Windows 8.1 install fails on new 2013 Retina MacBook

I doubt there are many people out there who can help with this yet. I was able to pick up my 2013 Haswell Retina MacBook Pro from my local Apple store this morning (yay!), and so far everything has been stellar. However, I'm unable to install Windows 8.1 via Bootcamp. I have not tried Windows 8 or 7.


I've tried installing both via USB thumb drive, and via DVD on external SuperDrive, with the same results. I know that 2013 MacBook Airs have to install via UEFI so I've tried that as well. What I've tried:


Booting into UEFI:

- After creating the partition in Bootcamp, I boot holding OPTION

- At the boot selection screen I select "EFI BOOT"

- I go through all the motions, including formatting the BOOTCAMP partition

- After all the files have been copied, I get a message that "Windows cannot update the boot partition and that my progress won't be saved" (not the exact message).


Booting via BIOS:

- After creating the partition in Bootcamp, I boot holding OPTION

- At the boot selection screen I pick "WINDOWS"

- When I get to the partition selection/formatting screen it won't let me proceed, when I expand the error message it tells me that partition can't be used because it has a GPT partition table.


So, I'm stuck =( Any ideas?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Oct 23, 2013 8:56 PM

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Oct 23, 2013 10:22 PM in response to Dannyboy3D

Correct, I'm using clean install ISOs. I have a 2012 rMBP (Mountain Lion) as well, and have no problem Bootcamping into Windows 8 on it.


I'm presently operating under the assumption that this has something to do with Apple moving 2013 MacBooks to UEFI 2.0.

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Oct 24, 2013 3:42 AM in response to jdhiro

@jdhiro: I think this time Apple did it on purpose...

By the way I currently develop some improved drivers for Boot Camp (like better trackpad driver, keyboard backlight control, and more). For instance, see http://discussions.apple.com/thread/2436935?start=780&tstart=0

I wonder if you could contact me via email support@powerplan7.com (my enquiry: providing just a few specific screenshots from Late-2013 rMBP... could really help...). Thank you.

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Windows 8.1 install fails on new 2013 Retina MacBook

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