MacBook – Windows 10 on 2011 Macbook: is audio fixable

dual-boothigh sierramacbook prowindows

I've been trying to install Windows 10 on an early 2011 Macbook Pro. It's not officially supported, but I read everywhere it can be done. There are some troubles though.

I have successfully installed it alongside MacOS High Sierra actually, and everything works fine except for audio. I get the exclamation point on Device Manager and a message saying the device couldn't be started properly.

I found out audio doesn't work because Uefi Windows 10 installation somehow keeps a Cirrus audio-related device from working. At least that's what I understood after googling myself to death.

So I tried to install Windows 10 in Legacy/Bios mode. I chose "Windows" for the setup DVD instead of "Uefi Boot" at boot.

But just before the point where Windows usually asks which disk to install on, it actually asks for a missing driver. This doesn't happen when installing in Uefi mode. I tried feeding it Intel xHCI drivers with usb keys, it sees the keys but says it doesn't find any driver.

I wasn't able to use Boot Camp and had to prepare everything by hand, since I don't get the option to install Windows 10 from Boot Camp, only 8 and 7. If I try to install Windows 10, Boot Camp says the OS is not supported.

I conclude this behavior due to the fact the disk is partitioned in Uefi mode.

Is it impossible to install Windows 10 in Bios mode in such a setup?

Best Answer

I have the solution for audio to work UEFI windows 10

https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/350469/319791

This took 4 years to figure out

Related Solutions

MacBook – How to get sound working on Bootcamp + Windows 8.1

Navigate on your Mac to the Bootcamp application. Before this make sure you have a 8GB USB flashdrive formatted to FAT 32, Windows default. Open Bootcamp app, and install the latest Bootcamp drivers onto the USB. I suggest naming the USB to SUPPORT all caps after doing this.

Navigate to Windows Partition on boot menu. Open up File Explorer, click on you new SUPPORT drive, open up Bootcamp folder, then drivers, click on Realtek driver set up .exe, and install that (depending on your computer it will prompt you to restart it or not after installing). Next after rebooting or re-installing the Realtek driver, head into the Cirrus folder.

This is the most important part about getting the sound to work

Click on the second .exe driver manual download, and run it. If you don't do the second one first, it won't work. After the download is complete, click on the first Cirrussetup.exe and install that. After that is complete, when you go to test your Mac's sound, there will be a slight delay... followed by the nice obnoxious chirp on Microsoft's sound test.

Sound working on Windows 8.1 x64 at 10:50, 2/21/2015

Windows – Bluetooth keyboard not working after update to Windows 10

The new Keyboard driver on Bootcamp broke the connection for my keyboard under Windows 10 and it might break yours too.

So after using the solution from Zidad for the last couple of months (thank you) I decided to find a better solution to be able to use the Fn button and all the volume and multimedia functions of the Apple keyboard, here is what you need to do:

You need the Apple Keyboard driver that comes in the Bootcamp 5, you can either download the full pack from Apple (version 5.1.5621 works), or download only the keyboard driver from my dropbox (64bit windows only):

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jexvjcg2zlmjg3e/AppleKeyboardInstaller64.exe?dl=1

   •If you downloaded the file above proceed to step 4.

Unzip the BootCamp 5 pack
Navigate to the unzipped folder and go to BootCamp/Drivers/Apple
Run AppleKeyboardInstaller64.exe
It will tell you that it's installed, but it won't work yet.
Open Device Manager and go to 'Human Interface Devices', right click Apple Keyboard and select "Update Driver Software"
Click 'Browse my computer for driver software', then 'Let me pick a list of device drivers on my computer'
Select the Apple Keyboard version 5 that you just installed (NOT the newest version 6).

Profit!

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