Windows 8.1 on Mac Mini late 2012

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coffee-bean Author

Level 1

14 points

Windows 8.1 on Mac Mini late 2012

Hello,

I'm trying to put Windows 8.1 on my Mac Mini late 2012 (as my Windows laptop is dying) but I'm not getting anywhere.

What I've done so far:

Use BCA to use Win8.1 ISO and make the bootable USB, it reboots, "No available drivers"
Use BCA to make the bootable USB and then extract the contents of BC5 (from http://http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1720), then use BCA again to partition the disk and reboot... again, "No available drivers"

How do I get Windows 8.1 on my Mac?

Kind regards

Omar

Mac mini, OS X Yosemite (10.10.2), null

Posted on Feb 13, 2015 10:36 AM

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Answer 1

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Feb 13, 2015 10:43 AM in response to coffee-bean

Please use a USB2 flash drive, not a USB3 disk.

Use BCA o remove the partition, and then check all three boxes and plug in a USB2 8+ GB and select the ISO when prompted.

Please also see https://help.apple.com/bootcamp/mac/5.0/help/#/bcmp173b3bf2.

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Answer 2

coffee-bean Author

Level 1

14 points

Feb 13, 2015 10:44 AM in response to Loner T

It is a USB2.0 drive: Sandisk Cruzer Blade 8gb, and I'm sure I went through that guide but I'll try again.

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Answer 3

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Feb 13, 2015 10:46 AM in response to coffee-bean

You do not need to manually download BC drivers, if you check all three boxes in BCA.

Does the Windows Installer start?

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Answer 4

coffee-bean Author

Level 1

14 points

Feb 13, 2015 10:49 AM in response to Loner T

The Windows installer starts, but when selecting a drive to install to it tells me there are no drivers so doesn't load.
The other thing that happens is that I'm not able to install to the partition.

I'm trying it from scratch again now, so I'll post back.

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Answer 5

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Feb 13, 2015 11:08 AM in response to coffee-bean

You may also want to check if the MBR is created correctly after partitioning. Look at the output of the following two commands and ensure there is one-to-one mapping between GPT and MBR.

sudo gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0

sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

Are you trying an EFI boot?

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Answer 6

coffee-bean Author

Level 1

14 points

Feb 13, 2015 12:01 PM in response to Loner T

I followed the instructions as described and I get:

Load driver: A media driver your computer needs is missing.

The output (manually typed) from the terminal in recovery mode is: (gpt -vv -r show /dev/disk0)

gpt show: /dev/disk0: mediasize=1000204886016; sectorsize=512; blocks=1953525268

gpt show: /dev/disk0: Suspicious MBR at sector 0

gpt show: /dev/disk0: PRI GPT at sector 1

gpt show: /dev/disk0: PRI GPT at sector 1953525267

start: 0, size: 1, index (null), contents: MBR

start: 1, size: 1, index (null), contents: PRI GPT header

start: 2, size: 32, index (null), contents: Pri GPT table

start: 34, size: 6, index (null), contents (null)

start: 40, size: 409600, index: 1, contents: GPT part - C12A7328-F81F-11DS-BA4B-00A0C9EC93B

start: 409640, size: 1291689728, index: 2, GPT part - 48465300-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

start: 1292099368, size: 1269536, index: 3, GPT part - 426F6F74-0000-11AA-AA11-00306543ECAC

start: 1293368904, size: 440, index (null), contents (null)

start: 1293369344, size: 660154368, index: 4, contents: GPT part - EBD0A0A2-B9E5-4433-87C0-68B6B72699C7

start: 1953523712, size: 1423, index (null), contents (null)

start: 1953525135, size: 32, index (null), contents: SEC GPT table

start: 1953525167, size: 1, index (null), contents: SEC GPT header

from sudo fdisk /dev/disk0

I don't know what an EFI boot is.

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Answer 7

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Feb 13, 2015 12:17 PM in response to coffee-bean

The GPT and MBR are correct, and it is setup correctly for Windows installation.

Can you verify the integrity of the Windows ISO with MD5/SHA1 from the source? This may happen when the ISO is corrupted during download.

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Answer 8

coffee-bean Author

Level 1

14 points

Feb 13, 2015 12:42 PM in response to Loner T

I took a CRD image of the Windows 8.1 disk (previously used to install on another machine) so should be fine. I, for some reason, cannot log into my university's MSDNAA to check its MD5 from the download page at all so can't check this until tomorrow. I'll report back tomorrow.

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