BootCamp Download Stuck – How to Get Drivers for Macs to run Windows 7 or 8

— updated after BootCamp 5 release June 2013 —

Where can you get a direct download of Windows drivers for Macs if BootCamp is stuck, and says 'could not continue' or you have some other problem downloading the drivers?

The brute force solution: it’s a darned large download, so physically take your machine to somewhere with a very fast internet connection that can download 600MB – 1GB in a couple of minutes. There, you’re done. Especially if you have a laptop, this would be the simplest solution - even take it to an Apple Store.

For the rest of us:

  1. If not, then first find out your Mac's ModelIdentifier
    • Q: How do I find my Mac's Model Identifier?
      A: Open System Information, and look in the Hardware Overview section.
      In other words: Click Apple menu -> About this Mac -> More Info… -> System Report -> Hardware. Now, read down the list in the Hardware Overview panel, looking for Model Identifier
    • If you're stuck, see the note below.
    • Note that a ModelIdentifierHasNoSpacesInItAtAll.
  2. Second, get a download manager. You can try doing without, but the reason you're on this page is that you're having trouble getting a file to download reliably. A download manager such as iGetter or Folx solves this problem.

  3. Then, search for your ModelIdentifier in the table below. Click the link to get the download package. Be patient as they are 600MB to over 1GB. It will be much simpler if you do the download in OS X, because OS X can open the downloaded file and also open the dmg file inside it.

  4. Still in Mac OS X, once your pkg is downloaded, double click it and install to a folder on your hard drive so you know where to find it. During the Installation, click the "Change Location" option so that you can choose where it gets installed.Image of OS X Installer step where you can choose the folder to install to

  5. The folder contains a nest of folders, the last of which contains a dmg disk image file. Double click that to open. At last! Here are your Windows installer files.Install BootCampESD 4 Find and Double click the dmg fileBootCamp WindowsSupport.dmg Contents

    BootCamp WindowsSupport.dmg Contents of Drivers Folder

  6. Copy them to a usb drive, or a burnable CD. NB, it’s still 660MB or more, so it’s a full CDs worth of burning time.
  7. Done. You can now proceed with Boot Camp assistant Windows installation and boot the Mac in Windows.

If you must do the download in Windows instead OS X, it's harder. You will need the help on http://www.cafe-encounter.net/p860/opening-a-bootcamp-driver-download-on-windows-7-or-8-with-7-zip to open the pkg file and the dmg file inside it.

BootCamp Direct Download Links

Most of these driver downloads work for both Windows 7 and Windows 8. Windows 8 on 32-bit is not officially supported, but almost everything seems to works on fine on not-officially supported models: the only specific shortcoming I'm aware of is that the screen brightness buttons don't work on all models.

Model Identifier Size & driver release date Direct Download Link
Macmini6,1
Macmini6,2
MacBookPro10,2
iMac13,1
iMac13,2 		438MB, 3 Dec 2012 http://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/54/18/041-8805/9tglhtxadqtnrro79rsdy4f0mkgu7wg6or/BootCampESD.pkg
MacBookPro9,1
MacBookPro9,2 		1,058MB, 15 June 2012 http://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/11/05/041-0925/g27es04pw9re5ggrfp3vuf8ew6r53asfz8/BootCampESD.pkg
MacBookPro10,1
MacBookAir5,1
MacBookAir5,2 		942MB, 15 June 2012 hhttp://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/55/51/041-3891/se4uhpqng48t842cdsosqh28lft54fmswl/BootCampESD.pkg
MacBookAir4,1
MacBookAir4,2
Macmini5,1
Macmini5,2
Macmini5,3 		676MB, 23 May 2012 hhttp://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/32/33/041-2303/W5jKtsQhhMgMXs3TKhPDqLXrpXyY2HdXMN/BootCampESD.pkg
MacBook2,1
MacBook3,1
MacBook4,1
MacBook5,1
MacBook5,2
MacBook5,3
MacBook6,1
MacBook7,1
MacBookAir1,1
MacBookAir2,1
MacBookAir3,1
MacBookAir3,2
MacBookPro2,1
MacBookPro2,2
MacBookPro3,1
MacBookPro4,1
MacBookPro5,1
MacBookPro5,2
MacBookPro5,3
MacBookPro5,4
MacBookPro5,5
MacBookPro6,1
MacBookPro6,2
MacBookPro7,1
MacBookPro8,1
MacBookPro8,2
MacBookPro8,3
MacPro1,1
MacPro2,1
MacPro3,1
MacPro4,1
MacPro5,1
Macmini2,1
Macmini3,1
Macmini4,1
iMac5,1
iMac6,1
iMac7,1
iMac8,1
iMac9,1
iMac10,1
iMac11,1
iMac11,2
iMac11,3
iMac12,1
iMac12,2 		632MB, 23 May 2012 http://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/33/54/041-2011/pRtCDYcWShMLxFggy3TzFzmfnnWQNFQBfJ/BootCampESD.pkg

Finding your ModelIdentifier

If you're struggling to find your ModelIdentifier then you want the brilliant page at everymac.com which can tell you what model Mac you have based on serial number. On the result page after you submit, look carefully and you'll the ModelIdentifier.

Still stuck?

If you're still stuck, then:

  1. Look through the comments for people with similar problems -- there have been a couple of hundred so they cover pretty much everything I can suggest.
  2. Try my summary of problems/solutions for direct download of bootcamp drivers

References

See BootCampESD.pkg download instructions for references and for the DIY instructions to work out these links yourself.

365 thoughts on “BootCamp Download Stuck – How to Get Drivers for Macs to run Windows 7 or 8”

    1. Dear Chris,

      Please kindly help where can i find the 32-bit drivers…

      Thanks Chris much appreciated.

  2. Chris you are an unbelievable legend! I have been pulling my hair out all day trying to get windows 7 working on my imac. Thank you so much!

    Have a great christmas.

    1. Dear Luke,

      do you have any ideas which links i can download the 32bit win7 drivers for the MacMini 2.3 GHz i7 processor ?

      Thank you for your help.

          1. Hi there,

            I have repost what i have managed to fix so far below:

            Dear Ashish,

            I managed to download the Intel chipset driver from this link (and it is Working) > http://downloadcenter.intel.com/confirm.aspx?httpDown=http://downloadmirror.intel.com/22152/eng/INF_allOS_9.3.0.1026_PV.exe&lang=eng&Dwnldid=22152&ProductID=3442

            And Intel® HD Graphics Driver for Windows 7* here (my graphic card is working as well) >>> http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=22081&lang=eng

            The 32bit Win7 is working on the new MacMini (Late 2012) version with i7 Quad Core specs.

            My wireless card is also working after i installed the Broadcom driver manually. (not tru BootCamp)

            I need to find the drivers for the Etherports, thunderbolt, and the card reader…

            Can anyone help ?

            Much appreciated your kind help, thank you.

      2. You are using late 2012 model of mac mini … you need to install 64 bit operating system (windows) this machine doesn’t support 32 bit .!!

        1. Dear Ashish,

          I managed to download the Intel chipset driver from this link (and it is Working) > http://downloadcenter.intel.com/confirm.aspx?httpDown=http://downloadmirror.intel.com/22152/eng/INF_allOS_9.3.0.1026_PV.exe&lang=eng&Dwnldid=22152&ProductID=3442

          And Intel® HD Graphics Driver for Windows 7* here (my graphic card is working as well) >>> http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=22081&lang=eng

          The 32bit Win7 is working on the new MacMini (Late 2012) version with i7 Quad Core specs.

          My wireless card is also working after i installed the Broadcom driver manually. (not tru BootCamp)

          I need to find the drivers for the Etherports, thunderbolt, and the card reader…

          Can anyone help ?

          1. Hi Vincent, thanks for posting the links, sorry for delay in your comment appearing. Can I ask what your ModelIdentifier is – does the BootCamp pkg not work? thanks for helping, Chris

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  4. The MacBookPro 9,2 doesnt work on my MacBook Pro, June 2012. Checked my hardware info, but Bootcamp tells me that these are not the correct drivers for the hardware i have.

    2. Hi Alex, you’re sure that your ModelIdentifier is 9,2? The main problem people have had I think, is incomplete download due to poor internet connection – the files appear to be there but the contents are incomplete – for which a download manager is the best solution

  5. Pingback: How to install Boot Camp on a 3TB Fusion Drive Mac | [email protected]

  6. Chris,
    Thanks much for the file! As I was doing the install it was taking forever to download the drivers…so I did a search online and found your sight. Downloaded the file for my new MacBook Pro and it did the job!
    Thanks again!

  7. well this bootcamp not working with windows 8 pro
    there a lot of drives are missing , if anyone can help me ?

    1. Hi Jalvan, sorry you’re struggling, The first thing to get help is, to find out what model of mac you have. Follow the instructions above to find out your ModelIdentifier. If the instructions seem hard, ask a friend to help you?

  8. Hi – and thank you for the help!

    When you say “install to a folder on your hard drive” I’m not sure what you mean… the installation of the package proceeds without giving me that option. It completes successfully, but I can’t find the package contents.

  9. Duh. Nevermind… I was missing the choose folder option in the install process. Sorry, it’s late. 🙂

  10. Hi, thank you very much for your article!
    I have Macbook Pro Retina 13 (10.2) and I tried many times to download bootcamp drivers directly from the Assistant but failed. Your article is just what I needed and it helps me a lot!
    Great thanks.

  12. This is pathetic on Apple and Intel’s part. Just list the damn chipset and support it on all 3 generations for the platform. Stop trying to cover up the fact that these processors can support all of the Lucid Logix MVP features on the 6-series chipset. You’re not fooling anyone. It’s embarrassing enough to see what Intel is pulling with the lack of soldering on Ivy Bridge CPU’s, but now they have decided to just toss all software support out the window? I will be ecstatic when the Linux kernel and alternative hardware vendors like ARM continue to prosper and knock these douche bags right off of their pedestals.

    1. To my mind, if Apple just include a mini download manager in the BootCamp assistant this page wouldn’t exist — all I’ve down is make Apple’s software update download links available.

  13. hi,
    i have the late 2012 mac book pro 13′. my software is osx 10.8.2. which download should i get? its the non retina display.
    thankyou

  14. Would it have killed them to put in a spinner instead of a progress bar? I had no idea the download was that large, I figured it was getting stuck.

  15. Hi, I have macbook air 5,2.
    I downloaded the provided bootcamp drivers and installed on my laptop, in a random thought I tried to update my display drivers for better game performance, I downloaded latest intel hd 4000 graphics driver 15.1 from intel’s site, but after installing it when I restarted my pc the driver actually crashes.
    On intel’s website it shows that my current display driver is 9.0 and latest one is 15.1, I want to get the latest drivers, what are the possible options?

    1. First step would be to rollback, which hopefully you can do in Windows via a system restore point.
      Second, you could boot back into OS X to double check the exact video hardware you’ve got. After that, if it doesn’t work you can’t do much except wait for Apple to update drivers and publish a new BootCamp driver download.

  18. For those having a problem finding the disk image if you don’t get the folder option at the installer the file path is: ./Library/ApplicationSupport/BootCamp/WindowsSupport.dmg

    Cheers

  20. files don’t seem to be located in the ./Library/ApplicationSupport/BootCamp/WindowsSupport.dmg (under your user directory). On my MACBook Pro, they installed in the /Library/ApplicationSupport/BootCamp/WindowsSupport.dmg (root directory for the machine library.

    Regards,
    Paul

    1. Hi Matt – it would seem not. If it’s an Intel chip you could try your luck on using the imac5,1 drivers and see how well that works. I must admit I’m not sure what your ‘official’ Apple supported option is: This page http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1899 talks about Win7 , but you may do better googling on “BootCamp Windows XP” which I don’t have a page for but I know someone does. I may have a better answer in a few days.
      Chris

      1. I downloaded the imac5 drivers and I manually installed each driver from the files and it windows is working perfectly. Thank you for your help.

  22. Hey Chris,

    Do you have any drivers or suggestions for a macbookpro 8.2, running windows 8?

  23. Hi Chris,
    I have an imac 2011,2 but recently upgraded it to mountain lion 10.8.2,so the bootcamp is now a version 5…. Should I download drivers for imac12,2 or for imac13????

    Thanks in advance 🙂

  24. Hi Chris,

    Nice Work! After a fatal upgrade from W7 to W8 on the Macbook Pro of my wife, I decided to go back to W7. W8 on the Macbook was a disaster! But the orginal Bootcamp CD was nowhere to find (was there one delivered ?, I don’t know). Thanks to your instructions I got everything back to normal. Thanks!

  25. I recently bought the macbook pro 9,2 and the disk did not come with it so i have to get the drivers onto a USB, but i can not find any link like you described above, What can i do ??

    1. Hi Max, search the list above for macbookpro9,2 with _NoSpacesInTheModelIdentifier_ and you’ll find the link. I’ll update the post to explain a bit better. Cheers, Chris

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