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BootCamp hack for MacBook Pro 8,1

S

SeanEE89

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 15, 2008
116
0
VA, United States
I have searched long and far for a solution to a dilemma I am having with BootCamp Assistant. I have a data doubler in my MacBook Pro 8,1 (early 2011), and am unable to make a bootable USB to install Windows via bootcamp. I have found a couple threads that pointed me to the info.pilst file in the contents folder found when you right block on the BootCamp Assistant and select "show package contents". When observing this file I found that nothing I do in terms of editing the file is registering with BootCamp Assistant and allowing me to create a bootable USB. :confused:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1558653/

The link attached is one of the many threads I have observed regarding this problem. I am running Mavericks OSX now for what that's worth, and throwing my SuperDrive in for the installation is not a viable option either. I have tried to do this, and found that my SuperDrive is not being recognized for some reason, but that's separate problem all together.
 
the only viable hack is to not use windows 8.1 yet until apple release the bootcamp drivers to support it :p

It's just not meant for use for a computer without a touchscreen, windows 7 is a much smoother/easier operating system for power users to run on a conventional laptop like the macbook pro.

edit: for the record, I have windows 8.1 currently installed on my machine, I installed it over a fresh copy of windows 7 pro, which originally was installed via bootcamp on mavericks.

It is not optimized in the way windows 7 was, the graphics drivers aren't there yet - multitouch isn't supported, the whole thing looks like a mess. I will be wiping my bootcamp partition and reinstalling windows 7 asap.

IMHO windows 8/8.1 is a complete farce. Microsoft have tried to merge a tablet/conventional desktop environment into one without understanding that there needs to be a symbiotic marriage between hardware and software. This cannot be done if hardware is different. The only way this will truly work (I think!) is when apple finally merge iOS and OSX into one, and bring out new hardware, probably merging the macbook pro and the iPad together.
 
Last edited:
sabbyp said:
the only viable hack is to not use windows 8.1 yet until apple release the bootcamp drivers to support it :p

It's just not meant for use for a computer without a touchscreen, windows 7 is a much smoother/easier operating system for power users to run on a conventional laptop like the macbook pro.

edit: for the record, I have windows 8.1 currently installed on my machine, I installed it over a fresh copy of windows 7 pro, which originally was installed via bootcamp on mavericks.

It is not optimized in the way windows 7 was, the graphics drivers aren't there yet - multitouch isn't supported, the whole thing looks like a mess. I will be wiping my bootcamp partition and reinstalling windows 7 asap.

IMHO windows 8/8.1 is a complete farce. Microsoft have tried to merge a tablet/conventional desktop environment into one without understanding that there needs to be a symbiotic marriage between hardware and software. This cannot be done if hardware is different. The only way this will truly work (I think!) is when apple finally merge iOS and OSX into one, and bring out new hardware, probably merging the macbook pro and the iPad together.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the post, but you were mistaken when reading my post. I wasn't asking about windows 8 or 8.1. The model ID for my MacBook Pro is 8,1. I am having trouble getting bootcamp to allow me to install Windows 7 through USB.
 
neteng101 said:
This might help...

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3435734?start=15&tstart=0

I've not done it but it looks like what you need to do is get your Boot ROM version into the list of models supported for USB boot.
Click to expand...

That thread is actually a bit out dated for my particular version of boot camp at least. I tried the recommended changes in that and a few other threads I found on here and on Apples discussion board. For example in the file you need to modify it's not longer "USBBootSupportedModels", it's now "PreUSBBootSupportedModels". I tried making the same changes and had no success, and tried deleting the "pre" part of it and still no success. Any changes I made to the file caused Boot Camp to just not work at all.
 
SeanEE89 said:
Thanks for the post, but you were mistaken when reading my post. I wasn't asking about windows 8 or 8.1. The model ID for my MacBook Pro is 8,1. I am having trouble getting bootcamp to allow me to install Windows 7 through USB.
Click to expand...

right you are, apologies! mighty confusing at first glance :p
 
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