Can't install Windows 8 x64 on late 2013 MBP with1TB SSD

Hi,

My MBPr late 2013 is the same spec as the OP. I have carried out the process that solved the OPs problem using a USB2 installer stick but unfortunately I still end up at:

"Windows could not update the computer's boot configuration. Installation cannot proceed."

The installation quits right there, and tells me "The installation was canceled" and "Any changes to your computer won't be saved." Then it reboots.

Additionally in the start up manager I have a Windows entry even with the install USB stick disconnected and the untitled partition created by the installer removed. Needless to say selecting this entry in start up manager simply causes the MBP to freeze.

Please has anyone got any other ideas?

Richard

Just to clarify - are you saying that only a USB3 stick will work?

Thanks

I have the same problem of no responding keyboard / mouse / trackpad.

I tried on windows 7 and windows 8 with USB 3 stick for installation

There is one thing that i actually tried and it worked for getting some resposes from mouse and keyboard ! After installation use a parallel desktop trial to get the windows 8 up and runnig on parallel then upgrade it to 8.1 on the parallel mode . Now i've got windows 8.1 one perfectly working on mine without noticing an issue so far 😉 Hope this helps

You can find the instructions how to get the bootcamp runnig using parallel with some googling !

Check the answers in this post regarding mouse and keyboard: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5544126?answerId=23731001022#23731001022

However, this only happens if you boot more than one time after using bootcamp assistant. If you simply follow the instructions of bootcamp assistant starting from a clean state, you won't run into keyboard and mouse issues.

And use a USB 2.0 stick to install. Make sure you unplug the stick and plug it in another port if you are getting an error about windows setup cannot find the drivers.

I've had the same problem, but it was resolved by doing an SMC/PRAM-Reset right before starting the installation process. I've had to install Windows 8 twice and each time the same error happened, and each time the SMC/PRAM-Resets were the solution.

Still, on my Late 2013 model, the Bootcamp drivers didn't work properly. The message appeared that the Bootcamp x64 drivers were not compatible with my machine. After executing the Bootcamp installer by doing "msiexec /i bootcamp.msi" in Admin mode, the Bootcamp drivers did install, but still, the the network drivers are not working yet.

I have now sucessfully installed Windows 8 on my MBPr late 2013 !TB SSD. I had tried all the solutions in this post (and others) without sucess. Yesterday I decided to try another USB stick (this time a USB3) so used boot camp assistant to prepare it and used the same ISO. This time the installation completed without error.

Once in Windows 8 I ran the driver installer (setup.exe in the bootcamp folder on the Wininstall USB stick) which got all my devices working and made the graphics etc a readable size. I then via the Windows Store upgraded to Windows 8.1 without incident.

So why did this work? I don't think it was necessarily because I used a USB3 stick. I think that what actually happened is that bootcamp assistant updated something when i ran it (it asked for my account password) and that the update sorted it out.

Hope this helps someone.

Installation does seem like black magic. But I was finally able to install Win7 on my new 2013 MBP 1TB (with the help of a very determined Apple tech). I had Win7 on a CD - that did not work. I downloaded the Win7 ISO and went through each Bootcamp step, saving the first two to the same USB2 stick (did not work when I used 2 sticks). When Bootcamp got to formatting the drive, it would seem to stop and freeze (not sure now that it was not just working), the Bootcamp label would disappear from the partition label, and windows would asked for drivers. I went in to the Bootcamp USB files, and loaded the Intel PCI drivers one at a time. By the time I was done, Windows was loading on the machine. I am not clear whether it was loading the drivers or spending the 15 minutes loading the drivers (and allowing formatting to take place) that solved the issue. But it now works. My suggestion to others is to allow 15 minutes at the format step before you punt.

I was reading up instructions to install windows 8.1pro via bootcamp on my new late 2013 15" MBP with 2.6GHz 1Tb. Not sure whether it was luck cos I had no probs. I followed the below You Tube vid, so hopefully it will help you guys and others. I then installed Parallel using the bootcamp partition and also no probs.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lEh89cY2o64

My windows 8.1pro and Parallel both are genuine versions I purchased in a shop.

Ok. So I bought my 15" MacBook Pro 2.3 GHz with 16GB RAM and 512 flash drive on Tuesday.

I've had no luck trying to install Windows 8.1 Pro on this thing.

I tried your method skipsizemore and it didn't work for me.

Now I have two partitions that I can't get rid of either, without restoring my computer to factory.

Any ideas?

Having gone through the same drill during the exercise I described above, If you have (or make) a time machine backup of the OSX side of the machine, then restore to factory to get one volume back, then restore (from recovery) the time machine, I believe you will get back to whatever you have set up on OSX. I had assistance doing this from Apple, but I recall this took about 30 minutes. I was then able to execute the sequence I noted above to get Windows 7 installed. I expect Win 8 would work similarly.

I bought a MacBook Pro (late 2013) with 16GB RAM, 15 inch Retina screen, nVidia graphics and 1GB SSD to replace an older MacBook Pro than ran Windows 7 for many years without an issues. Now I'm stuck with a great machine, hoping Apple will cure the installation issue.... When can we expect a fix for this?

It is very well possible to install Windows 7 or even 8 on a late 2013 model. I had spent days in order to make this work, but I finally managed.

1. Just as you need a special version of Mavericks to install on the Late 2013 model (download from the App Store will not yet work, maybe after the first update), you will need special Bootcamp drivers available ONLY through the Bootcamp Assistent (don't download the Bootcamp drivers from the support download site).

2. A USB installation stick can only be made with the help of the Disk Utility if the label name of the Windows image from your installation DVD is not too long. I don't know how often this applies, but with my Windows 7 Systembuilder's Edition and my Windows 8 Pro Upgrade, it was true. Renaming afterwards doesn't work, so I had to make a new image with a shorter name (by use of the Disk Utility) and copy all files over to the new image. Unfortunately, copying with the Finder was not successful, so I had to turn to the Terminal and use "cp -a". I would imagine that you could always install directly from the DVD instead of a USB stick to prevent all this trouble.

3. Shortly after the installation of Windows started, it failed with some error after the screen with all the green checkmarks (don't know how to describe this better). Strangely, there was only one way to resolve this: Resetting the SMC and PRAM right before starting the installation.

4. If the installation process finishes, but you get stuck in the screen, where you can choose your computer's name (keyboard and mouse doesn't react anymore), then you most likely installed from a defective USB stick. Format, make a new stick, and try again.

5. If the Bootcamp drivers don't install after the Windows setup, you have the wrong ones. See step 1 and start over.

6. If you have the right drivers, for some reason the graphics drivers still won't install automatically. If you start the driver setup from the Nvidia folder on your disc that hold the Bootcamp drivers, they will install just fine. The drivers you can download directly from Nvidia will NOT install.

Good luck!

@paganini great point on Mavericks that came with MBP! I've done a clean install from restore - any idea how to get specific Mavericks version for that MBP?