After a lot of puzzling around I managed to install Windows 8.1 on my Macbook Air. As far as I know, everything works fine. So here's a howto for anyone who is interested.
HOWTO Windows 8.1 on Macbook Air 2010 (and other nForce based macs)
What you need:
- a valid windows 8 key
-windows 7 CD or an already installed Windows 7 partition.
- An USB stick with four different unzipped driver folders:
1. Boot Camp 5 drivers
2. Boot Camp 4 drivers
3. nForce chipset drivers
4. GeForce 320M driver These are the only drivers that work for the geforce so dont update them!
-a usb muis (you'll see why)
Step 0: Because windows 7 is supported, but windows 8.1 isn't, we're going to install Windows 7 first using Boot Camp. If you already have an installed win7 partition, you can skip this part
. Don't download the drivers in Boot Camp; you already have those on your USB stick.
Step 1: After windows 7 has been installed, install the Boot Camp 4 software that's on your USB stick. This will make all devices work in windows 7. Don't try to install Boot Camp 5; it's not possible but we're going to need those files later.
Step 2: Go to Windows Store and upgrade to Windows 8.1. You can ignore all the compatibility messages.
Step 3: After the installation, you're going to get the driver problems you've read about everywhere. But no worries... we're going to fix that. First, plugin your USB mouse because the track pad doesn't work anymore. Another thing: you get warnings that the Boot Camp 4.exe file isn't compatible. Ignore the messages, say "run anyway" and flag "don't show this message in the future". Make sure Boot Camp.exe starts with windows (you need it in order to get the F1-F12 keys to work properly).
Press WinKey - X and go to Device Manager.
a. Under Display Adapter, right click on the GeForce 320M > Update driver >
Search for drivers on my computer. Let the PC search in the GeForce folder on your USB stick. This takes a while to install, and sometimes gives errors, but you should retry and reboot untill it is installed.
b. Go back to Device Manager, where you'll also see two devices with a yellow error flag. These are part of the nForce chipset. So follow the same route as under a, but now choose the nForce driver folder on your USB stick.
c. For the trackpad to work correctly, we're going to use the most recent windows 8 drivers, available in Boot Camp 5 (because the trackpad hardware is essentially the same in our old MBA2010). Go to the Boot Camp 5\BootCamp\Drivers\Apple folder on your usb stick and click to manually install AppleMultiTouchTrackpadInstaller.exe.
Step 4: After a reboot, all driver problems should be fixed now. For optimization, we're going to have to change 2 more things:
a. Go to C:\Program Files\BootCamp and rightclick Bootcamp.exe. Under the Compatibility tab, set it to Windows 7 compatibility mode.
b. Windows Update is going to want to update your Nvidia drivers, but the more recent drivers cause system hangups so make sure you don't install this update. In Windows Update, look for the nvidia update before it installs, right click on it and select hide this update to prevent it to be installed.
Enjoy your Windows 8.1 on your Macbook Air 2010! Feel free to post problems you come along, so we can fix it
HOWTO Windows 8.1 on Macbook Air 2010 (and other nForce based macs)
What you need:
- a valid windows 8 key
-windows 7 CD or an already installed Windows 7 partition.
- An USB stick with four different unzipped driver folders:
1. Boot Camp 5 drivers
2. Boot Camp 4 drivers
3. nForce chipset drivers
4. GeForce 320M driver These are the only drivers that work for the geforce so dont update them!
-a usb muis (you'll see why)
Step 0: Because windows 7 is supported, but windows 8.1 isn't, we're going to install Windows 7 first using Boot Camp. If you already have an installed win7 partition, you can skip this part
. Don't download the drivers in Boot Camp; you already have those on your USB stick.Step 1: After windows 7 has been installed, install the Boot Camp 4 software that's on your USB stick. This will make all devices work in windows 7. Don't try to install Boot Camp 5; it's not possible but we're going to need those files later.
Step 2: Go to Windows Store and upgrade to Windows 8.1. You can ignore all the compatibility messages.
Step 3: After the installation, you're going to get the driver problems you've read about everywhere. But no worries... we're going to fix that. First, plugin your USB mouse because the track pad doesn't work anymore. Another thing: you get warnings that the Boot Camp 4.exe file isn't compatible. Ignore the messages, say "run anyway" and flag "don't show this message in the future". Make sure Boot Camp.exe starts with windows (you need it in order to get the F1-F12 keys to work properly).
Press WinKey - X and go to Device Manager.
a. Under Display Adapter, right click on the GeForce 320M > Update driver >
Search for drivers on my computer. Let the PC search in the GeForce folder on your USB stick. This takes a while to install, and sometimes gives errors, but you should retry and reboot untill it is installed.
b. Go back to Device Manager, where you'll also see two devices with a yellow error flag. These are part of the nForce chipset. So follow the same route as under a, but now choose the nForce driver folder on your USB stick.
c. For the trackpad to work correctly, we're going to use the most recent windows 8 drivers, available in Boot Camp 5 (because the trackpad hardware is essentially the same in our old MBA2010). Go to the Boot Camp 5\BootCamp\Drivers\Apple folder on your usb stick and click to manually install AppleMultiTouchTrackpadInstaller.exe.
Step 4: After a reboot, all driver problems should be fixed now. For optimization, we're going to have to change 2 more things:
a. Go to C:\Program Files\BootCamp and rightclick Bootcamp.exe. Under the Compatibility tab, set it to Windows 7 compatibility mode.
b. Windows Update is going to want to update your Nvidia drivers, but the more recent drivers cause system hangups so make sure you don't install this update. In Windows Update, look for the nvidia update before it installs, right click on it and select hide this update to prevent it to be installed.
Enjoy your Windows 8.1 on your Macbook Air 2010! Feel free to post problems you come along, so we can fix it
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