Q: Windows 8.1 install fails on new 2013 Retina MacBook

at the end it works with this solution after the third try.

The Problem is with the bios version you can't install parallels which use your bootcamp partition. That's realy bad for me. But better than no windows.

I hope Apple will bring soon an fix for this problem.

Colin Cornaby wrote:

 

I've tried all the solutions in this thread except for the one that required me to wipe my entire drive. So far none have worked. Not going in and mucking with Disk Utility. Not deleting the partition from the Windows 8 installer and recreated. The accepted answer did not work for me, nor did the answers above that didn't require wiping.

Right now, if you don't want to wipe your Mac, this is the only way. I have raised a case with Apple engineering and I suspect fixes to Boot Camp wont arrive until OSX 10.9.1. It is an issue with the late 2013 Haswell chipset 15" and possibly 13" Retina Mac Book Pro, that the EFI install mode used by Boot Camp Assistant does NOT work under Mavericks. The solution below uses the BIOS mode and only supports the nVidia graphics card which essentially means you have to be connected to power if you want to use Windows 8.1 for more than three hours. Apple need to properly support 8.1 and presently Boot Camp only supports 7/8 installs.

https://discussions.apple.com/message/23546268#23546268

You don't missed anything. I erased and removed all partitions and recovered macos from internet and used latest evaluation version of the enterprise 8.1  from technet and still not working.

Solution that worked for me:

I cloned my previous Bootcamp partition (Windows 8.1) with WinClone, from my previous MacBook.

I only had to dowload and install the latest bootcamp drivers to support the new hardware configuration.

Additionnal solution for lousy 3D performance from Nvidia geForce 750M GPU:

I had a problem with the bootcamp geForce 750M giving me zero 3D optimization, until I went to the Nvidia Control Panel and manually selected "Optimized for performance". Once done everything was fine.

For the moment the latest official Nvidia drivers won't recognize the retina MacBook Pro 750M graphic card.

WinClone is a great product.  I almost tried a old 13" MBP 2010 image (Win8), but was lucky enough get through a clean install via BootCamp, an 8.1 image, the ei.cfg file, and Apple's drivers, all on an 8 GB USB stick. 

I do hope they fix the DVD routine, though.  I was unable to get my keyboard working after a DVD install and could not proceed to install Apple's drivers.  The thumb stick routine seems to slipstream essential drivers ahead of the usual Boot Camp setup.exe.

I may try the old MBP image just to see how it goes, but not before creating a WinClone image of my working Win8.1 partition.

Anyeone has an issue when booting off of a Win 7 thumb drive, it boots, but once the setup screen for windows appears, the machine freezes. Plugging in a usb mouse doesn't do anything (the mouse doesn't work). Can't tell if its frozen or if the keyboard and mouse don't work.

I INSTALL WINDOWS 8 PRO BUT THE WINDOWS RECOGNIZE AT BOOT CAMP 5 ORIGINAL $ 220.00 PRODUCT KEYS BUT WHEN I OPEN WINDOWS AND TYPE ORIGINAL PRODUCT KEY DOESN'T.

MAYBE THEY ARE DOING SOME MONKEY BUSINESS TO AVOID TO PAY TAXES

Its same problem, as on MBA 2013 and dont have solution :-(

The BIOS version works just fine with parallels.

rasel_tr: There is currently NO solution with iris graphics support. EFI boot does NOT currently support iris graphics.

jarvil: again, there is NO solution with iris graphics support on the model with the Nvidia card. EFI boot does NOT currently support iris graphics.

I just downloaded Parallel 9 trial version.  It works well with BootCamp.  At this moment, I think I will stick with what I have installed unless Apple can give a bootcamp update in the next week or so.  I am not concerned with battery problem as I use my macbook pro as a desktop replacement.

I have also had terrible trouble trying to get Windows 8/8.1 on bootcamp. REALLY DISSAPOINTING!! I kept running into errors mentioned by others during the installation process, tried the trick of NTFS formatting the partition ceated by bootcamp and re-installing etc. etc.. and have wasted a whole weekend on trying to get it working!! I removed the partition and then encountered a problem on bootup where a windows disk was still appearing even though the partiton and windows had been removed...very weird. I created a bootable mavericks USB on my old macbook to allow me to reformat the disk on my new mackbook but was getting the circle with a cross on it when trying to boot into it on the new mackbook, command R didnt solve the problem either...I read somewhere that on the new 15'' macbook pro haswells that you have to create a recovery USB on the computer you are trying to recover (kinda defeats the purpose if you ask me). So I created an OS X recovery USB on my new macbook and reformatted the whole drive and it seems to have solved the problem. I'm not even going to attempt to put bootcamp/windows 8.1 on there till apple come up with a fix for this..althogh the winclone option does sound good, I have used it in the past and it is a fantastic product.

Bit dissapointed in apple, this is the first time I have ever had a problem installing windows, it's my third macbook pro since 2007. I hope they come up with a fix soon or this might be my last macbook pro!

Yes. I'm waiting for a solution that includes iris for graphics. I need windows for programming purposes only. So will use text mostly and does not need high gpu power. Battery is more important for me. Otherwise, I successfully installed 8.1 using bios method.