Step 1: Download the most recent Cirrus Logic drivers from the Cirrus Logic page. The CS4207 driver is actually more appropriately named "CS42**" driver.
--> go to this page: Here
--> click the "Resources" tab
--> in the "Resources" tab, under the "Tools & Software" heading, select the appropriate driver ZIP file for your particular configuration. Since I am operating in Windows 7 64 bit, I chose the "CS4207 Windows Vista (32/64-bit) and Windows 7 (32/64-bit) Driver, 8/2010, v6.6001.1.26 : 100 KB"
--> download the file to your desktop
--> create a folder on your desktop called CS4207 Drivers (the name doesn't actually matter)
--> move the downloaded ZIP file to this new folder
--> expand the ZIP file within this new folder
Step 2. Go to Control Panel, Device Manager.
Step 3. In Device Manager, open up the "Sound, vide and game controllers" sub menu.
Step 4. If you're like me, you had 4 NVIDIA High Definition Audio entries, and one Cirrus or Intel entry. Click on the Cirrus or Intel entry for the Sound controller. Uninstall the driver and, if it gives you the option to delete the driver files used, do so.
Step 5: Go back to Device Manager, and select "Scan for hardware changes" from the right click dropdown menu.
Step 6. Let your system automatically install whatever driver it wants.
Step 7. Select that new driver entry in Device Manager; right click the entry to update the driver; choose the Browse option, then the Let Me Pick option; and then select the new folder on your desktop as the driver location.
Shut down your MacBook, then hold down Option ⌥ key and turn it on. You will see a boot menu, choose OS X. When logged in into OS X, click System Preferences > Startup Disk, and choose which OS to start by default.
To set up Boot Camp drivers, download them via Boot Camp Assistant (WindowsSupport) folder, write the installers to a USB stick, and run from within Windows.
Best Answer
The "correct answer" to this turn out to be not so deep. The wireless keyboard was not waking up fast enough on startup to get the key press to initiate any of the startup key combos.
Hitting a couple keys before hitting the power button on the mac mini allowed the keyboard to wake up first. All key combos work.
I believe the fact that the Bootcamp control panel does not show up on the Windows side, is because it is Windows 8 and Bootcamp and it's Windows support drivers are meant for Windows 7.
Also plugging the wireless keyboard into the mac also sped things up