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Another attempt at Bootcamp

Meister

Meister

Suspended
Original poster
Oct 10, 2013
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So today I started one of my other attemps at installing win8 with bootcamp.
And again my victim is a mba i5/4/256 '13.

After the usual troubles I managed to come the setup screen where I am supposed to type in the computers name, but of course neither the trackpad nor keyboard work.

What am I supposed to do at that point?
 
Meister said:
So today I started one of my other attemps at installing win8 with bootcamp.
And again my victim is a mba i5/4/256 '13.

After the usual troubles I managed to come the setup screen where I am supposed to type in the computers name, but of course neither the trackpad nor keyboard work.

What am I supposed to do at that point?
Click to expand...

8 or 8.1?

I had no problems with my Embedded 8.1 Industry Pro installer.

You could try installing it to an external USB or TB drive instead, using this method:

Connect external drive to Windows VM. You must have a Windows VM in VMware/Parallels/VBox, or a Windows PC. Any existing Windows environment will do.

What you need:
install.wim file (obtain this from your Windows ISO)

Open elevated cmd.exe (run as admin)

Note: All commands aren't case sensitive, including pathway to files.

Type diskpart
Type list disk
Take note of the disk you want to select
Type select disk 1 (if your disk is Disk 1)
Type clean
Type convert gpt
Type create partition EFI size=100
Type format quick fs=fat32 label=EFI
Type assign letter=S
Type create partition primary
Type format fs=ntfs quick label=W2G (or any other name you wish for label)
Type assign letter=E
Type exit

Open up File Explorer. In your C drive, create a new folder named WIN2GO.
Put the install.wim file in this folder

Back in cmd.exe:
Type dism /apply-image /imagefile:C:\WIN2GO\install.wim /index:1 /applydir:E:\ (this process will take quite a while)
Type E:\Windows\System32\bcdboot E:\Windows /s S: /f UEFI

Restart your entire Mac. After the chime, hold down Option and when prompted to select your boot drive, select EFI Boot.

Proceed installation normally.

After installation, install Boot Camp drivers. Feel free to trash the VM once you're done too.

For best results, use USB 3/Thunderbolt. If you don't have USB 3, use Thunderbolt. If you have neither, stick back to the internal drive :)
 
yjchua95 said:
8 or 8.1?

I had no problems with my Embedded 8.1 Industry Pro installer.

You could try installing it to an external USB or TB drive instead, using this method:

Connect external drive to Windows VM. You must have a Windows VM in VMware/Parallels/VBox, or a Windows PC. Any existing Windows environment will do.

What you need:
install.wim file (obtain this from your Windows ISO)

Open elevated cmd.exe (run as admin)

Note: All commands aren't case sensitive, including pathway to files.

Type diskpart
Type list disk
Take note of the disk you want to select
Type select disk 1 (if your disk is Disk 1)
Type clean
Type convert gpt
Type create partition EFI size=100
Type format quick fs=fat32 label=EFI
Type assign letter=S
Type create partition primary
Type format fs=ntfs quick label=W2G (or any other name you wish for label)
Type assign letter=E
Type exit

Open up File Explorer. In your C drive, create a new folder named WIN2GO.
Put the install.wim file in this folder

Back in cmd.exe:
Type dism /apply-image /imagefile:C:\WIN2GO\install.wim /index:1 /applydir:E:\ (this process will take quite a while)
Type E:\Windows\System32\bcdboot E:\Windows /s S: /f UEFI

Restart your entire Mac. After the chime, hold down Option and when prompted to select your boot drive, select EFI Boot.

Proceed installation normally.

After installation, install Boot Camp drivers. Feel free to trash the VM once you're done too.

For best results, use USB 3/Thunderbolt. If you don't have USB 3, use Thunderbolt. If you have neither, stick back to the internal drive :)
Click to expand...
Thank you for the reply.
I have no windows VM or regular windows machine on hand and installing to an external is not part of the plan. I found an :apple: advisory that states that Windows can not be installed from a USB 3.0 drive. I just bought one, soley for this purpose :mad: So today I will give it a try with a slow 2.0 flash drive.
 
Meister said:
Thank you for the reply.
I have no windows VM or regular windows machine on hand and installing to an external is not part of the plan. I found an :apple: advisory that states that Windows can not be installed from a USB 3.0 drive. I just bought one, soley for this purpose :mad: So today I will give it a try with a slow 2.0 flash drive.
Click to expand...

It works on a USB 3 SSD with my methods. I use Boot Camp for gaming from it.
 
Meister said:
Installing from Usb 3.
And on the german apple support page there is an official announcement, that usb 3 is not supported.

Source: http://support.apple.com/de-de/TS4589
Click to expand...

Oh. Installing from a USB installer won't work (unless you manually select EFI boot), because you've to use the dism.exe utility from an existing Windows environment.

It's a gottverdammt situation.
 
Last edited:
yjchua95 said:
Oh. Installing from a USB installer won't work, because you've to use the dism.exe utility from an existing Windows environment.

It's a gottverdammt situation.
Click to expand...
I am a bit lost.
Bootcamp does not show me any details or files about the installation process and I am not looking into the iso further. the whole point of bootcamp should be that it is straight forward and easy to use. It was my understanding that your explanation is in regards to installing win8 to an external and that is not a viable option for me.

the purpose of my exercise is to connect the mba to an external touchscreen, that only supports windows. the windows partition should be on the internal ssd.

I already spent a few hours yesterday just to try to install windows.
if this doesn't work I will blow this project off and look for a different solution.

I am already foaming with rage that I spent hours of my precious time, just to find out that the keyboard and trackpad are disabled during the installation for no sensible reason. :mad:
 
Meister said:
I am a bit lost.
Bootcamp does not show me any details or files about the installation process and I am not looking into the iso further. the whole point of bootcamp should be that it is straight forward and easy to use. It was my understanding that your explanation is in regards to installing win8 to an external and that is not a viable option for me.

the purpose of my exercise is to connect the mba to an external touchscreen, that only supports windows. the windows partition should be on the internal ssd.

I already spent a few hours yesterday just to try to install windows.
if this doesn't work I will blow this project off and look for a different solution.

I am already foaming with rage that I spent hours of my precious time, just to find out that the keyboard and trackpad are disabled during the installation for no sensible reason. :mad:
Click to expand...

When installing on internal SSDs, BCA has never given me much trouble.

All I do is just plug my bootable Windows 8.1 installer, run BCA, and upon restart, I hold down the Option key and select EFI Boot. Then I proceed the installation. The keyboard and trackpad still works during the installation.

But then let's face it, Windows still sucks :D
 
yjchua95 said:
All I do is just plug my bootable Windows 8.1 installer, run BCA,
Click to expand...
What is a bootable Windows 8.1 installer?

I might add that I actually installed ubuntu on my mac mini with significantly less trouble and no BC of course.

But my understanding was that bootcamp is an easy tool and you just follow the instructions. Now you are telling me about efi boot and making a bootable Windows 8.1 installer?

What am I missing here?
 
Meister said:
What is a bootable Windows 8.1 installer?

I might add that I actually installed ubuntu on my mac mini with significantly less trouble and no BC of course.

But my understanding was that bootcamp is an easy tool and you just follow the instructions. Now you are telling me about efi boot and making a bootable Windows 8.1 installer?

What am I missing here?
Click to expand...

The bootable 8.1 installer is actually in the form of a USB stick, created by Boot Camp out of an ISO file downloaded from MSDN.
 
yjchua95 said:
The bootable 8.1 installer is actually in the form of a USB stick, created by Boot Camp out of an ISO file downloaded from MSDN.
Click to expand...
I did that, but then the keyboard and trackpad are not working in windows.
 
yjchua95 said:
That's really messed up.

Have you tried downloading an updated version of the 8.1 installer?
Click to expand...
I only have am activation code for win8.
I just tried it again with usb 2. Wasted 2 hours and the same thing.

Personalize screen and neither keyboard nor trackpad work. **** windows!! :mad:
 
yjchua95 said:
I think you'd better try my method of installing on external first and see whether it works or not.
Click to expand...
I don't have the time or nerve for this.
I've been struggling with windows for 25years and I am so happy that I can use Mac OS on my private computers!
Once you start to run windows there is nothing but trouble.
I commented on some other threads where people had the exact same problem.
The solution seems to be to reinstall until it works. No, thank you.
I called MS in germany and those ********s are the worst.
 
Meister said:
I don't have the time or nerve for this.
I've been struggling with windows for 25years and I am so happy that I can use Mac OS on my private computers!
Once you start to run windows there is nothing but trouble.
I commented on some other threads where people had the exact same problem.
The solution seems to be to reinstall until it works. No, thank you.
I called MS in germany and those ********s are the worst.
Click to expand...

Hahahaha....

I've had no problems with my Windows installation, be it internally or externally, and it runs like a champ :)
 
Meister said:
Once you start to run windows there is nothing but trouble.
Click to expand...

I feel for the frustration you're dealing with, but your experience isn't typical. I've had a handful of issues, mostly minor with Bootcamp. I've had little to no problems with my Surface Pro either.
 
maflynn said:
I feel for the frustration you're dealing with, but your experience isn't typical. I've had a handful of issues, mostly minor with Bootcamp. I've had little to no problems with my Surface Pro either.
Click to expand...
Good for you.
I really wanted it to work, since Mac OS does not support touchscreens and I bought one that we really liked.
I am 99% sure now that I will never ever touch windows again on any of my private computers.
 
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