Running Windows on Mac

So I started using a MacBook Pro about two months ago and absolutely love it more than I've ever loved a Windows PC ever. The problem is, I have a LOT of Steam games and only Valve games and Civ V are available for OS X right now (and WoW and Guild Wars 2, outside of Steam).

So awhile back I installed Windows 8 via bootcamp and everything went smoothly, except for some reason I don't have any drivers when I boot to Windows. I'll boot to Windows and everything will work EXCEPT my computer doesn't recognize any sort of network card at all. Therefore I can't connect to my WiFi or anything. I've heard you can go about manually installing the drivers you need, but that sounds like it's going to get complicated.

I've since uninstalled Windows and restored my Mac to a single partition. Is there anyone here who knows either what I'm doing wrong or a way to get this running?

Interestingly enough on my old PC I ran Windows 8 consumer preview as my main OS and installed Windows 7 on another partition and got the EXACT same problem. No network card / connectivity showed up when I booted to Windows 7 on the other partition.

What should I do to try this again?

Have you looked at CrossOver http://www.codeweavers.com/products/ try the free trial. I run my Steam games on it and they run fine.

@jdh5153: Yep, i've done this recently and had the exact same problem as you. Luckily I have the solution, you didn't install the driver support during the bootcamp setup (Must have not checked the box, easy mistake to make.)

What you need to do is Install the driver support to a usb (must be formatted as FAT) from Mac OS through bootcamp (Start up bootcamp as normal just install the driver support and stop before you go into the partitioning section) and then log on to windows and install it.

Or you can download it directly from the Apple site at from these links:

32-bit

64-bit

If you have any further questions just PM me; I recommend partitioning the hard drive by quite a lot, my 70gb partition filled up very fast!

I tried the Crossover trial and it didn't work for ANY of my Steam games. I'm not sure why. I could run a few PC programs with it, including the PC version of Steam, and I could install games using the PC version of Steam, but when I'd open them they'd all crash at the splash screen.

I'll have to try installing Windows through Bootcamp again. Thanks, hope it works!

@Dylabaloo said:

I recommend partitioning the hard drive by quite a lot, my 70gb partition filled up very fast!

or putting your steam stuff on an external thunderbolt or firewire 800 drive.

Yeah, the official Boot Camp drivers that it prompts you to download when setting up Boot Camp should work with Windows 8. At least, it for me with the Win 8 beta.

Okay...Well I'm trying to install the Windows 8 Preview since I still have the ISO and when it's about halfway through the process it says 'windows support software currently unavailable from server' and kicks me out to the beginning.

Is there any way I can manually get drivers for Windows 8 Preview if I install it without checking the 'download support software' option? I want to run the Preview and see how it works before I buy an OEM copy for $99 (or possibly upgrade from the Preview edition for $30 if they still let you do that). Any ideas?

@Zidd said:

@Dylabaloo said:

I recommend partitioning the hard drive by quite a lot, my 70gb partition filled up very fast!

or putting your steam stuff on an external thunderbolt or firewire 800 drive.

Great idea, but I'd need money first...

If the Windows support files refuse to download through Bootcamp Assistant when you're partitioning the HDD, you can download the appropriate package from this site:

http://www.cafe-encounter.net/p682/download-bootcamp-drivers

The Bootcamp driver packages there are updated through November of 2012. If you aren't sure which version you need, click - Apple Menu -> About This Mac -> More Info... -> System Report -> Hardware - and look for "Model Identifier."

Install the download .pkg file to your Mac's HDD.

Open the installed folder and mount the enclosed .dmg disk image.

Format a USB drive as FAT (FAT32, ExFAT).

Copy all of the files from the mounted .dmg to the USB device and remove the device.

Use Bootcamp Assistant to repartition your HDD.

Once at the Windows 8 desktop, reinsert the USB device and run setup.exe.

Reboot and you're good to go!

EDIT: Oh, and DON'T UNDERESTIMATE HOW MUCH ROOM YOU'LL NEED. Thirty-six hours with Acronis, WinClone, Partition Wizard, Acronis Parition Manager, Disk Utility, DAEMON, LinuxLive USB Creator, Universal USB Installer, and Windows 7 USB Tool left me with no choice but to reinsert my optical drive and reinstall Windows 7 from the scratchest of scratch. Not. Fun.

I"d probably install windows 7 over windows 8 as Windows 8 is still quite new and support isn't probably there for bootcamp yet.

Follow the bootcamp installer instructions, it's really quite easy. Windows 7 should auto detect everything you need or it should of came with your DVDs for your MBP. They have windows installers for the drivers and such.

@mlarrabee said:

If the Windows support files refuse to download through Bootcamp Assistant when you're partitioning the HDD, you can download the appropriate package from this site:

http://www.cafe-encounter.net/p682/download-bootcamp-drivers

The Bootcamp driver packages there are updated through November of 2012. If you aren't sure which version you need, click - Apple Menu -> About This Mac -> More Info... -> System Report -> Hardware - and look for "Model Identifier."

Install the download .pkg file to your Mac's HDD.

Open the installed folder and mount the enclosed .dmg disk image.

Format a USB drive as FAT (FAT32, ExFAT).

Copy all of the files from the mounted .dmg to the USB device and remove the device.

Use Bootcamp Assistant to repartition your HDD.

Once at the Windows 8 desktop, reinsert the USB device and run setup.exe.

Reboot and you're good to go!

EDIT: Oh, and DON'T UNDERESTIMATE HOW MUCH ROOM YOU'LL NEED. Thirty-six hours with Acronis, WinClone, Partition Wizard, Acronis Parition Manager, Disk Utility, DAEMON, LinuxLive USB Creator, Universal USB Installer, and Windows 7 USB Tool left me with no choice but to reinsert my optical drive and reinstall Windows 7 from the scratchest of scratch. Not. Fun.

I'm running Windows 8 now...It connects if I plug into my DSL / wifi modem, but the network controller is undidentified...

So what MacBook model is a 13" MacBook pro ? (from this year)? MacBook Pro 10.2? I don't understand what to select on that website. (nvm found it. downloading now.)

Oh my god, you're a life saver! So I downloaded that file in Windows and used 7Zip to open it, copied the drivers folder and installed the drivers I needed and BOOM! I'm now connected to my WiFi in Windows 8 on my Mac, downloading all my Steam games (to an external hard drive since I only chose 40gb for the Windows partition). Thanks a million, I couldn't be happier right now! Too bad I have to head to work :/

Boot Camp is available for Windows 8 already? Don't they have to update it every time a new Windows version comes out?

@Snail said:

Boot Camp is available for Windows 8 already? Don't they have to update it every time a new Windows version comes out?

I'm not sure. It worked for me. I just had an ISO of Windows 8 release preview and ran bootcamp and it installed perfectly fine (aside from having to manually add some drivers).

Now it automatically boots to Windows. Is there a way to change or have it prompt me which OS it boots to?

@jdh5153: Go into bootcamp settings, there should be an option there. I think. I'm pretty sure. I don't remember where though. Try looking around a bit, and if you don't find it then a quick Google search should yield the an answer to your problem there. You should be able to choose which OS you want to boot by default.

Also when the computer is booting you can hold the ALT key and you'll be prompted to choose which OS you want to boot.

@Snail said:

@jdh5153: Go into bootcamp settings, there should be an option there. I think. I'm pretty sure. I don't remember where though. Try looking around a bit, and if you don't find it then a quick Google search should yield the an answer to your problem there. You should be able to choose which OS you want to boot by default.

Also when the computer is booting you can hold the ALT key and you'll be prompted to choose which OS you want to boot.

Sweet. I wish I could change those settings in Windows. Downloading all my Steam games, don't want to boot out to Mac. Meh, I'll get it later.

So how do you take a screenshot in Windows on a MacBook? (there's no printscreen button). Any idea?