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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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187 replies

Mar 18, 2013 2:48 AM in response to projectRelentless

Hi...thanks for the instruction....I would like to know in detail how you installed Boot Camp 4? I tried your instruction but it says my computer is unsupported and when i run the bootcamp installer within the Bootcamp>>Apple folder it also would not tun saying i have to to it via setup...I am also using Mid 2009 Macbook Pro with Windows 8 Pro 64 bit installed in bootcamp...thanks

Mar 18, 2013 10:26 AM in response to projectRelentless

**********************IMPORTANT EDIT TO THE TUTORIAL***********************************************************



Everyone im sorry, i made a mistake informing you which BootCamp support drivers to download from Apple. You see I originally downloaded my Windows 7 Support from the BootCamp Assistant, and had the version number completely wrong.


The first BootCamp install packahe you should down load from http://support.apple.com/downloads/#macoscomponents is actually 4.0.4033


That will be your first BootCamp installation in Windows 8 that works. Im so sorry Markeez for wasting your time, my excitement had blinded me last night.


Also be sure to copy both 4.0.4033's folder and the latest 5.0.5033 folders to your Windows 8 desktop as well, dont run them off your USB stick or DVD/C, whatever media you copied them to.


So Markeez, after you download the correct Windows 7 Support Software 4.0.4033, simply click setup.exe and it will run without any trouble.


Then after the inital BootCamp install is complete, your MBP restarted and all is done, you need to perform the "Run as Administrator" trick i posted above. Its real easy. Open notepad, and copy the EXACT code i posted in the tutorial in a fresh new doc, and save the file to your desktop EXACTLY how i posted it Add_MSI_Run_as_administrator.reg


Now close notepad, and double click the newly created registry file, and allow it access to do what it needs. What this does is allows your run the new installer in BootCamp 5.0.5033 as an administrator, which you wont have the option to unless you use this registry file.


Ok after the registry part is done, go inside the latest BootCamp 5.0.5033 folder, to BootCamp/drivers/Apple and find BootCamp --- probanly the ottom most MSI file, and again it will not say MSI on the right side, it will say Windows Installer or something to that degree. Also do NOT confuse it with a similar file in that folder called .bootcamp this is not the one we need. OK, so now, using a WIRED MOUSE, right click the BootCamp MSI file, and you will now have the option to Run As Administrator, if you did the registry bit. IF YOU DIDNT do the registry bit, you will only see Install, Repair, Uninstall etc. If thats the case, just download the zip from my company site, it contains only a completed copy of that reg file.


Running this file in the Apple folder as an admin is the key to making this work, let me know if you have any further issues, im watching. Also i apologize everyone, but for some reason i cant edit the tutorial to fix my mistake, very sorry about the confusion.


Mar 18, 2013 1:14 PM in response to projectRelentless

projectRelentless thank you for taking you time to do this and help all of us loyal Apple users. I was able to install Windows 8 on my MacBook (Late 2009) by following you instructions last night. Since the BC 4 drivers would not install I skipped the step and went on to BC 5 drivers. It seems to be working okay on everything. If its working is there any reason why I should go back and install the other package and then install the 5 again?


Thanks again! Much appreciated!

Mar 18, 2013 2:03 PM in response to projectRelentless

Thanks so much rnwjr, I've learned so much from forums, and it feels good to be able to contribute!


I'm regards to skipping the earlier set of drivers, nope there is absolutely no reason at all, especially of it worked for you. I just took every precaution when I did it myself as it was an uncharted land, but you just proved you do not need to do it...HOWEVER, in some users case, maybe the keyboard or wifi or some other item needed to proceed wouldn't work and they might need to do the earlier set first, though I don't really ever see that happening.


I'm really glad to see it working for people, windows 8 is fantastic and I hope osx follows suit, I'm in love with the metro interface, and a MBP makes it that much cooler!

Mar 19, 2013 10:08 AM in response to projectRelentless

****************************ANOTHER IMPORTANT UPDATE TO THIS TUTORIAL***************************


A fellow on another thread i was working on brought up a point that after the install, in windows device manager, that a device called co-processor was missing a driver, and wouldnt update, we got a fix for it, which involves using 4.0.4033 support drivers from apple, simply go into the device driver details of this co-processor, click update driver, use browse my computer to find driver, and point it to the root of the Windows Support BootCamp 4.0.4033 folder and let it find the old windows 7 driver it so annoyingly needs. I still cant figure out why, as my Nvidia drivers updated fine, but thats what this thing is looking for anyway.


Check our discussion related to the solution towards the end of this thread https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4892799?answerId=21554284022#21554284022

Mar 21, 2013 7:14 AM in response to rnwjr

interesting...well i mean obviously thats not cool, but lets see. since our last talk here, ive been running:


Windows 8-- Autodesk Maya / 3ds Max, Adobe CS6, and other really intense software


OSX - Xcode, Adobe CS6 - pretty intense on memory.


Now mind you i upgraded my RAM before all of this - went to Best Buy and bought 8gigs of PNY RAM for 40.00

  • What are you currently running for memory in your MBP?
  • Get me some hardware info....
  • Go to OSX, click Apple symbol in upper left
  • Click about this mac - id like your processor, RAM, OSX version,video card info (model, memory)
  • Then click "system report" -- get model identifier for me, usually second down on that list i.e MacBoook Pro 5,5


And its only in Windows 8 right, nothing going on in OSX side of things? And is this only when you search the net? I'm wondering about Java Runtime Enviorment too..but lets start at the begininning


Thanks, hope to get it squared away!

Mar 21, 2013 7:37 AM in response to projectRelentless

What was interesting is that I was downloading BootCamp 4.0.4033 via IE 10, and surfing the web.... The freeze then occurs only in Windows 8 with 45 GB partition... Also Office365.com may have been installing an update...


I have the following:


OS X 10.8.3 (12D78

2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3

NVIDIA GeForce 9400M 256 MB

MacBook6,1



Thanks in advance...


-Bob

Mar 21, 2013 7:42 AM in response to rnwjr

Ok Bob,


Looks like your running, almost identical to me as far as everything but the RAM, and i have a larger partition for Windows, but that should definitely not be an issue. My belief is, depending on what we find out here, is a conflict with Nvidia.


With the freeze, everything your doing stops, but you still can see everything? No blackouts or anything like that? Im going to reboot into Windows 8 as ive been working in OSX on somethings, and get myself some more info, ill be right back!

Mar 21, 2013 7:53 AM in response to projectRelentless

Ok, im in Win8, and in the system tray manager, where the bootcamp control panel is, do you have a green Nvidia Settins icon? If so launch it, ensure it comes up saying Nvidia Geforce 9400m - and the vesion number should be right there. grab that for me and we will go from there.


I was thinking on the update from office365, i use office pro 2013 in my partition, and all updates that come in are held until restart... so its possible this update its trying to do on the fly very well could be clouding your windows experience.


but i still just want to verify that we are running the same drivers

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

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