Boot Camp drivers later than 5.0.5033

[yjchua95]

Good day,

I know that the Boot Camp 5.0.5033 drivers won't work on the Haswell iMacs.

The problem is, I can't find the drivers later than the 5033 version anywhere else.

I'm trying to avoid downloading it through Boot Camp Assistant because:
1. My internet connection is very slow (1 Mbps connection in Queenstown, NZ)
2. I'm deploying it on several Haswell iMacs.

If I download the drivers through BC Assistant, is it possible to extract the drivers and mass-deploy them on multiple iMacs?

Thank you.

 

[jenzjen]

For 2013 machines, your only option is to download them from the BCA on OSX. IIRC, I think you can only select the 2nd check box, and then you'll have the drivers on a USB that you can use for other similar machines.

 

[yjchua95]

For 2013 machines, your only option is to download them from the BCA on OSX. IIRC, I think you can only select the 2nd check box, and then you'll have the drivers on a USB that you can use for other similar machines.

Ouch...

The machines that I'm deploying Boot Camp on are all Haswell iMacs, but they're a mix of 21.5" Iris, 21.5" with GT750M and 27" with GTX780M.

I've already downloaded the drivers to a USB though (left one of the iMacs powered on overnight to download it), and will attempt to deploy them tomorrow.

 

[saturnotaku]

I've already downloaded the drivers to a USB though (left one of the iMacs powered on overnight to download it), and will attempt to deploy them tomorrow.

You should be able to use the same USB drive for all the machines where you plan to install Windows. It wouldn't make much sense for Apple to create individual driver packages for the 21.5" iMac, 27" iMac, rMBP 13, rMBP 15, etc.

 

[jenzjen]

You should be able to use the same USB drive for all the machines where you plan to install Windows. It wouldn't make much sense for Apple to create individual driver packages for the 21.5" iMac, 27" iMac, rMBP 13, rMBP 15, etc.

I don't think this is right unless I'm missing something. If there was a universal driver package, would it install say both Nvidia and AMD GPU drivers since some laptops have the Nvidia GT 750m while the nMP have AMD cards. How would a universal setup.exe handle the different device SKUs?

 

[saturnotaku]

How would a universal setup.exe handle the different device SKUs?

It takes a brute force approach, installing just about every possible driver. When I run Apple's drivers after installing Windows, it sets up a variety of networking and sound drivers that can be seen in the add/remove programs section of control panel. It also attempts to install both NVIDIA and AMD GPU drivers, but it only sets up the one based on the hardware you have. So on my MBP, the NVIDIA installer starts but stops and moves on when it sees that I have an AMD GPU. The AMD driver then installs properly. I then promptly remove it in favor of the latest Catalyst set that can be downloaded directly from AMD.

On newer hardware, I can virtually guarantee you the Boot Camp installer will work the same way.

 

[jenzjen]

Right, you beat me to the punch since I realized that there were universal installers one could download straight from the Apple site pre 2013 machines so definitely brute force

 

[jenzjen]

You should be able to use the same USB drive for all the machines where you plan to install Windows. It wouldn't make much sense for Apple to create individual driver packages for the 21.5" iMac, 27" iMac, rMBP 13, rMBP 15, etc.

This now changed, as Apple realized 2 boot camp packages on Feb 11th for different machines

 

[saturnotaku]

This now changed, as Apple realized 2 boot camp packages on Feb 11th for different machines

That's only partially true. One set is for mid- and late-2013 Macs, including the Air, Pro, and iMac. The other is for all early 2013 and earlier machines, with some 2009 systems supported.

 

[yjchua95]

Just finished deploying Boot Camp in all the iMacs and I'm happy to report back that the single package of Boot Camp drivers worked on all of them!