Installing Windows 8.1 and Bootcamp on 2013 nMP 6,1

[QuickstartBridg]

Windows could not prepare the computer to boot into the next phase of installation

I googled the message and found the following as a solution that might help you - https://discussions.apple.com/message/23545484#23545484

 

[QuickstartBridg]

another solution?

Here is another link to an answer that solved your problem https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5474320?tstart=0

 

[Infrared]

That's strange why we can't install Windows 8 directly to a TB2 external drive. I installed Windows 8 onto one of my HDD inside my 2009 Mac Pro.

I'm curious about that, too. Could that be because the installer lacks Thunderbolt support? And if so, could that support be added to the installer so making the install to internal SSD unnecessary?

Cheers.

 

[benjuddeffect]

Thanks for the suggestions

I read though the links. Man… 35 pages and 3 months of people with similar problems and yet it still isn't fixed. Shocked. Seems like a very common issue if this many people are having problems. I guess I can call AC and file one more complaint but what I'm sure it won't yield a solution.

 

[Gav Mack]

My 8.1 install went without a hitch, but I did use separate sticks for the OS and bootcamp drivers. Plus I made my 8 installer myself using Microsoft tools and not Apples.

7x64 EFI update - passed the complete driver set on to a mate who packages msi's and installs for a living and he's going to dig deep into the XML's and extract the packages to see if there is any 8 only hurdles to climb. Looking forward to a decent OS on the nMP as I'm as big a fan of 8 as I was of Vista, cheetah and puma...

 

[Lumpydog]

I'm curious about that, too. Could that be because the installer lacks Thunderbolt support? And if so, could that support be added to the installer so making the install to internal SSD unnecessary?

Cheers.

Interesting thought..... For now, you can't use boot camp to install Windows to an external drive. If you want to get Windows 8.x to an external thunderbolt drive (USB won't work) on the nMP:

1. Install Windows 8.x to the nMP's internal SSD using Boot Camp Assistant
2. Use Winclone 4.x to create an image of that Windows install/partition
3. Use Winclone to copy that image to the external drive.
4. If necessary, use Winclone to expand the Windows copy to use the entire partition tht is was copied to.
5. Run Boot Camp Assistant again and select the option to remove the bootcamp/windows partition from the internal SSD, reclaiming the internal space.

 

[lesferdinand]

My 8.1 install went without a hitch, but I did use separate sticks for the OS and bootcamp drivers.

So you used a Windows iso on USB, rather than the original DVD? Asking because I wasn't planning on getting a DVD drive for the nMP but do have access to a licensed Windows 8 iso via work.

 

[Gav Mack]

So you used a Windows iso on USB, rather than the original DVD? Asking because I wasn't planning on getting a DVD drive for the nMP but do have access to a licensed Windows 8 iso via work.

Used the Microsoft usb tool on the 8.1 pro ISO. Could have used a DVD cos I have a little sony DVD writer that boots all fruit but I never did try booting it off the can, only to install apps. USB is so much faster especially with a good fast cruzer stick!

http://images2.store.microsoft.com/prod/clustera/framework/w7udt/1.0/en-us/Windows7-USB-DVD-tool.exe

Great player was sir les and top fella, shame he wore black and white though

 

[benjuddeffect]

My 8.1 install went without a hitch, but I did use separate sticks for the OS and bootcamp drivers. Plus I made my 8 installer myself using Microsoft tools and not Apples.

7x64 EFI update - passed the complete driver set on to a mate who packages msi's and installs for a living and he's going to dig deep into the XML's and extract the packages to see if there is any 8 only hurdles to climb. Looking forward to a decent OS on the nMP as I'm as big a fan of 8 as I was of Vista, cheetah and puma...

Yeah, I tried this too. Saved windows 8.0 to USB and then tried to boot with 2 different sticks (bootcamp and Windows 8.0). Same problem. So frustrating… To have a nMP and not be able to load windows on it for games.

 

[lesferdinand]

Great player was sir les and top fella, shame he wore black and white though

Have to agree with you on that!

And thanks for the info, very helpful

 

[Anim]

I am still planning my Windows 8.1 install and have now come to a decision.

1. A fast 16GB Usb 3 memory stick such as
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1GILO64SU19MI

2. Or an external DVD drive such as
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE

My original plan was to buy the OEM version of Windows 8 DVD and use my PC DVD drive for converting it into an ISO for a USB install.

So, my question is, which would be better for installing windows? is the DVD drive route safer/more stable or the USB route? I can see that the USB would be faster but does it have any disadvantages over using a DVD drive? I still have a PC with a DVD writer in it for emergencies and two old iMac's knocking about.

Any thoughts?

Thanks
Anim

 

[motegi]

I just bought a Superdrive from Apple. Need it to Rip/Burn CDs for mixtapes etc anywhos

And the Windows 8.1 Retail box. Seemed to be the easiest way around it!

 

[Gav Mack]

If the USB drive failed I would have gone straight to optical media for sure.

I had problems with some old MBP's with insufficient USB power providing enough for the bus powered SuperDrive so I've had a Sony DRXS70U-R ever since and it's not missed a 'boot' on a Mac so far.

 

[TekAzurik]

Here are a set of (hopefully) fool-proof instructions for those nMP owners interested in installing Windows 8, using Boot Camp and a Windows 8 DVD:

What you will need:
1) A Windows 8/8.1 DVD - full version. Not upgrade. I bought mine here. ***Note - there is at least one report that an upgrade version of Win 8 may suffice. See Ytoyoda's post further down this thread. If anyone else has a similar experience, please post.
2) An external storage device (USB thumb drive or portable Hard Drive) that is at least 500MB. It should be formatted to MS-DOS FAT. Disk Utility can format the drive to MS-DOS FAT if you need to do so.
3) Access to an external DVD Drive

To install Win 8/8.1 via Boot Camp:

1) Open Boot Camp Assistant. It's found in Applications/Utilities

2) There are three check boxes. Uncheck the first and check the second two boxes. You won't need to create installation disk. You already have a Win 8/8.1 DVD

3) Make sure your FAT-formated storage is plugged into your nMP

4) Click Continue - select the FAT-formatted drive as the destination for your Apple Windows Support software download (basically the boot camp installer and drivers for Windows 8/8.1 - about 431MB in total).

5) Once downloaded, you will need to enter your admin password to continue. This is a good time to pull the ethernet cable out of the back of your nMP. Doing this prevents Windows Update from starting until after you have installed bootcamp and the needed drivers for Windows 8/8.1. This is a good idea. Don't skip this step. If you're using wireless, don't log into your network from Windows until step 12

6) You will see a visual representation of your Windows and OSX partitions with dividing bar between them. Select your partition size by sliding/dragging the dividing bar to change from the default 20GB Windows partition. I selected 60GB (which translated to 56GB in Windows). My default Windows 8.1 install took up a little over 40GB after installing boot camp and windows updates. You may want to use a bigger partition if you plan to keep Windows 8 on your internal SSD - I did not, I used WinClone to move it to an external thunderbolt drive and then reclaimed the space on my internal SSD (note, this only works on external Thunderbolt drives - not USB).

7) Once the partition has been created by Boot Camp Assistant, your nMP will reboot. Pay attention during reboot - a "Press any key to boot from your DVD" message will appear. When it does, press a key on your keyboard to make sure you boot from the Installation DVD. If you miss this, no problem, just reboot from OSX and hold down your "option" key during reboot and select the DVD Icon that represents your Windows Install DVD when prompted.

8) Windows installation will now begin - enter your license key - when you get to the screen that asks if you want to Upgrade or Custom install Windows, select the bottom option - you are not upgrading.

9) On the screen that follows, you will have to format the partition that you created in bootcamp. The partition will be labeled "BootCamp". Select it - make sure the boot camp partition is highlighted. Then select "Format" from the list of options below. This will NTFS-format the bootcamp partition and will allow you to click "Next" and continue.

10) Windows will install and then reboot. You will then be given a series of setup options to respond to and then Windows 8 will start.

11) After Windows 8 starts for the first time, if your like me, you will be lost (I've never used Win 8). You need to navigate to the external FAT-Formatted drive with the bootcamp software you downloaded earlier. To do this, click the "Down Arrow" icon in the lower left corner of the Windows 8 Screen. Then select - in the right column of Apps - "File Explorer". Navigate to the external drive, open the "BootCamp" folder and double click/run the "setup" file. This will install Apple's bootcamp utility and all of the Windows 8 drivers. You will be asked to reboot. Before doing so, plug back in the ethernet cable into the back of your nMP or log into your wireless network. It's ok to let Windows Update do its thing now.

12) Once rebooted, using the down arrow to get to your apps, select "control panel" then "System and Security" - from there, run Windows Update to update your Windows 8 install to current software, etc.

Other notes:
- To boot back to OSX from Windows, from the "Metro"/default Windows 8 screen, select "Desktop" or, click the "Down Arrow" to get to apps and select "Desktop" from there. From the Desktop, in the system tray (lower right corner) there is a small triangle icon. Click it and then click the grey diamond icon (Boot Camp). You will be given the option to restart in OSX. Or - just reboot and hold down the option key during reboot. This gives you the option to select from any "bootable" drives.

That should do it.

Have you or or anyone else on here had success using a USB drive? I don't have a dvd drive nor do I want to spend an additional $80 just to play Skyrim. Would love to hear from someone who's been able to use a USB drive as the boot disk. I tried multiple times with two different drives and every time I got "cannot update boot configuration" before the first restart. Any ideas?

 

[Anim]

Have you or or anyone else on here had success using a USB drive? I don't have a dvd drive nor do I want to spend an additional $80 just to play Skyrim. Would love to hear from someone who's been able to use a USB drive as the boot disk. I tried multiple times with two different drives and every time I got "cannot update boot configuration" before the first restart. Any ideas?

It seems that USB3 drives are not very well supported as boot drives, something to do with the USB3 controller on the drive itself. This isn't just Mac Pro, happens on Retina Mac Book Pro's too.

I have read (not tested) that for instance a Seagate Backup Plus External 3TB will not boot from USB3 but a Seagate Backup Plus Portable 1TB will work.

Somebody really needs to get to the bottom of this one.

 

[TekAzurik]

It seems that USB3 drives are not very well supported as boot drives, something to do with the USB3 controller on the drive itself. This isn't just Mac Pro, happens on Retina Mac Book Pro's too.

I have read (not tested) that for instance a Seagate Backup Plus External 3TB will not boot from USB3 but a Seagate Backup Plus Portable 1TB will work.

Somebody really needs to get to the bottom of this one.

I tried it with a 16gb USB 2 thumb drive, and a 1TB Toshiba USB 3 drive, both had the same problem. The two had a slightly different boot interface, but in the end they both failed.

 

[antonis]

I'm curious about that, too. Could that be because the installer lacks Thunderbolt support? And if so, could that support be added to the installer so making the install to internal SSD unnecessary?

Cheers.

Yes, that's my guess too. Up to that point, the TB drivers are not installed/activated, they do get installed later by running the Apple's bootcamp tools.

 

[Lumpydog]

Have you or or anyone else on here had success using a USB drive? I don't have a dvd drive nor do I want to spend an additional $80 just to play Skyrim. Would love to hear from someone who's been able to use a USB drive as the boot disk. I tried multiple times with two different drives and every time I got "cannot update boot configuration" before the first restart. Any ideas?

I have not tried installing win 8 from USB drive. I have not read of any successful install here in these forums, using that method on the nMP.

 

[kfscoll]

Have you or or anyone else on here had success using a USB drive? I don't have a dvd drive nor do I want to spend an additional $80 just to play Skyrim. Would love to hear from someone who's been able to use a USB drive as the boot disk. I tried multiple times with two different drives and every time I got "cannot update boot configuration" before the first restart. Any ideas?

Yes. Yes! I'm getting the exact same "cannot update boot configuration" error; I didn't even think to try using the actual DVD itself. I'll give that a shot and if it works will shriek with joy.

 

[kfscoll]

Well, I followed LumpyDog's procedure to the letter and right before the first reboot I got the "Windows could not update the computer's boot configuration. Installation cannot proceed" error again. I stinking give up at this point. I'm using an OEM copy of Windows 8.1 Pro; I wonder if the software version has anything to do with the problems? I have copy of 8.1 Home arriving today so I can give that a try too.

This is extremely irritating to say the least. At least I'm not the only one with this particular problem.

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I dunno. I've tried different versions of windows. Different drives. And different DVD drives. With the same error every time. That means it has to be the boot can drivers yeah?

The message says "Windows could not prepare the computer to boot into the next phase of installation".

I wish I was better with this and felt comfortable enough to boot via EFI as you said but I just don't have the confidence.

If I'm reading you right it sounds like both versions you've tried were the Pro versions. I've only tried 8.1 Pro myself and it crapped out exactly like yours did. Could the Pro version (as opposed to the "Home" version or whatever it's called nowadays) be the culprit?

 

[ninjadex]

Well, I followed LumpyDog's procedure to the letter and right before the first reboot I got the "Windows could not update the computer's boot configuration. Installation cannot proceed" error again. I stinking give up at this point. I'm using an OEM copy of Windows 8.1 Pro; I wonder if the software version has anything to do with the problems? I have copy of 8.1 Home arriving today so I can give that a try too.

This is extremely irritating to say the least. At least I'm not the only one with this particular problem.

----------


If I'm reading you right it sounds like both versions you've tried were the Pro versions. I've only tried 8.1 Pro myself and it crapped out exactly like yours did. Could the Pro version (as opposed to the "Home" version or whatever it's called nowadays) be the culprit?

I'm also encountering this same exact error when it hits the final installation phase. I'm using Windows 8.1 Pro OEM on DVD. I've tried both DVD and Bootcamp USB stick (from ISO) with the same results. I've also tried repairing the disk, etc. Nothing works.

I'd be really interested to know if the "Home" version behaves any differently for you.

 

[Foxdog175]

I can't even get to the installation phase. I get to the point where it asks you to select the drive to install Windows 8.1 on. I select the BOOTCAMP drive (4th from top), click format, it changes the name to "Drive 0 Parition 4", and when I click Next, receive the following error:

"We couldn't create a new partition or locate an existing one. For more information, see the Setup log files."

Where?

I've gone through the process 3 times now, twice from DVD, and once from .iso on a Thumb drive. Same result each time.

Any ideas?

Edit: I should note that the first time I tried installing, it complained that 50-some gigs wasn't enough space (started with a 60gig partition). It wanted at least 80-some gigs of space. The next two attempts were at 125 gig and 150 gig partitions.

 

[kfscoll]

I finally got Windows 8.1 installed, but I went about it in a completely different way than I expected. First, I installed it on an external USB3 hard drive, and second, I didn't even use Boot Camp.

I didn't come up with this process myself, but after tons of digging, I landed on this awesome tutorial that explains, step-by-step, how to get Windows 7 or 8 installed on an external hard drive without using Boot Camp. See for yourself right here...I followed these instructions to the letter.

The only problem was that when I got to the actual installation phase, in the middle of the install I got an error saying that Windows was unable to support my computer's hardware and the installation would stop (not a quote, but words to that effect). Well, I knew that Windows 8.1 definitely would support the nMP since some folks have gotten it to work. What I did was re-prep the external hard drive (it's clear when you look at the instructions) and let the install complete with the drive connected to my 2012 rMBP. Indeed, I was able to get Windows completely installed this way, and as soon as the install finished, I removed the drive, connected it to my nMP, and booted it up. Windows had to do some grinding but Windows eventually booted up on my nMP...at which point I installed the Boot Camp drivers (downloadable without using Boot Camp).

Anyway, for those folks who are having serious problems getting Boot Camp to install Windows on their nMP, this is a great alternative solution, at least until Apple steps up and addresses the issue.

 

[TekAzurik]

Well, I followed LumpyDog's procedure to the letter and right before the first reboot I got the "Windows could not update the computer's boot configuration. Installation cannot proceed" error again. I stinking give up at this point. I'm using an OEM copy of Windows 8.1 Pro; I wonder if the software version has anything to do with the problems? I have copy of 8.1 Home arriving today so I can give that a try too.

This is extremely irritating to say the least. At least I'm not the only one with this particular problem.

----------


If I'm reading you right it sounds like both versions you've tried were the Pro versions. I've only tried 8.1 Pro myself and it crapped out exactly like yours did. Could the Pro version (as opposed to the "Home" version or whatever it's called nowadays) be the culprit?

So I just tried the home version, provided to me by a friend who works for Microsoft and got the same error message. Again I'm trying this with a USB drive still as I don't have a DVD drive. I saw the link on how to install by starting with it on a USB 3 drive, but it seems super intensive and requires some things I also don't have... no clue what to do at this point. Could anyone who had success installing windows on their machine give us a full rundown of your specs? (nMP version, Windows version, etc.)

 

[TekAzurik]

Ok, I've called apple tech support, we tried a few things to no avail. He's sending my case up to their engineers and hopefully they'll get back to me before the end of the week, if not early next week. I'll post here as soon as I have a solution (if I get one). Let me know if you guys have any success!