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Microsoft Outlines Issue With Windows 10 Updates for Older Macs, Solution Coming This Month

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Microsoft is facing an issue with Windows 10 updates for Mac devices that came out prior to 2012, as well as newer Macs with older versions of Boot Camp. When users attempt to update to the May 2019 Feature Update for Windows 10, version 1903, there is a driver incompatibility error.

windows-10-issue.jpg

On its support page for the issue, Microsoft reported:
Mac devices prior to 2012 or newer Mac devices with the older Apple Boot Camp or Windows Support Software drivers have a compatibilty hold in place and are unable to update to Windows 10, version 1903. Specifically, devices with MacHALDriver.sys dated September 24, 2011 01:57:09 or older in Windows\system32\drivers are affected.
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Microsoft went on to state that updating your Boot Camp Windows Support Software drivers may allow you to update to version 1903 of Windows 10. The company is working on an official solution that it hopes will be out by the end of July.

Boot Camp is a utility on macOS that allows users to install and use Microsoft Windows operating systems on Mac devices.

You can read the full support doc by heading to Microsoft's website.

Article Link: Microsoft Outlines Issue With Windows 10 Updates for Older Macs, Solution Coming This Month
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2019/07/02/microsoft-windows-issue-macs/
1903 was meant to be March 2019. They are reporting issues now? My VMs went to 1903 last month but my physical W10 boxes aren't going yet as they are reporting not ready either.

I just hope Apple doesn't hire any of these Microsoft engineers.
 
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Does anybody know if the MacBook Pro 7,1 middle 2010 can update to upgrade to 1803 or newer of windows 10 ? Mine got stuck at the 1709 ...
 
1903 in CSM mode, with BootCamp driver for iMacPro 1,1 is installed on my Mid-2012 cMP 5,1 without any issues whatsoever. Booting and updating reliably from an SSD mounted in Drive Bay 1.
 
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justperry said:
What happens if you installed Windows without Bootcamp, for the ones asking, yes, it's possible.
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Mine was installed without BootCamp. I only added the BC Control Panel driver for easy OS switching back to Mojave. The OS worked perfectly fine without the driver. It just facilitates booting back to macOS.
 
crjackson2134 said:
Mine was installed without BootCamp. I only added the BC Control Panel driver for easy OS switching back to Mojave. The OS worked perfectly fine without the driver. It just facilitates booting back to macOS.
Click to expand...

Works(ed) until now, my question was what would happen if you update to the latest version 1903, run into the same problems as above?
 
justperry said:
Works(ed) until now, my question was what would happen if you update to the latest version 1903, run into the same problems as above?
Click to expand...

Well it's on 1903, but I haven't updated again since about 5 days ago, so I'll check if you like.

Okay, so I just got the latest updates, and it all works perfectly on my MP5,1...

Windows 10
Ver. 1903
Build 18362.207

No problems updating, no problems booting back and forth from macOS to WIN10. All flawless for now.
 
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If these ARM rumors are true boot camp and Windows issues will be a thing of the past. I haven't seen stats on the percentage who use that combo though.
 
Awesome discussion said:
while ms sucessfully manage to update millions of different hardware architectures apple fails at 3. according to you the whole apple software team had to go when iOS 8 was released
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When was Apple four months late for a minor software update and then only releasing it to some saying it wasn't ready for the rest? 1903 is not supposed to be a major release. Like going from 9.1 to 9.2. There aren't that many architectures but peripheral combinations that give "millions."
 
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saulinpa said:
When was Apple four months late for a minor software update and then only releasing it to some saying it wasn't ready for the rest? 1903 is not supposed to be a major release. Like going from 9.1 to 9.2. There aren't that many architectures but peripheral combinations that give "millions."
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2 months late (MAR -> MAY) not 4. Thankfully, the update to 1903 does make some important checks before borking someone's system because they have an incompatibility with a driver, etc. Since 1809 didn't fail with the same hardware, I'm guessing there are other changes to 1903 that require more scrutinization of drivers and devices.

You think macOS Catalina won't have major issues (dropping 32-bit support)? Come back here after Catalina is released to see all the hell that is breaking loose over that update!
 
dmylrea said:
2 months late (MAR -> MAY) not 4. Thankfully, the update to 1903 does make some important checks before borking someone's system because they have an incompatibility with a driver, etc. Since 1809 didn't fail with the same hardware, I'm guessing there are other changes to 1903 that require more scrutinization of drivers and devices.

You think macOS Catalina won't have major issues (dropping 32-bit support)? Come back here after Catalina is released to see all the hell that is breaking loose over that update!
Click to expand...
March version "released" 2nd half of May when only a few were able to install was a Joke. Only now is it starting to gain wide availability but a significant amount of computers still can't use it. It was "released" more of a beta probably because they have a history of previous disasters.

Different animal. Catalina is marketed as a significant jump and states that it is dropping support for hardware and software. W10 1903 was supposed to be stable and incremental release, part of W10's quarterly updates that are supposed to be safe.
 
Awesome discussion said:
while ms sucessfully manage to update millions of different hardware architectures apple fails at 3. according to you the whole apple software team had to go when iOS 8 was released
Click to expand...

Damn right Sir. MILLIONS of combinations of hardware going way back to the legacy days. Macs don't even bloody support Nvidia graphics cards, so pipe down.

My PC was on hold until the new Intel display driver appeared and now its updating. Rather have a hold and have to wait a while than update and break...
 
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saulinpa said:
March version "released" 2nd half of May when only a few were able to install was a Joke. Only now is it starting to gain wide availability but a significant amount of computers still can't use it. It was "released" more of a beta probably because they have a history of previous disasters.

Different animal. Catalina is marketed as a significant jump and states that it is dropping support for hardware and software. W10 1903 was supposed to be stable and incremental release, part of W10's quarterly updates that are supposed to be safe.
Click to expand...

You can download 1903 manually from MS and install it at any time. I've updated about a dozen computers and not a single one did I wait for Windows Update to tell me "You're ready".

More importantly, why do you care so much? 1903 really isn't that much a different animal than 1809. Sandboxing? Half-baked. Different GUI theme? It's different...if you need that.
 
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saulinpa said:
I just hope Apple doesn't hire any of these Microsoft engineers.
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Given that Apple no longer supports the Macs in question, it's hardly a surprise that third party software suppliers are having increasing difficulty updating software on these old machines at the same time as keeping up with Apple's current system.
 
dmylrea said:
You can download 1903 manually from MS and install it at any time. I've updated about a dozen computers and not a single one did I wait for Windows Update to tell me "You're ready".

More importantly, why do you care so much? 1903 really isn't that much a different animal than 1809. Sandboxing? Half-baked. Different GUI theme? It's different...if you need that.
Click to expand...

Actually you can't, even with an offline install. The problem isn't with the update saying "You're ready" the problem occurs once the update is initiated. There is a point in the 1903 install where it checks your system for compatibility and it fails. This one at least tells you "why" it fails. There are many systems out there running windows that fail the install for 1903 and don't even give a specific reason.
 
crjackson2134 said:
Mine was installed without BootCamp. I only added the BC Control Panel driver for easy OS switching back to Mojave. The OS worked perfectly fine without the driver. It just facilitates booting back to macOS.
Click to expand...
@crjackson2134 did you install an earlier version of Windows 10 and then upgrade to 1903? I've had a lot of troubles trying to install Windows 10 on a Mac Pro 5,1 from a new 1903 version install DVD, even in legacy BIOS / CRM mode. Wondering if I should start over with an earlier version installer.
 
atonaldenim said:
@crjackson2134 did you install an earlier version of Windows 10 and then upgrade to 1903? I've had a lot of troubles trying to install Windows 10 on a Mac Pro 5,1 from a new 1903 version install DVD, even in legacy BIOS / CRM mode. Wondering if I should start over with an earlier version installer.
Click to expand...

I purchased an education version, it was build 18xx and upgraded through updates.
 
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centauratlas said:
If these ARM rumors are true boot camp and Windows issues will be a thing of the past. I haven't seen stats on the percentage who use that combo though.
Click to expand...

Windows can run on ARM. Though who knows if it will be compatible with what Apple rolls out.

saulinpa said:
March version "released" 2nd half of May when only a few were able to install was a Joke. Only now is it starting to gain wide availability but a significant amount of computers still can't use it.
Click to expand...

Microsoft delayed the release of the update because the previous feature update, 1809, didn't go well. They wanted to be sure a similar situation didn't happen this time and so they left this update in testing for an extra month (it's planned release, despite the version name, was April). When it was finally made available publicly, it was rolled out slowly (i.e. not every machine checking for updates would be told this update was available); this is the proper thing to do when rolling updates to millions of machines as it allows critical bugs to be caught before too many machines are affected. Delaying a release until it's ready is not a bad thing, it's a good thing. It's a credit to Microsoft, not a criticism.

Also, given the variety of hardware out there 1903 has actually been rather problem-free in the grand scheme of things. If you want to be extra safe you can switch Windows off the targeted release update schedule and you won't get the feature update for several more months (while still getting security updates). This is all a good thing. I really don't see how any of this makes Microsoft look bad. They're handling the roll out quite well.
 
crjackson2134 said:
I really loathe Microsoft and a lot of it’s software, but in all honesty, it’s working very well on my MP5,1.
Click to expand...

I really felt the same way, but after all the trouble I've had with my iPad I decided to switch to a Windows 2-in-1 and I'm liking it. I've had no problems. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
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