Where can I find individual drivers for Mac hardware for windows?

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Where can I find individual drivers for Mac hardware for windows?

Bit of a long story but I'll have a summary at the end. I'm going to have a job this summer which will cause me to be away from home a lot and probably a lot of downtime, so I decided to install WinXP in a small partition on my June 2009 MBP 13" (2.53ghz model, OS 10.8.3) so I can play some EQ while I'm waiting for tests to run. After seeing too many "boot camp assistant quit unexpectedly" errors, I decided to take matters into my own hands and create my own partition. For anyone having the same issues, the process I used was: reboot and hold S to boot in single-user mode, type /sbin/fsck -fy (not a necessary step but a good idea when partitioning), when the filesystem check is done, type "reboot" and hit enter. Open disk utility, click on the HDD, click partition, click the plus, choose a size, format in MS-DOS (FAT). Insert windows disc into superdrive, reboot and hold alt/option, select windows disc (not the partition), install (I reformatted into NTFS but it's your choice), enjoy, you just have to hold alt when you reboot and select the new partition to boot into windows.

Anyhow, now I need to install the network drivers before I can do anything. The Nvidia drivers I downloaded worked just peachy but I can't for the life of me find a good driver for the network adapter (which system information says is on Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 firmware). I've tried a few but can't seem to find one that installs correctly, and all the help topics say to "update bootcamp", but I didn't use bootcamp so that won't help, and the ethernet controller is missing too so I can't connect and search for drivers that way either. I'm out of ideas, does anyone know if Apple releases the drivers from the bootcamp packages individually or had this problem before? Any help appreciated.

SUMMARY: Made a partition manually, installed windows on it, no drivers, can't find network adapter driver for June 2009 2.53ghz MBP on WinXP

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.3)

Posted on Apr 8, 2013 4:38 PM

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Answer 1

Apr 8, 2013 4:51 PM in response to Xeab

Start again and this time install a virtual machine like Parallels, Fusion, or VirtualBox. Then install Windows XP in the virtual machine. This will work and will save you much time and effort. Windows can not be installed as you described. There are no Windows drivers for Apple hardware other than the drivers provided by Bootcamp Assistant Support Software or the virtual hardware drivers provided by a virtual machine.

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Answer 2

Xeab Author

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Apr 8, 2013 5:50 PM in response to BobTheFisherman

Thanks for the speedy response, and I'll try it out but I'm a tad skeptical. I was attempting to avoid using a VM because my MBP is getting on a bit and has had... well, a bit of a hard life (I was 19 and clumsy when I bought it), so performance already isn't spectacular, and VMs tend to be more resource intensive than running a partitioned OS. Also, I have to respectfully disagree, as I've proven that Windows most certainly CAN be installed in the manner I described, as I had it up and running not a few minutes ago, I just haven't proven yet that all the drivers can be installed and functioning... But I would suspect that the Windows drivers for the hardware could be installed from a third party, as I've previously had Ubuntu installed in the same way and managed to connect to wireless networks, and I've already installed the driver for the video card. Like I said, the network adapter is running Broadcom BCM43XX 1.0 firmware, which was installed on some HP and Dell laptops from a few years back, so I'd suspect the drivers are available, it would just take a bit more of a headache than I feel like dealing with right now, as Broadcom seems to be pretty stingy with first-party online driver support. Who knows, though, maybe a VM will work just fine, we'll have to see!

Thanks again though, man, cheers.

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Answer 3

Apr 8, 2013 6:17 PM in response to Xeab

Xeab wrote:

Thanks for the speedy response, and I'll try it out but I'm a tad skeptical. I was attempting to avoid using a VM because my MBP is getting on a bit and has had... well, a bit of a hard life (I was 19 and clumsy when I bought it), so performance already isn't spectacular, and VMs tend to be more resource intensive than running a partitioned OS. Also, I have to respectfully disagree, as I've proven that Windows most certainly CAN be installed in the manner I described, as I had it up and running not a few minutes ago, I just haven't proven yet that all the drivers can be installed and functioning... But I would suspect that the Windows drivers for the hardware could be installed from a third party, as I've previously had Ubuntu installed in the same way and managed to connect to wireless networks, and I've already installed the driver for the video card. Like I said, the network adapter is running Broadcom BCM43XX 1.0 firmware, which was installed on some HP and Dell laptops from a few years back, so I'd suspect the drivers are available, it would just take a bit more of a headache than I feel like dealing with right now, as Broadcom seems to be pretty stingy with first-party online driver support. Who knows, though, maybe a VM will work just fine, we'll have to see!

Thanks again though, man, cheers.

I fail to understand why you say the install worked. It obviously did not work otherwise you would not be here asking how to get it working. Just because Windows is on your computer does not mean the istall worked. My definition of working includes that all drivers work as well, not just that the OS is resident on the computer.

If Windows could be installed the way you want to do the installation there would be no need for Bootcamp Assistant or a VM. Yet Bootcamp Assistant and VM installations continue to be extensively used. If you search the Bootcamp Forum or using Google you may find some Windows installion examples where Windows is the only operating system on the drive. Some opt for this installation method.

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Answer 4

Imp68

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Apr 8, 2013 6:26 PM in response to Xeab

The drivers you need should be on the DVD that came with your Mac. You should be able to use it, regardless of how you got windows on there. Boot to windows and insert the DVD. (Pretty sure it's the install one, not the app one.)

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Answer 5

Xeab Author

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Apr 8, 2013 6:35 PM in response to BobTheFisherman

BobTheFisherman wrote:

Xeab wrote:

Thanks for the speedy response, and I'll try it out but I'm a tad skeptical. I was attempting to avoid using a VM because my MBP is getting on a bit and has had... well, a bit of a hard life (I was 19 and clumsy when I bought it), so performance already isn't spectacular, and VMs tend to be more resource intensive than running a partitioned OS. Also, I have to respectfully disagree, as I've proven that Windows most certainly CAN be installed in the manner I described, as I had it up and running not a few minutes ago, I just haven't proven yet that all the drivers can be installed and functioning... But I would suspect that the Windows drivers for the hardware could be installed from a third party, as I've previously had Ubuntu installed in the same way and managed to connect to wireless networks, and I've already installed the driver for the video card. Like I said, the network adapter is running Broadcom BCM43XX 1.0 firmware, which was installed on some HP and Dell laptops from a few years back, so I'd suspect the drivers are available, it would just take a bit more of a headache than I feel like dealing with right now, as Broadcom seems to be pretty stingy with first-party online driver support. Who knows, though, maybe a VM will work just fine, we'll have to see!

Thanks again though, man, cheers.

I fail to understand why you say the install worked. It obviously did not work otherwise you would not be here asking how to get it working. Just because Windows is on your computer does not mean the istall worked. My definition of working includes that all drivers work as well, not just that the OS is resident on the computer.

If Windows could be installed the way you want to do the installation there would be no need for Bootcamp Assistant or a VM. Yet Bootcamp Assistant and VM installations continue to be extensively used. If you search the Bootcamp Forum or using Google you may find some Windows installion examples where Windows is the only operating system on the drive. Some opt for this installation method.

There absolutely would be reason for those to exist, BootCamp assistant makes it EASIER to install windows as a dual boot, and VMs allow for usage of the host system while using the virtual simultaneously (however the virtual system cannot use the graohics adapter so that's worthless to me). Also, installing Windows as the only system is practically identical to the way I did it, as it is on its own separate hdd partition, so I don't get how you're separating those in your head. Apple clearly doesn't like you dual-booting like this, but it can be done, I've seen other examples of it online, just clearly on OSs with better native driver support.

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Answer 6

Xeab Author

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Apr 8, 2013 6:42 PM in response to Imp68

Thanks I'll try that next time I'm near my discs.

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Answer 7

Imp68

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Apr 8, 2013 6:54 PM in response to Xeab

This might help if you aren't near your discs: http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1630

Edit---

Oops, that's for win7. But fish around here: http://support.apple.com/downloads/

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Answer 8

Xeab Author

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Apr 8, 2013 6:51 PM in response to Imp68

Thanks, but I already said, this wasn't a bootcamp install. I'll look into this but unless i can just run this straight on the partitioned OS I'm not sure it'll be helpful.

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Answer 9

Imp68

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Apr 8, 2013 6:55 PM in response to Xeab

You're welcome, but I already said how you installed windows is irrelevant. You just need the driver package at this point. Don't get caught up in the package's name. 😝

Message was edited by: Imp68

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Answer 10

Imp68

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Apr 8, 2013 7:39 PM in response to Xeab

Did some looking around... You're going to need your original OS X install DVD, for the drivers on the win xp side. Looks like a download isn't available.

Some correct me if I'm wrong.

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