jdhiro

Q: 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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Q: Windows 8.1 install fails on new 2013 Retina MacBook

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  • by Psosmith82,

    Psosmith82 Psosmith82 Oct 25, 2013 2:52 AM in response to ImLovinIt
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 25, 2013 2:52 AM in response to ImLovinIt

    I tried this, and it did not work. Got the USB Drive ready through bootcamp, installed paragon, formatted to windows NT, booted back into windows efi, and tried to install and get the same error. Did i miss a step?

  • by Jingjing herre,

    Jingjing herre Jingjing herre Oct 25, 2013 3:22 AM in response to ImLovinIt
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 25, 2013 3:22 AM in response to ImLovinIt

    I did it !!!!!!

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

    Thank you~

  • by ImLovinIt,

    ImLovinIt ImLovinIt Oct 25, 2013 3:24 AM in response to jarvil
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Oct 25, 2013 3:24 AM in response to jarvil

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

  • by ImLovinIt,

    ImLovinIt ImLovinIt Oct 25, 2013 3:27 AM in response to Psosmith82
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Oct 25, 2013 3:27 AM in response to Psosmith82

    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.

  • by KristofW,

    KristofW KristofW Oct 25, 2013 6:08 AM in response to jdhiro
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 25, 2013 6:08 AM in response to jdhiro

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

  • by archivist08,

    archivist08 archivist08 Oct 25, 2013 9:47 AM in response to KristofW
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Oct 25, 2013 9:47 AM in response to KristofW

    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.

  • by KristofW,

    KristofW KristofW Oct 25, 2013 10:01 AM in response to KristofW
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 25, 2013 10:01 AM in response to KristofW

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

  • by jdhiro,

    jdhiro jdhiro Oct 25, 2013 11:09 AM in response to F-LR
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 25, 2013 11:09 AM in response to F-LR

    I had that problem when I booted win7 setup from DVD, but it was OK with USB.

  • by archivist08,

    archivist08 archivist08 Oct 25, 2013 2:22 PM in response to archivist08
    Level 1 (10 points)
    Oct 25, 2013 2:22 PM in response to archivist08

    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.

  • by J.A.R.V.I.S.,

    J.A.R.V.I.S. J.A.R.V.I.S. Oct 25, 2013 3:20 PM in response to jdhiro
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 25, 2013 3:20 PM in response to jdhiro

    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

  • by penrobe,

    penrobe penrobe Oct 25, 2013 4:28 PM in response to jdhiro
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Oct 25, 2013 4:28 PM in response to jdhiro

    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.

  • by Ashtrash,

    Ashtrash Ashtrash Oct 25, 2013 4:42 PM in response to WestCoast.
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 25, 2013 4:42 PM in response to WestCoast.

    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.

  • by penrobe,

    penrobe penrobe Oct 25, 2013 5:02 PM in response to Ashtrash
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Oct 25, 2013 5:02 PM in response to Ashtrash

    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?

  • by ksmith173,

    ksmith173 ksmith173 Oct 25, 2013 5:07 PM in response to J.A.R.V.I.S.
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 25, 2013 5:07 PM in response to J.A.R.V.I.S.

    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

  • by Brian Kendig,

    Brian Kendig Brian Kendig Oct 25, 2013 7:24 PM in response to jdhiro
    Level 2 (186 points)
    Windows Software
    Oct 25, 2013 7:24 PM in response to jdhiro

    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?

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