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iMac 2013. Stay on 8.1 or go for 7?

D

dezmen

macrumors member
Original poster
May 23, 2014
40
0
Kinda annoyed with my Windows 8.1 x64 Corp on iMac 27 2013.
Got usb hub issues, which are only on bootcamped 8.1 (OS X works fine with it, aswell as notebook win7), some weird RAM issue that gives me only 6.2GB available memory out of 8gb.
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I remember that I had some issues installing Win7 on this imac getting BS, but I think that was cuz of external usb3 hdd and missing legacy usb3 drivers. BootCamp install should go fine on internal drive.

So should I go for good old Windows 7 and may it help get rid of ****** bugs?
 
I would recommend a reinstall and use the bootcamp installer on a separate stick to windows as a lot of that seems like a botched bootcamp, drivers or windows install reading that. Take out the partition and start from scratch as unless you are installing from older hardware there should be no problems, the installer should start automatically post windows setup until done.

8.1 isn't that awful with classic shell for a start menu, and 7 being over 5 years old and 10 shaping up nicely for next year I wouldn't bother so buy an 2x4 ram upgrade instead.
 
+1 to what Gav has said.

I would try again with Windows 8.1, it really is a superior OS. People like Windows 7 for the classic interface but to me it's not worth it to go back.

Adding a 2x4 kit would help. I just ordered a 2x8 kit myself for running Windows in a VM.
 
Avoid the downgrade to W7 if you can. After all, W7 and W8.x have the same drivers for most (if not all) of the devices.
 
antonis said:
Avoid the downgrade to W7 if you can. After all, W7 and W8.x have the same drivers for most (if not all) of the devices.
Click to expand...

Not really. Seen tons of bug reports for 8.1 that 7 never had.
My 8.1 looks like 7 with "human" start menu, so no difference here. Guess 8.1 meant for sensor screens.

As for properly installed OS. Dunno. Did same way I always do. Installed Win 8.1 from USB stick without any error/warning. BootCamp drivers haven't changed since then. Tried update Windows and update drivers from retail place = no luck. Windows 7 seems more "polished" for BootCamp usage.

My friend have 8.1 too on same iMac but his RAM is fine :eek: Such Windows...
 
dezmen said:
Not really. Seen tons of bug reports for 8.1 that 7 never had.
My 8.1 looks like 7 with "human" start menu, so no difference here. Guess 8.1 meant for sensor screens.

As for properly installed OS. Dunno. Did same way I always do. Installed Win 8.1 from USB stick without any error/warning. BootCamp drivers haven't changed since then. Tried update Windows and update drivers from retail place = no luck. Windows 7 seems more "polished" for BootCamp usage.

My friend have 8.1 too on same iMac but his RAM is fine :eek: Such Windows...
Click to expand...

Use a fresh or erase the USB stick completely, then use OSX to download the drivers and create the windows drivers on the stick. It has an autounattend.xml file on the root of the stick which starts the BC installer setup immediately after the initial Windows setup and let it chug away until complete. So install using your 8 stick and leave the bootcamp one plugged in also and after Bootcamp is complete you are ready to go. Wired keyboard and mouse too also help for the very first part of setup

The missing ram and the USB 3 issues point to exactly that kind of reason why you're having problems.
 
Last edited:
dezmen said:
It's kinda weird that this issue can't be fixed after install...

Dunno actually how it can install bootcamp drivers before the actuall installation complete.
Even official manual says I need install Windows and then install BootCamp drivers set, which I did.
http://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/0/MA347/en_US/Boot_Camp_Install-Setup.pdf
Click to expand...

When the first part of windows setup is done, account and computer name etc the drivers setup by OS X auto start straight after installs the lot, reboots and when completed you are ready to go. If I get any issues with the automatic routine, usb 3 was very common in the past so I start over from scratch again. It's only unsupported models that I manually install via the bootcamp.msi file to bypass the system checker and you don't do that automatic routine,..
 
Gav Mack said:
When the first part of windows setup is done, account and computer name etc the drivers setup by OS X auto start straight after installs the lot, reboots and when completed you are ready to go. If I get any issues with the automatic routine, usb 3 was very common in the past so I start over from scratch again. It's only unsupported models that I manually install via the bootcamp.msi file to bypass the system checker and you don't do that automatic routine,..
Click to expand...

Weird, cuz I usually just download Windows iso, and download BootCamp drivers pack from Apple. BootCamp installs Windows and then I manually install BootCamp drivers from pack. Before BC install I don't have bootcamp icon, so it's not installed.
 
dezmen said:
Weird, cuz I usually just download Windows iso, and download BootCamp drivers pack from Apple. BootCamp installs Windows and then I manually install BootCamp drivers from pack. Before BC install I don't have bootcamp icon, so it's not installed.
Click to expand...

In the older bootcamp days that method was fine but since the retinas and no DVD drives I have found by far the easiest and painless way was to use the automated installer else they don't get setup right. Same applies to the newer iMac and Mac Pro 6,1 which is even more glitchy if you don't do it the automated method.

Get Bootcamp assistant within OS X to download the Windows driver support files and BCA will create a USB stick for them. With both sticks in as you go through the steps it might say its making changes to the USB drives. So when you install 8.1 and you have both USB's plugged in it will autostart straight after Windows setup. They can take a while, be patient and when its done you'll get the dialog box saying BC has installed successfully.

You should have most of the missing RAM back and your USB 3.0 woes should be history.
 
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