Q: Windows 8.1 install fails on new 2013 Retina MacBook

After much investigation, I was able to do an EFI install of Windows 8.1 on my 2013 15" rMBP w NVidia GPU, updated to the recent firmware upgrade.

The basic problem appears to be that the Windows installer is somehow not able to write a correct BCD setup to the EFI partition. I followed the guide below to fix the BCD after the original install claimed failure. After fixing the setup on the EFI partition, everything worked smoothly.

http://superuser.com/questions/460762/how-can-i-repair-the-windows-8-efi-bootloa der

Everything appears to work well with this setup, including all of Apple's supplied Boot Camp drivers. I did notice some audio glitches in a game that I tried, but that might have been something else I was messing with (a software renderer). I haven't had time try it again.

I'm looking forward to some further hacking to get the Iris Pro graphics working in Windows. There seems to be a suggestion somewhere that an older build of gfxCardStatus could somehow leave the system in a state where the GPU mux used only the Intel GPU. I didn't see the Intel GPU listed at all in the Windows device manager though, so I suspect that more may be needed for that.

Unfortunately I am having problems installing windows 8.1 pro on my macbook pro late 2013, with nvidia 750m. I also get the windows failed to update the boot configuration.

However I do know that you will not be able to use the iris pro in windows regardless of when apple fix the issue of the EFI. Apple will not let you use iris pro if you have the nvidia chip onboard, this issue came up a while ago some several years ago, you will be able to find other forums discussing this, it's something to do with efi not enabling the integrated grpahics in windows, so will fail to boot in windows. Apple forces us to use the discrete graphics in windows because they could not be bothered to provide drivers for graphics switiching in windows. You would be wasting your time trying to get Iris Pro to work in windows. I really do not want to do the windows 7 workaround to get windows 8.1, I prefer clean installs and I got 8.1 pro cheap as I got the student discount so do not want to purchase windows seven to get windows 8. It seems only apple can fix this issue with the EFI. I do not like the fact that EFI is locked down unlike a normal PC where we can access the BIOS, but that is Apple's culture lol.

Apple, please fix!

I stopped trying bootcamp and used vmware virtual machine inside MacOs to use windows 8.1 for my programming needs. Performance is pretty cool. No need to install seperate windows if you don't play 3d games inside VM. So my advice is, if you will use windows for programming purposes only, stop trying to install it via bootcamp, use parallels or vmware virtual machine solution. It starts fast like opening an office program and works smoothly.

By trial and error, I finally found out a way to install Windows 8.1 on my Macbook Pro 15" Retina Haswell without any problem or unsupported issues

it should work to most users if they have problem installing Windows 8.1 directly from bootcamp on the new Macbook Pro.

what you need :

Windows 7 ISO file;

Windows 8.1 DVD;

a USB Stick for saving bootcamp data and windows data;

So the step is to first install Windows 7 from bootcamp.

Once you have completed the installation, you do not need to activate the Windows 7 but you have to install the bootcamp program from the USB stick which you have prepared at the beginning of the installation.

Then insert your Windows 8.1 DVD into your disc drive, reboot your Macbook from Windows 7, press any key to boot from the disc and follow the instruction to install Windows 8.1, when you have completed the installation, load the bootcamp program from your USB stick to install it once again on 8.1.

Then you are almost done , one minor problem I realized immediately after the installation was that the screen brightness was very dim even though I had cranked it up to the maximum brightness, but I found out a solution on the web , seems like a new 'feature' on Windows 8 that you have to disable, http://www.howtogeek.com/107173/disable-windows-8s-adaptive-brightness-to-fix-da rk-screen-problems/

so far so good, HD video playing smoothly, screen resolution can reach up to 2880x1880, iTunes working properly, will try to install some games to test the Geforce 750 soon

SUCESS!!                      SUCESS!!                                  SUCESS!!

Finally I too had success with this method. For me too, it was a LONG road. but in the end worth it, ......Maybe....lol

I was able to get Windows loaded with out using Boot Camp, HOWEVER, I don't recommend it as I ended up, Re-doing the installation this way as jdhiro had posted. Some of you Hanentosh Users may understand this;  Basically, I went into Disck Utility, Partioned it, used Journaled. Added drivers from boot camp manually and added drivers from others partions I did in the past, but when it was all said and done; some drivers not working,  Most importanly the Energy Efficency not working.  (The fans would not lower, they stayed on full blast).

I know this method below is  is time consuming, but it works and I am now running 8.1

I will expand on the items below,

jdhiro 

I was finally able to get Windows 8.1 running, including all drivers being fine. It took me all night...

1.  Used the Bootcamp Assistant to create a Windows 7 USB thumb drive installer (DVD didn't work)- Yes, I found this too. ( I used an authentic copy with a serial number, but it never asked me for the serial when I loaded windows 7, if you don't have windows 7 you can probably get a trial or a download ISO file, then install it, and upgrded to Windows 8.0 imediately after.)

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 - yes No need to deal with Paragon NTFS and Tuxera NTFS via Disk Utilty, as posted by earlier users.  Just format partitions during installation (as directed by apple bootcamp instructions) labeled Bootcamp then select next. _ for me it was the last partition at the bottom; you may have to adjust the dividers to see the partition labeled bootcamp.

NOTE: During Windows 7 Install it will probably pause at 65% for a LONG time.  No worries just let it do it thing; its takes some time.  OK a LONG time. LoL

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

5.  Installed Windows 8 UPGRADE from DVD - nothing special just follow the prompts - I used a bootable thumdrive created from ISO of 8.0, by using this tool  http://images2.store.microsoft.com/prod/clustera/framework/w7udt/1.0/en-us/Windo ws7-USB-DVD-tool.exe    Worked just fine.

6.  Once Windows 8 install is done, I had to reinstall Bootcamp drivers from the (Windows 7) USB thumb drive.- Automatically happens, you have to do nothing just select the install, by hitting "next"

7.  Finally, I downloaded Windows 8.1 from the app store and followed all the prompts - You will probably have to download important updates first because the 8.1 update will not appear in the app store, until windows 8.0 is up to date.  if you have trouble with this this follow these steps at this link: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/why-can-t-find-update-store

Result -- Windows 8.1 is installed, nVidia 750 graphics work fine and everything else!

You may have to run boot camp driver install again. 

Man, what a headache.

In conclustions: WHAT a Freakin pain!! but this way seems to bypass all the guessing and strange issues that work for some and not for others.  The drivers are working and 8.1 installed.  with much of a head ache on my part and many others. This is my offering to you.

My Setup is

MBP 15"  2.6GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, 16GB SDRAM, 1TB SSD.

Good Luck!

Hi!

I got 8.1 installed on my MBP!!! Very easy, almost like the original Boot Camp how-to, no tricks and heavy lifting needed as described by several posters on this thread (at least for me!).

A few days ago I bought my first ever apple product, a MBP (Quad-core i7 2.3GHz, 16GB, 512GB, Iris Pro Graphics, GeForce GT 750M 2GB). I had heard that BootCamp should be simple to use and help me get Windows 8.1 running (since I am not really interested in OSX). My main usage of the machine is for programming and this one is bought only for it's hardware spec vs weight (very light, nice when travelling a lot).

Being a complete retard with OSX, I had picked up somewhere that the Boot Camp softeware should be easy to use and help me get Windows on the laptop. This is probably true for older versions of Windows. I started out with the Windows 8.1 ISO image, following the instructions given in the boot camp how-to, and I ended up in the same state as everyone else in here. When I saw that the windows installation could not write to the boot partion, and I could not get anywhere, I simply restarted the machine. It booted up into EFI (I did not know that yesterday) and the screen was completely white. I was horror-struck, as I did not see any information and I had no idea what to do (besides to google on my other laptop). It turns out there is an option key that must be pressed down when booting, so you can choose boot options, how intuitive? Why not simply state that on a pre-boot screen, like press 'del' to enter bios?

Anyway, I then found this thread and read through it, and I got a little worried that I would have to wait to get this working, my backup alternative became to install parallels and run Windows from there. Kudos to the guy who mentioned that workaround.

But before I completely gave up on Boot Camp, I decided to try with a Windows 7 image:

1. Updated everything in the OS (maybe there was a Boot Camp update, I don't remember)

2. Downloaded the Windows 7 ISO image (from MSDN).

3. Inserted the usb memory stick

4. Started Boot Camp

5. Followed the standard instructions given by the Boot Camp wizard, hooking off all three alternatives

6. Boot Camp downloaded and updated all windows drivers etc.

7. Boot Camp formatted and installed the usb memory stick.

8. Boot Camp created the Windows partion, I resized it to 80% of harddrive capacity.

9. Boot Camp booted into EFI/memory stick and the installation started.

10. I simply formatted the BootCamp partition (no deletion of BootCamp partition needed).

11. Windows 7 installed itself and wrote whatever needed to the boot partition.

-- Wow, at least Windows 7 in there.

12. On the USB stick, all the Apple drivers for windows are located, under the folder BootCamp. I ran the setup.exe and suddenly all the drivers on the machine started to work and I got wifi connection.

13. Downloaded Windows 8.1 ISO image from MSDN.

14. Downloaded and installed Virtual Clone Drive (VCD).

15. Used VCD to load and run Windows 8.1 image

16. Windows 8.1 installtion software updated the Windows 7 OS successfully to 8.1.

17. Running the setup of the Boot Camp drivers again to get better screen resolution, wifi, all the drivers installed.

That was it! A little effort going through the Windows 7 route. I guess that you could probably get this to work even with a Windows 7 pre/beta -release as well and then upgrade to 8.1 (then you don't need to purchase Win7 just to get this to work).

Hope this helps anyone out there,

Steinar.

Hi all.

So I'm also having problems with Win 8.1 installation.

I'm trying to do an EFI install.

From what I can see, the problem is that the Win 8.1 installer corrupts some files on the EFI partition.

When you get the error about Windows Setup being unable to update boot options (or similar), you can follow the instructions that glavriel linked to above:

http://superuser.com/questions/460762/how-can-i-repair-the-windows-8-efi-bootloa der

However, these instructions (which involve going into the Windows Repair Command Prompt and using the BCDBoot utility) didn't work - BCDBoot gave an error when trying to update the BCD database. And when I looked around the \EFI\Microsoft\Boot folder, I saw some corrupted folders (mainly the Resources folder, which is what is one of the folders updated by BCDBoot).

So I ran chkdisk to fix the folders, and that helped somewhat, but BCDBoot still couldn’t add boot options for Win 8.1 to BCD.

So then I tried installing Windows Server 2012 R2 using the same method.

I got the same error at the end of install, but when I went to repair mode, this time I was able to run BCDBoot correctly (after using chkdsk /f to repair the EFI partition).

However Win Server 2012 R2 doesn't finish booting as it has issues with the hardware it's running on - I suspect there's a driver glitch there somewhere.

But now I have a working BCD database, I'm going to backup the EFI Boot folder, reinstall Win 8.1 and see if that works.

^ I typed BCDBoot, but meant BCDEdit!

It looks like the only feesable way to get Windows 8.1 on The late 2013 MacBook Pro Haswell/Crystalwell is to first load Windows 7 through Boot Camp and then upgrade to Windows 8.1

The other methods don't seem to be consistent, With all users

Apple really needs to fix this, but until then I guess it's what we have.

You may be right.

I now have Window 8.1 and Windows Server 2012R2 running, after about a day of playing around!

No one else's instructions were working for me so had to do some digging on my own.

It took me a while to get the BCD in the EFI partition fixed.

And then both Win 8.1 and Win Server 2012R2 wouldn't complete setup.

So I found a link to someone with a similar error (although on a UEFI PC) and followed their instructions to run msoobe and to sysprep the box, rebooted and hey presto, it all works.

The instructions to run msoobe were:

At "windows setup cannot configure windows for this hardware"

Shift F10

Type -

1. Cd..
2. Cd..

Cd c:\windows\system32\oobe

Msoobe

This should force it to finalize and create computer name, password, time, etc.

This then got me to the point where I was asked to create an admin user account.

But then I got this error:

"Windows could not complete the installation. To install Windows on this computer, restart the installation"

(again, as Windows installer couldn't write to the EFI partition).

I fixed this by running sysprep: sysprep /generalize /oobe /shutdown.

And this worked on both OSs.

So now I have a late-2013 Haswell rMBP with 4 OSs: OSX (10.9), Win 8.1, and two sets of Win Server 2012R2.

Finally happy... :-)

PS: EFI Shell indicates that the EFI implementation on these rMBPs is v1.10. Was hoping it woudl be v2.0, as I suspect that's where all these issues are arising from.

Thanks for the info!

Installation succeeded...however I'm facing a new problem now: Windows updates doesn't work (stuck forever in "checking for updates"). Does it work on your windows installations?

Hi, glad that worked for you.

Yes, I noticed that Windows Update wasn't working too, but thought it was just a temp network problem.

If it's not working for you then there's something else going on.

I'll have a go resetting windows update and see what happens...

Windows update's are working just fine for me.

Hey Danny Boy, you installed Windows 8 via Bootcamp and Windows 7 didn't you?

Which means you're booting via Bios-emulation?

I need to have more than 2 OSs on my machine, which Bootcamp doesn't support (plus I want to use EFI as it's a much faster experience than Bios-emulation).

But yeah, if all this fails, I'll go back to the Bootcamp method and just run the additional OS via HV.

There's so much inconsistency here (even with people installing via BootCamp) that there does seem to be a genuine problem, just maybe not with all machines.

Given that my rMBP also has a jumpy trackpad, I may need to get it looked at (occasionally when I click on a link, the cursor jumps down about an inch then does the click - happens in both OSX and Windows).