Windows 8.1 install fails on new 2013 Retina MacBook

I'd be curious to know if *not* installing the EFI 1.2 update for the 15" rMBP makes any difference.

I couldn't get Win 8.1 Pro (full install DVD, en-gb edition) to install at all on my original Haswell 15" rMBP.

And when I first got the rMBP the first thing I did was install all the updates, including the EFI 1.2 update.

But when I returned that rMBP (due to a faulty trackpad) and got a new one, I *didn't* install the EFI 1.2 update (or indeed any update), and the exact same installation method worked for me.

In fact, I'm a bit reluctant to install the EFI 1.2 update in case it breaks something!!

I always use the left-hand USB port for the USB stick that BootCamp creates, as I have a USB-to-Ethernet dongle in the right-hand one.

So the people that are having the EFI install issues - have any of you *not* updated the EFI firmware via the EFI 1.2 update? It gets installed automatically if you install all updates from the AppStore in Mavericks.

And if you're not sure, easiest way to tell is run System Profiler in OSX (Apple menu, About this Mac, More Info, System Report) and then on the summary page, choose Hardware, and on the right look at the "Boot ROM version" value.

If it's less than MBP112.0138.B02, then you're not running the EFI 1.2 update.

I do wonder if the EFI 1.3 update (currently only for 13" rMPB) will make it to the 15"...

I have a Windows 8 system builder DVD that I created an iso of and then ran bootcamp assistant with all the options checked and it copied everything to my USB flash drive, rebooted the machine and went into the windows 8 installer. As far as version of Windows 8 I tried to find this before based on information online but I'm not very sure it's accurate. If you can provide how to find the version information definitively I can check. I did the windows 8.1 upgrade through the windows store.

15" Macbook Pro late 2013 11,3.

I installed the EFI update before installing windows 8 so that's not the issue. Someone else raised the possibility that the EFI update is the issue but I think someone else had similar success installing windows after the EFI update. There is too much variability even among people with the exact same hardware leading me to believe it's related to what kind of windows install you are using. I wish I had someone with the same machine as me that is having trouble that lived close to me so I could have them try my windows 8 DVD to see what happened.

@s3logic

I'm running Windows Professional 8.0 64-bit. I bought an OEM copy and then created an ISO on another system with dd, then copied the ISO over my network for the install. At first Bootcamp didn't like the ISO, but after I'd done my initial OS X update, Bootcamp was happy.

I did do the Windows 8.1 update through the Windows Store.

Remember too, that I needed to use the workaround described by mcarriere and iammakingprawnUK to get Windows 8.0 to install (without the workarounds, the Windows 8.0 installed complained disk 0 / partition 4 wasn't a bootable partition.

I also find it interesting too that the error code I'm getting on the failed 8.1 upgrade (i.e., 0x8007001F), maps to the same error response I get when I run BCDEDIT /enum I get an error string that maps to the same error code.

Hello guys,

it seems that there was similar problem with Windows 7 installation here on phorum. It was actually solved by disconnecting all other USB devices with exception of windows installation drive (even for example bootcamp windows drivers...). Try to install it with all the USB devices removed (mouse, keyboard, card-reader... really everything...). Hope it will help...

Nice work jpkh,

I now have Windows 8.0 installed on my late MacBookPro 2013,

However my keyboard and mouse track dont work

This is how I did it

both my USB Sticks are USB 3.0

Step 1. plugged in Windows USB into left slot, then Boot Camp into right slot

Step 2. Go to boot camp, un tick the first 2 options as I already have the Boot Camp Drivers and Windows Install

Step 3. When my computer rebooted into Windows installation and I saw the Windows Logo, I immediately removed the right stick that has the boot camp drivers,

Step 4. Installation gave me a warning that it cannot install on current partiotion, I formatted then selected it

Step 5. Windows installed perfectly form the right stick

Step 6. Configured Windows Machine name, profile etc, got into Desktop

Step 7. plugged in BootCamp USB as I could not right click on my track pad, installed nVidia Drivers, Mouse, Etherenet, USB 3.0, chipset, etc...

Step 8. When it completed my trackpad and keyboard did not funciton, I forced a reboot,

and now I am stuck on Windows Start Up Screen with the clouds background, it shows the clock, wifi connection and yah,

So luckily with the alt option key, I was able to get back into MAC OS,

Please help if you came across this

should have read jpkh's instructionsd carefully,

copy the Boot Camp drivers to C:\Temp\

I used onboard keyboard to create diretory,

reboot PC make sure no USB plugged in,

right click on the Boot Camp installation, Run as Admin, and voola

@wbiggy, Just to be clear to try and get to the bottom of why some people have trouble, what exact MBP do you have and was the issue ultimately that you had multiple USB devices plugged in? Also, why didn't you have the Windows installer and bootcamp drivers all on the same USB flash drive? I'm confused as to why you were using two USB drives.

@eternalhack

I had the Windows Installer and Boot Camp Drivers Support on Separate USB,

as thats how I prepared them using Boot Camp Assistance

The issue is that I could not install Windows 8 using BootCamp,

You could say I followed all the below instructions, but I would get an error when Windows Installation wa finished,

http://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/1000/MA1636/en_US/boot_camp_install-setup_ 10.8.pdf

when it rebooted to start for the first time and would give me some BOOT error not found

The solution to all of this, is to plug your USB to the Left,

So I still used Boot Camp, but I strickly used the left USB port, instead of the right,

and when installing Drivers, I copied them into C:\ Drive,

as when I installed straight form USB, my keyboard and mouse did not work

I am using the below laptop,

15-inch: 2.3GHz
with Retina display

Specifications

• 2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
• Turbo Boost up to 3.5GHz
• 16GB 1600MHz memory
• 512GB PCIe-based flash storage ¹
• Intel Iris Pro Graphics
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M
  with 2GB GDDR5 memory
• Built-in battery (8 hours)²

http://store.apple.com/us/buy-mac/macbook-pro

Should be the very last one on the list for $2 599 USD

@wbiggy . I have the exact same MBP but used bootcamp assistant to put everything on the same USB flash drive and everything worked automatically. The bootcamp driver installer ran automatically after it booted into Windows.

@eternalhack my USB was not big enough before I got the my new ones,

But I do bet that you can do everything on 1 USB,

must just use the Left Slot

Just a little twist. I was going to use the “mcarriere” method outlined earlier in the thread which entails installing the BIOS version of Windows, and then remove the MBR and repair EFI. Ugh…

But I decided to try one more time to get a straight EFI install and instead of creating an ExFat partition I decided to leave it with NO partition and let Windows create the partition from the empty space. This allowed a successful straight EFI install.

So I followed the steps he outlined since I had already created the USB drive from the ISO:

1. Open Boot Camp Assistant. Plug in your USB Drive containing your Windows 8 Installer (on the left), and check only the third option on the Assistant. Partition your drive for Windows to your liking.
2. Your computer will restart. *hold down Option, and boot back into your Mac*.
3. Open up Disk Utility.
4. Click on the Top Level HardDrive in the list.
5. Click on the partition button.
6. Click on the rectangle that says “Bootcamp”.
7. Delete it with the “minus” button. (Originally, I couldn’t find this minus button because I was selecting the partition in the left list. Don’t do that.)
8. *BUT DON’T DO THIS - INSTEAD, LEAVE THE SPACE OPEN/UNPARTITIONED*: Create a new partition by clicking the plus button. Select the ExFAT option. Name it “BOOTCAMP” again to make our lives easy.
9. Click Apply
10. Restart your computer. Hold down Option. Boot into the *Orange EFI option*. NOTE: if you select the USB “Windows” Icon it will install but you will be installing *the BIOS version of Windows* not EFI.
11. Screen text should be super small (means you are in the UEFI mode)
12. When you reach the disk step in the install the error about using MBR with EFI will be gone and you can select the empty space for windows to install into.
13. BOOM! Installation proceeds successfully and Windows installs in EFI mode.
14. Install the Bootcamp drivers
15. Reboot
16. Get online
17. Install Windows updates
18. Done!

Notes:

13" rMBP 8gb, 256mb

USB prepared with Bootcamp Assistant with Windows 8.1 Pro from MSDN

Plugged into the left side of the laptop

Hi, two questions:

1) Is there a way to know if I did an EFI or a BIOS installation...?

2) Why some application's interface (like Chrome's one) looks very blurry?

I've just installed 8.1 via Bootcamp classic method without any problem, but I can confirm that Windows don't recognize IRIS pro graphic (only NVIDIA card) :-(

I spent a long time on this thread trying to fix my issue as a plethora of different problems are now covered here.

I have now installed Windows 8.0 Pro on a 15" Retina Macbook using a FAT32 USB stick, with the contents of the Windows 8.0 Installation ISO and BootCamp Drivers copied onto it, simply via Windows Explorer on a PC, booting to EFI.

My original boot / partitioning issues were solved by using FAT32 with my USB stick and copying the installation ISO files and folders across.

When my Mac finished copying files from USB and rebooted from my BootCamp NTFS Windows partition, I was asked to name the computer but couldn't operate the keyboard, trackpad or an external USB mouse. I was on the verge of giving up when I held the option key during boot (rather than let it boot straight to Windows setup as it had been), played around with my mouse and keyboard, logged into my wifi network and only then launched Windows setup from that partition again. This caused it to encounter an unknown error, reboot and launch the next part of the installation asking me to name the computer, but with full mouse/keyboard/trackpad functionality this time.

The hours have paid off, I hope this may help someone else out!

Follow "option 2" here: http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/29504-bios-mode-see-if-windows-boot-uefi-le gacy-mode.html . Also, when people are posting please be specific as to which model of MBP you have. Go to system information and list the model identifier shown there. For example, mine is 11,3 which is a late 2013 15" rMBP with NVIDIA GPU.