Comments on: SysAdmin: Installing Windows Server 2008 x64 on a Macbook Pro

By: Chris Caswell

Chris Caswell — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 09:35:36 +0000

Yeah, I tried to follow the instructions as best as i could, but I had a hard time seeing how one step led into the next and how everything came together in the end. An RW would definitely be a good idea.

By: Renaud

Renaud — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 08:41:46 +0000

@Chris: sorry Chris but I haven’t got anything better than the instructions on jowie’s website.
Did you use ImgBurn? If not, try doing it again on a R/W using ImgBurn so you don’t waste any more discs.

By: Chris Caswell

Chris Caswell — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 07:39:12 +0000

Or better yet… could anyone link me to or help me find a ready-made ISO that bootcamp would recognize?

By: Chris Caswell

Chris Caswell — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 07:36:28 +0000

I’ve tried to make sense of the instructions and I ended up wasting two DVD-Rs. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong, are there any other articles describing how I am to make the ISO so that bootcamp will recognize it?

Thanks

By: Renaud

Renaud — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:48:01 +0000

@Williss: I'm using the 2.1 Boot Camp drivers and I have not had much trouble so far.
The main kink was with Bluetooth but I solved it using the references in the article.

One thing to note: not all MBP use the same hardware so things that work or don't work for me may well turn out a different way for you.

I'd say just try it: create a separate partition that you can always delete if things don't work out as expected. At worse, it was a waste of your time.

I'm very happy with Windows Server 2008. It's really Vista done right and on my Macbook it's really pleasant and fast to use.
Now you may temper this with my thoughts on the Macbook in the follow-up article I wrote a few weeks ago...

By: willisss

willisss — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:25:03 +0000

hello. seems like a really good idea to put WS2K8 onto my MBP. I’ve been reading http://www.win2008workstation.com and it all looks like it’s gonna be good.

Would just like to ask if you have had any issues with the 2.1 bootcamp drivers?

thanks,

rich

By: Bilal

Bilal — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 13:52:29 +0000

thanks Renaud, i will try that tonight. in my device manager it just says unknown device as it was unable to find the driver on the bootcamp disk. i will try downloading the driver from another site and try that. will let you know how it goes.

By: Renaud

Renaud — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 15:24:57 +0000

@Bilal: the wireless adapter in my MacBookPro is a "Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter". Make sure that the driver you got from Apple is for this chip only. If a driver is already installed and not working, try just deleting it from the device manager then re-install it.
You can also try to force the installation under the device manager by forcing an update and navigating to the actual drivers on your CD or the ones you downloaded.

Another thing, if there is no support yet for your particular chipset from Apple, try to get one from the chipset manufacturer's website or from another vendor like Dell or HP which may use the exact same chip.

By: Bilal

Bilal — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 15:06:52 +0000

hi there. i just installed windows 2008 64 bit on my 15″ macbook pro. i cannot get my wireless to work, its not picking up the drivers from the boot camp disk. i downloaded the latest bootcamp with 64bit driver support but still not picking up the wirless driver. bluettoth seems to have installed ok. any ideas please, im lost… thanks guys.

By: Renaud

Renaud — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 12:23:57 +0000

Use the Bootcamp control Panel in Windows to define the default booting operating system.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 07:32:20 +0000

hi, i am a OSX user. First, I would like to thank you for the instructions. They are very helpful.

I have a question on booting OSX. It seems like the default boot is windows server 2008 and not OSX, and it would be painful for me to hold option every single time.

thank you for reading

By: Renaud

Renaud — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 06:43:29 +0000

It seems that Jowie's website has changed its URL format but the posts are still there.

Edited 15OCT2008: I have added a cached version of the page in case this happens again.

By: Jimmy

Jimmy — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 15:21:05 +0000

Jowie’s website is down. I was wondering if you could tell me the steps needed to change the file. I have the iso for Windows Server 2008 32 bit if that matters. It is going on a std. macbook.

By: Renaud

Renaud — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 05:04:58 +0000

Hi Guti, so far not too bad. The only drawback I've found at the moment is that booting time could do with some improvements and that if the HyperV role is selected you can't have sleep or hibernate any longer.
I hope to find a solution to the sleep issue, I don;t like to have to either leave the laptop on or shut it down when I'm not using it.

The other thing that works pretty well is using VMware Fusion. It's now in RC and can be downloaded for free.
I am amazed that it actually works so well from OSX without messing with the original setup.
So I can still boot natively using bootcamp or launch W2k8 from VMWare without problem.

By: Guti

Guti — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 15:32:24 +0000

Very nice article. How is the overall performance of 2008 on that system?