Having trouble installing Windows 8 drivers

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Level 1

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Having trouble installing Windows 8 drivers

I know this has been asked a million times but I couldn't find a specific answer to my problem. I previously had Windows 7 on my boot camp partition and then I decided to install Windows 8 a couple months ago. I'm just now getting around to installing the drivers and I'm having issues.

Long story short, I downloaded the Windows Support Software onto my external drive (formatted MS-DOS(FAT). I then boot into my Win 8 partition and open up my external drive. There are two folders "$WinPEDrivers$" and "Bootcamp." I open up the bootcamp folder and run "setup." The setup installs the video card drivers and then prompts me to install Bootcamp Version 5.0. I try to do so and it will not let me procceed. I get the error "Boot Camp requires that your computer is running Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista." I dont completely understand this at all considering it is the latest version of Boot Camp I am installing on Windows 8. Any help would be much appreciated. Installing these drivers are turning into a pain.

Posted on Aug 7, 2013 7:00 AM

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Answer 1

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Aug 7, 2013 7:26 AM in response to Nisius824

always include which Mac.

depends on things like did you just install over 7?

how much free space? have you gone into disk cleanup and removed the old Windows?

do you run CCleanup?

Clean up the TEMP folder is always a good idea

Boot Camp: Frequently asked questions about installing Windows 8

Summary

Learn more about how Mac computers can run Windows 8 using Boot Camp 5.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5628

Products Affected

Boot Camp, Windows 8

General installation questions

What is Boot Camp 5?
Boot Camp 5 is not a release of OS X software. Rather, it is a release of the Windows Support Software (drivers). You will need to use this software on your Mac with Windows 8 or Windows 7. For more information on Boot Camp 5, see t http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5639

Which Macs support Windows 8?

MacBook Air (Mid 2011 or newer)
MacBook Pro (Mid 2010 or newer)
Mac Pro (Early 2009 or newer)
Mac Mini (Mid 2011 or newer)
iMac (27-inch, Mid 2010 or Mid 2011 or newer)

For more information, see this article.

What are the System Requirements for Windows 8?
Please see this article.

How can I install Windows 8 on an eligible computer?
Use the Boot Camp Assistant. The assistant will partition your internal hard drives and install Windows 8. For more information on Windows 8 installation, see the Boot Camp Installation & Setup Guide.

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Answer 2

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Aug 7, 2013 7:27 AM in response to The hatter

When using a USB optical or Flash drive to install Windows, disconnect all other USB devices from the computer except for the USB Windows install media, keyboard, and mouse.

Follow these steps if you encounter this issue.

Press and hold the power button to shutdown the computer.
Remove all USB devices except for the Windows installation media, keyboard, and mouse.
Turn your computer on again and immediately hold down the Option key until you see a screen from which you can choose your startup drive.
Select the Windows install media to start the Windows installation process.

Additional Information

If you have a MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2012) computer, additional steps are required to successfully install Windows 8. See this article for details.

Symptoms

After installing the Boot Camp Support Software on a MacBook Air (Mid 2012), Microsoft Windows 8 may not start, or may start with a low screen resolution (VGA) .

Resolution

Press and hold the power button until your Mac turns off.
Press the power button to turn it back on.
When you hear the startup chime, hold down the Option key until your disk volumes appear in Startup Manager.
Double-click your OS X volume (named Macintosh HD by default).
After OS X starts, from the Apple () menu, choose Software Update.
The Mac App store should appear with a list of available updates. Download and install the MacBook Air EFI Firmware Update 2.6 or later, or manually install it from Apple Support Downloads.

Symptoms

When using Boot Camp 5 and Windows 8 on a iMac (Mid 2011), keyboard screen brightness controls (F1 and F2) might not change the screen brightness.

Resolution

Instead, use the Settings Charm to control the screen brightness in Windows 8:

Position the cursor in the upper-right or lower-right hand corner of the screen.
When the Charms appear, click Settings.
A brightness icon appears in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. Use it to control the screen's brightness.

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Answer 3

Nisius824 Author

Level 1

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Aug 7, 2013 7:48 AM in response to The hatter

I have a late 2010 MacBook Pro with an i5 processor and 4gb of RAM . I did install over top of Windows 7 and I have about 80gb free on this partition. I see there is a Windows.old file that I have not touched, I figured that didnt mean much but maybe I am wrong. Also, I went to download the Apple Software and the only update it prompted me with was an update for Boot Camp 3.2. I cleaned up the folder as well.

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Answer 4

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Aug 7, 2013 8:33 AM in response to Nisius824

uninstall any apple programs, BC 3.x until gone and run CCleaner.

may as well remove windows.old

then install Boot Camp 4.x or 5.x from Boot Camp Assistant or manually and install those

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Answer 5

Nov 26, 2013 11:24 PM in response to Nisius824

I know this is a late reply...... but I see there is over 1023 views so maybe this will help out other people.

1. install windows 7 on your mac through boot camp. please use boot camp 4 or 5

2. once installed, upgrade to windows 8

3. after windows 8 is installed, go to apple.com and download boot camp 4.0.4333 on the windows side. this will give you the drivers for windows 7. Apparently that still works on windows 8. I dont know why Apple made it so hard for us mac book pro users with mid 2010 models to install window 8 drivers.

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Answer 6

perkeo

Level 1

0 points

Dec 14, 2013 11:20 AM in response to mayitoapple16lu13-91

I have a MacBook Pro mid 2010 and managed to make a fresh install Windows 8 in Bootcamp. In your Mac in Bootcamp follow the instructions to install Windows 7 using a windows 7 installation DVD. After partitioning remove the windows 7 DVD and insert windows 8 DVD. Boot into windows 8 DVD and install it. Sign into windows 8. Download bootcamp support files (drivers) 4.0.4333 and run it in compatibility with windows 7 (open a search windows and type "run programs" and click on the link that says "run programs made for..." to run the compatibility wizard. Look for the setup file and click on it. At some point it will tell you to click on TEST PROGRAM. Select "in compatibility with windows 7" and from then on it will install all the drivers. There are a couple of drivers missing which you can find gloogling (bluetooth and a coprocessor from nvidia, both can be found online). And that is it, you have a full clean Windows 8 install in an "OLD" MacBook Pro.

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Answer 7

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Dec 14, 2013 12:25 PM in response to perkeo

some drivers people have found would just not install through the top level "Setup" or whatever t he Installer for Boot Camp is, and just rerun manually the driver that got skipped, like Nvidia graphic driver was a common issue.

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