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Proper Way to install Windows 8.1 via Bootcamp...It works!

ducatiti

ducatiti

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 18, 2011
932
153
Got it to work on my Late 2013 15" rMBP 2.3 16 512 w/ 750m....LG Screen! :)

Just wanted to share step-by-step instructions of how to install Windows 8.1 using Bootcamp on Mavericks. After failing once and finding the solutions below, it actually worked. Just follow each step below and you will be able to install Windows 8.1 with no problems at all. Hope this helps....

-Create USB stick using Apple Bootcamp Assistant. This procedure only works with it.

-When it Bootamp assitant reboots your machine you need to interrupt the installation.

-When you hear the startup sound, hold option until it presents you with login options.

-Select your Macintosh HD to boot back into OSX.

-Run Disk Utility, select the Macintosh then choose the partitions tab.

-The BOOTCAMP partition should be at the bottom. Select this partition by clicking on it. Ensure it is the highlighted partition then press minus to remove it.

-Click apply on the bottom right to make the changes.

-Now press plus to add a new partition which will likely be names Macintosh HD2

-Select this new partition then you can define the settings on the right.

-Rename this to BOOTCAMP.

-Change the type to ExFAT.

-Now click apply on the again to make the changes.

-Reboot you Mac, press option again during the boot and this time select the Windows device with the USB logo on it. Its orange.

-Now it will start the install process. When it gets to the list of partition you should see four of them. You want the last one. It will say it cannot install on this.

-Make sure the fourth partition is selected then click format. When it is done the error message should be gone and you should be able to continue.

-During install it will suggest turning on auto updates. I recommend you turn this off until the bootcamp drivers are installed. When it is finished prepping the install it will reboot.

-Each time it reboots you will need to intervene by pressing option but from now on select the Windows device with the picture of the hard drive. It is a silver color

-It will reboot two or three times during the install. Each time you will need press option during boot to reselect the Windows device on the hard drive.

-At the end of the installation it will prompt you to install the Apple Bootcamp Drivers.
 
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F

Freyqq

macrumors 601
Dec 13, 2004
4,038
181
I followed a much different method that also worked (retina mbp).

1. obtain a usb DVD drive and a usb flash drive
2. insert both into the usb ports and put the windows 8 dvd into the drive
3. start bootcamp assistant
4. download drivers to usb flash drive
5. install windows 8 (drivers will be installed from the flash drive automatically)
6. done
 
R

radiohead14

macrumors 6502a
Nov 6, 2008
873
42
nyc
i just went with the usual bootcamp process, and it didn't give me any issues installing windows 8.1. it's weird that so many people are having troubles with it. i wonder what is different
 
O

ooans

macrumors 6502
Jun 4, 2011
284
338
I tried to install it at least 7 times using different methods and they all failed, until finally in the end just using Bootcamp assistant without any extra tricks did the job.
 
ducatiti

ducatiti

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
May 18, 2011
932
153
radiohead14 said:
i just went with the usual bootcamp process, and it didn't give me any issues installing windows 8.1. it's weird that so many people are having troubles with it. i wonder what is different
Click to expand...

Good question. Could it be different sources of the ISO's?
 
T-Bob

T-Bob

macrumors 6502a
Oct 23, 2013
673
363
I also had a trouble free installation using EFI. Was surprised as most people have problems. Used USB and an 8.1 iso
 
B

Beta Particle

macrumors 6502a
Jun 25, 2012
527
5
T-Bob said:
I also had a trouble free installation using EFI. Was surprised as most people have problems. Used USB and an 8.1 iso
Click to expand...
Sounds like the 2013 models are now UEFI compliant rather than using EFI if you can boot straight to the Windows 8.1 installer.
 
A

Alexjones

macrumors 6502
May 28, 2010
421
0
radiohead14 said:
i just went with the usual bootcamp process, and it didn't give me any issues installing windows 8.1. it's weird that so many people are having troubles with it. i wonder what is different
Click to expand...

Thats because a lot of people including myself thought that using the $79.00 external DVD drive alone could be used to install windows via a fully licensed windows disk. This is not the case. One must make an iso from your windows disk using disk utility. Then Windows can be installed. The bottom line is DVD drives are slowly becoming extinct
 
2Turbo

2Turbo

macrumors 6502
Feb 18, 2011
360
0
ducatiti said:
Got it to work on my Late 2013 15" rMBP 2.3 16 512 w/ 750m....LG Screen! :)

Just wanted to share step-by-step instructions of how to install Windows 8.1 using Bootcamp on Mavericks. After failing once and finding the solutions below, it actually worked. Just follow each step below and you will be able to install Windows 8.1 with no problems at all. Hope this helps....
Click to expand...

Is this EFI method? Will it work with late 2013 iMac? Thanks! :D
 
dusk007

dusk007

macrumors 68040
Dec 5, 2009
3,411
104
-Reboot you Mac, press option again during the boot and this time select the Windows device with the USB logo on it. Its orange.
Click to expand...
That should mean it is BIOS mode.
Bootcamp boots into EFI if Win8 is being installed or you select the "EFI Boot" Option to right of the one the OP wants you to select.
 
Z

zI INFINITY Iz

macrumors regular
Sep 25, 2013
174
5
dusk007 said:
That should mean it is BIOS mode.
Bootcamp boots into EFI if Win8 is being installed or you select the "EFI Boot" Option to right of the one the OP wants you to select.
Click to expand...

Well I just wanted to say that I managed to install Windows 8.1 via bootcamp yesterday, mostly because I followed these steps.

I was afraid that this was this bios mode "method" I read about. I've owned my first Mac for 4 days now so excuse me for being a noob: What can I do now? Should I uninstall everything and if so, how do you do that?

I read that installing Windows (bios mode method) would mean slow bootup times for Windows, but my bootup times seem perfectly fine. Also the performance itself in Windows seems excellent, no problems encountered so far. All drivers installed properly as far as I can see.

Anybody with experience want to give me some advice? :D It's quite a mess now btw when holding the option key while booting. OS X, recovery of that, 2x HDD symbol with Windows (the first one is the one which is working, the second is a failed attempt.. need to find out how to remove it)
 
E

eternalhack

macrumors newbie
Nov 21, 2013
25
0
I just got a late 2013 MBP 11,3 and I tried to go the "manual" route at first by booting from my bootable Windows 8 installer USB thumb drive via EFI but it failed at the end with some error writing to the BCD or something. I then decided to just straight up use Bootcamp assistant to install Windows 8 via USB thumb drive and from everything I can gather it is booting via (U)EFI (GPT fdisk shows protective MBR and Windows system info shows UEFI). I'd love to know what has changed to make this the case.
 
P

PlanetExp

macrumors member
Jul 18, 2012
41
3
If I already have win 8.0 installed and working fine, can't I just upgrade it to 8.1 within windows 8.0 (bootcamp)? Anyone tried that yet?
 
dusk007

dusk007

macrumors 68040
Dec 5, 2009
3,411
104
Sure that is how everybody is doing it. There isn't really an easy way to install 8.1 immediately. Everybody is doing it but the installing win 8 was already somewhat tricky.
The normal way seems to work now though. When I first got it, it didn't. After some playing and about 1 week later it did work.
 
Y

yabot

macrumors regular
Jun 26, 2013
177
3
probably get hate for this, but since software4students dont sell windows under £30 anymore i cant justify the full price. so to game on my 15rmbp i have been deleting windows 7 every 120 days after using the rearm command in admin mode.

can you do the same with windows 8.1?

thanks
 
dusk007

dusk007

macrumors 68040
Dec 5, 2009
3,411
104
What kind of a student are you? On my university and many others IT or IT related studies tend to get access to Dreamspark (formerly msdnaa). You get a Windows license for free. Actually multiple but they aren't transferable (legally).
 
Y

yabot

macrumors regular
Jun 26, 2013
177
3
dusk007 said:
What kind of a student are you? On my university and many others IT or IT related studies tend to get access to Dreamspark (formerly msdnaa). You get a Windows license for free. Actually multiple but they aren't transferable (legally).
Click to expand...

Uni student, 21, in my second year of Environmental Management and Sustainability. However its my 3rd year here, (studied Law for a year, me no like).
 
kartnite

kartnite

macrumors member
Jul 2, 2013
44
2
Toronto, London, Chennai
This is weird. Very weird.

When I attempt steps 5, 6 - I do NOT see a partition tab in "Disk Utility". Neither do I see a plus or minus button when I highlight the BOOTCAMP partition.

If I choose to "Erase" and proceed trying, I am unable to format the partition while installing Windows because it talks about some "GPT scheme".

Any help would be highly appreciated. I am a first-time Mac user.

Thanks!
 
dusk007

dusk007

macrumors 68040
Dec 5, 2009
3,411
104
Forget this guide and just use the bootcamp assistent. Windows install was a bit buggy in the beginning. Now it seems to work.
Make the Flash stick. Let bootcamp reboot and just follow the instructions. Format the prepared partition and install.
 
S

saturnotaku

macrumors 68000
Mar 4, 2013
1,978
97
It's also a good idea to use a USB 2.0 flash drive to create the Windows installer. USB 3.0 ones seem to be problematic.
 
B

BrianATL

macrumors newbie
Dec 28, 2013
4
0
dusk007 said:
Forget this guide and just use the bootcamp assistent. Windows install was a bit buggy in the beginning. Now it seems to work.
Make the Flash stick. Let bootcamp reboot and just follow the instructions. Format the prepared partition and install.
Click to expand...

Would you clarify how you installed then? Did you use a USB DVD and a flash stick or just the flash stick? Could you also post the steps? I'm getting close to doing this and would like for it to work on the first try obviously.
 
dusk007

dusk007

macrumors 68040
Dec 5, 2009
3,411
104
Just follow the instructions of the boot camp assistent.
Frist you make a flash stick from the Windows Image or DVD. The assistent does it all you have to do is supply the image/DVD and a big enough flash stick.
Then divide the partitions and select how big Windows may be. 50GB minimum. Games take a lot of space usually 8-15GB per game.

Let the bootcamp assistent restart. Windows setup will ask for the key. After that you have to select where to install. You select the new bootcamp partition, click on format. Now you can click next. Everything else is waiting.

Once done you might have to install bootcamp drivers. Just open the flash stick and go to the bootcamp folder and start the setup in there. In theory that should happen automatically but it never did for me.
 
D

Duey182

macrumors newbie
Dec 29, 2013
1
0
Proper Way to install Windows 8.1 via Bootcamp...It works!

Hello people,

Long time reader first time replier...

I have owned a mac for 5 years now but have owned a pc for much longer and have had greater success on keeping windows on a pc better then a mac, even with the new maverick.

Now I would like to Now if any of you are having any issues with Microsoft as I had plenty of issues with Microsoft in actual fact I have an account with Microsoft just as I have an apple account and wether or not you purchase your keys from Microsoft or not you come up with an invalid product key Microsoft can and will check this and if your copy is not valid (even if you just bought the product key) your copy will only work for the 30 day period.

If you can let me now of a work a round.

thanks Duey182

----------
Duey182 said:
Hello people,

Long time reader first time replier...

I have owned a mac for 5 years now but have owned a pc for much longer and have had greater success on keeping windows on a pc better then a mac, even with the new maverick.

Now I would like to Now if any of you are having any issues with Microsoft as I had plenty of issues with Microsoft in actual fact I have an account with Microsoft just as I have an apple account and wether or not you purchase your keys from Microsoft or not you come up with an invalid product key Microsoft can and will check this and if your copy is not valid (even if you just bought the product key) your copy will only work for the 30 day period.

If you can let me now of a work a round.

thanks Duey182
Click to expand...

I also get prompted to call Microsoft to fix this issue.
 
dusk007

dusk007

macrumors 68040
Dec 5, 2009
3,411
104
I don't really understand what your issues is. If you have a valid key, it should work. I could activate them on multiple devices, multiple times.
If the activation process gives you trouble (usually all it needs is internet access), then call the hotline. That is what the hotline is for and they can tell why your key doesn't work and usually fix it.
 
J

JeanLocke

macrumors newbie
Jan 4, 2014
1
0
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