Mikey Nach
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 23, 2013 5:25 AM in response to Mikey Nach

    I'm having the same issue and I've checked on my file associations, everything's fine there. I'm lost now.

  • by Mikey Nach,

    Mikey Nach Mikey Nach Dec 23, 2013 7:23 AM in response to lee juwon
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 23, 2013 7:23 AM in response to lee juwon

    I found a solution to my problem. Instead of opening bootcamp.msi as an administrator all you have to do is copy the setup.exe from bootcamp 4.0.4033 and and paste it in bootcamp 5.0.5033 (in the same location as the original setup.exe). This should replace it with the old one. Then go to the bootcamp.msi file that wont open as administrator and rename it to BootCamp64. Now run setup.exe and it should work normally.

  • by lee juwon,

    lee juwon lee juwon Dec 23, 2013 8:43 AM in response to Mikey Nach
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 23, 2013 8:43 AM in response to Mikey Nach

    Thanks a lot, just did it now and it works. Now I'm checking if the Nvidia Driver updates will be managed by Bootcamp services.

  • by MMello,

    MMello MMello Jan 4, 2014 10:12 AM in response to projectRelentless
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 4, 2014 10:12 AM in response to projectRelentless

    Hey ProjectRentless,

     

    Thank you very much for theese tips, they worked great for my Mid 2009 MBP 13".

     

    If anyone needs so, I was also having trouble with the Windows 8 suddenly freezing and this topic resolved this problem: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4007397?start=75

  • by thezachmaster,

    thezachmaster thezachmaster Jan 15, 2014 3:29 PM in response to projectRelentless
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 15, 2014 3:29 PM in response to projectRelentless

    I have been able to follow this tutorial, but when I get to installing Win8, it asks for drivers to install before I can actually install anything, and the computer will not reconize the drivers I have installed from the apple website on my USB. I am stuck with a "Windows Setup" with a selection area to select drivers to install, and on the bottom there are a browse, rescan, and next buttons (next is gray'ed out). In the install process, where there is 1. Collecting Information and 2 Installiing Windows, I am still in 1.

     

    Running 10.9.1 on a 2009 MacBook Pro 15"

     

    Help PLEASE,

    Thanks,

    Zach W

  • by NDIrish821,

    NDIrish821 NDIrish821 Jan 17, 2014 2:35 PM in response to projectRelentless
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 17, 2014 2:35 PM in response to projectRelentless

    This helped so much. Thank you for taking the time to write this out. Worked like a charm!

  • by Alexandros K,

    Alexandros K Alexandros K Jan 31, 2014 7:00 AM in response to projectRelentless
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 31, 2014 7:00 AM in response to projectRelentless

    Hi all!

    I have a similar problem. I installed to w7 64b, on a Macbook Pro 17" (mid 2009) with 8GB RAM. I'm now runnin Mavericks (10.9). When I use W7 I get prompted to upgrade to bootcamp 3.3 (I'm on 3.2).

    I download it, install it and after reboot, I still have 3.2!

    I read millions of discussions about it and finally Apple replied to install 4.0.4033.

    The thing is, that I start the install, the display driver installs and everything seems ok, till the point that the "BootCamp64.msi" file is missing. I think that this file supposed to be the older (3.2) version that needs to be removed. I dowloaded (again) the 3.2 bootcamp (that is an.exe file) to install again or repair, but it keeps asking of this bootcamp64.msi file that's missing.

    I wouldn't have a problem to stay on 3.2 but my computer freezes many times a day - what can I do - any ideas please?

  • by Epidural,

    Epidural Epidural Feb 11, 2014 12:55 PM in response to projectRelentless
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Feb 11, 2014 12:55 PM in response to projectRelentless

    Thank you so much for the install instructions. I have finally have windows 8 and maverick all in one package.

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