I recently installed Windows 8.1 on my Macbook 1,1. It had previously run Windows 10 which worked fine at first but began to give problems with each major update until version 1709 stopped the trackpad working properly.
I then experimented with Ubuntu and Linux Mint, trying to find a modern, supported OS that worked OK on this 1.6 GHz Core 2 Duo machine with only 2GB of soldered-in RAM.
Windows 8.1 immediately installed and runs better than the latest version of Windows 10 on this machine but when I tried to install Boot Camp I got the message that I was using an unsupported machine, even when I used compatibility mode.
I know I can install Windows 7, then Boot Camp and then upgrade to 8.1 but is there any other way of forcing Boot Camp to work? It is useful for configuring the Mac keyboard and to use multi-touch on the trackpad, even though most of the hardware drivers have now been installed separately anyway.
Best Answer
I fixed this issue by right-clicking the setup.exe file in Bootcamp and choosing "Properties". I set the compatability setting to "Windows Vista Service Pack 2" and ran it as administrator. I got a compatability warning but chose to run program anyway. The Bootcamp program ran, installed all the drivers and (importantly) the Boot Camp option on Control Panel. Meaning that the keyboard is now the correct UK Apple version and the trackpad has tap to click and I can right click by tapping both fingers. This old MacBook Air is actually pretty usable on Windows 8.1 and its supported until 2023!