Windows 8.1 install fails on new 2013 Retina MacBook

I did it !!!!!!

I followed your intro ! but I install windows 8.1 Pro through CD-Rom~ it works ~

Thank you~

That's weird. try tuxera ntfs instead. Someone made it without any ntfs plugins. It's all about luck. lol

That's all i got here. Sorry, can't help further.

See if you can find any other ntfs plugins for mac and give it a shot.

Or simply wait for Apple to fix it.

Followed the steps but still no luck on my brand new 13" Retina MacBook Pro, 512GB SSD.

No luck with both ntfs options (but happy it at least works for some!). Had bluetooth off and nothing except win usb plugged in just in case.

Trying windows 7 -> 8 upgrade (both usb) option. Windows 7 installed successfully. Will report on 8 later.

Tried one more time and it works, installed Windows 8.1, too bad Boot Camp doesn't support 8.1 yet.

Yay, so, doing usb 7 -> usb 8 path does work! I've had windows 8 show me black screen few times right after install (not sure if taking out usb is what fixed it), but that went away by itself! Don't forget to do disk cleanup to remove win 7 installation.

Finally I have Win 8.1 Pro running well on my brand new Mac Book Retina 🙂 with these steps:

1. Used the Bootcamp Assistant to create a Windows 7 USB thumb drive installer

2. Bootcamp Assistant rebooted the machine, and I let it boot to it's default destination (I assume it was EFI)

3. Installed Windows 7, including formatting the BOOTCAMP partition as NTFS during Windows setup

4. Bootcamp drivers automatically installed after Windows 7 setup was complete

5. On a second USB pen I have copied the content of Win 8.1 x64 ISO

6. Installed Windows 8.1 UPGRADE from USB - nothing special just follow the prompts

7. Once Windows 8.1 install is done, I had to reinstall Bootcamp drivers from the (Windows 7) USB thumb drive.

Thanks to jdhiro!

I've installed Vmware Fusion 6 trial and I have also started bootcamp partion in a virtual machine. What a wonderful configuration 😉

YEAHHHHH

Same problem. Same error. Trying to install windows 8 but get an error saying 'cannot update boot configuration.' Tried using paragon to format the partition and then installing windows but that didn't work. I don't have a windows 7 liscense and do not want to buy one. I bought windows 8 just to put on this new Haswell retina macbook pro, but now I can't for some reason. Can't say I'm very happy at the moment.

Thank you everyone for this wonderful and very helpful thread.

I'm happy to report that I have successfully installed Windows 8.1 Pro following these steps:

1. Installed Tuxera Trial
2. Started BootCamp to format and prepare USB drive with Windows 8.1 iso
3. Created Windows partition following the steps in BootCamp
4. BootCamp automatically booted into Windows installation that I canceled and returned back to OSX
5. Formated (Erased) the new BOOTCAMP partition with Disk Utility using Tuxera NTFS
6. Rebooted and pressed option key to select EFI as boot option
7. Windows installation started again
8. Formated the BOOTCAMP partition again this time using the Windows installation guide
9. Installation successful

All drivers worked for me including Nvidia 750M once the automatic BootCamp driver installation was completed at first start.

I just tried it. No go. This seems to work for some people but not others. I am trying to install windows 8 standard on a haswell macbook pro 15 with 750m. In what ways does your config differ?

I installed Windows 7 Pro via USB, and then upgraded to Windows 8 Pro via USB as mentioned below. Ran disk cleanup to reclaim space from win 7. Seems to work fine, Reboots seem to take a little while in windows... not sure what the deal with that is. Anyway, +1 for this option working.

J.A.R.V.I.S. wrote:

Finally I have Win 8.1 Pro running well on my brand new Mac Book Retina 🙂 with these steps:

1. Used the Bootcamp Assistant to create a Windows 7 USB thumb drive installer

2. Bootcamp Assistant rebooted the machine, and I let it boot to it's default destination (I assume it was EFI)

3. Installed Windows 7, including formatting the BOOTCAMP partition as NTFS during Windows setup

4. Bootcamp drivers automatically installed after Windows 7 setup was complete

5. On a second USB pen I have copied the content of Win 8.1 x64 ISO

6. Installed Windows 8.1 UPGRADE from USB - nothing special just follow the prompts

7. Once Windows 8.1 install is done, I had to reinstall Bootcamp drivers from the (Windows 7) USB thumb drive.

Thanks to jdhiro!

I've installed Vmware Fusion 6 trial and I have also started bootcamp partion in a virtual machine. What a wonderful configuration 😉

YEAHHHHH

These workarounds sound scary complicated, especially for a brand-new Mac. Are we agreed that the root problem is a bug on Apple's side and that a fix from Apple is likely soon?

Ok I have win 8.1 installed and running fine. I just bought a 15" base MBPR haswell. Here is what I did

1. setup and update mavericks and reboot

2. open boot camp assistant and only check the lower 2 options

3. insert a usb flash drive (for boot camp driver install

4. plug in a usg dvd drive with a retail copy of windows 8 or 8 professional

5 select how big you want your partition. I recommend at least 80gb but just a suggestion based on needs.

6 when its done creating the windows boot camp usb eject the usb drive before you allow it to restart to install windows.

7. when it is at the install screen you will see a message saying that partition 0s4 is unable to install windows. highlight that windows partition and click delete then highlight it and select format.

8 click next to proceed with install

9 when in win 8 run the boot camp installer and all windows 8 updates. restart

10 go to the windows store and select the windows 8.1 update and click install

11 after a restart you are at 8.1 Done. Enjoy.

Thats my experience and I did it in just a few hours tonight.